Original subtitles

- Pike county, like many counties in appalachia,

People trust each other.

- But that day, that all changed.

I had never covered anything like this.

- Something bad is happening

On the other side of union road.

- I think my brother-in-law's dead.

There's blood all over the house!

- Who could have killed eight family members

In four locations, execution-style,

In one night?

- Jake wagner is somebody that we were interested in

Because of the relationship with hanna rhoden.

- The rhodens and the wagners were friends.

- But the wagners, they had a lot of secrets.

- Shortly after interviewing billy,

We found out the wagners planned on moving to alaska.

- Bci stopped them at the border in montana.

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

[insects chirping]

[chickens clucking]

[lawn mower rumbling]

[rooster crows]

- I sell the eggs for $3 a dozen.

I try to sell enough stuff just to pay for my hobby.

I give more away than anything just to--to help people out.

People need to look out for each other.

[somber music]

♪ ♪

My family, the rhodens, I know several families

That would've probably went hungry

If it wasn't for them,

Because they know what it feels like to be down and out.

When I found out what had actually happened,

The first thoughts to come to my mind

Was that it had to be a mistake.

I just couldn't fathom somebody hating them enough

To do that to the whole family.

It don't make sense.

- Can you imagine--you've got eight deceased individuals,

But you don't have anything pointing

To one single perpetrator.

[suspenseful music]

People were looking for some answers.

- We thought that the wagners

Might've had some involvement in the killings.

But we, at that point, were not able to say

Which wagner was responsible.

And there might have been a wagner

That wasn't responsible at all.

- Bci served a search warrant

Roughly a year after the rhoden homicides

Had been committed at the wagner property.

- We found a receipt from a local walmart

Where the wagners had purchased two pairs of shoes,

Size 10 1/2 and size 11,

That later were matched forensically

To the crime scenes.

- They have the receipt,

They go to the store, they get the camera,

And boom, there she is.

Angela wagner purchasing the shoes at walmart.

- It was a big win for the special agents

That we secured that evidence.

And then may of 2017, we received a tip

That the wagners were coming back from alaska

To collect more of their belongings.

We intercepted them as they traveled to montana.

And we interviewed angela wagner.

- We found angela's interview very suspect.

We needed to look at the wagners' history.

♪ ♪

- After angela had her oldest son, george,

And then jake...

They became her world.

She wanted to be overly involved

In her children's lives.

- She was overprotective of both boys.

Like, you couldn't get close to those boys

Without, I feel like, having a background check,

Your blood type done.

I don't even think they had many friends.

Mom didn't like you, you wasn't a part of it.

The boys were pretty much homeschooled all their life.

- She knew what the boys were being told, taught,

'cause she was in control of it.

- Their rooms were cleaned at all times.

Dishes were done at all times.

If the boys had one thing out of place,

She would lose her mind.

- George didn't like how controlling his mom was.

They'd argue a lot.

But at the end of the day, george do what his mom said.

In my opinion, jake was my sister's favorite.

Jake, he took after my sister quite a bit.

He liked controlling about everything that went on.

- Well, he's very controlling.

Jake would ask me, "who's texting you?"

We wasn't even dating.

I don't need your criticism for what I'm doing,

Who I'm talking to, or anything of the sort.

Jake was 100% not mentally mature enough

To even have a girlfriend.

When hanna and jake got together,

It was young, first love type of thing.

Hanna was more outgoing.

I believe hanna loved the challenge in jake.

I think she really put him out of his bubble.

- I know she complained about him, you know?

Like, him being boring, him not wanting to do anything,

He's bossy.

That's all she said, but...

I always thought they had a pretty decent relationship.

- She didn't tell you everything.

♪ ♪

- When we talked to jake early on in the investigation

About his relationship with hanna,

Jake basically indicated to us

That they were on very good terms

And that they got along with each other.

By the fall of 2016,

We started to receive our records back

From different social media sites,

And we found something that was interesting

Within hanna rhoden's facebook.

Indicated that things were not all sunshine and rainbows

Between the two parties.

She had been messaging people

About custody issues with jake wagner.

- There were some inconsistencies

In the way jake described the relationship

He had with the mother of his child

Versus some things that we saw in social media

That didn't make any real sense.

Said, "look, we're gonna solve this."

Suspects make mistakes.

♪ ♪

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

- Jake and hanna were together for two years

Before she becomes pregnant.

And the birth of their daughter

Really seems to change everything.

Angela doesn't want to be the grandma

Where you get to take the kids, spoil them, and give them back.

She wants to call the shots and run the show,

And hanna doesn't like this,

But jake is in full support of his mother.

- According to hanna,

Jake was, like, physical, in her face.

Telling her what she can and can't do,

Who she can and can't talk to,

Where she can and can't go.

- After the baby is born,

Hanna still wanted to continue school and work.

That's not what jake wanted.

- Jake wanted to control her.

You be the housewife, you raise the kid,

You do what I say; this is how we live.

Jake was pretty much trying to make hanna an angela.

I feel like their relationship deteriorated

Because she was free-willed,

Wanted to do what she wanted to do,

And he was more like, "no."

- Hanna rhoden's mother, dana, was concerned

With jake's controlling behavior.

If he didn't like what hanna would wanna do,

Then he would definitely act out.

There was doors kicked in,

So it was very concerning.

[tense music]

♪ ♪

- There was an incident in which she said jake

Put his arm on her throat and held her against the wall.

And jake tried to choke her.

And that was it-- that was the straw

That broke the camel's back.

After five years,

Hanna decided to leave jake once and for all.

♪ ♪

So she took her daughter, and she went back home

To live with her mother, dana rhoden.

- Jake and hanna's custody agreement

Was never, like, legalized.

It was all verbal agreement between them.

She goes, "jake has our daughter for one week.

I have our daughter for one week."

I was like, "does that work for you?"

She said, "it's gonna have to do."

- I'd say he probably felt angry about it.

- He was upset 'cause he didn't want to break up.

- The wagners, they didn't trust anybody.

They thought their granddaughter

Could be kidnapped and sexually abused.

They were paranoid.

They were possessive to a degree that

It's hard to comprehend.

- Jake wanted full custody of his daughter,

But the wagners were essentially told

By an attorney that in the state of ohio,

The courts will favor the mother.

After she breaks up with jake,

Hanna rhoden dates charlie gilley

And becomes pregnant.

But they break up.

She eventually gives birth in April of 2016,

Days before she's murdered.

♪ ♪

- During the course of the investigation,

The agents seized a laptop from the wagners,

And we discovered something

That became very pivotal in this case.

- The facebook screenshots really were so important.

In December of 2015, hanna says, "no,

"I will not sign custody papers ever.

They'll have to kill me first."

We see that the wagners had passwords

And had been hacking into facebook,

And they took screenshots of that conversation.

So we know very well

That they had seen this message.

They knew she's truly never going to give in.

[tense music]

- After about a year living in alaska,

The wagners decided that they could not survive financially.

It was too expensive.

Their only choice was to move back home.

Once the wagners moved back to ohio,

George and jake obtained employment

At a trucking company.

And that trucking company cooperated with bci,

Allowing us to wire up the truck.

[static crackling]

♪ ♪

- The more we listened, the more they let out.

- And they were being more accusatory to each other.

- They were starting to feel the heat.

- The wagners clearly knew

That we were hot on their trail.

We felt very strongly

The wagners had perpetrated this crime,

But we were very limited on direct evidence.

We needed to make a move.

- Keep your hands up high!

Just walk out! Keep your hands up!

Hands behind your back.

You're under arrest right now.

- We wanted them to start talking.

[suspenseful music]

- We interrupt programming for breaking news.

We just learned that four arrests have been made

In the rhoden family massacre.

- Do you have anything on you, sir,

That's gonna stick me, poke me?

Do you have any phones on you? - No.

- Just so you know, you have the right to remain silent.

Anything you say can and will be used against you--

Do you understand your rights? - Yes, I do.

- George "billy" wagner

Was arrested in fayette county, kentucky, this morning.

George wagner and jake wagner was arrested

In a traffic stop on 35 in ross county.

Angela wagner was arrested at her home in scioto county.

[siren wailing]

- It was the largest-scale tactical operation

That I've ever had the pleasure of being a part of.

The arrest team brought angela wagner

And placed her in our patrol car.

And I remember she had said, "hey,

My feet are cold. Can I have my boots?"

And I said, "no, you can't have your boots."

[chuckles] and she stared at me

With a look that could have killed.

And she squinted her eyes, and she said,

"I'll remember that,"

As though that were some consequence to me.

- It was almost unbelievable.

The rhodens and the wagners were friends

That had shared time together, fishing together.

So your first response is gonna be,

"are they guilty?" or, you know,

"did this really happen?"

- What could drive someone to do such a thing

To a whole family?

[tense music]

[dog barking]

[rustling]

- I'd say we do one pile for what we're keeping

And one pile for what we're trashing.

Sound good?

We're just cleaning through the garage,

Sorting through all the wagners' stuff

That is still here.

When the wagners got arrested,

I believed that they were innocent.

It shocked me. It really did.

Like, I thought, "there ain't no way.

"there ain't no way my family

Could've done something like this."

- It almost didn't feel real.

It almost felt like a movie.

Like, okay, is this really happening?

- It made me mad, and I-- I thought the police were--

I thought they needed to do a better job

And try to find the actual people that did it.

And I thought in the back of my mind, well,

It'll get worked out,

And they'll release 'em, you know?

They'll have to move on once they find out, you know,

There ain't nothing there.

[inquisitive music]

♪ ♪

- It's so cute! I'm touching the bunny!

- Look at these little, little ones.

Can you see 'em? - I can't see 'em.

- One, two, three. [grunts]

- Oh, my gosh!

[rooster crows]

- When they arrested the wagners,

I was in shock.

None of it makes sense. None of it.

Why go killing family members?

Hannah gilley was a great friend.

She was one of my best friends.

Hannah gilley and frankie rhoden

Were planning to get married.

She was so excited.

She was ready to be a rhoden.

[sniffles] I'm sorry.

- The murders of eight people,

They were traumatic for whitney.

They've definitely affected her anxiety.

She doesn't like to be at home alone.

It just didn't make sense that an entire family

Got together and decided, "let's go murder eight people."

- The motive centers, police say,

On custody of a granddaughter the two families shared.

The little girl's dad was a wagner,

Her mom a rhoden.

- Custody, I think that's crap.

I think--who's gonna kill a family over custody?

That's crazy.

I don't think the motive makes sense.

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

- Yeah, that's fine.

- Okay, thank you. All good.

- Yeah, so the motive was a challenging one for all of us.

We heard many people say that,

"oh, no one's gonna believe that eight people

Were killed over custody."

We wanted to make sure that each and every juror

Could understand the psychology

Of the wagner family,

To ultimately hold them accountable

In front of a jury.

- The wagners were locked up

In four separate county facilities,

Sitting in a jail, facing death penalty cases.

[tense music]

- Although we were looking at all four wagners,

We, at that point, were not able to say

Which wagner was in which home pulling which trigger.

- The prosecution's strategy was to wait

And see if someone would talk.

- Court proceedings are expected to go on

For some time before any of the wagners

Actually head to trial.

- The wagners have been in court

For over two years

Without a trial date being set.

- Everybody just was on the edge of their seat

At that point wondering why-- why would they do it?

How did they pull it off?

There were a lot of unanswered questions.

- Couple years into the case,

After everybody had been arrested and arraigned,

We got a call from my cocounsel,

Who was local in southern ohio.

He said, "something's going on.

I got word people are going to the courtroom,"

And next thing we know, jake is on live tv.

- He did smile at inappropriate times.

I seen no remorse in the man whatsoever.

- Jake wagner admitted that he had plotted the murders

Of eight members of one family,

Including the mother of his child.

It's not often I'm speechless or at a loss for words,

And I--I almost fell off my bench.

- Very first time I heard that jake confessed...

I did feel 100% betrayed.

I felt like I was made a fool of.

- Humiliated. - Humiliated.

Embarrassed.

Ashamed.

Me and george and jake, we grew up like brothers.

I mean, we were so close.

I can't see how this person that I've known my entire life

And I've done all these things with

Could do something this evil.

Jake kept telling me this whole time,

"oh, we didn't do it.

I swear we didn't do anything."

I said, "okay, I believe you."

And I did. I believed them.

They're my family, you know? I mean...

I felt like the biggest fool that ever lived.

- He calls me about 15 minutes later

And said, uh, he's been talking to god,

And god told him to confess.

I said, "where was god before all this happened?"

I said, "why wasn't you listening to him then?"

And that was the last time that I ever spoke to jake.

- In exchange for life without the possibility of parole,

Jake agreed to testify against his other family members.

That was shocking.

- They made a condition that, at trial,

If he testifies truthfully,

Death penalty's off the table for the entire family.

- Jake thought he was saving his life,

His mom's life, his brother's life,

And his father's life.

- He confessed because he didn't want the death penalty.

I think that's the only reason.

First time I met jake wagner,

It was, like, maybe a few weeks

Before the murders.

♪ ♪

Me and hannah gilley are walking right over there,

And jake wagner had a booth set up.

Then we walked up, and he talked to hannah gilley

And frankie and their six-month-old son.

And then jake wagner said, "let me hold him,"

And then was playing with him, holding him,

Just pretending like he cared what frankie had to say

Or what hannah gilley had to say.

I just didn't get a good feeling with him.

Jake knew what he was gonna do

When he held their six-month-old baby.

Sorry.

[voice breaking] and shoot his parents

In the head.

I'm sorry.

[sniffles]

So he's a sick

And twisted person.

I'm sorry.

♪ ♪

[suspenseful music]

- As a prosecutor, you tend to care about every case,

But, you know, I guess the senselessness

Of this case really haunted me.

When you walked through the crime scenes,

There was so much faith and family and love

On the walls.

You could feel it.

In hanna may's bedroom,

The little outfits for her newborn baby

Hanging up there.

How much she looked forward to being the parent.

We were under pressure to get it right.

We had jake's confession, but we needed more.

One of the things that we were clearly interested in

Is recovering the murder weapons.

- They did not have the murder weapons.

They did not know where they were.

And jake led the authorities to the murder weapons.

- The murder weapons were recovered

From a pond at the flying w farm

That the wagners owned.

They were put in 5-gallon buckets,

And then they had concrete poured on them,

And then they were put at the bottom of that pond.

But finding the murder weapons was not enough evidence.

We needed a second person to come forward.

If somebody, without knowing what jake said,

Said the same thing,

That would be strong corroboration.

- This is a wcpo 9 breaking news alert.

- That breaking news here at 6:00,

Angela wagner admitted to helping her family

Kill her granddaughter's mom and seven other people.

[dramatic music]

- Five months after jake's confession,

Angela confessed.

She would plead guilty to lesser crimes

In exchange for a 30-year sentence.

- But she also had to testify truthfully

Against george and billy,

And they both pled not guilty

And decided to go to trial.

- Mother testifying against son,

Brother testifying against brother,

I think adds to the drama, if you will, about the case.

You just don't see those things.

- My sister, in my opinion,

She confessed to save her own hide

And get a lesser sentence.

She just said, "I'm sorry for everything."

That's all she said.

I don't know if she's--

I don't know what she meant by it.

All I know is, she said she was sorry for everything.

And I just-- I was extremely rude,

And my temper got the best of me on a lot of things.

[dog barking]

What are you doing, old boy? Huh?

[dog food clatters] there you go.

Before my sister, angela, and them got arrested,

This right here is where they lived at.

This was their house.

I moved into it when they got arrested

To keep the thieves

From breaking in and taking everything.

This is currently the house that I live in.

There's a whole lot of history here.

My sister, she wasn't born here,

But she was raised in here.

My sister, she had a pretty rough childhood.

My sister's dad was edward carter,

But everybody called him pug.

Me and my sister, we got the same mother,

But we got different fathers.

When my sister was growing up with pug,

He was very abusive to my sister and my mother.

Mom used to tell me all the time how he would

Beat on my sister, beat--beat on mom

'cause she'd stop him from beating on my sister.

- Angela's father would control her,

Tell her what kind of clothes to wear,

One time choked her until she was purple.

- My mom loved her to pieces. She did.

But, uh, she did have a hard life.

- When angela was 18,

She really just wanted to get away from home.

And so she joined the military.

She was stationed in florida at the time.

Was only in for about a year,

And she said while she was there,

She was sexually assaulted, she was raped.

And she didn't feel like she could report it.

- She was a traumatized person,

Without any question.

- Then if we go down the hallway...

Everything here is--

That's hanging on the walls is all mine.

But the--she did all the painting

In every single room.

This room right here was george's room

When he lived here.

He picked the color out of the walls himself.

This was jake's room.

He told me that his daughter loved pink.

I said, "so?

This ain't your daughter's room;

This is your room."

Bright enough to give you a headache, it really is.

I got jake's family bible right here.

He just made it to where he could have a family bible

I guess that he could pass down,

You know, through generation to generation.

Uh, jake wrote an inscription in the back to his daughter.

Says, "always trust in the lord

"and be kind, generous, faithful, loyal.

"don't judge a person by what they look like or their past.

"don't let your emotions control you.

Love, dad."

But over here he put, "in loving memory

Of hanna may rhoden."

[pensive music]

And this room right here is where, uh,

My sister slept.

At the time, billy stayed with his mother

Because my sister and billy did not get along.

This was the kids' room,

But she always slept in this room.

So she'd sleep with jake's little girl.

And if she had a bad dream, she'd curl up with her.

- Obsessed and clingy,

And it wasn't just with all children,

It was just her children.

She wanted to be able to control

And manipulate everything in her family's life.

- You know what? I've never thought about that.

And that could've been what changed my sister anyway.

Oh, I mean, I know it's a tragedy

Anytime someone is raped.

It's--it's a--it's not good.

It's tragic. It really is.

It's horrible.

But the effect that it could have on somebody...

[tense music]

You gave me a lot to think about.

♪ ♪

[chickens clucking]

- They're a little bit smaller,

So they're a little bit quicker.

- Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

They are absolutely beautiful chicks.

When we was younger, me and my brothers and cousins,

We all raised chickens together.

We had a lot of fun.

We'd either be at their house during the summer,

Or we'd be at my house.

[sentimental music]

- My cousin kenneth,

He was a super protector of the family.

Same as chris rhoden, my other cousin.

He was just the goodest friend.

My brother gary was a super fun-loving guy.

And tried not to take everything too serious.

But my brother and my cousins are dead now.

- It's still an open wound for most of the family.

None of us can really imagine that kind of pain

Or that kind of not knowing.

- So many people wanna see justice for this family.

I think that's the least that they deserve.

[dramatic music]

- George wagner iv is now just days away

For going on trial for his alleged role

In a crime that left eight members

Of the rhoden family dead.

- The law enforcement and the media set up.

Reporters were everywhere in town.

- George was facing eight counts

Of aggravated murder,

And under ohio law,

You don't have to pull the trigger.

If you do those kinda things, you're complicit in it,

And it's capital murder.

- There were a lot of questions about just how involved

George really was

And what was the evidence against him?

Members of the rhoden family and the gilley family

Wanted to know what happened.

Who, exactly, came up with the idea first?

- Who did the planning?

Who participated in the attempted coverup?

Which one did the shooting at which crime scene?

- Everybody had waited

Since 2016 for this moment.

- Good morning.

Good morning to the jury. Nice to see you're all here.

Today there will be opening statements by counsel.

- Good morning, everyone.

The question that has been asked the most

Over the past 6 1/2 years is why?

Why did four individuals

Plot to kill eight members

Of another family?

This was not a crime of passion.

This was not in a fit of rage.

This was not in self-defense.

These murders happened after a period of three months

Of planning and plotting and purchasing

By the defendant and his family.

- Is the defense ready to give an opening statement?

- Yes, your honor. - All right.

- George didn't have a motive in this case.

Jake and angela have destroyed this man's life.

I was george wagner's lead defense attorney.

I spent a lot of time--

Hours and hours and hours--

Speaking to george, my cocounsel,

Our investigators.

[tense music]

The prosecution relied upon george being a wagner.

They just threw whatever they had

Against the wagners up against the wall,

And they were hoping it would stick

With respect to george.

♪ ♪

Jake, as part of his plea bargain,

Put george at the crime scenes.

It's our belief--our position is that jake and angela

Are not reliable witnesses.

They're liars. They're murderers.

The prosecutor very much wanted george to plead guilty

Like jake and angela did

And thought they would offer him

Some sort of plea deal.

But george said no.

- Yes--there's no reliable or concrete evidence

That he was even there.

[tense music]

♪ ♪

- Good afternoon, everybody.

George had no motive to kill anybody

In the rhoden or gilley family.

He's a wagner,

But that doesn't make him a murderer.

George is not guilty of the murder.

- George is not like jake. George is not like his mother.

George is not like his father.

- Can you tell us what we are looking at

In this particular slide?

- These are pictures of four original impressions

That were recovered from the scene.

- So the crime scene agents uncovered shoeprints

That were left in the blood of the victims.

We knew that those two shoeprints

Belonged to the individuals who committed these homicides.

- But even assuming that there are two people

In the room, which two are they?

Okay, who was wearing the shoes?

It's not a leap that if there are two people in there,

It's billy and jake.

It's not george.

- Are you here testifying today

That george wagner left one of those impressions?

- In summary, no.

- There was no physical evidence

That george was at any of the crime scenes.

No dna, no fingerprints, none of that.

♪ ♪

- For the record, would you tell us who you are?

- My name is matthew white.

- Once we recovered the murder weapons

From the concrete bucket in the flying w pond,

Matt white from bci was able to test-fire them

And do ballistic comparisons.

- Would you tell us what we're looking at here, mr. White?

- This is an overview of all of the items

That I've recovered from the first block of concrete.

There are multiple .22 long rifle cartridges.

- Our ballistics expert was able to tell us early on

What type of weapons were used in the crimes.

So we knew that there was a .22 caliber,

We knew there was a .40 caliber,

And we knew there was a .30 caliber.

They matched the caliber

Of weapon that we knew was used.

- Because there were three different types of guns,

The state thought that there were three different shooters,

Being billy, george, and jake.

But billy and jake could have gotten multiple guns.

- But you don't have to actually shoot anybody

To be guilty.

- The prosecution has said george knew about this,

But they don't have the evidence to prove it.

- Everybody wanted jake wagner and angela wagner on the stand

To find out what was george's role.

Was he, indeed, along for the ride?

And what role did angela play?

What role did billy play?

What role did jake play?

- Who was the mastermind behind this whole plan?

Why were so many killed?

- We had been waiting for years

To find out what happened,

And now we were going to hear from jake and angela

For the first time.

- Brother versus brother today

In the pike county massacre trial.

- George was stunned jake was gonna testify.

He thought his brother had gone crazy.

- An accused killer comes face-to-face

With his mother for the first time.

- The woman gave birth to you.

Testifying against you,

She's throwing you to the wolves.

- The alleged motive in this case

Was custody.

But no, there's so much more.

- It was mind-blowing.