OH - Pike Co - 8 in Rhoden Family Murdered Over Custody Issue - 4 Members Wagner Family Arrested #81

[Betty P]

Is that Chris Sr's brother and sisters sitting in front? They're paying close attention to AW's testimony.

 

[NWLady]

https://twitter.com/MonroeTrombly

@MonroeTrombly

On her second day on the stand in the #PikeCountyMassacre murder trial of her eldest son #GeorgeWagnerIV, Angela Wagner testified that to this day she doesn't know the particulars of who shot whom and how the night eight members of the Rhoden family were killed. (1/6)

Speaking in a small voice with an occasional cough to clear her throat, Angela spoke at length this morning about Elizabeth Armer, who married Wagner IV's brother Jake in March 2018 after the family moved to Alaska. (2/6)

"I thought she was a plant or spy for you guys," Angela said of Beth. Her evidence? That Beth asked weird questions and may have rifled through Angela's purse, but never stole anything. (3/6)

Other takeaways/tidbits from this morning: According to Angela, Beth tried to be a mother to Sophia, the child whom prosecutors say motivated the Wagners to kill the Rhodens. Angela said Beth took issue with Sophia keeping photos of Hanna May Rhoden, her deceased mother. (4/6)

Angela testified that she didn't trust Beth to be alone with Sophia. She even drafted a pre-marital agreement between Beth and Jake that ensured Beth would have no rights to Sophia if the couple divorced. (5/6)

Angela said several times that she was paranoid in the months/years after the homicides. She, her husband and two sons assumed their home and vehicles were bugged by authorities eavesdropping on their conversations. (6/6)

Ohhhh, AW, poor, poor me. She is such a victim, isn't she? I ask myself when am I going to start feeling sympathy and/or empathy for her? That answer would be - NEVER - it won't happen now or any time in the future.

And, in regards to her reported soft spoken voice, I hope the jurors recall that they have not heard this prior to her testimony? Completely opposite of recording of her interrogation at the border. IMO, prior to being charged, she was quite brazen with the 3 women who had been in her sons' lifes - giving orders, setting rules, and the list goes on and on. But NOW, it's obvious when she's trying to do some of her best talking on the stand, that prior attitude/way of life is gone forever, 'eh Angela...

She would have never made it being my future mother-in-law, and I'll end with that....

This is all JMO, MOO, thoughts, opinions, feelings, etc.

 

[sunshineray]

https://twitter.com/MonroeTrombly

@MonroeTrombly

On her second day on the stand in the #PikeCountyMassacre murder trial of her eldest son #GeorgeWagnerIV, Angela Wagner testified that to this day she doesn't know the particulars of who shot whom and how the night eight members of the Rhoden family were killed. (1/6)

Speaking in a small voice with an occasional cough to clear her throat, Angela spoke at length this morning about Elizabeth Armer, who married Wagner IV's brother Jake in March 2018 after the family moved to Alaska. (2/6)

"I thought she was a plant or spy for you guys," Angela said of Beth. Her evidence? That Beth asked weird questions and may have rifled through Angela's purse, but never stole anything. (3/6)

Other takeaways/tidbits from this morning: According to Angela, Beth tried to be a mother to Sophia, the child whom prosecutors say motivated the Wagners to kill the Rhodens. Angela said Beth took issue with Sophia keeping photos of Hanna May Rhoden, her deceased mother. (4/6)

Angela testified that she didn't trust Beth to be alone with Sophia. She even drafted a pre-marital agreement between Beth and Jake that ensured Beth would have no rights to Sophia if the couple divorced. (5/6)

Angela said several times that she was paranoid in the months/years after the homicides. She, her husband and two sons assumed their home and vehicles were bugged by authorities eavesdropping on their conversations. (6/6)

EA had issues with S having pictures of Hanna May!!? I think AW is a liar, liar pants on fire!! I'm sorry EA did NOT seem like a person of that nature...of AW's nature...AJMO

 

[Piffcat]

people routinely live into their 90s these days. 1 day of freedom is too long honestly one more day of aw breathing is too long

 

[pittsburghgirl]

You are right! EA testified it was the reason for the colors of the rooms. But that was AFTER the murders when they came back to OH.

Do you remember the phone call from Angela to George about finding the house in Alaska? He had very few questions but one of the first was about painting the kids rooms. Weird, huh? I didn't catch that till it came up again last week how few questions GW asked about buying a new house sight unseen using his credit - but painting was one of them. So it was something they had all discussed. It also shows they ALL knew the sleeping arrangements were not quite kosher.

But still...If they were worried the child was actively being abused; them not attempting to confirm or stop that abuse (a heinous abuse) doesn't add up.

I watch too much Law and Order, but one somewhat common strategy for someone who wants to deny custody to the other parent is to claim sex abuse. This could have been Angela's game all along, to keep bringing up these allegations. She got lucky with Tabitha because Tabitha ran rather than get herself shot, and she had been frightened into assuming that having a molester in the home meant she couldn't get custody or shouldn't. But Hanna wasn't scared or intimidated by these implied threats to accuse her or her family.

 

[rsd1200]

AW's first day of testimony as reported by Angenette Levy for @rsd1200 , @sunshineray and anyone else who may have missed it.

Wagner Family Matriarch Testifies at Son's Pike County Massacre Murder Trial: 'I Wasn't Raised to Believe in the Justice System'

Angela Wagner testified that she spoke to Jake and George Wagner about the murders beforehand — and she claimed they said their hearts weren't in it.

lawandcrime.com

That sounds kinda weird. I have to agree. If true, that would concern me, as a parent or a grandparent. JW should have taken her, at the very least to a pediatrician for a checkup on the rash. Would they think it was him? That's often the case. either way, the whole government might get into BOTH family's business. That 30 day window when DR got her trailer and it all fell to heck in a handbasket, was set in motion by something more than that text. Either way, it doesn't change the fact that they murdered eight people in cold blood, and it seems Mommy Dearest, just outed her second favorite son.

This is the in-laws vs the in-laws and we don't trust the law to handle our business, mindset though. Sadly enough it is seen this way by more folks than you'd think. I don't doubt her there. (i've had family members go, for up to 50 years, without seeing a doctor. ) You didn't go unless you were near dying, and / or later, having a baby. They did not see where either the doc, nor the law, would be of any recourse to them. They did not carry any of the acclaimed W funds. They were common thieves and most all knew it. HMR did hold all the cards in the state of Ohio. She had them by the cajones there. (I once met a young man who was treated very unfairly by this law) What was the answer? Kill them. Unfortunately, JW must have been leading the table meetings, that month, b/c I do think that JW also said, that she asked him, are you sure? I think he said his father asked him as well, and gave them an option right before they went down UHR. If JW is being truthful. I don't doubt they did ask him though. In a warped way of love and concern for them, I guess.

 

[pittsburghgirl]

EA had issues with S having pictures of Hanna May!!? I think AW is a liar, liar pants on fire!! I'm sorry EA did NOT seem like a person of that nature...of AW's nature...AJMO

Nah, that's projection of Angela's issues onto EA.

 

[pittsburghgirl]

https://twitter.com/ToddDykesWLWT

2/2 She said she worried relatives of the Rhodens who were killed would hear about the various items, which she said could "give them reason to come and kill Jake and kill all of us.”

She's the effing queen of projection.

 

[rsd1200]

I see a different dynamic. I see AW ruling the roost. Happy wife, happy life. I don't think BW has the backbone nor the intelligence you're giving him credit for. AJMO

If that's the way you are raised, he doesn't have to have the backbone or intelligence. The wife is that as well. Yes, she probably ran it all, but if G3 had said, No, I don't want to kill my business partner and friends. Stay out of this. I think things may have still ended badly, but who knows if eight people would have been murdered. He trained his sons in his ways. He was actually a minimally successful criminal. The man had no felonies. He was permitted to own every firearm he owned. He had the knowledge to know how to get the job done, she just went and bought stuff and got caught on camera doing that. I think she wanted them to get caught, deep down. Who is that stupid? Walmart has more security than Fort Knox. lol

 

[CIA Team Member]

I watch too much Law and Order, but one somewhat common strategy for someone who wants to deny custody to the other parent is to claim sex abuse. This could have been Angela's game all along, to keep bringing up these allegation. She got lucky with Tabitha because Tabitha ran rather than get herself shot, and she had been frightened into assuming that having a molester in the home meant she couldn't get custody or shouldn't. But Hanna wasn't scared or intimidated by these implied threats to accuse her or her family.

It's free and easy to make a SA allegation.
However, it's difficult and expensive (lawyer required) to try to prove a negative. IMO

 

[sunshineray]

Is that Chris Sr's brother and sisters sitting in front? They're paying close attention to AW's testimony.

That's TR for sure.

 

[arielilane]

https://twitter.com/CFranciscoWCPO


This afternoon, Angela put her son, George, at the scene of the crime in Chris Rhoden Sr.'s home... stepping in a puddle of blood. She told jurors that footprint they've been seeing is George's. She said he told her that himself.

After that, her son's attorneys started cross-examining her. They are working to destroy her credibility for jurors. They are pointing out her plea deal... that she took it to avoid a life prison sentence... that she isn't being honest.

Defense Attorney Richard Nash made her read a letter she wrote from jail to her mother-in-law. She said she pleaded guilty to get the deal for 30 years in prison... she didn't want to risk life. She wrote, "I am so lost." and "I have lost my family.”

She said she wrote that because she didn't understand why the deal said she was guilty of some of the charges when she didn't commit the murders. However, she said now she understands why it's like that.

As she read the letter, the Rhoden family sitting in front of me rolled their eyes and some held their hand over their faces and closed their eyes. They appeared upset. The defense attorney said, "Not once did I hear any remorse for taking the lives of eight innocent people.”

The defense said you were willing to pull your own mother into an eight person homicide case.

Defense says it's no surprise she and Jake testify against George because they have to testify to the state's satisfaction to uphold their end of the plea bargains.

 

[sunshineray]

If that's the way you are raised, he doesn't have to have the backbone or intelligence. The wife is that as well. Yes, she probably ran it all, but if G3 had said, No, I don't want to kill my business partner and friends. Stay out of this. I think things may have still ended badly, but who knows if eight people would have been murdered. He trained his sons in his ways. He was actually a minimally successful criminal. The man had no felonies. He was permitted to own every firearm he owned. He had the knowledge to know how to get the job done, she just went and bought stuff and got caught on camera doing that. I think she wanted them to get caught, deep down. Who is that stupid? Walmart has more security than Fort Knox. lol

I can certainly see your point of view...I think they're all a bunch of numb skulls and thank goodness for that! As far as having any sympathy or empathy for those murdered or their loved ones...I remain unconvinced there's any. AJMO

 

[pittsburghgirl]

Great conspiracy evidence against George by his own mother. Hope there is more to come. I really want the jury to be convinced of George's involvement.

Angela's whole testimony is built on the 4 of them operating as a unit and the massacre as being something they were all involved in.

 

[almond]

Looks like Nash is putting the courtroom to sleep.

 

[pittsburghgirl]

https://twitter.com/MonroeTrombly

@MonroeTrombly

Angela Wagner also recalled how she felt when she learned that George's younger brother Jake had changed his not guilty plea to guilty: "Horrible. I felt like my heart was ripped out that day."

Oh, really? She's devastated by him telling some percentage of the truth...

 

[NWLady]

Allegedly, BW lived with mommy in order to take care of his elderly father. But yet when BW's father died, he didn't even return home for the funeral.

Now, AW is tearful when talking about her father passing, but yet again, she didn't even return home for his funeral.

Also, IIRC, (I tried to find the media clip but was unsuccessful, so JMO), but didn't FW say something outside of court one day (verbatim) about Jake didn't do this, or am I not remembering it correctly? Regardless, I am of the opinion that she (FW) knew exactly all along what took place. BW leaves his phone at 260 Petersen Road the night of the murders, but that was the 1st time since January 2016 that his phone stayed there?! Hmmm, maybe BW should have tried a different alibi such as mommy saying he was at the ranch all night!

These people are utterly disgusting....all of them....

JMO

 

[sunshineray]

I think this is it for him, George offered to take the fall for the killings. No way he can say now he was not involved, IMO.

ETA: I mean he can, but it's not believable..

Unless he gets on the stand and calls them both liars, I was home that night, my family are all lunatics...that kind of testimony. Din't see that happening so it will be up to the jurors to make sense out of all this family disfunction.
AJMO

 

[justtrish]

Well... when the defendant has zero defense it is VERY hard to make one up.

Defense only chance is to keep showing (missed with JW) all the times AW has lied. Maybe then the jury might see she could/would be lying about GW's involvement. BUT... why would she lie about her son's involvement in the killings???

Bye GW!

I saw some hints of a defense when they were asking those who knew George if he went off by himself at night. maybe the hookers with his dad or whatever he was doing could be an alibi, but I guess they'd have to produce one of those hookers? I also saw hints of it in opening when they said he was home, so I guess if he was home, he couldn't be out with a hooker.. if he was home then his mom should be able to say he was, but wait she said he left with Jake and Billy... hum... well not sure what it is they will say he was doing.

Maybe he hid in the barn while his brother and dad went off on a murder spree and I mean that should be totally okay with them that this person knows what is about to happen and he just isn't going with them? I doubt that too. But if that is the defense, then he's still guilty because he knew they were about to do what they did and he didn't stop it or tell anyone.

 

[arielilane]

https://twitter.com/ToddDykesWLWT

Just out of the courtroom. George Wagner's attorney Richard Nash is cross-examining Angela Wagner; started at 2:34 - after a 15 minute hearing involving a question about specific testimony. I'll have more on that at 5 on #WLWT News 5.