Who are the Wagners? Family of 4 arrested in Pike County mass murder
Two and a half years after eight family members were gruesomely slain in rural southern Ohio, there has finally been a major break in the case.
Four members of the Wagner family were arrested Tuesday in connection with the deaths of several members of the Rhoden family in Pike County.
George "Billy" Wagner III, 47, Angela Wagner, 48, George Wagner IV, 27, and Edward "Jake" Wagner, 26, were charged with planning and carrying out the murders.
So what's the connection between the two families? A motive has not yet been announced, but here's what we know so far about the Wagners:
- They were longtime friends of the Rhodens.
- Edward "Jake" Wagner was the ex-boyfriend of Hannah Rhoden -- one of the eight dead -- and the father of one of her children, 2-year-old Sophia. Sophia was not present at the time of the slayings.
- The two were embroiled in a custody dispute when the Rhodens were killed.
- The Wagners had been on investigators' radar since June 2017.
- The Wagners lived in Peebles at the time of the killings, but moved to Alaska sometime after.
- An attorney for the family said a year ago that four of the Wagner family members had provided laptops, phones and DNA samples to investigators, and agreed to be interviewed about the slayings.
- Investigators searched property in southern Ohio sold by the Wagners.
The victims of the mass murder in April 2016 were identified as 40-year-old Christopher Rhoden; his ex-wife, 37-year-old Dana Rhoden; their three children, 20-year-old Clarence "Frankie" Rhoden, 16-year-old Christopher Jr., and 19-year-old Hanna; Frankie Rhoden's fiancée, 20-year-old Hannah Gilley; Christopher Rhoden Sr.'s brother, 44-year-old Kenneth Rhoden; and a cousin, 38-year-old Gary Rhoden.
Hanna Rhoden's days-old baby girl, another baby and a young child were unharmed.
The FBI tracked George 바카라 게임 웹사이트Billy바카라 게임 웹사이트 Wagner III, to Lexington. Lexington police said he had been driving a horse trailer that was pulled over off Georgetown Road.
It's not yet clear where the others were arrested.
Attorney General Mike DeWine will hold a news conference at 4 p.m.