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Pike County murder trial: Family members tearfully describe the day of the homicides

'I had to wonder if he still had my baby's blood on him when he touched me.'
April Manley, sister-in-law of Dana Rhoden, took the stand to describe the day she and her husband learned Dana and seven other members of the Rhoden family were found murdered in four homes in Pike County. The homicides, which happened on April 22, 2016, were one of the biggest murder cases in Ohio history. On trial now is George Wagner IV. Wagner — along with his mother Angela, father George "Billy" Wagner and brother Edward "Jake" Wagner — is accused of shooting and killing the Rhoden family members "execution-style." The family's bodies were found on April 22, 2016. He faces eight charges of aggravated murder, along with other charges associated with tampering with evidence, conspiracy and forgery.
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WAVERLY, Ohio — The trial for a man accused of killing eight people in Pike County in 2016 resumed Friday, after proceedings were canceled the day before for a reported illness.

George Wagner IV — along with his mother Angela, father George "Billy" Wagner and brother Edward "Jake" Wagner — is accused of shooting and killing the Rhoden family members "execution-style." The family's bodies were found on April 22, 2016. He faces eight charges of aggravated murder, along with other charges associated with tampering with evidence, conspiracy and forgery.

Found dead that day were 40-year-old Christopher Rhoden Sr., 37-year-old Dana Rhoden, 20-year-old Hannah "Hazel" Gilley, 16-year-old Christopher Rhoden Jr., 20-year-old Clarence "Frankie" Rhoden, 37-year-old Gary Rhoden, 19-year-old Hanna May Rhoden, and 44-year-old Kenneth Rhoden.

The trial is the first time a person has faced a jury for the deaths of the Rhoden family six years ago.

On Friday, court resumed with Judge Randy Deering explaining that a juror had experienced symptoms associated with COVID-19 and would not have been able to resume her duties on the jury until Tuesday of the following week; as a result, defense and prosecution agreed to dismiss the juror, tapping an alternate to fill the vacated position.

Prosecution then called April Manley, the sister-in-law of Dana Rhoden, to the stand. Manley's husband, James, emotionally described finding his sister dead in her bed on the morning of April 22, 2016 during the first week of the testimony.

Manley said the morning of the murders, she woke up early for work and to get her son to school; she'd slept in a recliner to breathe more easily, because she had severe bronchitis. Her husband was not heading to work because he was a logger, and it had rained heavily the night before. She said she remembered her husband leaving, explaining he was going out to Chris Sr.'s home with his parents. Her son, Cody, tried several times to call Frankie, with whom he carpooled to work in the mornings; Frankie hadn't shown up as planned and they thought he'd overslept.

"I remember my husband coming back (home) and telling me that Dana was also dead," said Manley, her voice breaking. She said she went with him to return to Dana's, because her husband was an "emotional wreck" and she didn't want him to be alone.

"Him and Dana were very close," she said. "They had an unbreakable bond."

At Dana's home, her husband told her he'd heard Kylie crying inside and that worried him, because "he knew what kind of mother Hanna was" and she wouldn't let her baby cry like that.

Manley said inside the home, first responders confirmed Dana and Hanna May were dead, but they couldn't find Chris Jr. in the confusing layout of the home, which had additions built on. Manley was asked to draw a map of the layout, but she said even after that, they couldn't find the 16-year-old; his truck wasn't in the drive, which she said added to the confusion. Later that day, she said she learned they also found him shot to death inside the home.

She rode in an ambulance with days-old Kylie as she was taken to the hospital to be checked out; she'd been found inside by first responders, nestled against the body of Hanna May, who was dead in her bed. At the hospital, Manley reunited with several other family members, she said.

While smoking a cigarette in the parking lot of the hospital, Manley said she was approached by Jake Wagner. She described him as emotionless and not behaving as if he'd just learned he'd lost someone he'd loved.

He'd come to the hospital to see if he could take Kylie; family members said Jake believed he was the father of the baby, though Hanna May and other family rejected the idea.

"He had thought that Kylie belonged to him," said Manley.

Family members have repeatedly testified throughout the trial that the father of the baby was Hannah Hazel's brother, who was no longer in the picture at the time.

Manley said Jake hugged her and her voice again broke. Prosecutors later asked why that hug bothered her.

"Because I had to wonder if he still had my baby's blood on him when he touched me," she said, crying.

Jake didn't like her, Manley said, and she didn't much like him either; she said Jake believed Manley was "nosey" and actively worked to keep Hanna May from her. She described Jake as controlling and said Hanna May, who'd "always been a chunky little monkey," lost a lot of weight while dating him, because Jake would call her fat and tell her not to eat.

She also recounted a time the couple had gotten into a fight while at her home; Hanna May — a 16-year-old, new driver at the time — left and later called Manley, claiming Jake was "chasing her around at high speeds." Hanna May parked and hid at the church on Union Hill Road until her father, Chris Sr., came to get her, Manley said.

Later, at the funerals for the Rhoden family members, Manley said Billy, Jake and George all showed up; Billy had bruises all over his face, Manley said.

Manley's son, Cody, took the witness stand next. He reiterated much of his mother's testimony, explaining how he'd tried to reach Frankie that morning and recounting when Jake chased Hanna May in his truck.

The day of the murders, after he failed to reach Frankie, he drove to his cousin's home. He believed Frankie had overslept and thought he was coming over to rouse him so the pair could head to work. When he arrived, he saw the vehicle that belonged to his aunt, Bobby Jo Manley, parked in the driveway and a police car on the street. He said he thought Bobby Jo had just been pulled over, and he headed into Frankie's house.

He went into his cousin's bedroom and froze, he said.

"Why did you freeze?" asked Angie Canepa, special prosecutor.

"Because I saw something I didn't want to see," he responded.

He said he just stared at Frankie and Hannah Hazel, whom he could tell were no longer alive, until he heard a police officer tell him he had to go outside. He was frozen, he said, and the officer had to repeat the order more than once before he finally snapped out of it and left.

Once outside, he said he stood in the front yard with Brentley, Frankie's then-toddler. Frankie and Hannah Hazel's baby, Ruger, was also outside with family. Cody said he called Brentley's mother so she could come pick the boy up, and later Cody headed to the church on Union Hill Road, where family members were gathering.

Defense attorney John Nash cross-examined Cody, asking him about dogs owned by members of the family. Chris Sr. had a dog, Chance, who was not welcoming to strangers, Cody said.

With family the dog was gentle, Cody said, and Nash asked about whether that was the case with people the dog didn't know.

"They wouldn't have went into the house," he said.

After a lunch break, prosecution called Kendra Rhoden to the stand. Kendra's father, Kenneth, was killed that day; she also grew up with Hanna May, her cousin.

"She was my cousin, my best friend, we were like sisters," she said.

The pair spent most nights together growing up, either at Hanna May's home, where she lived with Chris Jr. and Dana, or at Kendra's grandparents home, she said.

When Hanna May met Jake Wagner and began dating him, Kendra said she didn't really like him.

"Hanna thought I just needed to get to know him better," she said. "Jake kinda didn't want Hanna to be around me, though."

When Hanna May told her she was pregnant with Jake's child, Kendra said she'd hoped it was a joke. She tried to support Hanna May throughout the pregnancy, she said, but she wasn't able to as much as she wanted because Jake wouldn't allow her around.

After Hanna May left Jake, it was Kendra she went to for support, she said. As the two lied in Kendra's bed, Hanna May distraught, they listened to audio recordings of phone calls and in-person conversations between Hanna May and Jake.

"She not only told me, but had played audio recordings of Jake admitting to hitting her, choking her, pushing her against the wall," said Kendra.

Hanna May never went back to Jake after that, Kendra said.

After the breakup, Kendra said she heard — through speaker phone conversations — Jake threaten Hanna May that they had to be a unit to raise their daughter, Sophia, and that if Hanna May was leaving him, she'd have to leave Sophia too.

During Hanna May's relationship with Jake, Kendra said she didn't remain as close with her cousin; Jake wouldn't let the two see one another often. After Hanna May left him, their relationship went back to the way it was in their childhood, Kendra said, and the pair resumed spending most days together.

Not long before Kylie was born, Kendra said Jake came over to Hanna May's house to help set up a crib ahead of the baby's arrival. The family had just moved into the new location, Kendra said, and Hanna May had tried to get Jake to help with the crib before the move, but hadn't been able to get him to come do it.

The night Hanna May and her family were murdered, Kendra said she'd intended to stay the night with her cousin, but was called away to babysit for a family friend until early the next morning.

When she woke up in the morning, she learned Chris Sr. had been shot and killed. Calls to Hanna May went unanswered, so Kendra and her brother, Luke — who testified during the first week of trial — drove to Union Hill Road. They were stopped by law enforcement, who'd blocked off much of the road, she said. Luke spoke with officers and they learned that Hanna May had also been shot and killed.

Later, after meeting family at the church, Kendra also learned her father was dead.

When she found out, she said she left the church on foot, just walking, until a family friend picked her up and drove her across the highway, further down Union Hill Road. After being dropped off, she kept walking until an Ohio State Highway Patrol officer stopped her, she said.

"I was trying to get to Hanna, because I just wanted to be with her," she said, crying.

When the trooper stopped her, she fell to the ground, she said.

Defense attorneys questioned Kendra about a person called "Big Mike" — a recurring question they've asked several family members throughout testimony. Kendra denied knowing who he was or seeing a man matching his description around Chris Sr.'s property. They asked about whether Kendra knew Chris Sr. planned to buy property for a pill mill and she denied knowing that; defense pointed out she'd given that information to investigators when interviewed in 2016, but Kendra said it was hearsay, not knowledge she knew for sure.

Next on the witness stand was Corey Holdren, the boyfriend of Hanna May at the time she was murdered.

Prosecutors asked about how his relationship with her was and he smiled.

"Great," he said. "She was the best thing that ever happened to me, she really was."

He said he knew Charlie Gilley was the father of Hanna May's baby, but out of love for her and desire to have a family, he agreed to take care of Kylie, name her and raise her as his own. He'd been struggling with addiction when he met Hanna May and he described her lying by his side in bed while he went through withdrawals.

"Nobody does that unless you love somebody, but she did it and got me through," he said.

Hanna May was a great mother to Sophia, he said, even when the toddler was "rotten."

"I just wish Kylie could have seen," he said and his voice broke.

The night of the murders, Holdren said he would have been in bed with Hanna May, if his mother hadn't begged him to help his sister with leaking pipes at her house. Hanna May was supposed to go home, pick up her breast pump, and rejoin Holdren at his house later in the evening, but she eventually texted him and said she was too tired, and would see him the next day.

"I would have been with her, like normally would have been," he said. "I don't know what made me stay home that day, but I didn't."

The next morning, Kendra called him and told him "they're gone." He rushed to her home and was stopped at a police barricade near Frankie's house, where her grandparents told him Hanna May was dead.

Asked about Jake, Holdren said he'd only seen him a few times, but that Hanna May had told him he was controlling. He recounted a time Hanna May told him Jake and his family had kept her in her bedroom for six months while she lived with them, not allowing her to leave or see anyone, even when her father came by.

One day, Jake came to Holdren's house, upset with Hanna May because she was late, or wasn't where he wanted her to be, he said.

"So, he showed up and knocked on my door," he said. "I invited him in, he came in and sat on my couch, sat down in my house and everything. This was about a week before it happened."

Holdren, crying, said to this day, Hanna May's death sometimes feels like a prank, as if she could come walking into a room at any time.

After his testimony, the mother of Frankie Rhoden's first child, Chelsea Robinson, took the stand. She opted out of being recorded and court adjourned once the prosecution rested; defense will cross-examine her on Monday morning.

You can catch up on the day's testimony below:

Watch opening statements below:

You can read recaps of each day of the trial in our coverage below:

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