June 1, 2022 • 54 mins
Hey Dougherty Gang fans, the third season of The Piketon Massacre is finally here, so check our recap episode here before hopping over to the Piketon feed for some incredible new content. Whether you've never listened to The Piketon Massacre or you're already a huge fan, you will not be disappointed.
Looking to get caught up on the intersection between the Rhoden and Wagner families as well as everything we’ve learned about the complex case before the season 3 premiere? In this episode we revisit the tragic story of the Rhoden family as well as the legal proceedings that followed.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Pike Did Massacre a production of Katie
Studios and I Heart Radio. This special episode will recap
our previous seasons to get you up to date on
the case. Season three is airing now and can be
found wherever you get your podcasts. Multiple people found dead
in more than one location along Union Hill Road in
piked In this morning two PM. Investigators say they found
(00:23):
eight people dead, seven adult victims and a sixteen year
old boy, all from the Rodent family. Just a nightmare scenario,
all of them shot in the head execution style. They
were trying to possibly wipe out this entire Family's absolutely shocking.
I hope that the unfortunate in this area apprehend eaching everyone.
(00:46):
These are people, these are monsters. This has been by
far the longest, most complex and labor intention of investigation
the Ohio Attorney General's Office has ever undertaked. No no
on your knee, have mind your back, Have mind your back. Yesterday,
a Pike County grand jury and dted four individuals for
(01:09):
aggravated murder with death pality specifications for allegedly committing this heartless,
ruthless murder. One family targeted murdered in their sleep and
the killers vanished. It's personal, and somebody was trying to
(01:31):
send a message. Everyone was talking about who could have
done it and why they would have done it. I
want to know exactly what happened that night. Thirty two
gunshot wounds, eight people dead, two families destroyed, one grizzly crime.
What will happen is anyone's guess. This is the Piked
(01:54):
and massacre seasons one and to recap how we got here.
M Courtney Armstrong a television producer at Katie Studios with
Stephanie Laidecker and Jeff Shane. Our journey started back in
when we made a documentary about the crime, and we've
been covering the story ever since. I think I speak
(02:14):
for all of us when I say that from then
until now, we have not been able to shake it
or get it out of our heads. I think for
me personally, the part of this case that continues to
haunt me is the fact that there were mothers brutally
murdered in front of their babies. What kind of a
monster would do that. We've had the benefit of going
to Pike County many times and have interviewed to date
(02:38):
probably hundreds of people whether that's local townspeople or experts,
or family members to the victims and family members of
the accused. And one thing we can say, in a
small town like this, there's not a single person that
hasn't been affected by this hideous story. And there's not
a single person you can talk to on the street
(02:59):
that doesn't know somebody connected to it in a meaningful way.
Through all these conversations, we began to piece together what
happened on that Pebule night. As you'll learn in the
upcoming season three, there is still so much left to
unravel in the community. Here's piked In, Native barb piked
In is considered a village, and it is just a
(03:21):
small little town that has a grocery store and a
pizza shop and gas stations, and there's a tire shop.
People sit and talk to the gas station. Wherever they go,
people know each other and they just sit and talk.
You know, at the tire shop you're waiting for an
oil and oil change or whatever. You just sit there
and chat with your neighbor whoever happens to come in.
(03:43):
You know somebody anywhere you go. But at some point
out in the shadow of its green hills, the area
has an eerie passed. Everybody thinks all about bad stuff
happens in the big cities, but the devil works in it. Everywhere.
I County and beautiful. It's a beautiful place, but there's
a lot of dirty people here too. From the side
(04:05):
of our town. There's been a lot of murders here
that have not been solved. On April, evil reared its
face in Pike County in the dead of night under cool,
cloudy skies. Eight people were brutally shot and killed in
four separate homes. I'll never forget that day. I'll never
(04:31):
forget that day. I had gone into the office at
the high school to pick Brittany up for an appointment.
And when I walked in, they had a TV on
and everyone in there was sitting with their mouths hanging open,
and I was like, what's going on in here? And
the secretaries said, my god, there's been a shooting. They
(04:55):
said six people were killed, and she said, we are
very worried because was little Chris Roden didn't show up
today and we think he might be one of them.
Everyone was just in shock. So little Chris law enforcement
because I couldn't find him. There was some speculation early
on that he might have been involved. For the residents
(05:22):
of piked In there was little more than confusion at
this point. People knew there was a shooting and that
Chris Roden Jr. A sixteen year old freshman at Pikedon
High was missing. Where was the team? It was at
the home of Chris Roden Senor that the nightmare began.
Chris Roden Senor was known to be a strong, hard
(05:44):
working family man. He was, you know, a great father.
He was a good man, just like the rest of
the guys you know in that family. He would do
anything for anybody. Christen Dana Roden were married for twenty
two years, and although they divorced, they remained close, so
close that Chris Sr. Had recently bought Dana a home
(06:07):
on the same road he lived on Union Hill Road.
He did it so they could stay close to their children.
Chris Senior's cousin, Gary Roden, was more like a brother
to him and often stayed at his place. Little Chris's aunt,
Bobby Joe, who also lived nearby, was the first to
make the gruesome discovery at seven forty nine am when
(06:28):
she came to feed the dogs. O patriarch of the family.
(06:50):
Chris Rodin was dead. He looked like he'd been beaten
to death. Chris's cousin, Gary Roden, who was staying with Chris,
was also dead. What's here saying? Very right and franking
Gary rod start times in. It looks like the dead, right,
(07:11):
they're both good. I think you're gods out. Okay, you're
anybody open of the house? I don't know us okay,
So door was awfully got here but on her bride,
her letting on the floor. Bobby, I need to get
out of the house. And Wayne house started right now? Okay.
(07:39):
This three year old Christopher Roden was the only one
of the eight family members who was shot somewhere other
than the head. He had multiple gunshot wounds to the head,
torso and extremities Corner Distinguished Professor and criminal forensic expert
Joseph Morgan tried to make sense of the Rodent murders,
starting with father and family patriarch, Chris Sr. Some of
(08:02):
this will be hard to hear, particularly if you're personally
connected to the tragedy, but it's important to understand the
magnitude of what happened that night. He was shot nine times.
Now for me, as a forensic investigator, I would look
at that and I would deem that as overkilled. And
you know, why would somebody need to be shot nine times?
(08:23):
They're saying that there's evidence that he attempted or reacted
at least to the point where he raised his arm
his right form and it it shattered one of the bones.
When you've got an individual that has gotten defensive loans,
that person has an awareness, so that goes to a
level of callousness that that's roses to victim. Gary Roden,
(08:50):
Chris Sr's cousin, was a beloved member of the family.
By all accounts, Gary and Chris Sr. Were very close.
Gary just happened to be at Chris's home that night.
He was actually from Kentucky, so you know, he didn't
even live in the area or the neighborhood, but you know,
lived close enough to where he was staying with Chris
that evening. We do know that the shooter was very
(09:12):
very close to Gary when they fired, because they talked
about what is referred to as a press contact events
wanted and if if our listeners will essentially take your
index finger, okay, and point it towards the palm of
your hand and extend the tip of your finger maybe
I don't know, probably about half an inch away from
the surface of your palm. That's kind of what we
(09:36):
refer to as a contact moon. And what that means
is that you're going to have you know, the bullet
is not the only thing coming out of the end
of the weapon. You're going to have the fire that
actually the ignition of the bullet, and around you'll have
this burning of powder that's coming out. You'll have unburned
powder that's coming out. So this is a very intimate event.
(10:02):
I spoke with Mike Gallen, criminal defense attorney from Ohio.
Are you able to talk about the scenes themselves? You know,
if you look at it and it's all from the
autopsy reports, those kind of injuries leaves no doubt that
this was an intentional or these all were intentional killings,
(10:23):
kind of designed to send a message to someone. The
muzzle marks sticks in my mind. You have to be
obviously arms reached. I mean, you are locking eyes with
the victim, it would seem Does that paint any kind
of picture to or indicate to officers or attorneys anything? Sure,
it does, and maybe even closer than arms length I
(10:44):
mean maybe just inches. It indicates to me, at least,
especially when you have the number of shots like that here,
that somebody was trying to send a message. I don't
think there can be any doubt about that. I mean
it was personal and I think that's what that demonstrates.
(11:05):
At this point, Bobby Josie's two people did by twelve
gunshot wounds. While waiting desperately for police to arrive, she
makes her way over to her nephew, Frankie's house. She
wanted to get some help and to tell him what
happened to his father and uncle, whose bodies she had
just found. Frankie Rowden was Chris Senior and Dana's oldest son.
(11:27):
The twenty year old was a father to two boys.
Like his parents, Frankie was a hard worker. He loved fishing, hunting,
and demolition derby, but nothing so much as his family
and his fiance, nineteen year old Hannah Gilly. Hannah Gilly
was on the homecoming court in high school, and at
that time she told friends she planned to go to college,
(11:47):
get a business degree, and open a daycare. Frankie and
Hannah wanted a lot of kids. They had a bright
future The young family lived together just up the street
from Chris sr All on Union Hill Road. They were
looking forward to getting married soon. So after Bobby Joe
(12:08):
made the call to nine one one, she went to
Frankie's house near right nearby, and the person who came
to the door was Frankie's three year old son. As
the police reports and newspaper reports showed, he was, you know,
covered in blood, and he, like any three year old,
sort of didn't fully understand what was going on. And
he told his aunt that, you know, his father was
(12:31):
playing zombie in the bedroom, and that's because the family
were fans of The Walking Dead, so you know, he
was in there with his father playing zombie, which is
absolutely heartbreaking. Twenty year old Frankie Rodin was shot three
(12:53):
Tom's in the head as he lay in bed next
to his fiance and they're six month old. We talked
about Hannah Gilly shot trib Tom's. She she catches one
in the eye. It poses this idea, why are you
shooting these people in the face. What's the purpose of it,
because not only shoot him in the face, you're shooting
(13:14):
him multiple talks. What what threat did she post? She's
laying there was her child in the bed meanwhile, and
this is all happening. Around eight am on April, Bobby
Joe calls their brother James. She's in hysterics. There's now
(13:35):
two murder scenes, four people dead, twenty gunshot wounds, two
children left alive at the scenes. James immediately goes over
to his sister Dana's house to check on her and
the remaining kids. Dana Roudin was a nurse known for
(13:58):
her gregarious nature and loving smile. She had met Chris
Rodden Sr. When she was just in high school and
it was love at first sight. Even though they divorced
twenty two years later, they remained very close together. The
pair had three beautiful children, twenty year old Frankie, Hannah May,
and little Chris. She's goodhearted, a lot of fun, you know,
(14:20):
always laughing, cracking up. She was. She was a very
very good person. She sent me a text she said,
my grand babies here and I said, we congratulations. I said,
she's beautiful. What did you What did Hanna May name her?
She said Kylie May and I said that's so pretty.
And that was the last, you know, the last thing
(14:43):
I ever heard from Dana. She again like Chris Senior
was shot multiple times, and not only was she shot
multiple times, but specifically reports have her having been shot
five times, four times. Pull Tom's in the head. Now,
(15:04):
what the hell would you shoot somebody four Toms in
the head, because you know one should suffice. But the
shooter took the top to take that muzzle of that weapon.
Stick it beneath Dana's chin, Stick it beneath her chia.
This is a common location for suicide, all right, This
(15:27):
is a typical for homicide. This particular April seemed extra
special because Hannah May had just given birth to her
second daughter five days prior. Just weeks before that, Dana
threw Hannah May a big baby shower at their new house.
The pictures from the shower show what a happy celebration
(15:49):
it was. Sadly, James, Dana's brother, was about to enter
yet one more unimaginable scene. Dana and her nineteen year
old daughter, Hanna May, were both dead. Hannah roding She
was shot twice in the head as her newborn laid
beside her. Maybe they're curled in a fetal posture along
(16:12):
with her baby, just curled in a fetal posture. Mom
was slowly stroking the head of the baby and try to, uh,
you know, calm suit the baby during the night. Maybe
she she awakes, some breastfeeds the baby during the night
while she's sleeping, and said, it's a position and people
have slept in for thousands and thousands of years. It's
a position of comfort. You imagine you're laying there, You're
there to protect your baby, and you're curled up on
(16:35):
your side. There's an awareness. This brings us back to
in Dana's son, the high school freshman, Chris Jr. Was
nowhere to be found. It took detective several hours to
locate him, but finally little Chris was found in the
home with his mother, Dina and his sister Hannah. May
(16:56):
sixteen year old Chris Jr. Was shot four toms in
looting twice in the top of his head. He was
found wedged behind his bed, implying that he was trying
to hide from the killer killers. There's now seven people dead,
(17:17):
thirty one gunshot wounds, and three children left alive at
the scenes. The once small and sleepy town became the
epicenter for grizzly crime and the subsequent complex murder investigation.
When it was all said and done, two families would
be destroyed and the town would never be the same.
(17:39):
For the Quiet Town, the scene was unreal. Nearly seven
hours after the first bodies were found at one PM
and April a final fatal discovery. Yeah I need it.
He has been out to close to seven on nine
lat Force. Uh, it's all that stuff. It's on the news.
(18:04):
I just found this down My cousin with a game shop. Wind. Okay,
let's see it right So, okay, I'll be saying that
by the very way on the whole thing, Donald done,
whole thing done. Yeah, it says, what do you mean
(18:28):
can Rody? Yeah? Okay, care honey, out of the house.
I'm I'm out of the house right now. I just
went in Alora and check Laura and a little to
say he had a game shop. Wind. Okay, we're gonna
get that down there to okay, all right, kick Mark.
(18:56):
A few miles down Union Whole Road was Chris Roden
Senior's brother. There, Kenneth year old, was shot once through
his right eye. Kenneth's cousin, Donald Stone, went to check
on Kenneth after hearing about the murders of their six
other family members he had failed to hear from Kenneth
that day. What does it say that they would take
(19:19):
the time and put themselves in a position where they
could be face to face with Kenneth. He was found
covered with dollar bills that were strewing about his body. Um,
he just god, I mean, you can't you can't make
this up. By the time officials released the names of
(19:42):
the eight victims piked In, residents were reeling. You know,
they had snuck in in the night and committed this,
these murders, and nobody had a clue about you know
who or why, And that's really scary. We're going to
(20:03):
take a break. We'll be back in a moment. There
were rumors about who had done the crime everywhere online,
in the coffee shops, amongst the police. I mean everyone
was talking about who could have done it and why
they would have done it. Investigators believe that the murders
(20:27):
were clearly premeditated, but the killing spree was so staggering
and merciless there were endless questions. One of the first
things investigators studied where confrontations the roads had with locals
in recent years. Could these conflicts have triggered a vendetta
against the family. There was one concerning incident that had
(20:48):
happened at a demolition derby. Based on what's been reported
in the court documents, I think it's fair to say
that Frankie and Chris Jr. I'm definitely were hotheads. It
definitely got into fights here and there. They had an
incident with a fellow named Tommy Gorman, who was a
(21:11):
rival in the demolition derby's. They got into a bit
of a sort of heated match and there was a
believe at incident on the track. They got up say
with each otherous bad blood um. And then again it's
you know, kind of kicked up speed with Facebook posts
about sort of consulting each other. And then of course
Chris Junior Frankie drove over to Gorman's house and proceeded
(21:35):
to uh really beat on Gorman and his father um
and they fights and meetings were only really broken up
after the grandfather came out and pumped a few shotgun
shells into the air. Chris Junior had also gotten into
a scuffle with another local kid named Rusty mongol we
(22:00):
On gold Head posted on Facebook that Christian your hid
him with a car and in his message. You know,
he uses some pretty tough language. I mean, Rusty was
nineteen at the time, and you know he's talking about
I'm gonna break his fucking legs and curb stop his
ass and sort of nineteen year old bluster. Really, the
Rusty Mungle thing happened just two weeks before the murders.
(22:23):
But police scoured both of these leads, even taking DNA
evidence of the suspects. They came up empty. An ominous
feeling had spread throughout Pike County. He was investigative reporter
Jodi Barr. You've got eight members of one family targeted,
murdered in their sleep, in their homes, and the killers
(22:45):
seemingly vanished. We didn't know the pieces, We didn't know
how to put it together. There was no information coming
out about these murders, about motives, even the family members
who were in direct communication with law enforcement, even they
were being told anything. I mean, it's called it good
investigative work, and you know, you hold your card close
to the chest as an investigator. Maybe that's what it was.
(23:08):
But from the outside looking in, it was almost like
law enforcement didn't have a clue at that point in time.
Led by an ambitious Sheriff Charles Reader. The ensuing investigation
soon became the largest in Ohio's history. I've got a
message for the killers. We will find you. The family
and the victims will have justice one day. There's so
(23:32):
many pieces that have to be put into place with
this your lead progging from this blood bath to another
blood bath. One of the first major developments in the
case came when Mike Dwine, then Ohio's Attorney General, announced
that he believed the killings were planned and premeditated. He
cited clear efforts taken by the shooter or shooters to
(23:54):
remove any incriminating forensic evidence. The Attorney General Dwine at
the time said it was a pretty sophisticated operation and
the people that that carried it out, we're trying to
do everything that they could to make sure that they
didn't get caught. Attorney General Dwine and Sheriff Reader, they
both said that the investigation was going to be a
long one in a lengthy process, and boy, sure has
(24:17):
played out that way. An investigative task force of massive
scope kicked into gear, led by the Ohio Bureau of
Criminal Investigation the b c I. More than two one
law enforcement officials were mobilized, including sheriffs from offices across Ohio.
The FBI and the d e A stepped in to
(24:38):
provide technical expertise to de Win's office. Solemn funerals were
held for all the victims. For two years, not a
single arrest was made. You lived in that area, man,
it was hush hush. You were just kind of walking
around looking over your shoulder at seeing with some of
these people, not knowing you know, who could be next,
(24:58):
who did it? There was one very curious lead that
investigators had unhearthed. At three of the crime scenes on
Union Hill Road, police found a substantial marijuana grow operation,
including a grow house harboring hundreds of cannabis plants. This
grow operation on the Rodents property was clearly being cultivated
(25:19):
for sale. It was also worth almost half a million dollars.
The Rodents had a pretty sposible crop of marijuana plants
on their property. You know. There were indications that they
were involved in some drug deals and drug trade with marijuana.
(25:40):
That obviously feeled even more speculation that these were outside operators.
Possibly was as a drug deal gone bad, or was
somebody trying to take over their turf. All kinds of
Rumors started slow after that disclosure. As the months wore on,
no one's been arrested, no one charged, no people named.
This person's of interest, you really started to wonder, you know,
(26:05):
maybe this drug cartel thing there was something to that.
They definitely knew how to kill people. You know, you're
looking for signs of the drug cartel, and then you
find Kenneth Roden with what appeared to be a gunshot
in the head, but that there were dollar bills or
(26:26):
some sort of paper money spread around the body. Was
that a sign? What did that mean? Could the Rodents
operation have motivated a cartel hit, a lethal battle over territory?
It was a tenable idea. But over the next months,
(26:48):
as the investigation dug deeper, an entire new set of
possible culprits came into frame. The Wagner family Angela Wagner
for the eight years old, her husband Billy Wagner, their
two sons, George and Jake, both in the mid twenties,
Angela's mother, Rita Newcombe, and the family matriarch, Frederica Wagner.
(27:12):
Here's Jeff. The Wagners were a well known and well
to do family in the Pickton area. And Frederica Wagner
was at the helm of this A self described entrepreneurs
she owned properties all of her Pike County that spanned
over sevent acres and were valued at more than four
million dollars. She had also founded two nonprofits, Lucasville Mission,
a church that helps underprivileged children, and the Crystal Springs Home,
(27:34):
a facility that provides services to developmentally disabled adults. As
we've learned throughout the series, Frederica had her detractors as
well as her supporters in the community. We probably need
to clarify here. The Wagner seemed like a good, god
fearing country family, but police were gathering heart evidence linking
the Wagners to the crime, and the Wagners had had
(27:56):
some tangles with law enforcement in the past. In two
thous and in one seemingly homespun, mother Angela Wagner, along
with Billy Wagner, were charged with him properly handling a firearm.
In two thousand and twelve, they are both charged with
receiving stolen property, a felony. Investigators discovered that in the
months prior to the killings, the Wagners began making their
(28:17):
own gun silencers, police believe silencers were necessary to pull
these killings off because they happened in such close proximity.
Investigators also found that the Wagner family had bought ammunition,
a magazine clip, a bug detector, and materials to build
brass catchers. The brass catcher is a bag that hooks
(28:40):
on the side of a firearm. It will catch spent cartridges,
so every time you pull the trigger, cartridges is ejected.
And if you were really interested in not leaving anything behind.
As far as holistic evidence, this sounds like a great story.
This bag will collect the shell casing so there's no
evid left behind. The bug attector apparently that helps someone
(29:05):
find listening to oaxes and sometimes create white noist a
muffle sounds or discussion Authority search to seventy one acre
farm and peebles that was once owned by Jake Wagner.
Jake was victim Hanname Roden's former boyfriend. The pair shared
(29:26):
a three year old child together. Jake and Hanname Rodin
had parted bitterly and were fighting over custody at the
time of her murder. The vice was tightening around the
Wagner family and some speculate that the only way they
felt they could escape it was to move four thousand
miles away. They moved to Alaska, which raised even more
(29:46):
suspicious But then the very following month, law enforcement actually
finally searches properties where the Wagners lived. So that was
really the first public indication that the Wagners were possible suspects,
if not people of interest. The Wagners made keen I, Alaska,
their new home. It's a tiny town south of Anchorage.
(30:08):
All the while they vehemently denied any wrongdoing. Jake's mother,
Angela Wagner, said her husband, Billy Wagner, and victim Chris
Roden Senor, were like brothers. She claimed that Billy would
never harm Chris. Billy's mother, grandmother, Frederica Wagner, said the
Wagners were quote a good Christian family and despite the
(30:28):
speculation about the family, many in Pike County couldn't figure
the Wagners from murder us. I read that and I
had to laugh. I had to laugh so hard. Okay,
so you have to remember that this was a very organized,
(30:52):
brilliantly done execution. This is something that you wouldn't learn
on a d v D with military background, Navy seals.
I mean, whoever did it was was brilliant. Their professional
(31:12):
These people are not professional killers. I think that is
the common theme of this entire story about Pike County
and about this road and massacre, is it seems just
too far fetched out when you try to connect the
dots through the histories of you know, how the Wagoners
conducted their business, how they live their lives. I don't
(31:35):
know that I have seen any reporting, any fact brought
out about the Waggoners that would say, yep, there you go,
mass murderers. I think that is the draw that continues
to to keep people interested in this story, is that
you would have never seen any of this coming. In
the spring of two thousand and eighteen, the Wagoners returned
to the pikes In area to take care of Billy's
(31:57):
aging father. The plan was to set up with care
and then returned to Alaska, but things did not go
as planned. If you seek about it, the Wagners were
scott free. They went to Alaska. They could have took
off and nobody could have ever seen them again ever,
(32:17):
but they came back here. They came back. Now, my
the way that I am, I would never do that.
But if I had pulled something off like that and
got away into that long and went to Alaska, you know,
I'm packing my ship and I'm hitting the woods, and
nobody's ever going to see me again. I'm sure the
hell I'm not going to come back. It's the only
way I would come back is if I thought my
(32:38):
ask covered. With their investigation reaching a fever pitch, then
Ohio Attorney General Mike Dwine and Pike County Sheriff Charlie
Reader asked the public for information on the Wagner family.
I hope that the unfortunate in this area apprehend each
and everyone. These are people, These are monsters, the Wine said.
(33:05):
He was quote laser focused on the Wagners, their business dealings, vehicles, firearms,
and ammunition. Investigators had solid ballistic evidence connecting firearms using
the homicide with guns believed to be owned by the Wagner's.
These included a twenty two caliber long rifle, a forty
(33:25):
caliber handgun, and a thirty caliber gun. They also recovered
a homemade silencer at the bottom of a well on
the Wagner's property. Well, good afternoon. We promised that the
day would come when a rush would be made in
the Pike County massacres today or is that today? In
(33:47):
a series of arrests that sent shock waves through the
insulated community, six members of a local family, the Wagners,
were taken into custody. Hands up, a right up. Forty
seven year old Billy Wagner is the patriarch of the
Wagner family and was arrested near Lexington, Kentucky, and a
(34:08):
horse trailer that was pulled over. Name Angelo Wagner is
Billy's wife and matriarch of the Wagner family. The forty
year old was arrested at their home near Piked In, Ohio.
Angelo and Angela and Billy's two sons, George Wagner and
(34:33):
Jake Wagner, were arrested together during a traffic stop. George
seven and Jake was twenty six. Seventy six year old
Fredrico Wagner, Billy Wagner's mother was arrested at the family's
horse farm, the Flying w Angelo Wagner's mother, sixty five
year old Rita Joe Newcomb, was arrested at her home
(34:57):
while six members of the Wagner family were arrested and
action with the crime. Billy Angela, George and Jake Wagner
were charged with eight counts of aggravated murder. Details about
the arrests of four people and the murders of eight
members of the Rodent family. All the arrests happened within
minutes of each other. And that tells me that the
(35:19):
b c I, the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification, who
was in charge of this investigation, they know what they're doing,
and they wanted to make sure that they affected these
arrests without any kind of problems or tipping anybody off.
So they had that thing down pretty tight. Six months later,
(35:40):
four members of the Wagner family were indicted on charges
of aggravated murder with death penalty specification for the murders. Yesterday,
a Pike County grand jury and died four individuals for
aggravated murder with death penalty especially vacation, for allegedly committing
(36:03):
this heartless, ruthless, cold blooded murder. Did they do it?
We want to know now, obviously everybody wants to note
right now. And man, if they're cooperating, as this attorney says,
they're giving over computers and laptop DNA, whatever it takes.
(36:24):
You know, people who aren't experts of criminology. We look
at that and go, well, man, that sounds like an
innocent person. An innocent person will be doing that. On
the other hand, there were the ballistics discoveries. Here's Bureau
of Criminal Investigation agent Ryan Scheiderer testifying in court that
shell casings found in the Wagness property match the ones
(36:46):
found at the Rodent's crime scenes. We recovered twenty two
caliber shell cases. And where we recovered those which at
to sixty Peterson Road, which was the property that was
owned by George Wager and his brother Jake. And we're
of those shall casing submitted to the lab for comparison
to the shaw cases that had been recovered from both
(37:07):
Frankie's and Dana's residences. Yes, and what was the opinion
of the The weapon that fired the shell casings at
two sixty Person Road also fired the shell casings at
Anna's and Dana's residents as well as Frankie and Hannah
(37:28):
Gillies residents. So the same firearm had been inspired on
the same properties. Okay, So the exact same gun, not
just the same type of gun, the same firearms. Okay.
The indictment also includes a reference to a specific pair
of boots that the Wagner family purchased at Walmart and
(37:49):
allegedly war during the murders. The theory was that the
Wagners were trying to frame Dana Roden's brother, James Fanley,
who was known to add this make of boot. Sheriff
Frieder said the Wagner's plan these killings for months, studying
the Rodents habits. He alleged that they then covered up
(38:10):
the killings, including stealing the road and security footage and
tampering with their phones. It seems a single minded cult
like obsession drove these murders. So we've talked about the
Wagners and how insulated that family was, and you know,
the word cult has been thrown around in reference to
(38:32):
the family. It's hard to imagine a nuclear family of mother, father,
and two adult sons who started doing reconnaissance on the
Rodent family, which by all accounts, where the family that
they were close with, friendly with in some ways, and
months before the murders, allegedly the Wagners started to track
their comings and goings. And the question is why would
(38:54):
they do that? I Mean, the only thing I can
think of is that Angela Wagner was this obsessed mother
who who not only wanted to control her son Jake,
but also all the people in his life. By all accounts,
it appears that the Rodents were being hunted by the
Wagner family, and that's unbelievable when you really put it
into context. The idea of a killer family sitting around
(39:15):
the kitchen table holding murder meetings is impossible to imagine.
What came into focus is that there was a raging
custody dispute between Jake Wagner and his former girlfriend Hannam
rod In over their three year old daughter that is
speculated as the real motive behind these murders. They would
(39:37):
travel back and forth between Hannah's mother's house and Jake's
family's house, and they would live as a family for
a few weeks at a time in each home. And
for everyone who knew them, they said that the couple
was very happy. They were talking about marriage and building
a life together until seemingly in March they broke up.
And that's when Hannah started dating a new guy, a
man named Charlie Gilly, and Jake was devastated. Jake was
(40:01):
pressuring Hannah to sign over full custody, something she adamantly
did not want to do so. In the summer of
when Hannah wrote in announced that she was pregnant with
a new child, Jake Wagner was adamant that he was
the dad of this kid, and he was desperate to
prove it, so much so that he went to the
hospital when the baby was born and checked for a
Wagner family trait in the tow And we know that
(40:25):
just days after Hannah was murdered, the Wagner family filed
for custody of not only Jake's three year old daughter,
but also the newborn baby, So it's clear that this
family had plans to raise both children as their own.
As you'll hear in season three, there's a lot more
context to Jake's relationship with Hannah and what his state
(40:45):
of mind was around the murders and before the murders
in terms of moving on and how he felt about her.
The Wagners wanted custody over Jake and Hannah's child at
all costs, but was that pause sibly enough to justify
a whole scale slaughter of another family. It seemed Jake
Wagner was highly distraught over having lost Hanname Roden here
(41:09):
is an anonymous Wagner source. He was trying very hard
to make sure that they got back together. He still
wanted to be with her. He was trying to get
get back with her just everything that he could. On
top of the breakup, Hannah was also allegedly withholding their
daughter from Jake. There was a custody battle. Hannah wasn't
(41:30):
allowing Jake to see her or any of the family
to see her, and so it kind of just got
out of hand at that point. It just sent him
off to the point where Jake um because he had
made the comments a couple of times, I mean, and
I had told a com people about this. I mean,
(41:51):
he had made the comments, you know that he were
going to to kill her, and he told her that,
you know, He's like, I going to I'm going to
have to kill you. Like you're not going You're not
gonna let me see the navy then you know you're
not going to have her. And I'm like, Jake, you
can't say the thing. Please just chill out. And of course,
(42:13):
you know, nobody ever really thinks like, oh my god,
he's actually going to He was just completely out of
his mind. Get really really upset him. The Wagners had
allegedly orchestrated another ruthless custody battle once before. Jake's brother,
George Wagner, had a child with a woman named Tabitha,
(42:37):
and when they split up, accusedma or George Wagner and
his mother, Angela Wagner, blocked Tabitha from seeing her son.
Here's Tabitha's sister, Christina Tabby like whenever she would try
to reach out to George, like hey, can I come
visit my son? And Angela would get on there and
(42:57):
be like, oh, he's not your son anymore. Would tell
Tabby like, oh, you might have gave Bartolin beyond his
real mother because I take care of these and all
these just nasty things. At one point, accused murderer Angela
Wagner even threatened Tabitha and ran are out of town.
(43:20):
Here's court testimony about the incident. Eventually, there was a
comment by Angela that she was gonna kill Tabitha, so
she fled to a gas station and ultimately never returned.
And actually specifically she first hit on the property until
nightfall and then and drove to a gas station and
neither escape that way. And never went back after that corp.
(43:45):
And yet the idea that the Wagners would resolve a
custody issue in such a ruthless fashion is confounding. I
don't think anybody would believe that a family could have
put together such a tactical hit on another family that
they had created life with. It's still too difficult to accept,
it too hard to believe. Let's stop here for another break.
(44:09):
Before the killings, the Wagners were trying to coerce victim
Hanname Roden into signing forged documents seating custody of her
daughter to Angela Wagner in the event of Hannah's death.
The forged custody documents that have been discussed in this case,
they were declaration documents, and it was stated in Rita
(44:29):
Newcome's case because she was the one accused of charged
with forgery or obstruction, it said that it was declarations
for the children of Hannah Roden, George the Fourth and Jake,
And so basically these documents designated a guardian should any
of them die. And these documents had been signed and
(44:50):
notarized nineteen days before the murders, and it designated the
children go to Angela should any of them die. That's
just one of those puzzle pieces that I felt like
showed that Angela she may have been the driving force
here since she was the one that had the Facebook
message that's been referenced in court that showed that Hannah
said they'd have to kill me first before I gave
(45:12):
up my child, and she showed that message to Jake.
This paper says, if Hannah is to meet her demise,
then Sophia should go to Jake. Correct. Okay, But if
Jake meets his demise and his child goes to his mom, correct,
(45:32):
not to Hannah. Correct. Then, on a on the five
year anniversary of the murder, and in a case where
nothing made sense, accused murderer Jake Wagner abruptly pled guilty
to aid counts of aggravated murder, felony, conspiracy, unlawful possession
(45:54):
of a dangerous ordinance, and tampering with evidence. The State
of Ohio read as part of the guilty plead not
to seek the death penalty for him or his father, mother,
or older brother. Here's Stephanie speaking with reporter James Pilcher.
Is it possible that Jacob could say I was in
a very controlling environment. My mother, Angela Wagner, controlled us.
(46:18):
My father was a bully and said I had to
do these things, and we were courced into it. Is
there any value in that even? I mean, that's entirely possible,
and some of the reporting, that's what we've heard Leekal.
The other thing I will say is that maybe they're
going after bigger game than Jake, and they figured we'll
cut this deal. Now he'll give us what we want
(46:39):
and then we can go get the mom and the dad.
But clearly they were going after the people who plotted it.
This was not Jake's idea, right, or at least not
according to the prosecutors. This was the family coming together.
That's what the prosecutors are after, is that, Okay, we
get Jake to help us, we get Jake to plead out,
shows that this really he did happen. Now we can
(47:01):
go after the people who were actually planned it. Jake,
who admitted to shooting five of the eight victims, agreed
to cooperate with prosecutors and testify against his family members.
He knows he will die in prison. Do you think
Jake is lying about being personally responsible for five of
the eight. I don't know what his incentive to lie
(47:23):
about that is. I mean, is he that afraid of
the death penalty? The economics of that equation just does
not make sense to me. Where he would openly confess
to murdering five people. Probably the worst act you could
commit as a human is taking the life of another,
and he did that five times over. I think we
got a good idea of what happened here. The charges
against Frederica Wagner were dismissed. She maintained her faith throughout
(47:47):
the ordeal, even as her son, accused murderer, Billy Wagner,
and his family were charged with horrible crimes. Trust in
the Lord with all your heart, lean not to your
own understanding, in all your ways. Acknowledge Him and he
will direct her path. And as my attorney will tell you,
it was dismissed because I was innocent. They had no
(48:08):
evidence against me. I'd never lied about anything. The investigation
had a snag when Sheriff Frieder was arrested on phony
charges not related to the case. There had been criticism
about how Sheriff Frieder handled evidence in the road massacre,
but these new charges conflict of interest. Saft In office
(48:29):
and tampering with evidence stripped him of his badge and office.
I stand here before you today to take accountability for
my actions, to accept responsibility for my conduct, I said,
shared of Ohio, I should excuse me. Everything that I've
worked for professionally in honorably for years was tripped to
(48:52):
me with nobody good playing but myself. If I could
go back contangent, I would a million times. This. This
is not who I am. Never ever did I imagine
myself on the defense side of this court route that
(49:13):
I've spent twenty five years of my life and in
this country in law enforcement. I am a good person,
made bad decisions and choices I have and I'm now
pray that the court will find mercy on me. According
to reports, Reader allegedly stole cash sees from drug arras
(49:35):
to fund a gambling problem. He even blamed his gambling
addiction on the stresses of investigating the Rodan killings. You know,
now he's blaming his gambling habits on because what he's
seen in the Rodent crime scenes have haunted in so
much he couldn't sleep, so he would go gamble one
name Charlie for thirty years and He's been gambling way
(49:58):
before this happened, and that's just that, just to me,
shows you his character. You know, I'm gonna I'm gonna
use the death of eight people to try to smooth
over that I'm still a money off my county and gambling,
and that is disgusting to me. You're talking about a
guy who led the sheriff's office and who for a time,
(50:20):
a moment in time when this first happened, these murders
first happened, who was also leading that investigation until the
state came in and took it over. You just sit
back and go, man, let's see where this is. I mean,
Pike County has been a crazy ride ever since the
end of April. It has been an absolutely crazy half
a decade there. But despite Sheriff Reater's downfall, the Wagner's Billy, George, Jake,
(50:44):
and Angela remain locked up. Jake's mother, Angela, father Billy,
and brother George await their fate as Jake prepares to
testify against them. The Wagners are facing three thirty two
thousand files of evidence from the prosecution. Will the Wagners
remain behind bars and what will Jake reveal about what
(51:05):
happened that harrowing night in April. The HEAs found the
totality of information now known by the state, including the
fourth right statements of the defended. We have overwhelming evidence
of the defendant and the three co defendant members of
his family foreign fact responsible for planning and carrying out
(51:25):
the homicide. Jay admitted it in the late evening hours
of two thousand sixteen into the early morning hours of
Able twenty second, two thousand sixteen, is when they emitted
these hop sides. You think about staring into the eyes
of your kin folks across the room as you're sitting
(51:46):
in the dock there, and you're looking at them straight
in the eyes, and um, people that you've spent Thanksgivings
with Christmas is uh. You know these moments throughout your life,
and you're looking at them, and you're potentially sending them
(52:06):
to the proverbial gallows by virtue of what you're going
to say, Will we figure out exactly what happened on
the night of April in Piketon. I want to know
exactly what happened that night. You know, how did they
get in the homes? We know the end We've got
(52:27):
some idea what happened in the middle, but I think
I want to know about the beginning. You know, was
this truly about custody? You know, I would just like
to know, you know exactly why from Jake Wagner. When
did the switch flip to where the only resolution to
whatever was going on between him and the Rodents at
(52:48):
that point was to go and kill them all? It
makes absolutely no sense. And was Angela the mastermind behind
it all? I think it was bil Angelo behind the
theme controlling everything in a little public after. What will
happen in the meantime is anyone's guess? Will there be
another Plea deal? It'll be interesting to see where this
(53:10):
case goes from here. It's the pike and massacre. Who knows.
You never know where this is going next. This season,
we have a much fuller picture of who the Wagner
family was prior to this and how they became the
monsters we now know them to be. We've really started
to learn more about the Wagner family, not only the
lives that they lead, but also their motivations for the
(53:33):
crimes they allegedly committed. Just when we thought it couldn't
get any stranger, or darker it has. All will be
revealed on season three of The piked In Massacre. For
more information in case photos, follow us on Instagram at
(53:54):
Katie Underscore Studios. This special episode was produced by Stephanie Leidaker,
Jeff Shane, Chris Graeves, Alan Wieder, and me Courtney Armstrong.
Editing and sound design by Jeff Ta music by Jared Aston,
audio mixing by Ken Novak. The Pikedon Massacre is a
(54:15):
production of Katie Studios and I Heart Radio. For more
podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Welcome to the Pike Did Massacre a production of Katie
Studios and I Heart Radio. This special episode will recap
our previous seasons to get you up to date on
the case. Season three is airing now and can be
found wherever you get your podcasts. Multiple people found dead
in more than one location along Union Hill Road in
piked In this morning two PM. Investigators say they found
(00:23):
eight people dead, seven adult victims and a sixteen year
old boy, all from the Rodent family. Just a nightmare scenario,
all of them shot in the head execution style. They
were trying to possibly wipe out this entire Family's absolutely shocking.
I hope that the unfortunate in this area apprehend eaching everyone.
(00:46):
These are people, these are monsters. This has been by
far the longest, most complex and labor intention of investigation
the Ohio Attorney General's Office has ever undertaked. No no
on your knee, have mind your back, Have mind your back. Yesterday,
a Pike County grand jury and dted four individuals for
(01:09):
aggravated murder with death pality specifications for allegedly committing this heartless,
ruthless murder. One family targeted murdered in their sleep and
the killers vanished. It's personal, and somebody was trying to
(01:31):
send a message. Everyone was talking about who could have
done it and why they would have done it. I
want to know exactly what happened that night. Thirty two
gunshot wounds, eight people dead, two families destroyed, one grizzly crime.
What will happen is anyone's guess. This is the Piked
(01:54):
and massacre seasons one and to recap how we got here.
M Courtney Armstrong a television producer at Katie Studios with
Stephanie Laidecker and Jeff Shane. Our journey started back in
when we made a documentary about the crime, and we've
been covering the story ever since. I think I speak
(02:14):
for all of us when I say that from then
until now, we have not been able to shake it
or get it out of our heads. I think for
me personally, the part of this case that continues to
haunt me is the fact that there were mothers brutally
murdered in front of their babies. What kind of a
monster would do that. We've had the benefit of going
to Pike County many times and have interviewed to date
(02:38):
probably hundreds of people whether that's local townspeople or experts,
or family members to the victims and family members of
the accused. And one thing we can say, in a
small town like this, there's not a single person that
hasn't been affected by this hideous story. And there's not
a single person you can talk to on the street
(02:59):
that doesn't know somebody connected to it in a meaningful way.
Through all these conversations, we began to piece together what
happened on that Pebule night. As you'll learn in the
upcoming season three, there is still so much left to
unravel in the community. Here's piked In, Native barb piked
In is considered a village, and it is just a
(03:21):
small little town that has a grocery store and a
pizza shop and gas stations, and there's a tire shop.
People sit and talk to the gas station. Wherever they go,
people know each other and they just sit and talk.
You know, at the tire shop you're waiting for an
oil and oil change or whatever. You just sit there
and chat with your neighbor whoever happens to come in.
(03:43):
You know somebody anywhere you go. But at some point
out in the shadow of its green hills, the area
has an eerie passed. Everybody thinks all about bad stuff
happens in the big cities, but the devil works in it. Everywhere.
I County and beautiful. It's a beautiful place, but there's
a lot of dirty people here too. From the side
(04:05):
of our town. There's been a lot of murders here
that have not been solved. On April, evil reared its
face in Pike County in the dead of night under cool,
cloudy skies. Eight people were brutally shot and killed in
four separate homes. I'll never forget that day. I'll never
(04:31):
forget that day. I had gone into the office at
the high school to pick Brittany up for an appointment.
And when I walked in, they had a TV on
and everyone in there was sitting with their mouths hanging open,
and I was like, what's going on in here? And
the secretaries said, my god, there's been a shooting. They
(04:55):
said six people were killed, and she said, we are
very worried because was little Chris Roden didn't show up
today and we think he might be one of them.
Everyone was just in shock. So little Chris law enforcement
because I couldn't find him. There was some speculation early
on that he might have been involved. For the residents
(05:22):
of piked In there was little more than confusion at
this point. People knew there was a shooting and that
Chris Roden Jr. A sixteen year old freshman at Pikedon
High was missing. Where was the team? It was at
the home of Chris Roden Senor that the nightmare began.
Chris Roden Senor was known to be a strong, hard
(05:44):
working family man. He was, you know, a great father.
He was a good man, just like the rest of
the guys you know in that family. He would do
anything for anybody. Christen Dana Roden were married for twenty
two years, and although they divorced, they remained close, so
close that Chris Sr. Had recently bought Dana a home
(06:07):
on the same road he lived on Union Hill Road.
He did it so they could stay close to their children.
Chris Senior's cousin, Gary Roden, was more like a brother
to him and often stayed at his place. Little Chris's aunt,
Bobby Joe, who also lived nearby, was the first to
make the gruesome discovery at seven forty nine am when
(06:28):
she came to feed the dogs. O patriarch of the family.
(06:50):
Chris Rodin was dead. He looked like he'd been beaten
to death. Chris's cousin, Gary Roden, who was staying with Chris,
was also dead. What's here saying? Very right and franking
Gary rod start times in. It looks like the dead, right,
(07:11):
they're both good. I think you're gods out. Okay, you're
anybody open of the house? I don't know us okay,
So door was awfully got here but on her bride,
her letting on the floor. Bobby, I need to get
out of the house. And Wayne house started right now? Okay.
(07:39):
This three year old Christopher Roden was the only one
of the eight family members who was shot somewhere other
than the head. He had multiple gunshot wounds to the head,
torso and extremities Corner Distinguished Professor and criminal forensic expert
Joseph Morgan tried to make sense of the Rodent murders,
starting with father and family patriarch, Chris Sr. Some of
(08:02):
this will be hard to hear, particularly if you're personally
connected to the tragedy, but it's important to understand the
magnitude of what happened that night. He was shot nine times.
Now for me, as a forensic investigator, I would look
at that and I would deem that as overkilled. And
you know, why would somebody need to be shot nine times?
(08:23):
They're saying that there's evidence that he attempted or reacted
at least to the point where he raised his arm
his right form and it it shattered one of the bones.
When you've got an individual that has gotten defensive loans,
that person has an awareness, so that goes to a
level of callousness that that's roses to victim. Gary Roden,
(08:50):
Chris Sr's cousin, was a beloved member of the family.
By all accounts, Gary and Chris Sr. Were very close.
Gary just happened to be at Chris's home that night.
He was actually from Kentucky, so you know, he didn't
even live in the area or the neighborhood, but you know,
lived close enough to where he was staying with Chris
that evening. We do know that the shooter was very
(09:12):
very close to Gary when they fired, because they talked
about what is referred to as a press contact events
wanted and if if our listeners will essentially take your
index finger, okay, and point it towards the palm of
your hand and extend the tip of your finger maybe
I don't know, probably about half an inch away from
the surface of your palm. That's kind of what we
(09:36):
refer to as a contact moon. And what that means
is that you're going to have you know, the bullet
is not the only thing coming out of the end
of the weapon. You're going to have the fire that
actually the ignition of the bullet, and around you'll have
this burning of powder that's coming out. You'll have unburned
powder that's coming out. So this is a very intimate event.
(10:02):
I spoke with Mike Gallen, criminal defense attorney from Ohio.
Are you able to talk about the scenes themselves? You know,
if you look at it and it's all from the
autopsy reports, those kind of injuries leaves no doubt that
this was an intentional or these all were intentional killings,
(10:23):
kind of designed to send a message to someone. The
muzzle marks sticks in my mind. You have to be
obviously arms reached. I mean, you are locking eyes with
the victim, it would seem Does that paint any kind
of picture to or indicate to officers or attorneys anything? Sure,
it does, and maybe even closer than arms length I
(10:44):
mean maybe just inches. It indicates to me, at least,
especially when you have the number of shots like that here,
that somebody was trying to send a message. I don't
think there can be any doubt about that. I mean
it was personal and I think that's what that demonstrates.
(11:05):
At this point, Bobby Josie's two people did by twelve
gunshot wounds. While waiting desperately for police to arrive, she
makes her way over to her nephew, Frankie's house. She
wanted to get some help and to tell him what
happened to his father and uncle, whose bodies she had
just found. Frankie Rowden was Chris Senior and Dana's oldest son.
(11:27):
The twenty year old was a father to two boys.
Like his parents, Frankie was a hard worker. He loved fishing, hunting,
and demolition derby, but nothing so much as his family
and his fiance, nineteen year old Hannah Gilly. Hannah Gilly
was on the homecoming court in high school, and at
that time she told friends she planned to go to college,
(11:47):
get a business degree, and open a daycare. Frankie and
Hannah wanted a lot of kids. They had a bright
future The young family lived together just up the street
from Chris sr All on Union Hill Road. They were
looking forward to getting married soon. So after Bobby Joe
(12:08):
made the call to nine one one, she went to
Frankie's house near right nearby, and the person who came
to the door was Frankie's three year old son. As
the police reports and newspaper reports showed, he was, you know,
covered in blood, and he, like any three year old,
sort of didn't fully understand what was going on. And
he told his aunt that, you know, his father was
(12:31):
playing zombie in the bedroom, and that's because the family
were fans of The Walking Dead, so you know, he
was in there with his father playing zombie, which is
absolutely heartbreaking. Twenty year old Frankie Rodin was shot three
(12:53):
Tom's in the head as he lay in bed next
to his fiance and they're six month old. We talked
about Hannah Gilly shot trib Tom's. She she catches one
in the eye. It poses this idea, why are you
shooting these people in the face. What's the purpose of it,
because not only shoot him in the face, you're shooting
(13:14):
him multiple talks. What what threat did she post? She's
laying there was her child in the bed meanwhile, and
this is all happening. Around eight am on April, Bobby
Joe calls their brother James. She's in hysterics. There's now
(13:35):
two murder scenes, four people dead, twenty gunshot wounds, two
children left alive at the scenes. James immediately goes over
to his sister Dana's house to check on her and
the remaining kids. Dana Roudin was a nurse known for
(13:58):
her gregarious nature and loving smile. She had met Chris
Rodden Sr. When she was just in high school and
it was love at first sight. Even though they divorced
twenty two years later, they remained very close together. The
pair had three beautiful children, twenty year old Frankie, Hannah May,
and little Chris. She's goodhearted, a lot of fun, you know,
(14:20):
always laughing, cracking up. She was. She was a very
very good person. She sent me a text she said,
my grand babies here and I said, we congratulations. I said,
she's beautiful. What did you What did Hanna May name her?
She said Kylie May and I said that's so pretty.
And that was the last, you know, the last thing
(14:43):
I ever heard from Dana. She again like Chris Senior
was shot multiple times, and not only was she shot
multiple times, but specifically reports have her having been shot
five times, four times. Pull Tom's in the head. Now,
(15:04):
what the hell would you shoot somebody four Toms in
the head, because you know one should suffice. But the
shooter took the top to take that muzzle of that weapon.
Stick it beneath Dana's chin, Stick it beneath her chia.
This is a common location for suicide, all right, This
(15:27):
is a typical for homicide. This particular April seemed extra
special because Hannah May had just given birth to her
second daughter five days prior. Just weeks before that, Dana
threw Hannah May a big baby shower at their new house.
The pictures from the shower show what a happy celebration
(15:49):
it was. Sadly, James, Dana's brother, was about to enter
yet one more unimaginable scene. Dana and her nineteen year
old daughter, Hanna May, were both dead. Hannah roding She
was shot twice in the head as her newborn laid
beside her. Maybe they're curled in a fetal posture along
(16:12):
with her baby, just curled in a fetal posture. Mom
was slowly stroking the head of the baby and try to, uh,
you know, calm suit the baby during the night. Maybe
she she awakes, some breastfeeds the baby during the night
while she's sleeping, and said, it's a position and people
have slept in for thousands and thousands of years. It's
a position of comfort. You imagine you're laying there, You're
there to protect your baby, and you're curled up on
(16:35):
your side. There's an awareness. This brings us back to
in Dana's son, the high school freshman, Chris Jr. Was
nowhere to be found. It took detective several hours to
locate him, but finally little Chris was found in the
home with his mother, Dina and his sister Hannah. May
(16:56):
sixteen year old Chris Jr. Was shot four toms in
looting twice in the top of his head. He was
found wedged behind his bed, implying that he was trying
to hide from the killer killers. There's now seven people dead,
(17:17):
thirty one gunshot wounds, and three children left alive at
the scenes. The once small and sleepy town became the
epicenter for grizzly crime and the subsequent complex murder investigation.
When it was all said and done, two families would
be destroyed and the town would never be the same.
(17:39):
For the Quiet Town, the scene was unreal. Nearly seven
hours after the first bodies were found at one PM
and April a final fatal discovery. Yeah I need it.
He has been out to close to seven on nine
lat Force. Uh, it's all that stuff. It's on the news.
(18:04):
I just found this down My cousin with a game shop. Wind. Okay,
let's see it right So, okay, I'll be saying that
by the very way on the whole thing, Donald done,
whole thing done. Yeah, it says, what do you mean
(18:28):
can Rody? Yeah? Okay, care honey, out of the house.
I'm I'm out of the house right now. I just
went in Alora and check Laura and a little to
say he had a game shop. Wind. Okay, we're gonna
get that down there to okay, all right, kick Mark.
(18:56):
A few miles down Union Whole Road was Chris Roden
Senior's brother. There, Kenneth year old, was shot once through
his right eye. Kenneth's cousin, Donald Stone, went to check
on Kenneth after hearing about the murders of their six
other family members he had failed to hear from Kenneth
that day. What does it say that they would take
(19:19):
the time and put themselves in a position where they
could be face to face with Kenneth. He was found
covered with dollar bills that were strewing about his body. Um,
he just god, I mean, you can't you can't make
this up. By the time officials released the names of
(19:42):
the eight victims piked In, residents were reeling. You know,
they had snuck in in the night and committed this,
these murders, and nobody had a clue about you know
who or why, And that's really scary. We're going to
(20:03):
take a break. We'll be back in a moment. There
were rumors about who had done the crime everywhere online,
in the coffee shops, amongst the police. I mean everyone
was talking about who could have done it and why
they would have done it. Investigators believe that the murders
(20:27):
were clearly premeditated, but the killing spree was so staggering
and merciless there were endless questions. One of the first
things investigators studied where confrontations the roads had with locals
in recent years. Could these conflicts have triggered a vendetta
against the family. There was one concerning incident that had
(20:48):
happened at a demolition derby. Based on what's been reported
in the court documents, I think it's fair to say
that Frankie and Chris Jr. I'm definitely were hotheads. It
definitely got into fights here and there. They had an
incident with a fellow named Tommy Gorman, who was a
(21:11):
rival in the demolition derby's. They got into a bit
of a sort of heated match and there was a
believe at incident on the track. They got up say
with each otherous bad blood um. And then again it's
you know, kind of kicked up speed with Facebook posts
about sort of consulting each other. And then of course
Chris Junior Frankie drove over to Gorman's house and proceeded
(21:35):
to uh really beat on Gorman and his father um
and they fights and meetings were only really broken up
after the grandfather came out and pumped a few shotgun
shells into the air. Chris Junior had also gotten into
a scuffle with another local kid named Rusty mongol we
(22:00):
On gold Head posted on Facebook that Christian your hid
him with a car and in his message. You know,
he uses some pretty tough language. I mean, Rusty was
nineteen at the time, and you know he's talking about
I'm gonna break his fucking legs and curb stop his
ass and sort of nineteen year old bluster. Really, the
Rusty Mungle thing happened just two weeks before the murders.
(22:23):
But police scoured both of these leads, even taking DNA
evidence of the suspects. They came up empty. An ominous
feeling had spread throughout Pike County. He was investigative reporter
Jodi Barr. You've got eight members of one family targeted,
murdered in their sleep, in their homes, and the killers
(22:45):
seemingly vanished. We didn't know the pieces, We didn't know
how to put it together. There was no information coming
out about these murders, about motives, even the family members
who were in direct communication with law enforcement, even they
were being told anything. I mean, it's called it good
investigative work, and you know, you hold your card close
to the chest as an investigator. Maybe that's what it was.
(23:08):
But from the outside looking in, it was almost like
law enforcement didn't have a clue at that point in time.
Led by an ambitious Sheriff Charles Reader. The ensuing investigation
soon became the largest in Ohio's history. I've got a
message for the killers. We will find you. The family
and the victims will have justice one day. There's so
(23:32):
many pieces that have to be put into place with
this your lead progging from this blood bath to another
blood bath. One of the first major developments in the
case came when Mike Dwine, then Ohio's Attorney General, announced
that he believed the killings were planned and premeditated. He
cited clear efforts taken by the shooter or shooters to
(23:54):
remove any incriminating forensic evidence. The Attorney General Dwine at
the time said it was a pretty sophisticated operation and
the people that that carried it out, we're trying to
do everything that they could to make sure that they
didn't get caught. Attorney General Dwine and Sheriff Reader, they
both said that the investigation was going to be a
long one in a lengthy process, and boy, sure has
(24:17):
played out that way. An investigative task force of massive
scope kicked into gear, led by the Ohio Bureau of
Criminal Investigation the b c I. More than two one
law enforcement officials were mobilized, including sheriffs from offices across Ohio.
The FBI and the d e A stepped in to
(24:38):
provide technical expertise to de Win's office. Solemn funerals were
held for all the victims. For two years, not a
single arrest was made. You lived in that area, man,
it was hush hush. You were just kind of walking
around looking over your shoulder at seeing with some of
these people, not knowing you know, who could be next,
(24:58):
who did it? There was one very curious lead that
investigators had unhearthed. At three of the crime scenes on
Union Hill Road, police found a substantial marijuana grow operation,
including a grow house harboring hundreds of cannabis plants. This
grow operation on the Rodents property was clearly being cultivated
(25:19):
for sale. It was also worth almost half a million dollars.
The Rodents had a pretty sposible crop of marijuana plants
on their property. You know. There were indications that they
were involved in some drug deals and drug trade with marijuana.
(25:40):
That obviously feeled even more speculation that these were outside operators.
Possibly was as a drug deal gone bad, or was
somebody trying to take over their turf. All kinds of
Rumors started slow after that disclosure. As the months wore on,
no one's been arrested, no one charged, no people named.
This person's of interest, you really started to wonder, you know,
(26:05):
maybe this drug cartel thing there was something to that.
They definitely knew how to kill people. You know, you're
looking for signs of the drug cartel, and then you
find Kenneth Roden with what appeared to be a gunshot
in the head, but that there were dollar bills or
(26:26):
some sort of paper money spread around the body. Was
that a sign? What did that mean? Could the Rodents
operation have motivated a cartel hit, a lethal battle over territory?
It was a tenable idea. But over the next months,
(26:48):
as the investigation dug deeper, an entire new set of
possible culprits came into frame. The Wagner family Angela Wagner
for the eight years old, her husband Billy Wagner, their
two sons, George and Jake, both in the mid twenties,
Angela's mother, Rita Newcombe, and the family matriarch, Frederica Wagner.
(27:12):
Here's Jeff. The Wagners were a well known and well
to do family in the Pickton area. And Frederica Wagner
was at the helm of this A self described entrepreneurs
she owned properties all of her Pike County that spanned
over sevent acres and were valued at more than four
million dollars. She had also founded two nonprofits, Lucasville Mission,
a church that helps underprivileged children, and the Crystal Springs Home,
(27:34):
a facility that provides services to developmentally disabled adults. As
we've learned throughout the series, Frederica had her detractors as
well as her supporters in the community. We probably need
to clarify here. The Wagner seemed like a good, god
fearing country family, but police were gathering heart evidence linking
the Wagners to the crime, and the Wagners had had
(27:56):
some tangles with law enforcement in the past. In two
thous and in one seemingly homespun, mother Angela Wagner, along
with Billy Wagner, were charged with him properly handling a firearm.
In two thousand and twelve, they are both charged with
receiving stolen property, a felony. Investigators discovered that in the
months prior to the killings, the Wagners began making their
(28:17):
own gun silencers, police believe silencers were necessary to pull
these killings off because they happened in such close proximity.
Investigators also found that the Wagner family had bought ammunition,
a magazine clip, a bug detector, and materials to build
brass catchers. The brass catcher is a bag that hooks
(28:40):
on the side of a firearm. It will catch spent cartridges,
so every time you pull the trigger, cartridges is ejected.
And if you were really interested in not leaving anything behind.
As far as holistic evidence, this sounds like a great story.
This bag will collect the shell casing so there's no
evid left behind. The bug attector apparently that helps someone
(29:05):
find listening to oaxes and sometimes create white noist a
muffle sounds or discussion Authority search to seventy one acre
farm and peebles that was once owned by Jake Wagner.
Jake was victim Hanname Roden's former boyfriend. The pair shared
(29:26):
a three year old child together. Jake and Hanname Rodin
had parted bitterly and were fighting over custody at the
time of her murder. The vice was tightening around the
Wagner family and some speculate that the only way they
felt they could escape it was to move four thousand
miles away. They moved to Alaska, which raised even more
(29:46):
suspicious But then the very following month, law enforcement actually
finally searches properties where the Wagners lived. So that was
really the first public indication that the Wagners were possible suspects,
if not people of interest. The Wagners made keen I, Alaska,
their new home. It's a tiny town south of Anchorage.
(30:08):
All the while they vehemently denied any wrongdoing. Jake's mother,
Angela Wagner, said her husband, Billy Wagner, and victim Chris
Roden Senor, were like brothers. She claimed that Billy would
never harm Chris. Billy's mother, grandmother, Frederica Wagner, said the
Wagners were quote a good Christian family and despite the
(30:28):
speculation about the family, many in Pike County couldn't figure
the Wagners from murder us. I read that and I
had to laugh. I had to laugh so hard. Okay,
so you have to remember that this was a very organized,
(30:52):
brilliantly done execution. This is something that you wouldn't learn
on a d v D with military background, Navy seals.
I mean, whoever did it was was brilliant. Their professional
(31:12):
These people are not professional killers. I think that is
the common theme of this entire story about Pike County
and about this road and massacre, is it seems just
too far fetched out when you try to connect the
dots through the histories of you know, how the Wagoners
conducted their business, how they live their lives. I don't
(31:35):
know that I have seen any reporting, any fact brought
out about the Waggoners that would say, yep, there you go,
mass murderers. I think that is the draw that continues
to to keep people interested in this story, is that
you would have never seen any of this coming. In
the spring of two thousand and eighteen, the Wagoners returned
to the pikes In area to take care of Billy's
(31:57):
aging father. The plan was to set up with care
and then returned to Alaska, but things did not go
as planned. If you seek about it, the Wagners were
scott free. They went to Alaska. They could have took
off and nobody could have ever seen them again ever,
(32:17):
but they came back here. They came back. Now, my
the way that I am, I would never do that.
But if I had pulled something off like that and
got away into that long and went to Alaska, you know,
I'm packing my ship and I'm hitting the woods, and
nobody's ever going to see me again. I'm sure the
hell I'm not going to come back. It's the only
way I would come back is if I thought my
(32:38):
ask covered. With their investigation reaching a fever pitch, then
Ohio Attorney General Mike Dwine and Pike County Sheriff Charlie
Reader asked the public for information on the Wagner family.
I hope that the unfortunate in this area apprehend each
and everyone. These are people, These are monsters, the Wine said.
(33:05):
He was quote laser focused on the Wagners, their business dealings, vehicles, firearms,
and ammunition. Investigators had solid ballistic evidence connecting firearms using
the homicide with guns believed to be owned by the Wagner's.
These included a twenty two caliber long rifle, a forty
(33:25):
caliber handgun, and a thirty caliber gun. They also recovered
a homemade silencer at the bottom of a well on
the Wagner's property. Well, good afternoon. We promised that the
day would come when a rush would be made in
the Pike County massacres today or is that today? In
(33:47):
a series of arrests that sent shock waves through the
insulated community, six members of a local family, the Wagners,
were taken into custody. Hands up, a right up. Forty
seven year old Billy Wagner is the patriarch of the
Wagner family and was arrested near Lexington, Kentucky, and a
(34:08):
horse trailer that was pulled over. Name Angelo Wagner is
Billy's wife and matriarch of the Wagner family. The forty
year old was arrested at their home near Piked In, Ohio.
Angelo and Angela and Billy's two sons, George Wagner and
(34:33):
Jake Wagner, were arrested together during a traffic stop. George
seven and Jake was twenty six. Seventy six year old
Fredrico Wagner, Billy Wagner's mother was arrested at the family's
horse farm, the Flying w Angelo Wagner's mother, sixty five
year old Rita Joe Newcomb, was arrested at her home
(34:57):
while six members of the Wagner family were arrested and
action with the crime. Billy Angela, George and Jake Wagner
were charged with eight counts of aggravated murder. Details about
the arrests of four people and the murders of eight
members of the Rodent family. All the arrests happened within
minutes of each other. And that tells me that the
(35:19):
b c I, the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification, who
was in charge of this investigation, they know what they're doing,
and they wanted to make sure that they affected these
arrests without any kind of problems or tipping anybody off.
So they had that thing down pretty tight. Six months later,
(35:40):
four members of the Wagner family were indicted on charges
of aggravated murder with death penalty specification for the murders. Yesterday,
a Pike County grand jury and died four individuals for
aggravated murder with death penalty especially vacation, for allegedly committing
(36:03):
this heartless, ruthless, cold blooded murder. Did they do it?
We want to know now, obviously everybody wants to note
right now. And man, if they're cooperating, as this attorney says,
they're giving over computers and laptop DNA, whatever it takes.
(36:24):
You know, people who aren't experts of criminology. We look
at that and go, well, man, that sounds like an
innocent person. An innocent person will be doing that. On
the other hand, there were the ballistics discoveries. Here's Bureau
of Criminal Investigation agent Ryan Scheiderer testifying in court that
shell casings found in the Wagness property match the ones
(36:46):
found at the Rodent's crime scenes. We recovered twenty two
caliber shell cases. And where we recovered those which at
to sixty Peterson Road, which was the property that was
owned by George Wager and his brother Jake. And we're
of those shall casing submitted to the lab for comparison
to the shaw cases that had been recovered from both
(37:07):
Frankie's and Dana's residences. Yes, and what was the opinion
of the The weapon that fired the shell casings at
two sixty Person Road also fired the shell casings at
Anna's and Dana's residents as well as Frankie and Hannah
(37:28):
Gillies residents. So the same firearm had been inspired on
the same properties. Okay, So the exact same gun, not
just the same type of gun, the same firearms. Okay.
The indictment also includes a reference to a specific pair
of boots that the Wagner family purchased at Walmart and
(37:49):
allegedly war during the murders. The theory was that the
Wagners were trying to frame Dana Roden's brother, James Fanley,
who was known to add this make of boot. Sheriff
Frieder said the Wagner's plan these killings for months, studying
the Rodents habits. He alleged that they then covered up
(38:10):
the killings, including stealing the road and security footage and
tampering with their phones. It seems a single minded cult
like obsession drove these murders. So we've talked about the
Wagners and how insulated that family was, and you know,
the word cult has been thrown around in reference to
(38:32):
the family. It's hard to imagine a nuclear family of mother, father,
and two adult sons who started doing reconnaissance on the
Rodent family, which by all accounts, where the family that
they were close with, friendly with in some ways, and
months before the murders, allegedly the Wagners started to track
their comings and goings. And the question is why would
(38:54):
they do that? I Mean, the only thing I can
think of is that Angela Wagner was this obsessed mother
who who not only wanted to control her son Jake,
but also all the people in his life. By all accounts,
it appears that the Rodents were being hunted by the
Wagner family, and that's unbelievable when you really put it
into context. The idea of a killer family sitting around
(39:15):
the kitchen table holding murder meetings is impossible to imagine.
What came into focus is that there was a raging
custody dispute between Jake Wagner and his former girlfriend Hannam
rod In over their three year old daughter that is
speculated as the real motive behind these murders. They would
(39:37):
travel back and forth between Hannah's mother's house and Jake's
family's house, and they would live as a family for
a few weeks at a time in each home. And
for everyone who knew them, they said that the couple
was very happy. They were talking about marriage and building
a life together until seemingly in March they broke up.
And that's when Hannah started dating a new guy, a
man named Charlie Gilly, and Jake was devastated. Jake was
(40:01):
pressuring Hannah to sign over full custody, something she adamantly
did not want to do so. In the summer of
when Hannah wrote in announced that she was pregnant with
a new child, Jake Wagner was adamant that he was
the dad of this kid, and he was desperate to
prove it, so much so that he went to the
hospital when the baby was born and checked for a
Wagner family trait in the tow And we know that
(40:25):
just days after Hannah was murdered, the Wagner family filed
for custody of not only Jake's three year old daughter,
but also the newborn baby, So it's clear that this
family had plans to raise both children as their own.
As you'll hear in season three, there's a lot more
context to Jake's relationship with Hannah and what his state
(40:45):
of mind was around the murders and before the murders
in terms of moving on and how he felt about her.
The Wagners wanted custody over Jake and Hannah's child at
all costs, but was that pause sibly enough to justify
a whole scale slaughter of another family. It seemed Jake
Wagner was highly distraught over having lost Hanname Roden here
(41:09):
is an anonymous Wagner source. He was trying very hard
to make sure that they got back together. He still
wanted to be with her. He was trying to get
get back with her just everything that he could. On
top of the breakup, Hannah was also allegedly withholding their
daughter from Jake. There was a custody battle. Hannah wasn't
(41:30):
allowing Jake to see her or any of the family
to see her, and so it kind of just got
out of hand at that point. It just sent him
off to the point where Jake um because he had
made the comments a couple of times, I mean, and
I had told a com people about this. I mean,
(41:51):
he had made the comments, you know that he were
going to to kill her, and he told her that,
you know, He's like, I going to I'm going to
have to kill you. Like you're not going You're not
gonna let me see the navy then you know you're
not going to have her. And I'm like, Jake, you
can't say the thing. Please just chill out. And of course,
(42:13):
you know, nobody ever really thinks like, oh my god,
he's actually going to He was just completely out of
his mind. Get really really upset him. The Wagners had
allegedly orchestrated another ruthless custody battle once before. Jake's brother,
George Wagner, had a child with a woman named Tabitha,
(42:37):
and when they split up, accusedma or George Wagner and
his mother, Angela Wagner, blocked Tabitha from seeing her son.
Here's Tabitha's sister, Christina Tabby like whenever she would try
to reach out to George, like hey, can I come
visit my son? And Angela would get on there and
(42:57):
be like, oh, he's not your son anymore. Would tell
Tabby like, oh, you might have gave Bartolin beyond his
real mother because I take care of these and all
these just nasty things. At one point, accused murderer Angela
Wagner even threatened Tabitha and ran are out of town.
(43:20):
Here's court testimony about the incident. Eventually, there was a
comment by Angela that she was gonna kill Tabitha, so
she fled to a gas station and ultimately never returned.
And actually specifically she first hit on the property until
nightfall and then and drove to a gas station and
neither escape that way. And never went back after that corp.
(43:45):
And yet the idea that the Wagners would resolve a
custody issue in such a ruthless fashion is confounding. I
don't think anybody would believe that a family could have
put together such a tactical hit on another family that
they had created life with. It's still too difficult to accept,
it too hard to believe. Let's stop here for another break.
(44:09):
Before the killings, the Wagners were trying to coerce victim
Hanname Roden into signing forged documents seating custody of her
daughter to Angela Wagner in the event of Hannah's death.
The forged custody documents that have been discussed in this case,
they were declaration documents, and it was stated in Rita
(44:29):
Newcome's case because she was the one accused of charged
with forgery or obstruction, it said that it was declarations
for the children of Hannah Roden, George the Fourth and Jake,
And so basically these documents designated a guardian should any
of them die. And these documents had been signed and
(44:50):
notarized nineteen days before the murders, and it designated the
children go to Angela should any of them die. That's
just one of those puzzle pieces that I felt like
showed that Angela she may have been the driving force
here since she was the one that had the Facebook
message that's been referenced in court that showed that Hannah
said they'd have to kill me first before I gave
(45:12):
up my child, and she showed that message to Jake.
This paper says, if Hannah is to meet her demise,
then Sophia should go to Jake. Correct. Okay, But if
Jake meets his demise and his child goes to his mom, correct,
(45:32):
not to Hannah. Correct. Then, on a on the five
year anniversary of the murder, and in a case where
nothing made sense, accused murderer Jake Wagner abruptly pled guilty
to aid counts of aggravated murder, felony, conspiracy, unlawful possession
(45:54):
of a dangerous ordinance, and tampering with evidence. The State
of Ohio read as part of the guilty plead not
to seek the death penalty for him or his father, mother,
or older brother. Here's Stephanie speaking with reporter James Pilcher.
Is it possible that Jacob could say I was in
a very controlling environment. My mother, Angela Wagner, controlled us.
(46:18):
My father was a bully and said I had to
do these things, and we were courced into it. Is
there any value in that even? I mean, that's entirely possible,
and some of the reporting, that's what we've heard Leekal.
The other thing I will say is that maybe they're
going after bigger game than Jake, and they figured we'll
cut this deal. Now he'll give us what we want
(46:39):
and then we can go get the mom and the dad.
But clearly they were going after the people who plotted it.
This was not Jake's idea, right, or at least not
according to the prosecutors. This was the family coming together.
That's what the prosecutors are after, is that, Okay, we
get Jake to help us, we get Jake to plead out,
shows that this really he did happen. Now we can
(47:01):
go after the people who were actually planned it. Jake,
who admitted to shooting five of the eight victims, agreed
to cooperate with prosecutors and testify against his family members.
He knows he will die in prison. Do you think
Jake is lying about being personally responsible for five of
the eight. I don't know what his incentive to lie
(47:23):
about that is. I mean, is he that afraid of
the death penalty? The economics of that equation just does
not make sense to me. Where he would openly confess
to murdering five people. Probably the worst act you could
commit as a human is taking the life of another,
and he did that five times over. I think we
got a good idea of what happened here. The charges
against Frederica Wagner were dismissed. She maintained her faith throughout
(47:47):
the ordeal, even as her son, accused murderer, Billy Wagner,
and his family were charged with horrible crimes. Trust in
the Lord with all your heart, lean not to your
own understanding, in all your ways. Acknowledge Him and he
will direct her path. And as my attorney will tell you,
it was dismissed because I was innocent. They had no
(48:08):
evidence against me. I'd never lied about anything. The investigation
had a snag when Sheriff Frieder was arrested on phony
charges not related to the case. There had been criticism
about how Sheriff Frieder handled evidence in the road massacre,
but these new charges conflict of interest. Saft In office
(48:29):
and tampering with evidence stripped him of his badge and office.
I stand here before you today to take accountability for
my actions, to accept responsibility for my conduct, I said,
shared of Ohio, I should excuse me. Everything that I've
worked for professionally in honorably for years was tripped to
(48:52):
me with nobody good playing but myself. If I could
go back contangent, I would a million times. This. This
is not who I am. Never ever did I imagine
myself on the defense side of this court route that
(49:13):
I've spent twenty five years of my life and in
this country in law enforcement. I am a good person,
made bad decisions and choices I have and I'm now
pray that the court will find mercy on me. According
to reports, Reader allegedly stole cash sees from drug arras
(49:35):
to fund a gambling problem. He even blamed his gambling
addiction on the stresses of investigating the Rodan killings. You know,
now he's blaming his gambling habits on because what he's
seen in the Rodent crime scenes have haunted in so
much he couldn't sleep, so he would go gamble one
name Charlie for thirty years and He's been gambling way
(49:58):
before this happened, and that's just that, just to me,
shows you his character. You know, I'm gonna I'm gonna
use the death of eight people to try to smooth
over that I'm still a money off my county and gambling,
and that is disgusting to me. You're talking about a
guy who led the sheriff's office and who for a time,
(50:20):
a moment in time when this first happened, these murders
first happened, who was also leading that investigation until the
state came in and took it over. You just sit
back and go, man, let's see where this is. I mean,
Pike County has been a crazy ride ever since the
end of April. It has been an absolutely crazy half
a decade there. But despite Sheriff Reater's downfall, the Wagner's Billy, George, Jake,
(50:44):
and Angela remain locked up. Jake's mother, Angela, father Billy,
and brother George await their fate as Jake prepares to
testify against them. The Wagners are facing three thirty two
thousand files of evidence from the prosecution. Will the Wagners
remain behind bars and what will Jake reveal about what
(51:05):
happened that harrowing night in April. The HEAs found the
totality of information now known by the state, including the
fourth right statements of the defended. We have overwhelming evidence
of the defendant and the three co defendant members of
his family foreign fact responsible for planning and carrying out
(51:25):
the homicide. Jay admitted it in the late evening hours
of two thousand sixteen into the early morning hours of
Able twenty second, two thousand sixteen, is when they emitted
these hop sides. You think about staring into the eyes
of your kin folks across the room as you're sitting
(51:46):
in the dock there, and you're looking at them straight
in the eyes, and um, people that you've spent Thanksgivings
with Christmas is uh. You know these moments throughout your life,
and you're looking at them, and you're potentially sending them
(52:06):
to the proverbial gallows by virtue of what you're going
to say, Will we figure out exactly what happened on
the night of April in Piketon. I want to know
exactly what happened that night. You know, how did they
get in the homes? We know the end We've got
(52:27):
some idea what happened in the middle, but I think
I want to know about the beginning. You know, was
this truly about custody? You know, I would just like
to know, you know exactly why from Jake Wagner. When
did the switch flip to where the only resolution to
whatever was going on between him and the Rodents at
(52:48):
that point was to go and kill them all? It
makes absolutely no sense. And was Angela the mastermind behind
it all? I think it was bil Angelo behind the
theme controlling everything in a little public after. What will
happen in the meantime is anyone's guess? Will there be
another Plea deal? It'll be interesting to see where this
(53:10):
case goes from here. It's the pike and massacre. Who knows.
You never know where this is going next. This season,
we have a much fuller picture of who the Wagner
family was prior to this and how they became the
monsters we now know them to be. We've really started
to learn more about the Wagner family, not only the
lives that they lead, but also their motivations for the
(53:33):
crimes they allegedly committed. Just when we thought it couldn't
get any stranger, or darker it has. All will be
revealed on season three of The piked In Massacre. For
more information in case photos, follow us on Instagram at
(53:54):
Katie Underscore Studios. This special episode was produced by Stephanie Leidaker,
Jeff Shane, Chris Graeves, Alan Wieder, and me Courtney Armstrong.
Editing and sound design by Jeff Ta music by Jared Aston,
audio mixing by Ken Novak. The Pikedon Massacre is a
(54:15):
production of Katie Studios and I Heart Radio. For more
podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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