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Pike Co. massacre trial will begin soon for day two of defense cross examining Jake Wagner.
Since he has opted out of allowing us to record him… I will be stuck in the courtroom, and I will have to bring you the latest on Twitter during breaks.
Here's what's happened so far. It was a slow morning with Defense attorney John Parker questioning Jake Wagner. He was asking Jake to describe his childhood at first.
Jake said as a child, he was taught to pick locks. "I was very good." He carried a pick set with him at all times. He said his dad taught him to steal vehicles, evade detection, enter a house, locate surveillance systems.
He said his dad, Billy, was preparing for an apocalypse. Said Billy buried a bread truck on Grandma Wagner's farm, The Flying W... like a bomb shelter.
Jake said Billy taught him to steal. Jake said Billly taught him how to break in to vending machines to get change, shoptlift, steal vehicles and disassemble them for chop shops. Billy taught him to steal fuel from semis, stole semi trailers with contents like washing machines, hot tubs, food, shoes. He said he and his dad stole cattle from stockyards.
Jake said his mom home schooled him but would do most of the studies for him except for math and science. He was raised to avoid going to doctors. He said his mom bred dogs but would fraud customers by selling them pound puppies.
Jake said his family taught him how to commit arson. His mom taught him to burn down homes for money. He described burning down three homes and a garage. he said the last one they burnt down didn't cost them much to build because a lot of the material was stolen.
He said his dad was the type of trucker who would take illegal drugs to stay awake and drive longer than permitted.
Alaska: First time he went, Jake was 14. 2017, after the murders, they went to scope out properties. He said he would follow the murders online and at one point he commented on a post with a fake profile.
In Alaska, he met his ex-wife, Beth. He said he was looking for a wife to help raise Sophia. Defense attorney said, "Because you killed the other one, didn't you?" and Jake said, "Yes.”
He said Beth lied to him on their wedding light. He said he was an anime fan, and he wanted to watch the last episode on YouTube. He used her phone. He said her youtube history showed she had looked up witch craft spells.
When asked if he raped her on their wedding night, Jake said no.
As for Sophia, jake said he wanted her to grow up Christian, go to college and get a good career, husband and become a mom. "I just wanted a good life for her.”
He said "I loved Hanna, and it was not love at first sight. She grew on me." "She wanted babies." "I felt she needed to finish school, get a little older.”
He said they didn't want any of their children to be "dudtards". When defense asked him what that meant, he said a mixing the word "dud" and a slur or offensive word used for someone with an intellectual disability.
Jake said he didn't want his child to go to public school and be exposed to bad examples like premarital sex and drugs. He acknowledged to the jury that he knows he was exposed to that stuff, too, although he was home schooled.
He told jurors he thought Hanna gave up her parenting standards. Although, he said he would have taken her back even though she was pregnant with another man's baby. He went so far as to ask her to pretend it was his baby.
Jake told jurors he had fears someone would molest his daughter based on past experiences people he knew had like Hanna, Tabitha, a cousin and his mother.
