A Family Torn

one time. Even though George Wagner is the one on trial here, all of this testimony about Jake is relevant because prosecutors say a custody battle over is the reason four members of the Wagner family murdered eight members of the Roden family. One of the defense lawyers told The Jersey, every time you hear the Wagner's, keep in mind that George Wagner is the only one on trial here. This is the piked In massacre. Returned to Pike County Season four,

Episode eight, A Family Torn. M Courtney Armstrong, a television producer at Katie Studios, with Stephanie Lydecker and Jeff Shane in the middle of George Wagner the fourth's trial, a typical Ohio fall has settled on piked In the wind is picked up and temperatures are dropping into the thirties. But unlike the vibrant autumn leaves springing up all around the Pike County Courthouse in Waverley, Ohio, the mood in

the courtroom is dark. In the biggest murder investigation in Ohio's history, Jake Wagner's older brother, George the Fourth, stares down eight counts of aggravated murder with death penalty specifications. It's important to note that George Wagner the Fourth, currently on trial, has pleaded not guilty and has maintained he did not kill anyone. His father, Billy Wagner, whose trial is upcoming, has also pleaded not guilty to all charges.

This episode contains frequent mentions of the names of the children impacted by this crime. We will continue to avoid exposing their identities. Here's Judge Randy Deering. Now there's a state ready to proceeded to stop the defense, ready, yea, alright? The state may call him on the witness. Of course, this entire trial has been gut wrenching, but today's testimony was also deeply emotional, as Prosecutor Angie Kineppa called friends

and family of the Rodents to the stand. These relatives and friends were forced to relive the day the Rodents had been murdered, where they were, when they found out whom they were with, and how they handled the harrowing news. You're honor the state, April meaning the first witness was April Manly, the wife of James Manly, Dana Roden's brother. April was Hanname's aunt and extremely close to her. She has long blonde hair and wears a rose colored Venex sweater.

On the stand, intermittently, April wipes tears from her eyes. She lives less than a mile to the east of Dina Roden's home. On the morning of the murders, April said she rode in the ambulance to Adams County Regional Medical Center with Hanname's newborn baby, her child with Charlie Gillie. The four day old was unharmed. Fighting back tears, April said her husband, James knew something was wrong when outside the road and home he heard Hanname's infant crying NonStop.

They knew Hanname would not let her baby cry like that. So your husband comes back and tells you that that he believes Dina is dead. What do you do? As result of that? I went with you Dada's. He was an emotional wrete. I didn't want him to be only did he tell you anything about at that time? James shoes, Yeah, they'd hurt. An went to walk back Characa. He knew what kinda mother Hannah wasn't she wouldn't be looking currently, okay, So he was concerned because he felt Hannah would have

been tending to the baby. Yes. Then at the hospital, April had what she described as an unsettling encounter with Jake. According to April, Jake seemed apathetic about Hannah may Rodin's death. He seemed more concerned with taking custody of her newborn child, who we would come to learn was not even his. And while you were there, did anybody else show up to the hospital? I don't recall who all, but I knew there was a couple of my nieces and nephews there,

and a cousin of mine. And eventually at the end Jake showed up, Jake Wagner. Okay. And where were you when Jake Wagner showed up? I was outside, okay? And can you tell us how that interaction went, he was motionless. That makes sense to that cries, and I like, he wasn't worried about nothing, wasn't someone that bought. I just lost someone that claimed to love. So he was not showing emotion in that time. Okay? Why was he there? He came to check him to see if he could

take her. Did you inform him that he could not take her? Yes? Okay? And did he hug you at all while he was there. April then commented that she wondered whether Jake had Hannah's blood on him when he was embracing her. Jake was extremely controlling over Hannah, ma Rodin, April said, and had negatively shaped her body image. It was very controlling over Hannah, like we wasn't allowed to

check her treat and even nois Hannah's week. Hannah was always a chunky little monkey, and she had got down so tiny because he would tell her that she was fat until her not to eat. Did Hannah ever tell you that she was scared? Yes, of Jake? Yes? And did she indicate that she was afraid of Jake and his family? Yes? Okay? And can you tell us what she was afraid of? The defense objects to this line

of questioning, and Judge Daring sustains the objection. According to April, Jake all So physically threatened Hannah on multiple occasions, even engaging her in a dangerous high speed chase. And can you tell us in indicated Jake Wagner was the one who would be around the most because of Hannah, and then he would sometimes be out at that residence that Frankie and Hazel were found in, when Dana and Hannah and little Chris lived there. Can you tell us what

your interactions would have been with him? We didn't interact. I didn't like him. He didn't like me, Okay. Why not because he thought I was nosy and needed to just stay in my place because I would defend Hannah. Okay. And how do you know that he felt that way? Because I was at my house one evening and Ned got into it and Hannah'd left. She had just got a driver's license, she was a new driver, and she

called me. He'd left after her, and she called me and said he was chasing her around at high speeds, and I told her to try to get away somewhere. She finally got away from and hid behind a church on Union Hill, and I caught her mom, and her mom caught her dad, and then I caught Hannah back and stayed with her. That's all. Chris Scott Tor. April commented that it wasn't only Jake she found scary. Hannah was also fearful of Billy Wagner, who usually walked around

with a gun holster to his side. April also described the disturbing experience of seeing the Wagners at the Rhoden's funerals. Did you see Billy Wagner there at the funeral? Yes? Did you observe any injuries on him at that time? He had bruisie only his face. And what about Jake Wagner did you see him at the funerals? Yes? Okay. Emotional and raw, April Manley was an effective witness for Angie Caneppa's team, offering deeper insight into Jake's depravity. Here's

Law and Crime Network reporter Anngeonette Levy. She's been following the case for years. I think April Manly provided some really good testimony for the prosecution. She talked about how you know this was an abusive relationship between Hannah May and Jake. She talked about how the Wagner's Billy, George, and Jake attended the funerals of the road and family members. I mean, that's pretty stunning to think that somebody who was part of killing your family members showed up at

the funerals with their family members who were also accused. Now, Billy and George maintained they didn't do this. They've pleaded not guilty, But just the fact that we actually have photographs and video of Jake and George and Billy at the funerals is pretty stunning. It's very eerie. But April manly provided some testimony that was very damaging to Jake Wagner.

It should be pointed out that none of April's testimony incriminates George the fourth or puts him at the crime scene, nor does it indicate that George Wagner had any motive to carry out his brother's grudge against Hannah may Rowden. But according to Ohio based criminal defense attorney and legal analyst Mike Allen, Kneppa is trying to weave a larger narrative about the Wagoners as a family unit that did

everything together, including murder. One of the defense lawyers, in his opening statement, was very very short, told the juror said, every time you hear the wagoners, you know, keep in mind that George Wagner is the only one on trial here, and you know, we don't know what went on in chambers when the judge talks to the prosecutor and defense counsel. I mean, perhaps the judge told the prosecutor, hey, you know, you're getting a little bit of field on some of

these witnesses. You're going to have to narrow it down. That happens all the time. But it sure seems though he had pretty much free reign to tell the tale of the Wagner family, even if what the witnesses were saying was not particularly relevant to George. A lot of testimony came in that was not relevant to George. As a matter of fact, I'd go as far as to say most of it. But again, she's telling the story.

The judge was letting her do it. I would have done the same thing if I was prosecuting the case. Judges will permit prosecutors to do things like this, telling the tale and setting it up like that, but at some point if it gets to be too much, the judge can step in. But he didn't feel it appropriate to do that. And you know, again, I think it was the prosecutor's desire to just weave the tale about how awful this family was. Another part of the prosecution

strategy is to maintain constant sympathy for the victims. Obviously, the prosecutor wants to create as much sympathy for the victims that she can, and from what I understand, she has been able to do that. You know, the roads are obviously their family members were brutally murdered and they want to be there. And it helps the state too with the jury because again I think there was a motion shown at the appropriate time, so it helps the state.

Were the Wagners, including George, the tight knit clan they appeared to be, did they always take action as a unit following what's known in the Appalachian fringe as the Code of the Hills. So far, the prosecution may have fallen short of proving that here again internet Jake's daughter. Custody of his daughter is really what the prosecution says was the motive in this case. And they say it's a conspiracy and that four people were involved in the conspiracy.

So a lot of the testimony seems to point more to Jake, and we hear way more about Jake and Angela Wagner than we do about George. So George seems like in some ways to not be that much of a fixture or a feature in his own murder trial. At a lot of points when we're listening to some of this testimony, it seems strange. It's not the first time I've covered a trial where it seems like you

don't hear that much about the defendant. When I've seen this happen in the past, it's always been a case that involved more than one defendant, right, I mean, Jake Wagner is really the main player in this case. And Jake Wagner, of course pleaded guilty and admitted it said that this is why the family carried out these crimes.

But if you're George Wagner's defense attorneys, I would think you'd be thinking, you know what, my guy's name hasn't been mentioned very often up to this point, so I'd be trying to exploit that as much as I could. Because it's all been about Jake and Hannah may or about Angela and Hanname, or Angela and Jake and the child. It hasn't really been that much about George. We're going to take a break. We'll be back in a moment.

April manly Son Cody also takes the stand. He's got short blonde hair and glasses and wears a blue checkered button down shirt. He is very composed. Please tell me if I am correct about this. Your testimony is that you saw George Wagner a few times at Chris's fireworks correct, yes, okay, And that you knew him enough to recognize him correct, correct, okay. And in addition to that, you saw him at the funeral, correct okay. Do you recognize him in the courtroom here today? Yes?

And can you please tell us where he is sitting and what he was wearing over there and at vest and one shirt and black tie. Cody and Frankie road and were best friends. Frankie lived down the road from Cody and rode with him every day to work. On the morning of April twenty second, Frankie didn't show up at Cody's house like he usually did, so Cody drove over to the roadens to see what was going on.

Cody described arriving at the scene of the murders and seeing his aunt Bobby Joe Manley's car along with the police officer's car. He then walked into the scene of the crime. I just put alongside the road and walked in a Frankies. Okay, and can you tell us where did you see the cop car? And where was Bobby Joe's car? Robber's car was in the driveway slash yard and the cop car was like driveway slash word. Okay, so kind of half half in the driveway and half

in the road, right, okay. And you walked into Frankie's house okay? And what happened? I want tweets bedroom and like fruitis why did you freeze? Because I saw things I didn't want to see. What he saw was Frankie Rodin and Hannah Hazel lying in a pool of blood. Cody testified that Chris Senior's dog, Chance probably knew the killers because they would have likely attacked them if he didn't. Something special about Chance, something different? What was that? What

do you mean different? Well? Was Chance a gentle dog or not? To me? Yes, he was gentle to you. And Chance knew you because you had been to that property often, right right, I was chanced with people. He didn't know they wonder went in the house. Here's Anteonette's overview of Cody's testimony. Cody Manly is Hannah Maize cousin and the son of James and April Manly, and he

was close with Frankie Roden. He ended up actually going down to Frankie's house and saw Bobby Joe in the driveway, and he walked into the house to see what was going on, and he actually found Frankie and Hannah Hazel dead in the bed. A deputy came in and told him, look, you've got to get out of here. He said he was frozen, he just couldn't move. And he testified about Hannah May being fearful of the Wagoners. He didn't say necessarily that Hannah May was fearful of George, but that

she did fear the Wagoners. She wasn't living there with the Wagoners anymore. That's why she broke it off with Jake. He had made some threats to her in the past as well, and kept her in her bedroom for periods of time and wouldn't let her leave the house. Oh, listening to Cody Manly talk about how Hannah was fearful of the Wagner's was pretty telling. First of all, can you tell us your name? Kendra Rodin Okay? And ken direct? Can you tell us how would you are twenty five? Okay?

And where do you work? I currently work as a nurse at Brookdale. It's a nursing facility for dement residence. Okay? And where is that located? And Inglewood, Ohio. Kendra Roden, Kenneth's daughter, also gave heart wrenching testimony. She wore a white shirt with lace accents and her long blonde hair and a neat braid. She was extremely close to hannahme and witnessed many of Jake's abuses. And you mentioned Hannah. Who are you talking about when you say Hannah? Hannah Roden?

She was Chris's daughter. She was my cousin, my best friend. We were like sisters. And can you tell us for how long of your life that was? Was that? Did that start in early childhood or did that start later in life? Early childhood? We were only a month apart, so we had been together for Kendra echoed April Manley's claim that Jake was controlling and cruel. Did you continue to hang out with Jake and Hannah on various occasions. Yes, okay. Was there ever a time that you expressed a disliking

of Jake? Yes? I told Hannah I did not like Jake okay? And can you tell us what led you to say? That? He would constantly try to be controlling? He would follow her anywhere we went. She was never allowed to be alone. So give us some examples of that.

An example would be when we went to the Rare and White Tall Dear Festival, Hannah would need to go to the bathroom, or we would say that we were going to go to the bathroom, and Jake had attack along, and then he would wait outside until we were done. And did anything happen at the I believe you said,

the Sayota County Fair, Yes, ma'am okay. At the Sida County Fair, Jake had made a demeaning remark to Hannah Roudin and grabbed her by the arm, in which I turned and kicked him in the shin because I didn't like it, And then Hannah got in between the both of us. She had come to me, she had arranged a little day for us to be together, and we had went to a man made pond that my family had built out on left Work Road. We were swimming and fishing in the pond there when she stopped and

she told me that she was pregnant. I thought she was joking. I was hoping she was joking, but she told me she was really pregnant with his child and that everything was going to be okay. Did you support her through that process as much as I could? I wasn't allowed to be around. And when you say you weren't allowed by who? By Jake Wagner. At one point during her separation, Hannah shared with kendradely disturbing voice recordings of Jake. It was testimony that ran a gauntlet of

objections from the defense. At some point, did Hannah end up leaving Jake? Yes, ma'am, And what do you remember from that? The night that she had left Jake, she came to my mother's residency where I was staying at seventy dollars Lane, and she was a little distraught. We light on my bed and she had played audio recordings from Jake Wagner phone calls that they had had or from when they were in person. There are multiple different ones about incidents that had occurred between Jake and her.

Okay and do you know what occurred between them? Yes, ma'am. She not only told me, but had played audio recordings of Jake admitting to hitting her, choking her, pushing her against a wall. When he was admitting to that stuff, what was the tenor of those in the tone of those recordings, was he saying other things to her, for instance? And was this before or after Hannah had left Jake? It was after she had left Jake. Were we able

to listen to this conversation. Hannah had the phone on speaker phone, that way I could be witnessed anything that was said. Okay, And there was an intentional act on her part, yes, ma'am, okay. And how do you know that it was Jake Wagner on the other end of the phone. I've met Jake before, I've talked to Jake before. I know his voice. And what was that discussion that

you heard? The discussion was actually because Hannah had found out she was pregnant with her youngest and Jake had believed that was his and we were trying to point out to him that she absolutely was not his and that he couldn't be a part of her life. And at what point do you learn my aunt Michel had later got a text because some of us had service, and she became frantic and screamed out that my father

was gotten. You were still at the church at that time, Yes, ma'am, let's stop here for another break, and she could not. Asked Kendra to describe the moment she learned of the murders and was helped out by a quote stadie or state police. Do you stay at the church? Upon learning that my father had been killed as well? I walked down the hill there until a family friend had actually picked me up. Her name was Melissa, and I told her that I just needed to get across the highway.

She took me across the highway and I got out. There was a stadi there that stopped me. I just I was trying to get to Anna because I just wanted to be with her. I was crying and the stadi I had dropped to the ground. The stadie helped me get back up. At what point did you learn that something had happened? My boyfriend at the time I had woke me up around eight thirty. We had missed a phone call from a family friend, Nicole Francis, that had said that my uncle Chris Senior had been shot.

She had heard it on a police radio. So I called her back and at that point she had told me that Chris had been shot. I tried to call Hannah. I can't get ahold of Hannah. I can't get a hold of anybody. So my brother and I, his girlfriend and my ex boyfriend we drove to Union Hill, in which we were stopped just before Frankie Driveway, stopped by whom the sheriffs that were there. It's the time that you got that call. Was the only information you had

was that Chris Senior had been shot? Yes, ma'am. At what point did you learn Differently? At some point, my brother Luke Rowden had obtained some information from one of the sheriffs that Hannah had also been shot, in which he had come and told me that she had been shot as well and she was dead. What did you do? At that point? I became very upset. I couldn't believe that she had also been shot. I cried, we age. There was a few of us that had actually tried

to push past the sheriffs. At this point, George, the fourth lawyer, began a flimsy cross, asking Kendra if she had any knowledge of Christinior's drug dealings. The line of questioning ran aground now referring to the information which you had provided previously to law enforcement. You had given information about an individual you know as Big Monke. Is that right? Yes?

And Big Mike is someone who is from the Cincinnati area to my knowledge, okay, that's information that you had given agents though, right, that I had heard from my father. You were asked about drug dealing with your family's involvement with drug dealing, right, you are asked that question? Yes? Okay? And and so I'm eventually going to ask you about Big Mike. Did you ever observe an African American mill

with Chris Senior or your father? Okay? Do you have personal knowledge of Chris Senior preparing to buy a building for a pill mill? No? Do you remember providing that information to agents? I provided at based on hearsay? Okay. You were also asked about Billy Wagner or by agents. Right. Yes, you describe the relationship between Christine you'r and Billy wag You're as business associates. Yes, you're aware of p Senior's

involvement with marijuana traffic, right, Yes? And you're aware that he was in Asian more than just marrible traffic, not Frisian knowledge. You had to a we see our agents about more than just Marimana traffic. Yes, based on what I heard. Thank you again and again. The defense failed to gain ground in George the Fourth's favor, but neither really did the prosecution make a clear case against Jake's older brother George. Instead, they seem focused on painting Jake

as a sociopath. Here again, Mike Allen, it's not all that probitive or relevant because George is on trial, not Jake. But I think the prosecution had a strategy to paint Jake it's kind of a depraved lunatic throughout the entire trial, and I think they were successful in doing it. I mean, anytime that they could take a shot at Jake one way or the other, they did. I think that was

probably the strategy there. Oh. I think the jury's picking up on that and the prosecutor has been pounding it throughout the trial, and it just shows that this is a family like no other family that I've seen before. They're depraved and they don't care about anyone other than their family, and that is coming through loud and clear on this trial. But George's abuse of tendencies will come to light soon when his x WEF Tabitha takes the stand.

Here's Mike and Angeinette. Well. Tabitha was on the stand the next day and gave testimony that she worked at the group home that Federica Wagner owned. It was called Crystal Springs. She cheated on George while working at that group home. They fired her and took her phone. She wasn't allowed to go outside home alone when she was there, and it's really frightening too, you know. She talked about

that night she fled the house. She said that Angela and Hannah May had gone out to get some toys for the kids and she was home with her son, and Angela had told her. She claimed that she needed to clean up the dishes from lunch. Well, she didn't do it. She laid down to take a nap with her son. And she said that when Angela came home, she was very upset with her for not completing that task or that chore. There was an argument. George got upset with her for yelling at Angela. George slapped her

and hit her with a belt. She escaped living with them by hiding under George's truck, then getting a bike out of the barn and riding away. She rode the bike down to the gas station down the road and she had her mom pick her up. She was hiding from them because he was scared of being shot. George took their son to Alaska when the Wagoners fled, but did not let Taboth and No she had no contact

with her son. While the Wagers were in Alaska, George gap making excuses as to why, and one of George's closest friends testifies that George wasn't his usual self after the killings. Samantha Staley had also testified though, that after the homicides, she was with George and some other people and they went fishing, and she said he wasn't the same George. He just seemed different. It wasn't the same George.

And she brought up the fact that Frankie had been killed and the rest of the family, and he, George, she said, told her to shut the f up, which sounds like it was pretty out of character for him, at least when dealing with her. More on that next time. For more information on the case, and relevant photos. Follow us on Instagram at Katie Underscore Studios. The Piked and Masaker is produced by Stephanie Lydecker, Jeff Shane, Alan Wieterer,

Andrew Arnow, Gabriel Castillo and me Courtney Armstrong. Editing and sound designed by Jeff Ta Music by Jared Aston. The Piked and Masker is a production of iHeartRadio and Kati Studios. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.