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Thread: George Washington Wagner IV Sentenced to LWOP in 2016 OH Slaying of Rhoden Family

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    George Washington Wagner IV Sentenced to LWOP in 2016 OH Slaying of Rhoden Family






    8 family members shot dead 'execution style' in bloodbath at rural Ohio home; killer still on the loose

    At least eight family members are dead and two blood-covered infants were rushed to the hospital after "execution style killings" at a home in rural Ohio, officials and locals say.

    Local police and state law enforcement are investigating four different gruesome scenes inside or near the home in Piketon, Ohio, authorities said.

    The victims include a grandmother, grandfather, their two adult children, the girlfriend of one of their children and the brother and nephew of the grandfather, according to what police told Pastor Phil Fulton of the nearby Union Hill church.

    Two of the slain victims were juveniles, according to the Ohio Attorney General's Office.

    "It's a tragic thing that has happened in our community. We're a rural community our here in the country that's never had something like this before," Fulton, who knew the family when they attended his church, told the Daily News.

    "The mother was a very hard working lady, worked all the time. She loved her kids," Fulton said.

    Two infant babies, who Fulton identified as the grandchildren of two of the victims, were inside the home at the time and were covered in blood when police arrived to the scene, he said. The babies were rushed to a hospital and are expected to survive, according to Fulton.

    Police are still trying to determine whether the shooter is one of the deceased or is still at large. As of Friday afternoon, no arrests had been made.

    The teenage son of two of the victims was unaccounted for, according to Fulton.

    The Ohio Attorney General's Office, which rushed more than a dozen agents to help local police with the investigation, released a statement about the horrific crime. The FBI is also involved.

    "Ohio Attorney General Mike Dewine and Pike County Sheriff Charles Reader confirm that at least seven individuals are dead in what appears to be execution-style killings. All of the victims are believed to possibly be members of the same family, and they were found in three Union Hill Road homes in Piketon. Early indications are that the victims, who are believed to be five adults and two juveniles, were shot to death."

    GOP presidential hopeful and Ohio Gov. John Kasich said that the state is working with local law enforcement.

    "Reports we are hearing from Peebles are tragic beyond comprehension," Kasich tweeted.

    Local schools in the community about 75 miles east of Cincinnati were put on partial lockdown following reports of the active shooter.

    Pastor Fulton held a vigil at his church while police investigated the horrifying crime.

    "We're really just shocked with everything. We're here at the church, we've opened up the church and we're just offering comfort and prayers."

    http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nati...icle-1.2611061
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    Police interview more than 30 people in deaths of 8 Pike County family members

    By Holly Zachariah
    The Columbus Dispatch

    PIKETON, Ohio — As day wore into night Friday, the people of Pike County couldn’t yet comprehend the evil that had invaded their community. They couldn’t come to grips with the fact that eight members of a single family were gone, all shot execution-style in the head, most while they slept.

    The youngest among the lost was a 16-year-old boy, and authorities gave this most awful detail: One of the sleeping women was shot and killed as her 4-day-old baby lay beside her. The good news, though, was that the newborn wasn’t harmed.

    In addition to the 16-year-old boy, seven adults were shot and killed at four locations in this Appalachian community. Pike County Sheriff Charles Reader has not publicly identified them all by name, or even by age or gender, but he did say they were all part of the Rhoden family.

    Pastor Phil Fulton from the Union Hill Church, just a couple of miles away from where seven of the bodies were found, said the dead included Dana Rhoden and her children.

    But as of late Friday night, the shooter (or shooters — the sheriff said he is not convinced there is only one) was still on the loose.

    A weary and emotional Reader had a message for the killers: "We're coming, we're coming. We'll find who did this."

    He said the Rhoden family clearly was intentionally targeted, and about 100 relatives had been rounded up in a single location to be kept abreast of the situation on Friday. They have all been offered protection, the sheriff said.

    An overwhelming amount of tips came in through late Friday, he said, and more than 30 people have been interviewed. Officials said they have no idea about a motive.

    Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, whose office is assisting the investigation, said some people were being questioned in Ross County late Friday, but he wouldn't call them suspects.

    The sheriff said that even though the Rhoden family has been the target, people must remain vigilant. Someone bent on terror remains on the run.

    This is the biggest weekend of the year in Pike County, with the annual Dogwood Festival underway in the closed-off streets of downtown. Many people came anyway, yet there was an edge in the air, a palpable sadness.

    And there were prayers, even ones of thankfulness, because despite the horror that unfolded along Union Hill and Left Fork roads Friday, there was hope. Not only did that newborn baby survive, so did a 6-month-old and a 3-year-old, neither of whom had been shot.

    Deputies and investigators from at least three other southern Ohio sheriff’s offices were assisting Pike County on Friday, Reader said. Every member of his 30-person staff has worked nonstop; Jackson County deputies are handling his office's routine calls for now.

    The Ohio attorney general’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation sent pretty much every available team from the region.

    “I think what makes this particularly grisly is you have these children involved when these executions took place," DeWine said. “This is all unthinkable.”

    Reader said it all began with a 911 call at 7:53 a.m. The caller reported that two males were dead inside a home at 4077 Union Hill Road. While deputies were responding, someone flagged them down and sent them to two other crime scenes: 4199 Union Hill Road, nearly next door to the first, and then 3122 Union Hill Road, maybe a mile away.

    Then, several hours later, an eighth victim was discovered at 799 W. Left Fork Road, about 10 to 15 minutes away.

    "I've been here my whole life and never have I imagined such devastation to a family, to my community, to myself and my staff," Reader said.

    Pastor Fulton said Dana Rhoden used to attend his church, and that everyone in the community is heartbroken.

    "Dana loved her family. She worked hard," Fulton said. "We just have to lift this family, this community and this whole country up in prayer. Something has to change in this world. We can’t keep on this way.”

    Among those reeling from the tragedy Friday was Amber White. She and her husband, Buddy, live about 10 minutes from the Rhodens, and she said she knew Dana Rhoden and her children well.

    Mrs. White said they are all hard workers, and they all loved one another.

    "They never went looking for help. They provided and took care of themselves," she said.

    Reader said investigators will work at the crime scenes at least through Saturday. And they will follow every lead no matter how seemingly insignificant.

    He said the community must pull together now for everyone's sake: "My heart goes out to my county."

    Officials ask anyone who has any information to call 1-855-BCI-OHIO (224-6446)

    Dispatch Reporter Shannon Gilchrist contributed to this story.

    http://www.dispatch.com/content/stor...omicides.html#
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    911 caller who found victims: "There's blood all over"

    CBS News

    PIKETON, Ohio -- An out-of-breath caller who found two of the eight slain members of an Ohio family told a 911 dispatcher in a quavering voice that "there's blood all over the house."

    "I think my brother-in-law's dead," she said, her voice rising as she adds later that it looks like someone has "beat the crap out of them."

    "I think they're both dead," she said before breaking down into sobs, according to one of two 911 call recordings released Saturday by the state attorney general's office.

    The calls were released a day after eight family members were found dead with gunshots to the head at four properties in rural southern Ohio.

    Authorities continued the scramble to determine who targeted that clan and why. Investigators said they interviewed more than 30 people in hopes of finding leads in the deaths of the seven adults and 16-year-old boy whose bodies were found Friday at homes southwest of Piketon.

    It appeared some of the family members were killed as they slept, including a mother in bed with her 4-day-old baby nearby, authorities said. The newborn and two other small children were not hurt.

    On Saturday, the victims were identified as Hannah Gilley, 20, Christopher Rhoden Sr., 40, Christopher Rhoden Jr., 16, Clarence "Frankie" Rhoden, 20, Dana Rhoden, 37, Gary Rhoden, 38, Hanna Rhoden, 19, and Kenneth Rhoden, 44.

    None of the deaths appeared self-inflicted, and officials believed at least one assailant remained at large.

    "We do not know whether we're talking about one individual or two or three or more," Attorney General Mike DeWine said.

    CBS Columbus affiliate WBNS-TV obtained cell phone video showing a man being taken into police custody at gunpoint Friday. The man was not arrested and isn't being called a person of interest in the case, CBS News correspondent David Begnaud reports.

    Authorities urged surviving members of the Rhoden family to take precautions and offered help, and they recommended that area residents also be wary.

    Phil Fulton, the pastor of Union Hill Church up the road from where some of the victims were found, described the family as close-knit and hardworking. He said they were previously part of his congregation, though not recently.

    "We're just doing everything we can to reach out to the family to show them love and comfort," Fulton said.

    Reading a statement from the family, Kimberly Newman of the Ohio Crisis Response Team, told reporters gathered alongside the barricaded road that leads to some of the crime scenes that they appreciated "the outpouring of prayers and support."

    "They ask that you continue to keep them in your prayers," Newman said.

    The exact timing of the shootings remained unclear. Authorities got the first 911 call shortly before 8 a.m. Friday, and the second call came several hours later from another location, where the caller said he found his cousin with a gunshot wound.

    "I just went in hollering at him ... And I looked up at him and he had a gunshot wound," he said.

    Two of the crime scenes are within walking distance of each other along a sparsely populated, winding road that leads into wooded hills from a rural highway. The third residence is more than a mile away, and the fourth home is on a different road, at least a 10-minute drive away, said the investigation's leader, Benjamin Suver, a special agent in charge with Bureau of Criminal Investigations.

    Investigators blocked off wide areas around the crime scenes, but aerial photos showed law enforcement vehicles parked outside the properties. One scene appeared to have a trailer home and several others buildings a short walk apart, with a school bus and numerous other vehicles parked in the grass around the property.

    Pike County Sheriff Charles Reader and DeWine said in a joint statement Saturday that investigators worked through the night processing evidence at the scene. Officials said a Cincinnati-area businessman put up a $25,000 reward for information leading to the capture and conviction of the killer or killers.

    Authorities refused to discuss details about the crime scenes, such as the type or number of weapons used, what evidence was found and whether anything appeared to be missing from the homes.

    The owner of at least two of the properties is listed as Christopher Rhoden, according to Pike County auditor's records.

    Kendra Jordan, 20, said she often worked nights at a nursing home with the mother of the newborn and described her as outgoing, funny and always smiling.

    "If you were having a bad day, she'd be the first one to come up to you to question you about what was going on," Jordan said. "She was amazing."

    Jordan said the town would have difficulty recovering from the loss of a such a well-known family in the tight-knit community.

    "Everyone knows that family, you can't not know that family," she said. "They're involved in everything, and they're at every event that's going on in town. Just about see them anywhere you went."

    http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ohio-sho...lood-all-over/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    Slaying Of Eight Ohio Family Members Called ‘Sophisticated’ Execution

    (Reuters) - Eight family members found shot to death at four homes in rural Ohio were specifically targeted for execution in a pre-planned, “sophisticated operation,” authorities said on Sunday as their investigation of the unsolved killings entered a third day.

    Revealing one possible clue in the case, officials said investigators had found three marijuana cultivation sites at one of the homes, but they declined to say whether the cannabis “grows” might be linked to the killings.

    Pike County Sheriff Charles Reader and Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said it was clear the victims, ranging in age from 16 to 44, were deliberately singled out for attack, most of them while they slept, rather than killed at random or in a crime of passion.

    In their latest briefing to reporters, however, officials refused to comment on any possible motive or say whether they had identified any suspects. While DeWine at times used plural pronouns, he insisted investigators remained unsure whether they were seeking one or more perpetrators.

    “I don’t know if it’s a bad guy or bad guys - it could be one, two three, four,” he said in a televised news conference. He said 18 pieces of evidence had been sent to a state crime lab for analysis and that 50 to 60 people had been interviewed in the case, with more expected to be questioned.

    “This was a pre-planned execution of eight individuals. It was a sophisticated operation. And those who carried it out were trying to do everything they could do to hinder the investigation and their prosecution,” DeWine said.

    “We would anticipate that this could be a lengthy investigation,” he added.

    The victims, all previously identified as members of the Rhoden family, were found shot in the head in four separate homes on Friday in or near Piketon, a town of some 2,000 people about 95 miles east of Cincinnati in south-central Ohio.

    The victims included a mother who was slain in bed with her 4-day-old infant in her arms. That baby and two other small children present during the killings - a 6-month-old and a 3-year-old - all survived, officials said.

    The sheriff said he has urged other surviving members of the Rhoden family to arm themselves for protection, but “for other citizens of this county, I don’t believe there is an issue.”

    Autopsies were completed on seven victims by Sunday afternoon. The sheriff also said he had sent additional investigators to scour the wooded areas surrounding all four crime scenes in search of any additional evidence.

    A local restaurateur, Jeff Ruby, offered a $25,000 reward for any information leading to arrest and conviction of those responsible.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/...?section=crime

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    Diagram showing the relationships of the relatives who died, the surviving children and the 911 callers. (Pike County Sheriff, Ohio Attorney General)



    Autopsies completed in shooting massacre that killed 8 Ohio relatives

    FoxNews.com

    Medical teams on Monday finished the autopsies of eight family members shot and killed in a total of four different homes in southern Ohio, as officials revealed the investigation had uncovered three marijuana growing operations.

    “This was a preplanned execution of eight individuals,” Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said. “It was a sophisticated operation. And those who carried it out were trying to do everything they could do to hinder the investigation and their prosecution."

    DeWine and Pike County Sheriff Charles Reader did not immediately release the results of the autopsies. The attorney general had prevously said each relative apparently was shot in the head, and that none of the shootings appeared to be a suicide.

    Most were apparently sleeping when they were killed. Three young children -- including a 4-day-old infant -- were also found unhurt.

    “This is not your case where someone got mad at somebody else, shot him, there’s a witness, two witnesses. It’s a very, very different kind of case,” DeWine added, saying it wasn't clear whether drugs played any role in the shootings.

    All the victims were members of the Rhoden family: 40-year-old Christopher Rhoden Sr.; his 16-year-old son, Christopher Rhoden Jr.; 44-year-old Kenneth Rhoden; 38-year-old Gary Rhoden; 37-year-old Dana Rhoden; 20-year-old Clarence "Frankie" Rhoden; 20-year-old Hannah Gilley; and 19-year-old Hanna Rhoden.

    DeWine said a force of at least 100 investigators had already received more than 100 tips and conducted more than 50 interviews. Five search warrants had been executed and the four crime scenes had been evaluated and secured. DNA technicians were currently examining 18 pieces of evidence at a state crime lab.

    Pike County Sheriff Charles Reader said he advised other members of the “targeted” Rhoden family that they could be in danger and advised them to be armed.

    DeWine and Reader both cautioned that the investigation likely would take a long time. “A lot of what is going on here is just basic, old-fashioned police work,” DeWine said.

    http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/04/25...io-family.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    Prosecutors investigate Facebook threat against one of the eight family members killed in Ohio slayings as their area’s historic ties to Mexican cartels is revealed

    Message was believed to have directed at Christopher Rhoden Jr

    He was slayed along with seven relatives across Pike County on Friday

    Prosecutors are gathering evidence in a bid top track down the gunman

    Investigators revealed they found a marijuana growing operation in three of the four houses where the shootings took place

    In 2012, local law enforcement uncovered a farm with 1,200 cannabis plants

    It was being run by Mexicans who were staying in a campsite nearby

    Prosecutors are investigating a Facebook threat that mentioned one of the eight family members killed execution-style by a rampaging gunman in Ohio.

    The message was directed at Christopher Rhoden Jr, 16, who was slayed along with seven relatives in a spree of shootings across four rural locations in Pike County on Friday.

    What was said in the message and who sent it has not been revealed.

    The post is just one piece of evidence prosecutors have gathered as they continue their bid to track down the gunman.

    The development in the case comes after authorities also revealed the area where the Rhodens were murdered has historic ties to Mexican drug cartels.

    In August 2012, a major marijuana growing site with more than 1,200 plants was discovered.

    Police also found two abandoned campsites where Mexicans were believed to have been staying.

    It's not known whether the operation is linked to the slayings, or whether there are still ties to cartels in the area.

    Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine told CBS News: 'I'm aware of the Facebook threat.

    'Every piece of information is valuable and our investigators are certainly taking that into consideration.'

    On Sunday it was revealed the Rhoden family were involved in drugs and were growing marijuana.

    Detectives uncovered marijuana ‘grow operations’ in three of the four houses where the victims were shot dead.

    Police were also scouring woodland around the rundown area for any further drugs, where confederate flags fly and locals wear T shirts proclaiming their ‘Red Neck’ beliefs.

    Police believe there may be further evidence of drug production by the Rhoden family and are examining whether the massacre was fueled by a turf war.

    Despite the unearthing of cannabis operations, Pike County Sheriff Charles Reader stated that the family were not known to him through criminal activity and he had been an officer in the area for more than 20 years.

    Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said: ‘Marijuana has been found in three locations at crime scenes. They were grow operations.’

    He said the murders had been well planned and amounted ‘to a pre-planned execution.’

    He added: ‘This is not your case where someone's got mad at someone and shot them.

    ‘It was a sophisticated operation. And those who carried it out were trying to do everything that they could do to hinder the investigation and their prosecution.’

    Reader added: 'This was very methodical. This was well planned. This was not something that just happened.'

    The eight victims were Christopher Rhoden Sr, 40, his 16-year-old son, Christopher Rhoden Jr; 44-year-old Kenneth Rhoden; 38-year-old Gary Rhoden; 37-year-old Dana Rhoden; 20-year-old Clarence 'Frankie' Rhoden; 20-year-old Hannah Gilley; and 19-year-old Hanna Rhoden.

    Reader said it was evident that it was only members of the family who were targeted and the general public were not likely to be threatened.

    He added: 'I’m a member of that community, it’s very emotional to find out that 8 people in your community have been murdered.'

    Eighteen pieces of evidence were being examined for DNA clues, DeWine said, but he would not reveal what they were.

    Police also refused to reveal what type of gun or bullets were used and whether they had identified a suspect.

    Authorities have been scrambling to determine who targeted the clan and why. Investigators have interviewed between 50 and 60 people in hopes of finding leads, and a team 38 people is combing wooded areas around the shooting scenes to ensure no evidence was missed, Reader said.

    Five search warrants have been issued and seven of the eight autopsies have been completed.

    Police are also looking at claims by Rhoden family members that twenty-year-old Frankie Rhoden felt threatened by rivals jealous of his $3000 demolition derby car which he used to enter competitions, as first revealed by Daily Mail Online.

    More than 100 members of the Rhoden family, who live in rundown houses and trailers dotted around the area were advised to ‘arm themselves’ by Reader for their own safety.

    He warned members of the Rhoden family: ‘If you are fearful – arm yourself’ although he later said he was not directly asking them to defend themselves with guns.

    He added: ‘I have told the Rhoden family to be armed. If any other citizen feels that they are in jeopardy, I would advise them to do the same.’

    Many of the Rhodens have been taking shelter in a local church and were described by witnesses as being 'scared for their lives'.

    Members of the family of the slain victims previously put forward the theory that jealousy or a dispute over Frankie Rhoden's $3,000 car could be behind the murders.

    Frankie Rhoden, 20, who was gunned down with his fiancée Hannah Hazel Gilley, also 20, was said to have spoken about bitterness between him and other competitors.

    He had competed several times in his 1990s model Ford Crown Victoria car in local derbies and had told of angry rows with other competitors.

    He had used his car to ‘smash up’ the vehicles of other drivers, with the last car standing being declared the winner, in several local rallies.

    Johnny Gambill, whose wife Lorretta was first cousin to Dana Lynn Rhoden, 37, said: ‘Some of us have been talking about the jealousy that Frankie had faced over his car.

    ‘It was worth more than $3,000 and that made some people jealous around Piketon.’

    Gambill, a trash collector, added: ' My wife had spoken to Dana about it and we feel today that could be the reason because there ain’t nothing else that seems what it could it be.

    ‘The Rhodens are good people who live for each other and there is no reason why anybody should want to do this. They are all very close.

    ‘There is no drugs reason or money reason. Everybody is peaceful around here normally. There ain’t never been anything at all like this.

    ‘The whole thing is so shocking and if the car was the reason then that is so disgusting and incredible. But there were people jealous about him and his car.’

    Russ Clark, who runs ‘Smash It Demolition Derbys’ locally with his brother Tim, said Frankie Rhoden’s car was worth more than many of the cars used in tournaments.

    He told Daily Mail Online that most cars were valued at around $500 to $1000 with high end cars worth from $2000 upwards. The victim’s car ‘would easily be worth $3000’ he added.

    Demolition derbies are popular across the Midwest, and Frankie Rhoden had featured his car in local demolition derbies.

    The events are popular in the area and attract thousands of spectators, but competitions are governed by strict rules and drivers have to wear safety helmets.

    Gambill added: ‘The whole thing is horrible. The Rhodens are good people and I hope the police catch the people who did this soon.'

    But he insisted that the massacre should not give credence to calls for stronger gun laws to be introduced in the United States.

    He added: ‘Guns don’t kill people, it is people. I have got guns because I go hunting, but I would never point one at anybody.’

    In a 911 call following the shootings, a woman sounded out of breath as she frantically told a dispatcher, 'I think my brother-in-law's dead ... There's blood all over the house.'

    'There's blood all over the house. My brother-in-law is in the bedroom and it looks like someone has beat the hell out of him,' she said.

    Before weeping into the phone, she says it looked as though someone else was dead too.

    The distraught woman said two men, Chris Rhoden and Gary Rhoden, at 4077 Union Hill Road appeared to be dead during the call that was placed at 7.49am Friday.

    She drove to the house and discovered the horrific scene.

    'I think they are both dead,' she said.

    In a second 911 call that was received, a man said: 'I just found my cousin with a gunshot wound.'

    The dispatcher asks, 'Is he alive?'

    The man replied and said 'no, no'.

    Local Pastor Phil Fulton, whose church housed up to 100 Rhoden family members and allied relations, said: ‘The people who did this are evil, sick, hideous.’

    He said he had seen the family members together and they were weeping and in fear for their safety.

    Daily Mail Online was able to reach the family at the church, but they were too upset to talk and asked, through police and church officials, for photographs of them not to be published because of safety fears.

    Police have established that the killer or killers are still at large and not among the eight victims.

    The horrific massacre has rocked the small community to its core. Authorities spoke to 100 of their relatives and friends gathered at a church on Friday.

    During a news conference on Friday evening, DeWine said authorities have interviewed more than 30 people and will talk to more of them as the investigation continues.

    'We will continue until the case is solved. We do not know whether we're talking about one individual or two or three or more,' DeWine added.

    No person of interest has been apprehended and investigators are looking at different theories.

    They believe the killers targeted the family specifically, and DeWine said there was no indication of a threat towards the rest of the community.

    The rest of the family has been in touch with the sheriff's office for their protection.

    Kimberly Newman, Victim Advocate and Program Director for the Adams County Victim Assistance Program, told reporters that the family is expressing gratitude for the support and prayers they've received.

    'The Rhoden family would like to thank everyone for all the outpouring of prayers and support for their family,' the statement reads.

    'They ask that you continue to keep them in their prayers. They want to thank all law enforcement from Pike County and all surrounding counties for their immediate response.'

    Fulton said on Saturday the relatives of those killed are 'not doing well at all'.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...n-cartels.html

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    Autopsy results show most Pike Co. massacre victims shot multiple times

    One victim shot 9 times, more search warrants


    By Pat Lafleur
    WCPO News

    PIKE COUNTY, Ohio — One of the victims in last week’s Pike County family massacre was shot as many as nine times, according to autopsy results from the Hamilton County Coroner’s Office Crime Lab.

    Investigators released the preliminary autopsy results early Tuesday afternoon, indicating that all but one of the eight members of the Rhoden family killed in the shootings sustained multiple gunshot wounds.

    According to Terry Daly, spokesman for the coroner’s office, said the victims sustained gunshots as follows:

    > One victim with a single gunshot wound
    > One victim with two gunshot wounds
    > Two victims each with three gunshot wounds
    > One victim with four gunshot wounds
    > Two victims each with five gunshot wounds
    > One victim with nine gunshot wounds

    The coroner’s office did not say which victims sustained how many gunshot wounds. Investigators also found soft tissue bruising on some of the victims, Daly said.

    Dr. Stuart Bassman, a Cincinnati-based trauma and sexual assault counselor, spoke with WCPO Tuesday, saying the number of gunshots can indicate certain psychological factors at play in the killings.

    Speculating on the case, Dr. Bassman explained that multiple gunshots, in some cases, could be considered an attempt to send a message or gain insurance that the victims are, in fact, dead.

    “The typical thinking is that when someone shoots someone a number of times, it’s done out of anger. But in other instances we have to look at the fear, the threat.

    “It’s almost a way of someone getting insurance,” he said. “Though some people conceptualize this as an act of anger, an act of rage, in one instance it could be an act coming out of fear.”

    When it came to the shooter or shooters sparing the lives of the three youngest family members found on the scenes — that is, a 4-day-old, a 6-month-old, and a 3-year-old — Dr. Bassman said that could have been motivated by a lack of the possibility of leaving eye witnesses.

    But Dr. Bassman also speculated that leaving the youngest family members alive could have been motivated by what he called a “cognitive distortion” in the mind of the shooter.

    “(The shooters) in one sense distort their thinking to justify and rationalize their behavior,” Bassman said of cases like these. “In the person’s mind, there’s a sense of saying, ‘But I’m saving the baby.’”

    Later Tuesday, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine also said additional search warrants were served Monday with the investigation. DeWine did not release the number of additional search warrants or their locations.

    DeWine said investigators examined a total of 79 pieces of evidence, and more than 300 tips have been received by both the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the Pike County Sheriff’s Office.

    http://www.wcpo.com/news/crime/rhode...gunshot-wounds
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  8. #8
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Father on Pike Co. family shooting victim: 'She'd give you the shirt off her back'

    By Julie O'Neil
    WCPO News

    PIKE COUNTY, Ohio — “She’d give you the shirt off her back.”

    That’s how Leonard Manley described his daughter, Dana Rhoden, one of the eight Pike County family members found shot to death “execution-style” at three different locations Friday morning just outside Peebles.

    A tearful Manley spoke with reporters Monday afternoon just outside of the crime scene on Union Hill Road, which remains blocked off as Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation Officers continued their survey of the scenes and nearby wooded areas.

    “She went out of her way to help people,” he said, adding that Dana worked at a nursing home nearby. “She worked hard.”

    When asked what he’ll miss most about her?

    “Being with her.”

    “She went out of her way to help people,” he said, adding that Dana worked at a nursing home nearby. “She worked hard.”

    When asked what he’ll miss most about her?

    “Being with her.”

    Manley wouldn’t speculate as to why someone would have killed his daughter and seven other members of her family, but he did say that he found it odd that the shooter or shooters were able to get in and get out despite his daughter’s two dogs.

    “Whoever done it know’d the family because there were two dogs there that would eat you up, but I ain’t gonna say no more,” he said.

    But despite the horror that's befallen his family, Manley said he's more angry than afraid for his life, calling the person or people who did this “scumbags.”

    “If someone kicks down my door, he better say, ‘Sheriff, deputy,’ or something,” he said. “Because he ain’t gonna get a second chance.”

    http://www.wcpo.com/news/crime/dana-...amily-massacre
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  9. #9
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    911 call in the video player above.

    “I fear for my life,” a Rhoden family member told a 911 operator “a couple of days” after eight members of the family were found shot to death in Pike County, Ohio.

    In a recording released Thursday by officials with Greenup County, Ky., E-911, Kenny Rhoden placed the call right after leaving a Speedway gas station because he thought he was being followed as he drove through South Shore, Ky., an Ohio River town across from Portsmouth, Ohio.

    Rhoden told the operator that at least two people in what he believed was a forest green, newer model Chrysler had been following him for eight to 10 miles. Rhoden called out the license tag number, but he couldn’t say what state was on the tags. He told the operator the car had tried to cut him off.

    “I don’t know who he is,” Rhoden tells the operator. “I don’t know what his problem is.”

    Rhoden spoke with the operator nearly five minutes, at one point saying the car had moved in front of him after probably seeing him on the phone.

    He told the operator his little brother and cousin were killed, along with six other family members, in Pike County. He then added, “They basically told all Rhodens to beware.”

    When the operator asked him whether he wanted to see an officer, Rhoden said, “I don’t know what to do. I never had anybody do me that way before.”

    http://www.wcpo.com/news/state/state...my-life?gfghfj
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  10. #10
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    Authorities refuse to release Rhoden family's autopsies

    The Pike County Coroner's Office and Ohio Attorney General have refused to release final autopsy reports of eight family members murdered in April, according to the Columbus Dispatch.

    The two offices cited security concerns as the reason for their refusal to disclose the autopsy records of the Rhoden family, the Dispatch reported Tuesday.

    Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine told Dispatch reporters that releasing the records to the public could have consequences that negatively impacted the ongoing investigation of the massacre.

    “Our ability to judge the veracity of information coming in, our ability to judge the credibility of information coming in, all goes away once that is public,” Dewine is quoted as saying to the Dispatch. “We believe the law says they do not have to be released.”

    WCPO reported in June that more than 24 investigators were still dedicated for solving the murders, but were hesitant to release updates for fear of compromising the case. At that time, they had already combed through 700 tips and 100 pieces of evidence, relocated the four mobile homes in which the bodies were found to a secure site and spent over $150,000.

    A source quoted in the Dispatch report Tuesday argued that releasing the autopsy reports could actually help the case by allowing “great public knowledge” to spot details or make connections that investigators had failed to notice — and, in the age of Serial, there are certainly recent cases of armchair detectives influencing the outcome of criminal investigations.

    For now, however, the investigation appears to remain closed.

    http://www.wcpo.com/news/crime/autho...ilys-autopsies

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