I have heard it repeated on many occasions that the FBI and a few other alphabet agencies are assisting with the investigation. From day one. They can't take lead of a local murder (according to their website) they can only consult and assist in the background. I'm curious as to why you do not believe they actually are involved?
I believe they have been assisting. Federal agencies don't have to notify the local Alaska LE of an investigation. An arrest, maybe but not an investigation or surveillance. They would coordinate with the local AK FBI field office. That's why I am sure LE has known their whereabouts. I think tracking is one of the ways the federal agencies have been assisting. In that same spirit of cooperation, I also would not be surprised if the latest arrests will be federal charges.
A couple of reasons:
1 They've only been seen anywhere around the case in the first week or two of the investigation
2 No case documents thus far indicate anything about their presence. All work is being done by BCI and local LE, with the occasional assist from neighboring counties and other state agencies. Even the recent raids on the Wagner properties, conducted with 33 different vehicles revealed none of them were from a federal agency. They even went so far as to get assistance from agencies that would normally not be used for a raid: The Ohio Bureau of Prisons.
3 They're not present for press conferences, raids, search warrants or any other activity involved in this case
4 None of the local task forces - eg US 23 Drug Task Force, Cold Case Task Force, etc. have members from any federal agency
5 Early in the investigation, local heads federal agencies went directly to the news media to give their input about the case
6 Some members of the news media (Chris Graves) directly asked DeWine why the FBI, et al have been cut out of the case. He hemmed and hawed and talked of their help early in the investigation. It wasn't an answer. The news media knows what's been happening wrt federal agencies.
7 Any judicial activity thus far is going through local courts. No involvement from federal prosecutors, something that would be typical in a case involving a large scale MJ grow operation.
It's really not an unusual thing for "down state" Ohio. They like to keep things under wraps down there. JMO, it's probably why they have such a massive, intractable problem with drug/opiate abuse.
MOO