Psychics Suzanne and Jean Vincent Rhoden Family Massacre

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COCKFIGHTING, pot growing, demolition derby, Pitbull breeding. You name it, the Rhoden family of Pike County, Ohio, were into it.

Rivalries go hand-in-hand with such interests and it’s no surprise many of the theories regarding who executed eight members of this  clan last month center around feuds and turf wars.

But the truth is, the Rhoden family didn’t roll much differently to anyone else in their neck of the woods. They lived in mobile homes on sprawling, rural properties littered with rusty trucks .

So what happened that was so bad that eight people had to die?

Initial fears that the shootings were the work of Mexican drug gangs, including El Chapo’s notorious Sinaloa drug cartel, which has been active in the area since 2010.

Hannah Gilley, 20; Christopher Rhoden Sr., 40; Christopher Rhoden Jr., 16; Clarence “Frankie” Rhoden, 20; Dana Rhoden, 37; Gary Rhoden, 38; Hanna Rhoden, 19; Kenneth Rhoden, 44, were found shot to death in four mobile homes on April 22.

The killer pumped between one and nine bullets into each victim as they slept but spared three children under the age of three and two Pitbull's guarding one of the properties.

In 2016, eight members of the Rhoden family were shot to death in four homes in three locations in rural Pike County. A frantic family member called with a report of the first slaying at 7:49 a.m. on April 22, 2016, and alerted authorities.

'So much pain': After Jake Wagner pleads guilty in Rhoden murders, family wonders what's next

Killed were Dana Manley Rhoden, 37; her ex-husband, Christopher Rhoden Sr., 40; their sons, Christopher Rhoden Jr., 16, and Clarence "Frankie" Rhoden, 20; their daughter, Hanna Rhoden, 19, the mother of Jake Wagner's daughter; Frankie's fiancée, Hannah Gilley, 20; Kenneth Rhoden, 44, a brother to Chris Sr; and Gary Rhoden, 38, a cousin to Kenneth and Chris Sr.

Jake Wagner, along with George "Billy" Wagner III; his wife, Angela Wagner; and their other grown son, George Wagner IV, were arrested in 2018. The family, described as clannish, had moved to Alaska after the killings, but had returned to this part of the country and all were from the nearby Scioto County village of South Webster.

All four Wagners were charged with eight counts of aggravated murder. Other charges included aggravated burglary, tampering with evidence, engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, unauthorized use of property, interception of communications, conspiracy and unlawful possession of a dangerous ordnance. 

All were taken into custody in coordinated arrests on Nov. 13, 2018.

Investigators have said the killings were an elaborate and long-planned execution plot to get rid of anyone who might stand in the way of custody and control of Jake Wagner’s child.

All originally pleaded not guilty. Jake Wagner's plea agreement took the death penalty off the table for the rest of his family if they are convicted

Edward "Jake" Wagner said he wanted a happy home life, to keep his young family together, and to see his daughter grow up safe and happy.

But, instead, he and his family decimated all hopes for that future five years ago.

Wagner, now 28, on Thursday pleaded guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder and 15 lesser charges on the anniversary of the methodically calculated and cold murders of his daughter's mother, Hanna Rhoden, both her siblings, her parents, an uncle, a cousin and a soon-to-be sister-in-law. They were all found shot to death in four trailers in Pike County.

Wagner admitted he personally killed five of the eight members of the family. It was not disclosed, however, if he fatally shot Hanna --  who died with a four-day old newborn at her side.

The surprise change in his plea on the five-year anniversary of Ohio's most complex crime investigation and one that initially stymied investigators, means he saved himself, his parents and older brother from the potential of the death penalty by admitting his role in the mass murder by agreeing to testify in their future trials.

The move also appears to make certain he will never see his daughter, now 7, outside of prison walls.

If he ever sees her at all again.

This was certainly not the future Wagner envisioned for himself back when he started dating Hanna when he was 17 and she was 13.

The state called the relationship a crime and Wagner admitted guilt Thursday to unlawful sexual conduct with a minor tied to their courtship.

Wagner called it love back in 2016 during an exclusive interview just five weeks after the murders. He said he and Hanna's relationship blossomed in the foothills of Appalachia naturally and quickly.

Despite their young ages, he said, the two planned the birth of a child. Hanna gave birth to Sophia in November 2013 and the two got wedding rings tattooed on their left ring fingers. Jake said he gave Hanna an engagement ring and they planned to marry on August 27, 2015.

The young family lived with his parents shortly after Sophia's birth, he added. He said he thought they were happy.

But by February 2015, Hanna Rhoden ended the relationship. "Up and out of the blue she decided she wanted to move on," he said.

Others said Hanna bristled under Jake's controlling and regimented ways. Some friends and family members have implied he physically assaulted her.

She wanted a life of her own; she wanted to pursue a life for herself - like her mother had done, he said then. He wanted her to be a wife and mother. He wanted her to stay home - like his mother.

"I figured it was a phase ... and then this happened," said Jake, whose mother Angela Wagner joined him outside their then-Peterson Road farmhouse in the May 2016 interview.

"This" turned out to be a cold-blooded plan to keep Sophia out of her mother's life for good, masterminded by Wagner and his family.

They plotted and planned the killings for months because the  shared a prophecy an emboldened and angry Wagner family took to a deadly end. Wagners wanted custody of Sophia. Hanna, a devoted and protective mother, wrote a message to a friend in 2015 that

She said the Wagners would have to kill her before she relinquished custody of her daughter.

Angela Wagner found that message and shared it with Jake, special prosecutor Angela Canepa said during the court hearing Thursday. Jake had grown upset with Hanna, who was pregnant with another man's child.

"Jake grew to be upset with Hannah over the fact that Hannah was exposing Sophia to people that he believed she should not be around," Canepa said.

And so for months, the Wagners bought guns and built silencers for them; bought phone jammers; hacked into social media accounts and watched and waited before they -- as a family -- annihilated another family, he admitted in court Thursday.

Wagner sat nearly emotionless as prosecutors read the names of the victims: Christopher Rhoden; his older brother, Kenneth Rhoden; his cousin, Gary Rhoden; his former wife, Dana Lynn Rhoden and their children: Clarence "Frankie" Rhoden, Hanna, and Christopher Rhoden Jr. as well as and Frankie's fiancé, Hannah Gilley.

His voice cracked only twice: when he admitted to the murders of Hanna Rhoden and Hannah Gilley.

He stood with his eyes focused on the judge and said he understood his admission of guilt will likely mean he will serve eight consecutive life sentences in prison without the possibility of parole and another 160 years when he is sentenced at some point in the future

Read the indictments

When asked if he understood the charges read to him by Pike County Common Pleas Judge Randy Deering:

"I do your honor," Wagner said, sitting between his lawyers dressed in a black buttoned-down shirt and jeans. His hands remained in his lap.

"Have you agreed on that?" the judge asked after reading all 23 counts to Wagner.

"I have your honor," Wagner said.

Near the end of the two-hour hearing, Deering asked Wagner to stand as he read each of the counts and asked Wagner if he was withdrawing his not guilty pleas to each count. One by one by one. Twenty-three times.

"I am your honor. I am guilty, your honor," he said, his hands folded in front of him, left over right  - the tattooed ring still visible on his left ring finger.

When Deering read the charges related to Hanna Rhoden, Wagner's chin appeared to quiver, he repeatedly blinked, paused and appeared to choke back tears.

The Rhoden family matriarch, Geneva, sat in the front row of the courtroom packed with members of her family as well as the Gilley and Manley families. She held tight onto the hands of one of her surviving sons and a daughter while she inhaled oxygen from a tank.

At one point, Wagner glanced toward the family members and said: "I am deeply and very sorry."

That was the first time Wagner has publicly shown remorse.

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Until his arrest in November 2018, Jake Wagner painted a picture of a grieving father who wanted the best for his daughter and ultimately to protect her.

He said he had incurred expenses after the homicides, prompting him to set up a GoFundMe account: "These were not expenses I was supposed to have. I was just supposed to be able to spend time with (Sophia) and give her a happy childhood, she is only 2 1/2 years old,'' Wagner wrote on the page of the crowd-fundraising site. "Sophia