On a quiet spring morning just before 8 a.m., an emergency call revealed a horrific scene: “There’s blood all over the house!” First responders arrived to find eight members of the Rhoden family brutally murdered across multiple homes in Pike County, Ohio. Among the carnage, three young children—including two infants—were discovered unharmed.
One baby, still covered in its mother’s blood, had been breastfeeding when she was killed. Former Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine described the killers as acting in “cold, cold, cold blood,” adding, “This was calculated, planned out… just chills you to think about it.”
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Nine years after the April 22, 2016, massacre, the case remains one of Ohio’s most shocking crimes. Initial investigations explored possible cartel involvement, but the true motive lay closer to home. The first arrests came two years later, with the final trial concluding only in January 2024, as told Daily Record.
True crime podcaster Annie Elise recounted: “Eight members of the Rhoden family were found murdered in their sleep; parents, siblings, a cousin, and a young couple shot multiple times—their bodies left in a brutal and bloody scene. Yet three children were left unharmed. Rumors swirled—was this a cartel hit? Drug revenge? Or something far more personal?”
The answer came on the fifth anniversary of the killings, when Jake Wagner stood in court and confessed: “I am guilty, your honor.” Wagner, who had fathered a child with 19-year-old victim Hanna Rhoden when she was just 15, was at the center of the plot. Prosecutors alleged the massacre stemmed from a custody dispute.
The Wagner family—known for their reclusive lifestyle—reportedly “held a vote” before meticulously planning the murders over four months, stockpiling weapons and silencers to evade detection. Jake Wagner admitted to killing five victims and struck a plea deal to avoid the death penalty, testifying against his own family.
The victims included Hanna, her parents, Christopher Sr. and Dana Rhoden, her siblings Frankie and Christopher Jr., her brother’s fiancée Hannah Gilley, and relatives Kenneth and Gary Rhoden. In a grotesque twist, the killers encased their weapons in concrete, crafting them into boat anchors as a Father’s Day gift for a relative. Jake Wagner’s testimony led to their recovery, linking them definitively to the crime.
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Jake Wagner was sentenced to life with parole eligibility after 32 years, while his brother George Wagner IV received eight consecutive life terms. Their mother, Angela Wagner, was handed 30 years for her role in orchestrating the massacre. At sentencing, Judge Jonathan Hein declared: “Each generation has its people who prove the depths of human depravity.
This case showed boundless evil—people who valued only their interests.” A grieving relative screamed at Angela Wagner: “You killed your granddaughter’s mother! You’re evil. You’re the spawn of Satan!” The case stands as a grim reminder of how vengeance and obsession can shatter lives, leaving a community forever scarred.
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