WAVERLY, Ohio — During Tuesday's proceedings, the jury heard several secret recordings of conversations between Jake Wagner and Hanna Rhoden that Jake made purchases of items that could be used to craft a firearm suppressor in the months preceding the murder of Hanna and seven of her family members in Pike County in 2016.
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.
Court began Tuesday with Judge Randy Deering ruling the defense could not request to play audio clips in their entirety after the prosecution played portions of wire tap audio on Monday. The entire clips did not contain information relevant enough to the trial, Deering ruled.
Defense continued its cross examination of Julia Eveslage, an intelligence expert with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations, after arguments about the full audio clips ended court in the middle of cross examination Monday.
During cross, defense attorney John Parker pointed out that clips recorded by BCI agents listening to the wire taps were much longer than the portions played by prosecutors. During prosecution's redirect, Eveslage said she specifically selected the portions to play based on their pertinence to the case.
Next, prosecution re-called former BCI agent Bryan White to the stand; White was the lead crime scene investigator on the Pike County murder case, though he no longer works with the agency.
White said BCI requested Jake, George and Billy come in to the Pike County Sheriff's Office so agents could take tracings, foam impressions and measurements of their feet.
"The investigative team had made the decision to have an outside expert review some of the evidence found in the case, specifically footwear impressions," White said.
He then delivered those items, along with shoeprint evidence collected in the case, to William Bodziak, a forensics specialist in Florida, for examination.
BCI also took palm prints and fingerprints of Billy, Jake and George; White said a photo — shown in court Monday — of a hand holding a Colt 1911 .22 caliber pistol showed enough of the palm that investigators sought to compare the Wagners' prints with the hand in the photo. Andrew Wilson, special prosecutor, said three different labs agreed the hand in the photo matched prints taken from Jake.
During cross examination, Parker showed the jury a photo of George sitting in the sheriff's office barefoot and asked White if it showed George complying with investigators' requests. White said it did.
After a morning break, prosecution re-called Jennifer Comisford, a special agent with BCI who was present for much of the investigation, including during processing the crime scenes, the execution of the search warrants and the interviews at the Canadian border.
Comisford testified that, along with another BCI forensic scientist, she collected handwriting samples from Angela. Angela was asked to write her name, the date and copy a typed paragraph. She also was asked to print and sign Hanna Rhoden's name with both her dominant and non-dominant hands. Angela was also asked to write her own name, Rita Newcomb's name and Hanna Rhoden's name 40 times each.
Parker, during cross examination, asked whether Comisford collected any handwriting samples from George; she replied she did not.
Eveslage returned to the witness stand for a second time Tuesday to present several videos she discovered on a laptop belonging to the Wagner family. The videos were taken on Jake's cell phone and, while they were videos, no visuals could be seen and the phone seemed to be in a pocket or otherwise concealed. Audio from the files were from several instances in which Jake either dropped his daughter off with Hanna Rhoden or picked her up from Hanna's home.
The audio recordings were difficult to hear, with background and ambient noise obscuring parts of the conversations. At times, Sophia's voice shouts over the adults conversing, making it difficult to make out what was said.
During the first recording, made by Jake on December 11, 2015, Hanna can be heard telling Jake she plans to move out of her mother's house once she gives birth to her new baby. In a second recording, made on December 19, 2015, Hanna and Jake talk about their schedules over the coming days, before the conversation shifts to Tabitha, George's ex-wife; Dana Rhoden's voice can also be briefly heard in the recording.
On December 24, 2015, Jake recorded his trip to Hanna's boyfriend's house to pick up Sophia. After Jake knocks on a door, Hanna's voice, sounding annoyed, can be heard telling Jake he could have just waited in the car while she brought their daughter out. Jake can be heard arguing with Hanna about her picking up Sophia late and not answering her phone. He said he called Hanna's mother, Dana, and then decided to come look for her at her boyfriend's house, assuming she'd be there. Hanna's side of the conversation is muffled and difficult to make out. Jake then asked Hanna if Corey smoked inside the house.
"No. Have a nice day," said Hanna, followed by the sound of a door slamming.
The recording then picks up muffled noise and the sound of a vehicle, along with Sophia's voice, before Jake sniffs and tells the girl she smells like smoke.
Prosecution played recordings made by Jake in December and January, but both were difficult to understand. In the January recording, Hanna May can be heard speaking to Sophia, asking her what her little sister's name is going to be.
"Kylie May," she told Sophia and Jake teased her for giving the new baby Hanna's own middle name.
At the end of the recording, when Jake returns to the vehicle with Sophia, George can be heard saying they should get out of there before Chris or little Chris "start rolling up here."
On February 6, 2016, Jake recorded a longer encounter with Hanna, during which the two talk about a multitude of topics ranging from Hanna's work schedule to how she cracked her new phone to music preferences. Jake can be heard asking Hanna about their new house and when she thought the family would be moving; Hanna said it should be the first of the month, but that it was supposed to have happened at the first of the year.
The pair talk again about Tabitha and Hanna reads some of her private messages with George's ex-wife to Jake. The conversation is difficult to make out, but it focused on Bulvine, George and Tabitha's child.
"If she doesn't remember, she only has supervised visits so she can't have Bulvine by herself," Jake said.
Hanna responded inaudibly and Jake told her they'd asked if Tabitha still lived at Dave's house — her stepfather who she testified sexually abused her as a child. Jake said Tabitha told them she wasn't living there anymore.
On March 18, 2016, just over a month before the murders, Jake recorded a trip to Hanna's new house, where she lived with her mother, Dana, and brother, Chris Jr. Dana can be heard asking Sophia if she wants to show her daddy her new house and new room and Sophia enthusiastically complied.
In a short recording on March 31, 2016, only vehicle noise can be heard for awhile before George spoke.
"Why are you so filthy?" he said to Sophia after Jake put her in the vehicle. "Do they not know how to give you a bath? Put clothes on you?"
The final recording, made on April 9, 2016, was created less than two weeks before the murders. Music plays over the conversation and Sophia can be heard shouting in the background, but Eveslage said Jake and Hanna discuss Hanna's pregnancy and upcoming due date in the recording.
After a lunch break, Parker asked Eveslage how many similar videos from the Wagner family laptop were examined, but Eveslage said she didn't know an exact amount. She said there were more than 30 videos, but many were just of the kids playing and didn't hold any relevance to the trial; she selected the 10 videos presented to the jury because she believed they had bearing on the case.
Prosecution then re-called Eveslage to the stand — although she never physically left the seat — to question her about banking records and purchases made by members of the Wagner family in the months leading up to the murders.
Eveslage highlighted several items she said were relevant to the case because they were parts associated with crafting a homemade suppressor for a gun, she said.
For each item, Eveslage said she subpoenaed companies for receipts and purchase orders from the transactions, where possible; at least two companies were Chinese, so those companies did not comply with the subpoena, she said.
Beginning on February 26, 2016 — less than two months before the murders — accounts associated with Jake, George and Angela were used to buy pieces that Eveslage said could be used to create a homemade firearm suppressor. The purchases happened gradually over the span of several weeks between Feb. 26 and March 2 of that year.
On March 16, someone in the family bought a multi bug detector; Eveslage said the order shipped with Angela's name on it, but it was purchased with a Cabela's Visa card in George's name. That same day, Eveslage said someone in the family took a screenshot of a The Signal Jammer-brand 4G portable signal jammer in an online shopping cart.
On March 16 and 17 Angela's cell phone made three calls to The Signal Jammer customer service number. On March 17, Cabela's Visa fraud department called George; he called them twice after.
On April 3, Jake's Bass Pro Shop rewards card purchased a brass catcher and two bait nets. On April 7, Angela purchased the Walmart shoes investigators said created bloody footprints at the first crime scene.
On April 9, a PayPal account tied to the Wagner family email purchased a Captain America 2: Winter Soldier latex mask. Eveslage said she later received information that indicated that mask belonged to George. She said she learned that from an intercepted call recorded in 2018, though the prosecution hasn't yet played that particular recording.
After Eveslage stepped down, prosecution called Michael Kaizar to the stand. Kaizar is a forensic accountant and fraud examiner with BCI. He, in greater detail, explained the steps that led up to the list of purchases presented by Eveslage, stemming from his search through the Wagner family finances.
The family had several joint accounts and several individual accounts, both checking and savings, Kaizar discovered. One account, set up for a corporation named Defiance Farms was in Jake and Georges names. An account set up for Wagner Trucking was in George and Angela's names. The family also opened several different accounts while in Alaska, Kaizar said.
BCI agents investigating the murders gave Kaizar a list of items to keep an eye out for when analyzing the family's financial transactions, he said, which led to him identifying the items presented by Eveslage in addition to other numbers — like 20 60-pound bags of concrete mix purchased through the Defiance Farms account.
In addition to purchases, Kaizar also poured over the family's deposits and spending habits to see if he could discern any patterns or dramatic changes. He found that, in 2014, family accounts received multiple insurance payouts. In all that year, the family received roughly $66,634 in insurance payments.
In 2016, the family again received large amounts of funds in the form of insurance payouts — including a $40,000 lump sum check payable specifically to George. In all, the family collected roughly $44,475 in February of 2016 in an account joint-owned by Jake and George.
Then, after those deposits were made by the insurance company, a cash withdrawal of $18,700 was made from the same account.
The Wagner family accounts also moved money around quite a bit, Kaizar said; withdrawals from one family member's account would show up as a deposit in another family member's and there were often large cash withdrawals as well. The accounts created in Alaska consistently moved money back and forth from account to account, he said.
Court ended with Kaizar still on the witness stand; he will continue testifying on Wednesday 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:
- Wire taps played for jury as court enters sixth week of testimony
- George Wagner IV's grandmother testifies
- Interview with Angela played for jury, Angela's half brother takes stand
- Texts highlight Wagner family dynamic, purchases for possible silencer
- Dozens of guns collected in search of Flying W Farm, but no murder weapons
- Jury shown evidence collected from Wagner belongings
- Evidence collected on Wagner property presented
- BCI agents testified to evidence
- Ex-wife of George Wagner IV describes 'strange and controlling' Wagner home
- Jury hears from George Wagner IV's ex-wife as fourth week of testimony begins
- Family members tearfully describe the day of the homicides
- Bloody shoe prints, cell phone records are focus
- Experts testify about ballistics, shoeprint evidence
- Third week of trial moves on to Kenneth Rhoden's home
- Evidence presented from third crime scene
- Scene where Dana, Chris. Jr and Hanna May Rhoden were killed is focus
- Testimony focuses on second of four crime scenes
- Coroner describes two of eight victims autopsied
- Forensic testimony continues into Monday
- Forensic evidence takes center stage
- Testimony centers on Kenneth Rhoden, final victim discovered
- Emergency responders testify about chaotic scenes
- Witnesses describe discovering their family members' bodies
- Opening statements detail grisly moments in the six-year-old murder case
- Read a full timeline of the Pike County murder investigation
