George Wagner IV has been sentenced to eight consecutive life sentences plus 121 more years for his involvement in the Pike Country massacre, a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions that rocked rural Ohio.
Wagner, 31, looked straight ahead and showed no emotion as his hefty sentence was handed down by Judge Randy Deering in Pike County Court. He will never be eligible for parole and will die in prison.
To the end, Wagner denied involvement in the slayings, but prosecutors were successful in arguing that he played a key role in the 2016 massacre that left seven adults and one teenager dead. Prosecutors said the victims, who were all part of the Rhoden family, had been killed “execution-style” in their sleep.
Authorities alleged that Wagner and his family, including his father, brother, and mother, planned the massacre together as a ploy to gain custody of Wagner’s niece, the daughter of Edward (Jake) Wagner and Hanna Rhoden, one of the victims.
Wagner was convicted on 22 counts, including aggravated murder.
It was no longer a death penalty case because his brother, Jake, made a plea deal to testify against the others and help all four Wagners avoid execution. Jake admitted to killing five of the Rhodens and implicated his family in his testimony. He will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars, as well.
Prosecutors said George Wagner showed no remorse and what he really deserved was a death sentence — and that he was spared only because of his brother’s actions, not his own.
Investigators alleged that the Wagner family decided to massacre the Rhodens after putting it to a family vote, and that Wagner was present for the killings and helped move some of the bodies.
Wagner’s attorneys emphasized that he didn’t kill anyone and argued that denying him “a meaningful chance of parole” would be unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment. They also requested a new trial, though Deering denied that motion Monday.
The tragedy took place on April 22, 2016 when the Wagner men allegedly broke into the Rhodens’ complex of trailers and shot each of the victims in the head with guns outfitted with homemade silencers. They left alive a toddler and two newborn babies, one of whom was found trying to nurse from their slain mother, covered in blood.
The murders
Bobby Jo Manley was on her way to visit her ex-brother-in-law in 2016 when she stepped into a bloodbath.
She had driven to the Rhoden compound of trailer homes to visit Chris Rhoden Sr., 40, when she discovered him dead and bloodied along with the bodies of his family members.
The additonal victims were Chris Rhoden Sr.’s 37-year-old ex-wife Dana Rhoden; their three children, 20-year-old Clarence (Frankie) Rhoden, 19-year-old Hanna Rhoden and 16-year-old Christopher Rhoden Jr.; Clarence Rhoden’s fiancee, 20-year-old Hannah Gilley; Christopher Rhoden Sr.’s brother, 44-year-old Kenneth Rhoden; and a cousin, 38-year-old Gary Rhoden.
Investigators found evidence of cockfighting and commercial marijuana growing at the Rhoden complex, fuelling wild speculation that the family had crossed a Mexican drug cartel.
Law enforcement and prosecutors eventually started building a case around the Wagner family, painting Jake as an intimidating man and his family as a cultish clan capable of extreme violence.
Jake Wagner started a relationship with Hanna Rhoden when she was 13, prosecutors said. By the time Hanna was 15, Jake, who was 20 at the time, had impregnated her. Along with the homicide charges, Jake was booked for unlawful sexual conduct with a minor.
When Hanna ended the relationship, Jake started threatening her for custody of their daughter, prosecutors say. Hanna ended up having a second child with another man and Wagner allegedly pressured her to falsely list him as the father on her new child’s birth certificate.
Prosecutors say that Jake became enraged that his daughter was being exposed to Hanna’s new boyfriend and his family. He pushed Hanna to transfer custody rights of their child over to him but she refused.
Hanna wrote that she would “never sign papers ever. They will have to kill me first,” in a Facebook message on December 2015.
Jake’s mother Angela allegedly hacked into Hanna’s Facebook account and read the message. That’s when prosecutors say the Wagners began to plot her murder and the murder of any Rhoden they believed would get in the way of them claiming custody of her child.
The Wagners allegedly built homemade silencers for their guns, which police found after executing a search warrant in 2018, and bought “brass catchers” to avoid leaving bullet casings at the scene of the crime.
Prosecutors believe they also bought a truck and shoes specifically for the massacre and used “phone jammers” to prevent the victims from calling for help.
According to an indictment, the Wagners stalked the Rhodens to study their habits and learn where they slept.
Additional fallout
The multi-million-dollar investigation into the grisly crime is the biggest criminal investigation in Ohio’s history “by far,” according to state governor Mike DeWine.
Wagner’s mother Angela has pleaded guilty to helping plan the massacre, and prosecutors have recommended she serve 30 years for her crimes.
Wagner’s father, George (Billy) Wagner III, pleaded not guilty to the killings and will be the next Wagner to face trial.
Wagner was sentenced after an emotional hearing at which the victims’ family members spoke of their devastation and grief, and urged the judge to show no mercy toward a man they called evil and remorseless.
“No sentence that the court may impose in this case would right the wrong that was inflicted upon the victims and the families. Murder is an irreversible act. And although time may alleviate the pain of loss, it has not, obviously, at this point — and may never,” Deering addressed the court on Monday, as reported by NBC.
“It will not and cannot restore to the victims’ families what was and what might have been had the lives of their loves not been unlawfully taken and cruelly taken on that night in April in 2016.”
— with files from The Associated Press
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