A jury has convicted a man of murder in the Pike County Massacre more than six years after eight members of another Ohio family were slaughtered in their sleep.
George Wagner IV, 31, was found guilty on Wednesday of all 22 counts he faced in southern Ohio’s Pike County, including eight counts of aggravated murder in the 2016 shootings of seven adults and a teenager from the Rhoden family.
Wagner sat motionless as the verdicts were read, closing his eyes or looking down.
Jurors delivered the verdict after weighing Wagner’s denials and other testimony against the word of witnesses including his brother Jake and mother Angela, who previously pleaded guilty to their roles.
Prosecutors said the Wagner family at the time of the massacre became ‘obsessed’ with getting custody over Jake’s then three-year-old daughter with Hanna Rhoden after they feared the child would be molested by Hanna’s new boyfriend.
Wagner denied any knowledge of his family’s involvement in the killings and testified that he wouldn’t have let it happen if he had known of the plans.
George Wagner IV, 31, was found guilty on Wednesday of all 22 counts he faced in southern Ohio’s Pike County, including eight counts of aggravated murder in the 2016 shootings of seven adults and a teenager from the Rhoden family.
The fatal shootings at three mobile homes and a camper near Piketon in April 2016 terrified residents and launched one of the state’s most extensive criminal investigations.
Prosecutors say the slayings, which initially spurred speculation about drug cartel involvement, stemmed from a dispute over custody of Wagner’s niece.
They argued that Wagner in fact did know, and participated in the plans and should therefore be convicted of the killings.
Though he wasn’t accused of shooting anyone, they alleged that Wagner was with his brother and father when they went to the homes, that he went inside with them and that he helped his brother move two bodies.
His younger brother, Edward ‘Jake’ Wagner, pleaded guilty to aggravated murder and other charges and agreed to testify against George and their parents in a deal to help the family avoid potential death sentences.
Their mother, Angela Wagner, pleaded guilty to helping to plan the slayings. Their father, George ‘Billy’ Wagner III, pleaded not guilty to the killings and awaits trial.
Jake Wagner (center) testified in court against his brother George Wagner IV as a part of a plea deal to avoid the death penalty. He pleaded guilty last year to shooting five members of the Rhoden family in Pike County, Ohio on April 22, 2016. Jake pictured in court in 2021
She said it was George ‘Billy’ Wagner III’s idea to kill the Rhodens as he feared they would seek revenge if his son Jake, now 29, killed his baby’s mother ( L-R) Angela and Billy Wagner)
Jake (right) suspected daughter Sophia was getting sexually abused as she would return to his house with her genitals being ‘red’ and had a ‘foul odor,’ according to Angela. Jake and Angela took plea deals and agreed to testify against George IV (left), who has pleaded not guilty
Jake Wagner pleaded guilty on the fifth anniversary of the killings and apologized in court. He has not been sentenced, but his lawyer said he understood that he would spend his life in prison.
Prosecutors recommended a 30-year prison sentence for Angela Wagner.
A sentencing date will be scheduled later for George Wagner IV. In addition to the aggravated murder counts, he was convicted on Wednesday on charges including conspiracy, tampering with evidence, obstructing justice, and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity.
Members of the Rhoden family, who filled the courtroom in Waverly, about 80 miles east of Cincinnati, hugged each other and wiped away tears moments after Wagner was led away in handcuffs.
Hanna, then 19, was pushed by the Wagners to give custody to Jake but later wrote on social media months before the slayings that ‘they will have to kill me first.’ She was shot in her sleep after she claimed Jake had to kill her in order to gain custody of the three-year-old they shared
Tony Rhoden, whose brother, Christopher Rhoden Sr., was among the victims, said he felt sorry for Wagner ‘because he is human.’
‘George Wagner is human. They just didn’t show it on that night,’ Rhoden said outside the courthouse. ‘It should have never happened.’
The victims were 40-year-old Christopher Rhoden Sr.; his ex-wife, 37-year-old Dana Rhoden; their three children, 20-year-old Clarence ‘Frankie’ Rhoden, 19-year-old Hanna Rhoden, and 16-year-old Christopher 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.
Most of the victims were shot repeatedly in the head.
Three other young children from the Rhoden family who were at the scenes were not hurt.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, who oversaw much of the investigation while he was the state’s attorney general, said he hopes the victims’ families take comfort in knowing George Wagner IV was convicted and will be punished.
‘From the day that these murders occurred and throughout the long investigation I always believed that we would find the truth,’ DeWine said. ‘And I always believed there would be justice for the victims.’
‘We’re not done yet,’ he said. ‘There’s one more trial.’
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said in a statement after the verdicts that investigators spent countless hours on the case and that it ‘reinforces the team’s dogged determination to secure justice for the victims and their families.’
Prosecutors say the Wagner family planned the killings for months, motivated by a dispute over custody of the daughter Jake Wagner had with Hanna Rhoden. Authorities said that child was staying with the Wagners when the killings happened.
Hanna, then 19, was pushed by the Wagners to give custody to Jake but later wrote on social media months before the slayings that ‘they will have to kill me first.’
Hanna Rhoden, mother of Jake Wagner’s toddler daughter, was shot multiple times while sleeping with her baby. Her brother Christopher Jr, right, was also killed in the slayings
Christopher Rhoden Sr., 40, and his ex-wife Dana Rhoden, 37, were among those killed
Jake testified last month that Hanna’s comment was his ‘tipping point’ and worried his toddler daughter was at risk for abuse.
‘I had no other choice than to kill Hanna,’ Jake said in the crowded courtroom.
Hanna wasn’t the only one killed in the massacre – eight members of the Rhoden family were murdered, and all but one were shot in the head while they slept in their homes.
The victims were Christopher Rhoden Sr., 40; his ex-wife Dana Manley Rhoden, 37; and the couple’s three children, Christopher Rhoden Jr., 16; Hanna May Rhoden, 19; and Clarence ‘Frankie’ Rhoden, 20.
Frankie Rhoden’s fiancée, Hannah Gilley, 20; Christopher Rhoden Sr.’s brother, Kenneth Rhoden, 4; and a cousin Gary Rhoden, 38, were also murdered.
The Wagner family planned the massacre for nearly three months and bought masks, ammunition and a device to cut off phone signal, Prosecutor Angela Canepa said.
On the night of the massacre, George, Jake, and Billy drove to four separate homes across rural Ohio where the victims were killed and moved the bodies.
Christopher Rhoden Sr.’s brother Kenneth Rhoden, 44, (left) and a cousin, Gary Rhoden, 38, were also shot dead
Clarence ‘Frankie’ Rhoden, 20, and his fiancée, Hannah Gilley, 20, were shot dead while sleeping with their child
Hanna was the main target for the Wagners – but her brothers Chris and Frankie Rhoden and their father Chris Rhoden Sr. were also on their hit list.
She was shot multiple times as she slept next to her baby whom she shared with another man.
Jake said he previously thought about pinning the murders on Hanna’s boyfriend Corey Holdren.
Earlier in the trial, the matriarch of the Wagner family who helped with the Pike County Massacre testified in court against her son, claiming that it was her husband’s idea.
Angela Wagner, 52, testified that it was her husband George ‘Billy’ Wagner III’s idea to kill the Rhoden family as he feared they would seek revenge if their son Jake, now 29, killed his baby’s mother.
Angela Wagner said that her younger son, Jake, had wanted to kill his child’s mother, Hanna May Rhoden, 19, but that her husband, Billy, 50, objected because he believed the woman’s family would seek revenge.
‘They’ll know, and then they come for Jake. They’d shoot him, if not all of us,’ Angela Wagner said her husband had told her. He also said the rest of the woman’s family ‘had to be murdered,’ she testified.
The slayings stemmed from a child custody dispute involving another of Angela’s sons and one of the victims, authorities have said.
Angela testified that they feared Jake’s daughter Sophia was being sexually abused because she would return to their home with her genital area ‘red’ and it had ‘strong odors.’
She testified that the murders were performed to protect the child, Fox19 reported. When asked why the family didn’t contact Child Services, Angela reportedly said she didn’t know.
Angela Wagner, who was asleep when the murders happened but knew about it, pleaded guilty in September 2021 to 14 counts and agreed to testify against her older son and her husband.
In return, prosecutors dismissed eight counts of aggravated murder and agreed to not seek the death penalty.
Investigators claim the family bought ammunition, a magazine clip, brass catchers and a bug detector to prepare for the crimes.
It is claimed that they constructed a homemade silencer that was used in the shootings and used ‘counter-surveillance devices’ on the properties as well as tampering with phones, cameras and parts of a home security system.
The Wagner family lived in Alaska (pictured) briefly in spring 2017. Everyone but Billy wanted to live there permanently after the murders, but the father didn’t because his own dad was ill
The Wagner family fled to Alaska after the murders. From left to right: Edward ‘Jake’ Wagner, Angela Wagner and George Wagner IV are pictured outside a supermarket in 2017
Forged documents were found on the computer purporting that Hanna Rhoden had agreed to share custody.
The Wagners took phones from six of the victims, as well as a recording device and trail cameras.
Angela reportedly confessed that the family took a vote on whether they would commit the murders and both her sons and husband said yes.
Prosecutors claim that Billy lured Christopher Sr to his death by setting up a fake ‘lucrative’ drug deal at the Union Hill Road Property before he was shot dead.
George and Jake were hidden in the car and are accused of ambushing Hanna’s father before going on to three other homes along the road.
In a 911 call following the shootings, a woman sounded out of breath as she frantically told a dispatcher: ‘I think my brother-in-law’s dead … There’s blood all over the house.’
‘There’s blood all over the house. My brother-in-law is in the bedroom and it looks like someone has beat the hell out of him.’
In this 2016 photo, a private property sign guards the boarded up garage on property on Union Hill Road near the trailer where the bodies of Dana Rhoden and her children, Chris Rhoden Jr., and Hanna Rhoden, were found on April 22, 2016
Crime scene investigators were first called to Union Hill Road at 8.21am, when seven of the victims were found.
The first three homes where bodies were found are located within a couple miles of one another on a sparsely populated stretch of road, while the eighth body was found in a house within 30 miles just before 2pm.
The Wagner family moved to Kenai, Alaska, after the killings but returned to Ohio in 2018 when they ran out of money. They were arrested in November of that year.
At the time, the family said they were moving to escape what they claimed was unfair speculation that were responsible for the murders.