George Wagner IV takes the stand in his own defense in the Pike Co massacre trial. Being asked about how the family stole diesel fuel. He said he was Cummins engine fan and had a tattoo on his right shoulder. Sorry for late start.
Says his father taught he and Jake how to spot cameras and cops. Would get $1 for every cop spotted - get to use 4 wheeler for a week if they saw stuff, or lose it for a week if Billy saw it first.
This is a HUGE surprise for the defense. Wagner says his uncle Chris Newcomb more like a brother than an uncle. Says he was a role model ... more than a best friend.
Says Jake spent most of his time as a kid watching cartoons, playing video games or playing with action figures. Many fights when George would move those figures.
George says he and Chris started drinking alcohol when he was 13 or so then started partying when he was 16 with Chris - used to drink and party a lot with Frankie Rhoden
Once he got his driver's license, he left home as much as he could "I wanted to drink and party and fish with my friends." He went with his father on weekends to steal diesel and help open trailers for more thefts.
Tells story about how his mother made his father buy Jake a $16,000 truck, while his cost $2700 - and Jake got his first before George even had his truck.
Jake kept his spotless - George's was like "a southern Ohio country boy's truck" covered with mud and filled with trash and beer cans.
Spent a lot of time with Frankie at Big Bear Lake when he was 18 or so.
His mother would tell him it was bad influence to be there and he would be going to hell. Jake and Hanna Rhoden were there too but George says Jake wouldn't let hanna join in drinking games.
Remembers when his mother and father tried to burn down house at Bethel Hill - he was 6-7. He says it failed "because my mother didn't know what she was doing" says mother told Fredricka Wagner it was accident and grandmother paid to remodel it.
Then they burned it down for good in 2000. They built a new home about a half mile down the road.
"I called it a Kentucky wonder mansion”
He had his own room with his own entrance door and mudroom. So he could come and go when he pleased.
Says mother Angela upset that he would leave saying he was leaving the work for Jake - helping with her dog breeding business and the garden.
He testifies that the dog kennel was burned down one day when he and his father came back once from Columbus. George also recalls rescuing "Rover" a stray beagle and nursed him back after it was stung into coma. It disappeared and he says it was probably eaten by coyotes
Says Fredericka wouldn't let them shoot coyotes on the property. Remembers the "wonder mansion" burning down in 2007 or so.
So they built a new house with mom acting as foreman and Jake and George doing the work.
They had a separate room in the basement there to grow marijuana. He says he had no part of it "I don't agree with drugs" - Father Billy also planted field of marijuana in field of pine trees that was ruined after Fredericka had the trees trimmed
Also recalls a huge trailer showing up filled with Rocky Boots - he helped unloaded thousands of boots. Mom involved. "She helped plan it ... everybody in Pike County was wearing Rocky Boots at that point."
He's asked about his family's crimes "How many would you want me to go into?" Says his father told him he buried money all over the US as a pension plan
George was in charge of counting the money - he was about 15 at the time. He is clearly implicating his entire family in all these crimes. We're breaking for 15 minutes.
"He has daddy issues" George says about his father. Says Billy would copy anyone he used as a father figure. So he started taking handfuls of pills like other truckers.
George remembers physical fight with his father. Billy yelled at him after Jake hit George with truck accidentally. Says Billy dared him to hit him, got into another fist fight. There were three more fights he can remember, including one at Flying W Ranch.
Remembers disagreement - Billy punched and broke out his passenger side window and threw his gun across the yard. Another fist fight "not to go into details but my father lost" - they didn't speak for several months afterward.
Billy stayed at Flying W "because he couldn't stand being around my mother" and to help with George's bedridden grandfather. Says his parents were like friends after a divorce without a divorce.
Remembers another time when his father tried to lasso him and tie him up but it backfired. He pulled his father off his feet and then he won another fistfight. Now onto how he met Tabby - his ex-wife who testified previously.
Billy's sister Robin set them up - he was 12 and Tabby was 11. They went on 4 wheelers and fishing. She eventually started spending the night at the Bethel Hill house.
He was almost 13 when Tabby would stay in his room for weeks at a time. They were "boyfriend/girlfriend”
They broke up after about a year - George broke it off because he was interested in another girl. Later on Hanna Rhoden "likes to play matchmaker" and got them back together again.
They broke up after about a year - George broke it off because he was interested in another girl. Later on Hanna Rhoden "likes to play matchmaker" and got them back together again.
"I looked as Hanna like a baby sister" ... says Jake was his biological brother but he was closer to Hanna and his uncle Chris.
He helped sneak beer for her - relationship was never more than big brother little sister. Make buckeyes at the holidays together - they would talk about emotional days - they were worried about losing weight together.
George: mother Angela would beat it into them that "you'll make Jesus cry" or "going to hell" if you do anything wrong or cussed. He says he did what he wanted, but Jake was scared. And didn't hang out much with Jake as they grew older. Says Jake has no filter
Says Jake "thinks he's a saint and does no wrong" and that Angela thought the same thing about Jake. Spent most of his time with Chris even though his mother wanted them apart.
Remembers proposing to Tabby in Florida and then getting married exactly one year later. Says the wedding was a disaster with bad weather and nothing went right - but still a happy occassion.
Actual word about the wedding was "catastrophe" - Tabby wouldn't get driver's license so she worked at Wagner's group home. George says she would have "fits" with yelling and screaming and throwing things
Remembers when she says she's pregnant "happiest day of his life" - but while she's pregnant she reports getting chlamydia twice ... she admits she's "screwing her best friend's dad" and he "ended up caving and stayed with her.”
Had a DNA test and proved that the baby was his.
Now going through all the jobs George had - he wound up buying truck from Bernard Brown and doing cattle hauling.
Recalls when the big house on Bethel Hill burned down. Says he didn't want to do it, but his parents were going to do it no matter what. "they were going to burn it one way or the other - we had no say”
The house at Peterson Rd was in George's and Jake's name but technically it was my mom's place - she ran it. Says they had to borrow $30k from his grandmother - his father had put down $50k nonrefundable deposit on another place and lost his money
Says Billy would come and visit a couple times a week and bring donuts for the kids "against everybody's wishes" - George says he butted heads a lot with his mother.
Also fought with mother over how he would take care of her hobby farm animals. Would have taken him 4-5 hours if he did it her way. Also argued about money says he and his brother paid for all the bills.
George says Tabby told him once she held their son's hand on a hot pan or stove. Says "Even her own mother says she couldn't handle raising a child.”
Started building a new barn in January 2016 - mother Angela wanted it for her pig business.
Remembers trying to run away from home twice - first time he filled up his truck and went into KY but turned back but didn't have money or fuel. Also remembers when Tabby tried killing herself but Tabby says they should stay with roof over their heads.
Says he was fed up with his mom. Says his brother was more an associate than a brother. Asked if he has any regrets about not leaving? "All the time. I wish I hadn't turned around in Kentucky.”
Now recalling when Tabby left the house. Says she was being too rough with son changing diaper - she went into a fit. Angela came home. Says Tabby bit her and hit him with a board. She left - he says he called sheriff because of her past and worried about suicide
Says he was asked if he wanted to press charges, said no. Later they talked and said they were going to try and fix things - but discovered she still having affair with best friend's dad. So he got lawyer and she didn't want one to get divorce and get custody of his son.
Went to parenting classes - says he and Tabby sat next to each other. Says she spent Thanksgiving with us and Christmas. George says he wanted her to be part of their son's life. But supervised visits because of her issues with fits etc.
George says Tabby's mother would hold her and her sisters down when they were 7-9 years old for their stepfather for sexual abuse. Says he didn't want his son in that environment. Also didn't approve of Tabby with new boyfriend.
George shows some emotion at the end of session as asked about Tabby trying to get custody - says the hearing was scheduled for three months after his arrest. First time the arrest is mentioned. We're now on lunch break until 1:10 pm
