Wagner family arrested in the Rhoden family massacre
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essentialsaltes
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In Ohio, prosecutors allege scheme by one family to kill another
Prosecutors say they know exactly who executed the eight family members, and they are gearing up to present their case to a jury when the first trial in Ohio’s most costly and complex criminal investigation starts in late August. The trial will give onlookers a front-row view into a corner of America known more through stereotypes than complex realities: a place where, often, family protects family at all costs and where love and loyalty trump all else.
“A lot of this, and I don’t mean this in any kind of derogatory way, is the code of the hills,” said Mike Allen, a Cincinnati-based criminal defense lawyer who has monitored the case from the start. “Family sticks together.”
The alleged motive: to obtain sole custody of a shared daughter, who was a toddler at the time.
Special prosecutor Angela Canepa has portrayed the Wagners as an insular family that lived together their entire lives, worked together, were home-schooled together, commingled their money and voted as a group on everything, including the decision to kill Hanna Rhoden, the mother of Jake Wagner’s young daughter, and seven of her family members.
Jake Wagner provided a proffered statement, meaning prosecutors cannot use his statements against him in any future criminal proceedings. In exchange, he pleaded guilty to all 23 charges and agreed to testify against each of his family members. As part of the plea deal, if he testifies truthfully, he and his parents and brother would be spared the death penalty if they are convicted.
Prosecutors say they know exactly who executed the eight family members, and they are gearing up to present their case to a jury when the first trial in Ohio’s most costly and complex criminal investigation starts in late August. The trial will give onlookers a front-row view into a corner of America known more through stereotypes than complex realities: a place where, often, family protects family at all costs and where love and loyalty trump all else.
“A lot of this, and I don’t mean this in any kind of derogatory way, is the code of the hills,” said Mike Allen, a Cincinnati-based criminal defense lawyer who has monitored the case from the start. “Family sticks together.”
The alleged motive: to obtain sole custody of a shared daughter, who was a toddler at the time.
Special prosecutor Angela Canepa has portrayed the Wagners as an insular family that lived together their entire lives, worked together, were home-schooled together, commingled their money and voted as a group on everything, including the decision to kill Hanna Rhoden, the mother of Jake Wagner’s young daughter, and seven of her family members.
Jake Wagner provided a proffered statement, meaning prosecutors cannot use his statements against him in any future criminal proceedings. In exchange, he pleaded guilty to all 23 charges and agreed to testify against each of his family members. As part of the plea deal, if he testifies truthfully, he and his parents and brother would be spared the death penalty if they are convicted.
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durangodawood
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essentialsaltes
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Wagner Family Matriarch Testifies at Son’s Pike County Massacre Murder Trial: ‘I Wasn’t Raised to Believe in the Justice System’
Angela Wagner, 52, took the stand in her oldest son’s murder trial in Pike County, Ohio Tuesday and admitted that she, along with her husband Billy Wagner and her sons George Wagner IV and Jake Wagner, planned and prepared to murder members of the Rhoden and Gilley families in April 2016 because they feared Jake’s daughter with murder victim Hanna May Rhoden would be molested.
“I was doing a lot of research. ... There was some sort of abuse going on,” Angela said.
Angela claimed her granddaughter made explicit claims about one of Hanna May’s brothers giving her bubble gum in exchange for allowing him to place items inside of her. Angela conceded she did not report her concerns to law enforcement, nor did she take her granddaughter to the doctor for an examination or file a report with children’s services.
Angela Wagner, 52, took the stand in her oldest son’s murder trial in Pike County, Ohio Tuesday and admitted that she, along with her husband Billy Wagner and her sons George Wagner IV and Jake Wagner, planned and prepared to murder members of the Rhoden and Gilley families in April 2016 because they feared Jake’s daughter with murder victim Hanna May Rhoden would be molested.
“I was doing a lot of research. ... There was some sort of abuse going on,” Angela said.
Angela claimed her granddaughter made explicit claims about one of Hanna May’s brothers giving her bubble gum in exchange for allowing him to place items inside of her. Angela conceded she did not report her concerns to law enforcement, nor did she take her granddaughter to the doctor for an examination or file a report with children’s services.
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essentialsaltes
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WAVERLY, Ohio —
A man [George Wagner] convicted in the killings of eight members of an Ohio family was sentenced Monday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for his role in what one surviving relative called a “monstrous act” of mass murder.
A man [George Wagner] convicted in the killings of eight members of an Ohio family was sentenced Monday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for his role in what one surviving relative called a “monstrous act” of mass murder.
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