Some of the family members were still sleeping when they were killed, authorities said. (Reuters)
Highlights
- Four members of a family were arrested for the killings
- The "execution style" killings took place in 2016
- 8 members of the family were found shot in the head: Authorities
Four members of a family were arrested Tuesday in the 2016 killings of seven adults and a 16-year-old boy in Pike County, Ohio, state officials announced Tuesday afternoon.
Four members of the Wagner family, of South Webster, were taken into custody and charged with planning and carrying out the murders, according to a news release.
Arrested were 47-year-old George "Billy" Wagner III, Angela Wagner, 48, George Wagner IV, 27 and 26-year-old Edward "Jake" Wagner.
Early reports of the deaths describe a devastating scene in rural Pike County on April 22, 2016. Authorities said the eight members of the Rhoden family were found shot in the head - "execution style" - and that their bodies were strewn in four different homes within miles of each other. Some of them were still sleeping when they were killed, authorities said.
Among those killed were 40-year-old Christopher Rhoden Sr., his ex-wife Dana Manley Rhoden, 37, and their three children, Hannah May Rhoden, 19, Christopher Rhoden Jr., 16 and Clarence "Frankie" Rhoden, 20. His fiancee, 20-year-old Hannah "Hazel" Gilley, as well as Christopher Rhoden Sr.'s brother Kenneth Rhoden, 44, and cousin Gary Rhoden, 38, were also killed.
Attorney General Mike DeWine said at the time that the killings appeared to be "preplanned" and "sophisticated." Hannah Rhoden's newborn baby was found alive near her mother's body. Hannah Gilley's 6-month-old child and another small child were also unharmed, according the Associated Press. Officials did not initially name a motive in the killings.
County Sheriff Charles Reader said afterward that the killings were unlike anything he'd ever seen. He added that the community and remainder of the Rhoden family was struggling to digest such a heinous crime in the county.
"Never have I imagined such devastation to the family, to the county, to myself or to the staff," Reader said. "Never have we lost so many people to a murderer or murderers in this county."
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