OH - Pike Co - 8 in Rhoden Family Murdered Over Custody Issue - 4 Wagner Family Members Arrested #84

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  • #461
I have been wondering if by him taking the stand, it could or would open AC up to playing the tape of his interview. I guess we'll find out soon enough.
Jmo I don’t think AC wants interview played
 
  • #462
it is so frustrating following this case. like you just want to grab the tv and shake canepa thru it. cant even stand to watch sometimes and prefer to read the tweets. bci did a phenomenal job on this ccase in fact i think it may be one of the best murder investigations ive ever read about. tasked with nearly 0 physical evidence and a family of professional killers and criminals with very little possibility of turning an informant. imagine how it felt once they KNEW the wagners murdered this family in cold blood but had to follow all the procedural stuff that comes with our "justice" system. and amazingly thru sheer determination they get these indictments. then they get jake to turn. they get the murder weapons, murder truck, and a codefendant to describe the murder conspiracy before after and during. so weve gone from no dna, no murder weapons, no vehicles, no informants, a media blackballing the victims and thru all that now the prosecution is handed a stacked deck.

when jake pled guilty i thought that was it- the wagners were donezo. and then they give angela this deal which is just unexplainable to me from a strategy standpoint. if i was a juror, her deal and testimony hurt the prosecutions case. simultaneously they want the jury to give g4 the death penalty for a supporting role(which he deserves) but then the architect of the entire sick family is let off with 30 years! how can the prosecution expect the jury to accept these 2 situations??? angelas deal is when i lost all confidence in canepa and the ag office in general. just the fact g4 felt confident enough to go on the stand shows you how little canepa intimidates g4 and his defense lawyers. she is not a litigator. she does not belong in the first chair for a murder trial. shes no an orator. very smart driven dedicated yes of course. i know the family wanted her and i know canepa wants justice for this case and has been a big part of the indictments etc.

but she is a terrible courtroom lawyer. doesnt think on her feet, impeach the witness with style, all the ums etc would be ok if her point was valid or sharp. but its not. theres no flow she throws temper tantrums and her physical appearance is unprofessional. she should be the 2 chair taking notes and helping wilson do the examinations. i really hope g4 gets convicted with lwop ill be holding my breath.

To be fair, the deal with AW was a team effort. The multiple perps has made it difficult to organize any plea deals.
 
  • #463
GW4 on cross continued.


James Pilcher
@jamespilcher
·
13m
Says he doesn't remember what he said back then. Canepa hammers him again on whether his memory would be better then than now. Was it a cover story? George: no agreement in advance my kid came down and my dad didn't want him to leave

His son's usual time go to sleep at 12:30 a.m. How can your father and your brother have been up on Union Hill killing Chris Sr and Gary less than hour after you went to to bed? "I can't answer that - I don't know"

Asked about how he usually spent an hour on phone before going to sleep - and not hearing anyone leave with diesel. "you don't remember now - but back at border with agents" - told agents dad went upstairs with mother? Was that true? Not remember statement.

Asked if it is true if father went upstairs? Says now he can't remember. What about the next morning? What time did he get up? Says daylight. Doesn't remember what he told agents at border.

Says he's hunted at night "thousands of times" - which is illegal. Also admits Jake could have had the 1911 Walther Colt .22 for a year without him knowing.

Now talking about bugged truck - says he told Jake he should have destroyed laptop and phone. Testifies it's because he thought BCI would find something and twist it because views on law enforcement.

But also agrees he said Jake would get everyone in trouble because of his honesty. When he was working for R&L he was living on 2 hours sleep a night.

Did his son consider Angela Wagner his mother? Says he told his son numerous times Tabby was his mother. Says cold heart truth he mentioned was that he had to tell his son why Tabby wasn't in his life.

link: https://twitter.com/jamespilcher
 
  • #464
Also, keep in mind that taking all 4 Wagners to trial would have taken a very long time. The pre-trial process took almost 4 years. Further trials would have taken a few more years. The investigation took 2 years on top of that.

As defense attorneys know, the longer you drag out the process from arraignment to trial, the easier it is to allow your defendant to get away with perjury by saying "it was years ago, I don't remember what I said to .... or what I did exactly..."
 
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  • #465
George seems to have selective memory recall and has practiced his acting skills. I hope she fires up some of that hidden anger.
It seems he needs to explain a lot of things and all of the things he needs to explain are not what they seem to be and he's going to tell us why. I just want to hear him say, "let me tell you something".

Oh yes George 5 or 6 days without sleep makes you call your niece a 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬 and it makes you threaten BCI, makes you paranoid, and makes you not remember things you said.

I think AC doing the cross is good. George seems to have issues with women. Tabatha was a 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬, Hannah was turning into a 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬, Sophia is a 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬, etc. Issues with Beth forget what he called her, Marana even he refers to her as something derogatory. Is there a woman in his life that he didn't think these things about. Wonder what he's say about his grannie Fredricka?
 
  • #466
Haha AC is after the lies!!!
 
  • #467
Everybody is lying except GW4.
 
  • #468
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  • #469
  • #470
You are doing a good job AC! Such a big lyer!
 
  • #471
Caught last bit of cross-examining, going to replay trial from this morning to see what I missed. Recess (lunch time) until 1:30 pm ET.
 
  • #472
https://twitter.com/CFranciscoWCPO

George Wagner, IV back on the stand today testifying in an effort to save his own life. He faces possible death sentence if convicted of playing a part in the 2016 Pike County Massacre. I will be live tweeting his testimony.

His attorney is going back over the photographs he asked George to identify yesterday. They are a picture of his brother, Jake, one of George's wedding photo and a picture of his father, Billy, in their Peterson Rd. kitchen.

George said he used Facebook to use the marketplace to buy and sell truck parts. He said he did use the messenger service to talk to his friends. George says he never blocked Frankie Rhoden.

His attorney, John Parker, showed him a notebook that George said he recognized as a notebook his mom used in the house.

About that picture he posted on his Facebook of a wolf with a tattoo over on of its eyes with two different eye colors... prosecutors told jurors he posted that to commemorate the murders in which people were shot in the eyes. George said it had nothing to do with the murders.

George said he didn't trust his brother's new wife because he heard she grew up in a Texas cult and he suspected she told his son that you shoot people with AR-15s... and he didn't agree with that.

George: "I just didn't feel my son was safe around here." Parker: "Did you want to kill her?" George: "No... I just wanted her to move out of the house.”

What was Jake's demeanor when George brought up his daughter. George said when he would mention Jake's daughter looking like Hanna or having Hanna's mannerisms, he said Jake would "take a fit”.

George said he's okay with his ex-wife having custody of his son now as long as she is taking good care of him.

Once George turned 16, he said he would go party with friends, drink, chase girls, go to festivals around the county.

George said he probably put 40, 50 thousand miles on his truck the first year he owned it.

About his weight: the heaviest he'd say he's been was about 320. He'd step on feed scales at co-ops. "I took diet pills multiple times." He said the doctor would prescribe them. "They do work, and then, they quit working." So, he said it's like a money gimmick.

George said he confided in Hanna about his weight issues or relationship problems. Parker: "Would you kill Hanna?" George: "No." Parker: "Would you assist someone else in killing Hanna?" George: "No.”

Parker: Did you ever make money other than driving trucks? George: Multiple ways. He said he would commit insurance fraud for people who owed too much on their vehicles. He said it would chop them up, sell it for parts, they'd report it stolen.

On the custody documents investigators found: In early 2016, "My mom said she was filling one out for my brother and asked if I wanted one more legit than the one I had... I signed my name and walked out." His first one was handwritten.

On the recordings taken from wire taps in the truck he and Jake drove: He figured they were recording him. He thought law enforcement was just trying to frame his family. He was consuming a lot of caffeine. "My father bought a bug detector and two GPS trackers in early 2015.”

He was having a conversation with his mother no the phone about that. He remembers he and Jake also talked about Beth being a spy.

George said he and his brother did not agree on how to raise their children. "It was a massive disagreement.”

On the recordings, George was heard talking about what attorneys the family should use. He said he said if all of us were arrested, "my mom should get the best one". He said he thought his mother was best at caring for the children and should be better protected.

On the recordings, you can hear his mother saying "If they frame us..." So, he thought that was absolutely possible. "I now know that he [Jake] was just lying through his teeth to me." He said the same about his mother.

George's mom testified that he said he'd take the blame for them. He said he never said that.

On the recordings, George is heard saying Jake always rats them out. George said he was referring to their childhood. George also said in the recordings that everybody is out to get us. He said he was referring to social media posts where people blamed his family.

On recordings, Jake and Angela are discussing what punishments they'd accept. George said he was under the assumption that they were talking about if they were framed and wrongfully convicted. George said in the background he was irritable and angry at people trying to frame them

When he said on the recordings he wanted to kill lead investigator Ryan Scheiderer. George said it was just an angry manner of speech. He didn't really mean he would do that.

On recordings, Jake told employer they had a family emergency. George said that's the only way to get them to give you a direct route home to get you home quicker.

On the recordings, Angela is talking about Beth trying to food poison the kids. George said he knows about that situation. He said when he got home, he checked the ice cube tray in question and found that she just didn't wash the soap out good enough.

George: I believed the finger was being pointed at my family because my brother pissed off the Manleys... "Which he does to everybody he's around.”

George: Me, Chris and Randa started our own deer hunting regime so they could keep deer meat around more They'd do that from end of Sept. to Christmas. Ate deer meat daily, 2-3 times a day Every deer I've ever shot but one I used for food. The one was full of gangrene.

They called their club the Winter Olympics.

Parker: Did you know your family was going to kill these people? George: No. Parker: Before it happened? George: No. Parker: After? George: No. Parker: Any conversations with your family about it? George: No.

Parker: If you had known? George: "I would have stopped it one way or another.”

He ended by saying he loved Hanna and considered Frankie a best friend.
 
  • #473
Caught last bit of cross-examining, going to replay trial from this morning to see what I missed. Recess (lunch time) until 1:30 pm ET.
Are those posted on YouTube?
 
  • #474
https://twitter.com/CFranciscoWCPO

Now, Lead Prosecutor Angela Canepa is cross-examining him. She starts with his relationship with Frankie. Questioning his friendship with Frankie.

Canepa: You didn't even know his new son's name. You blocked him on Facebook George: I did not block him. Someone else did if he was blocked. I hadn't met his son yet.

Canepa: Frankie didn't drink George: If someone told you that, they're lying.

Canepa: One and a half, two summers you say you and your friends spent at Big Bear Lake. George: I say one and a half because my brother got us kicked out.

Canepa: You never met Hannah Hazel Gilley and didn't know Frankie's child's name that he had with Hannah Hazel. George: right. Canepa: You said Frankie is a fighter George: I don't see Frankie letting anybody mess with their family.

Canepa: We'll start with your upbringing where you committed unlimited number of theft offenses with your family George: More than I can count.

Canepa: On the games your dad made you play spotting police and surveillance cameras George: If we missed a surveillance camera during the spotting game, we lost our 4wheelers for a week. I would have been 13, 14 years old.

Canepa: They'd get a dollar for spotting police officers before their dad did George: yes

Canepa: You were just talking about chopping up vehicles, explain that to me. George: I paid for them, and they would report them stolen later and insurance would pay off their loan. I didn't know the people. My grandfather Carter knew them.

Canepa: The truck you guys bought from Bernie Brown was also burnt down as arson George: to my knowledge, it was accidental.

George: Would you like detail into that? Canepa: Sure. George: My father has his own method of burning a vehicle. That truck was still left standing. If my father did it, just a frame would be left.

Canepa: on that truck your brother and uncle intentionally wrecked... George: He paid me half the insurance money Canepa: Yesterday, you said you gave up the crime life before that. George: I said I gave up the fuel stealing and semi load stealing.

George: Wrecking the truck scam was the first thing I tried on my own, and it failed.
Canepa: Are you saying Jake was the favorite when you say your parents bought him a truck before you? George: I'm trying to say I don't hold it against my dad. I hold it against my mother. My mother made my dad pay for it.

Canepa: At the border you never said Jake was the favorite. George: I don't remember what I said about that. As far as talking to him, Jake was closer to mom. As far as favoritism, no.

Canepa: Growing up, you were the rebel rouser, drinking at a young age, skipping chores. Is it strange for a parent not to want that? George: No. That's normal for a parent to not want their child to do those things.

Canepa: Yesterday, you talked about not even liking Jake. George: The older we got, the worse the relationship got. Canepa: You told a girl you were really close with your family. George: I wanted her to move to Ohio, but I was not going to let her move in the house with my mom.

Canepa: July 2018, on the phone w/your mom, you said you wanted a home out West to live peacefully with the family. George: I said that. It doesn't mean live in the same house. It means buy a bigger farm with their own homes.

Canepa: You said your mom is not controlling during interrogation at border. George: She got worse at the years went by. "As far as actually controlling me, no. She didn't, but she tried to control me." If that's what you mean. Canepa: I mean to point out that your story changed

Canepa: When asked who is in charge, who gets their way, you said it goes between me and my brother. George: I would say that's true. can I explain? Canepa: If you can give yes or no answers first, then explain.

Canepa: You trusted your mom enough to leave your son to him in custody docs George: There's some parts of her I don't trust. Who else would I leave my child to? I have no one else to leave him to. I didn't know what date was on the custody document she wanted me to sign.

George now looking at the custody document he signed. He sees the date of print out on the URL at the bottom is 2016. The date beside the signature indicates the form is fraudulent because it is backdated. George: I signed it in 2016.

Canepa: You know it's forgery to backdate a document George: I dont see how me signing my name is forgery. Canepa: It's backdated George: I signed it and walked out, didn't date it

Canepa: You didn't swear off a life of crime, just particular crimes you thought were hurting people. George: The last one I remember doing besides deer hunting was the truck wreck.

Canepa: You do recall applying for a drivers license with a false address. George: I do not remember that. Canepa hands him a CDL license application where he put Oak Hill address, his grandmother's farm. George: If I remember correctly, it had something to do with R&L

Canepa: You weren't using it to avoid Tabitha finding you so you could get custody of your son due to one year abandonment rule? George: My attorney told me not to contact her for that reason. I wasn't trying to get Tabby to not contact me. I was just not contacting her.

Canepa: She left on Nov. 11, 2014. George: Last day she lived at the house, yes. Canepa: You said yesterday you tried to patch things up for six weeks but found out she was unfaithful so you told her you want divorce.

Canepa: You had already filed for dissolution. George: Yes. We were trying to start over from ground zero. Canepa shows him dissolution documents and says it shows two weeks after she left, you had a legal document prepared for her to sign.

George: We agreed to not go through with it if we fixed things before the hearing, but she kept "messing around with her best friend's dad”.
George turns and asks the judge if he can go into detail about this. Judge said you have to answer the question given. George: She cancelled as many times to come visit as much as I did.

George: The majority of her cancellations was because she wanted to bring her mother and her sister with her. Canepa: You thought her mom contributed to her abuse. George: Her mother held her down. Canepa: You weren't there George: Her own mother told me that

George: Her sisters thought it was okay to marry old men and sexual abuse of a child was a part of life and you just get over it Canepa: For people you didn't want to be around, you had a lot of intimate conversations w/them. George: I spent a lot of time w/them before son born

Canepa is questioning George about how the money shared funds

Now, Canepa is trying to unravel his alibi that he was asleep around 10 pm the night of the murders. She said that does not match up with what he told investigators during his interrogation. He said then that he went to bed around 12:30 am.

Canepa says George changed his bedtime because he realized Chris and Gary were killed around 11:00 pm due to his brother's testimony. George denied that repeatedly.

Prosecutor now questioning George's character. Canepa says he called his toddler niece a b****, his grandmother a crazy w****, etc. He blamed it on the caffeine, lack of sleep, irritability. He said he didn't mean it if he did it.
 
  • #475
GW4 on cross continued.


James Pilcher
@jamespilcher
·
10m
Canepa: "You called your 4 year old niece a 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬?" George: "After 5 or 6 days on caffeine you say a lot of things you don't mean" Also called his grandmother Fredricka "a crazy 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬" and called several other women including Tabby and Randa 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬 or lazy crack 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬.

Says his mom has paranoia issues. He said he believed Beth Ann would kidnap the kids and sell them to a sex cult in Texas. Also believed she was getting up in middle of night to unlock front door.

Now onto the night Tabby left the Peterson Road house - said Tabby bit him when he gave her a hug. Said her mother threatening to get gun and throwing board at her was a different event. Says his mother is lying about that night.

George says he calls police to get her help because of her issues. Took out complaint against her. Says he was asked if he wanted to press charges and he said no. But charges were filed.

Canepa hammers him again - "everybody is lying except you" "my brother and my mother are lying to you" - but he says he doesn't remember what he told agents at Montana border in 2017 - and can't explain why it doesn't coincide with what he is saying now about that night.



link: https://twitter.com/jamespilcher
 
  • #476
And 4 defendants!
Quoting my own post.

Actually 2 more defendants were charged in connection with the case, Rita Newcomb and Fredericka Wagner.
 
  • #477
Are those posted on YouTube?

All trials via Law & Crime are posted on YT going back to the first trial date of 9/12/2022. I usually type "Pike County trial live" and it appears.
 
  • #478
Watching live testimony: GW4 well-prepared and is holding up better than I expected under AC's questioning. Wonder if Prosecutor Andrew Wilson would have been the better choice to do the cross examination.
 
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  • #479
On the custody documents investigators found: In early 2016, "My mom said she was filling one out for my brother and asked if I wanted one more legit than the one I had... I signed my name and walked out." His first one was handwritten.
What does he mean by "one custody document more legit than the one I had"?
 
  • #480

All trials via Law & Crime are posted on YT going back to the first trial date of 9/12/2022. I usually type "Pike County trial live" and it appears.
Thanks. I didn't realize Law and Crime was getting them up so quickly. WCPO puts them up but its usually later in the day or the next day.
 
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