Opening Statements

custody of this child. Billy came running out of the residence saying, I just shot my best friend. I just shot my best friend. This is the Pipes and Massacre trials begin Season four, Episode two. Opening statements. I'm Courtney Armstrong, a television producer at Katie Studios with Stephanie Leidecker and Jeff Shane. It's a gray morning in Waverley, Ohio, and you can feel the first hint of fall weather starting to seep into the air. Everyone has filed inside the

courtroom by nine am. Good morning. This is the case of State of Ohio Plaintiff versus George Washington. Wager the fourth defended. Today is September twelve, twenty twenty two, and we continue proceedings in the trial of this matter. With multiple attorneys, sheriff's deputies, and a scattering of television monitors throughout the courtroom. It feels small. Darkwood walls and a thick red carpet make it seem even more so. There is a large hand painted mural on the wall behind

Judge Deering that says semper justicia. It's Latin and means justice for all. Present today is a defendant with his attorneys John Parker and Richard Nash. For statable hi it was represented by Rob Junk, prosecuting attorney, and special prosecutors Andrew at Kanepa and Andrew Wilson. It's important to note that George Wagner the Fourth, currently on trial, and his father, Billy Wagner, whose trial is upcoming, have pleaded not guilty

to all charges. George Wagner the Fourth sits between his lawyers, motionless, staring straight ahead as the judge instructs the jury. He looks thinner than he did over the summer and has lost some hair as well. There's no one in court to support George Wagner, and the media is allocated to his side of the courtroom. Aanette Levy is one of the reporters, kind of goes to this whole thing of how they were kind of insular and operating as one unit.

There's nobody there to support George Wagner the fourth and it's kind of sad when you think about it. Courtney and I were actually sitting behind him. Then kind of occurred to us after that if you had access to the fee, that it might appear that we were in support of the Wagners just by being there, which gave us some pause. It's really hard if you're in that courtroom if you're not sitting up front to hear at times,

so getting a front row seat is actually better. And nobody should read anything into people sitting behind George Wagner. It's not a show of support. It's just a matter of logistics and where we were told to sit. Today, the court will give some preliminary instructions to the jury,

after which there will be opening statements by counsel. These opening statements of counsel are not evidence, but they are a preview of the claims of each party and They are designed to help you follow the evidence as it is presented. Because there will be no witnesses called to the stand today. The video feed to media outside the

courtroom is up and running for people at home. Basically, the prosecutor's office will be giving the jury members kind of the roadmap but where they're taking this investigation to prove their case. That's exactly what opening statement is. It's a roadmap letting the jury know what they think they can prove, where they think their case is going to go. The important thing about opening statement is do not overpromise. Lead prosecuting Attorney Angie Kinnepa gets up to address the jury.

She has blonde shoulder lenk hair with bangs, and is wearing a smart, conservative navy blue suit. Let's talk about why we are here. We are here, ladies and gentlemen, jury because this defended George Wagner the Fourth aka George Wagner and his brother Edward J. Wagner, Jacob Wagner and his father George Wagner Third, also known as Billy Wagner, murdered eight people who did not deserve to die and went back to sinking. Kneppa speaks with an air of

confidence and directness. The question that has been asked the most over the past six and a half years is why why did four individuals plot to kill eight members of another family? And I think you will be disappointed to learn that there is no good reason these murders happened after a period of three months of planning and plotting and purchasing and preparing and executing eight individuals of a family. And in part you will learn his mother,

who helped in the planning and plotting of this. You will learn that the defendants knew that before they walk out of the door that night to kill these individuals, that there might be other people there, and they all agree those people would have to be killed two regardless of the fact that they literally have no issue with any of those other individuals. As Andrew Kneppa talks about the collateral damage of the night of the murders, George bows his head ever so slightly and looks down. They

were willing to kill indiscriminately with no reason. At this point she locks in with the jury. Caneppa spends almost twenty minutes detailing the last known moments of the Roden family. Chris Roden, Senior was forty years old at the time of his death. You see here that on April twenty first of twenty sixteen, his last outgoing text was to

Dana Roden. Dana Roden was thirty seven years old at the time she was killed, and she was last seen on video surveillance at the People's once stop having a conversation with her friend and co worker, Frankie Rodin was twenty years old. The last activity we see on his phone, just before eleven PM, he takes a picture of both of his children sleeping. Hannah May Roden had just turned nineteen a few weeks prior to her death. Her last

outgoing contact was a text to Corey Holdron. You may recall Corey Holdron was Hannah May's boyfriend at the time of the murders. There were two things that were kind of chilling about that. One was that the boyfriend was supposed to go over there and hang out, and his sister had some kind of plumbing problem or something, so he couldn't come over, and that probably saved his life.

The other thing was that Chris Junior had friends over all the time, but he was grounded, and he would have had a friend over sleeping over, hanging out playing video games or whatever. But he was grounded so his friend couldn't come over, and that saved his friend's life. They were going to kill anybody as collateral damage that were in those trailers. Here's Stephanie. I have to say, hearing the details about each victim's final moments was a

piece of the puzzle we'd never heard before. Just knowing that Corey Holdron was the last person that Hanname wrote and texted before the murders is kind of a chilling detail. The idea that little Chris Junior, who was again just a little teenager having a buddy over for a sleepover where they were going to play video games all night. Who can't relate to that. It was very chilling. When Angie Kneppa goes on to say what could have been

that night? There could have been even more victims indiscriminately taken with this tragedy. Now we're hearing these details from the prosecution that we just hadn't known before. Angie Kneppa, I think, particularly in this section of her opening statement,

it was really incredibly effective. She is painting a picture of the moments in these victims lives and you can see them, and you can place yourselves in their shoes, whether it's the last known thing they did, was taking a picture of their kids, or was having a conversation with a co worker while stopping by on an errand after work. The fact that people's lives were taken purely as collateral damage the Wagners, according to everything that's been said,

we're willing to take those quote extra lives. So just by happenstance. Gary Rodin was there that night, and we have interviewed several people over the years who have said, you know, Gary would frequently do that. He would just pop by Chris Siors and crash for a night or two, sometimes even up to a week, and then months would go by where he wouldn't And again, wrong is wrong time. Kanepa alines the entire trajectory of Jake and Hannah's relationship.

Hannah may Roden, her crime was not returning the love of Jake Wagner, not submitting to the control of the Wagners. And you will learn that that is the character of this family was very controlling of any women who came into their circle. It kind of starts with a love story. If you want to call that. A very young teenage girl, Hannah May Roden age thirteen at the time, was at the Pipe County Fairgrounds and somebody introduced her to Jacob.

Two years later, Hannah Rodin is pregnant with the daughter she shares with Jake Wagner. There are text messages from Jake to Hannah May which state quote I'll take and if I have to buy force? This is was still inside of Hannahme's womb. Hannahme gives birth to the daughter she shares with Jake Wagner in twenty thirteen and eventually goes to live with the Wagner's, but things go south quickly. Angela wants a little girl to call her mom even when Hanname is there. It's all too much for Hannah.

Hearing these text messages really puts to light the fact that Hanname Rodin was clearly in an abusive relationship with Jake Wagner. And sometimes when you're in an abusive relationship, you get desensitized to bad behavior, and in her case, she was wise enough and brave enough to get out of that relationship despite her young age, and also she was very fortunate to have a loving family in a

safe place to land with her family. Not everybody has that, And I think that's the double whammy here is that she did everything correctly. She got out of an abusive situation, She tried to make things better, try to keep things cool with the father of her daughter. Her family justifiably looked out for her and protected her, and yet even that didn't offer enough safety for any of them. Eventually, Hannah May leaves Jake in early twenty fifteen. She calls

her father asks for him to come get her. Jacob choked her and she could not handle the controlling nature of not just Jake, but also the family. April twenty second, twenty sixteen, after the news breaks about the murders, James Manley goes to check in on his sister Dana Roden, his nephew Little Chris, and niece Hannah Me. When he gets there, he also notices that the door is a jar. He went back to her bedroom. She was covered up, so he didn't know if she was in the bed.

He felt around in the bed until he could feel that her body was there, and he lifted the pillow that was covering her face. She was deceased, shot in the head he goes to check on Hannah May. He will tell you that he heard the by baild baby crying, but he could not bring himself to go back and see anything more. Canepa brings up Jake's confession of what happened that night. Stephanie and I speak with Angeanette Levy.

I think one of the most stunning things out of opening statements that I heard was the fact that Jake Wagner told the prosecutors that he was in Dana Roden's house, where Hannah May and Chris Junior were also in the home, and that he could see Dana Rodin was still awake and had the light from her cell phone up to

her face. And then he said that he was standing kind of by Dana Roden's bedroom, and Hannah Roden's bedroom was nearby, and the newborn baby started crying, and so he didn't want Dana Rodin getting up or waking up or what have you to help with the baby, so he stepped into the room and shot her in the head, and then went over to Hannah May's room, and Hannah May turned and according to Angie Kaneppa, Jake believes she saw him but didn't necessarily recognize him. He wasn't sure

of that, and then he then shot her. And it's so flabbergasting to me the fact that Angie Kneppa said Jake Wagner said that he rearranged Hannah May's body so that her newborn baby could breastfeed, if that's even possible off of her now a dying or dead mother. I feel like you couldn't make that up. And keep in mind, this was after he'd already killed, allegedly or helped kill, I should say, according to Jake, Christine, you're and Gary. It is the detail that I think was the most

haunting takeaway from opening statements. It's such a disturbing detail on top of so many disturbing details. We're going to take a break. We'll be back in a moment. The tragic arc of Jake and Hannah's romance highlights how intertwined the families were, both in love and in business. It turns out it was also the undoing of the Wagners. When Jake Wagner was initially interviewed pretty early in the investigation, he indicated that everything was just dandy between he and

Hannah May. A large part of the prosecution's case revolves around texts and Facebook messages that paint anything but a rosy picture of Jake and Hannah's battle over their daughter. The media letches onto it immediately. Prosecutors said the Wagners were of a chilling statement that Hannah May Roden made on social media about that little girl's custody just weeks before the killings. In Facebook messages their girls mom, Hannah said the only way he would get custody is if quote,

they kill me. Prosecutors said that Wagners knew about that private social media post because they had stolen the passwords of the person that Hannah Roden sent that message to. Additionally, Billy Wagner was interviewed and he indicated that he did not have the phone that he had at the time of the homicides because he kept trying to call Chris Senior because Chris Senior was his best friend, and after the homicides, he kept trying to call him and he

finally got frustrated and upset one day and broke his phone. Well, that was a good story, but it wasn't true because we have phone records that indicate he never once tried to call Chris Senior. According to Kneppa, Jacol testified to the complicated and deep relationship Billy had with Chris Senior. Here again, Stephanie, We've always heard that Billy Wagner and Chris Senior. You know, they knew each other for a long time. They might have done some ancillary work stuff together,

but best friends. Never have I heard that Billy Wagner was his best bud. I too, have never heard the term best friends as it relates to Billy Wagner and Chris Roden Senior. However, we do know there is a past, there are some business dealings, There are grandpas to the

same baby. That's fair in this moment. During the opening statement, Angrew Kneppa then goes on to give a preview of what Jake will say in his testimony, including some details like the night of the murder, when Billy was at Chris Senior's house before Chris was aware of what was going on. Billy asked Chris Senior to call him because quote,

he couldn't find his phone. When an actuality, all of the Wagner's phones were back with Angela, so that when Chris Senior called Billy's phone or any of the other phones they would register at being at home. Even just having the foresight to put that part of the plan in place, they were smart enough to know that these phones will be tracked and they will ping someplace, and

that will provide them with an alibi. Angie Caneppa continues, Jake will tell you that Billy came running out of the residence and was hysterical, saying, I just shot my best friend. I just shot my best friend, he will say. At that point, he and George tried to calm Billy down, and George and Billy drug the bodies of Gary Rowden and Chris Senior back to the bedroom of Chris Senior,

Angeanette Levy and Chris Senior's home. There was a long path of blood drag marks from where apparently he and Gary Roden had been dragged back into a back bedroom and essentially thrown on top of each other and then a comforter or thrown on top of them. You know, they were just thrown away like trash. Chris Senior was shot just in that general area nine times, so there

was just a long path of blood. There were so many familial roots and conflicting feelings between the two families, but why the totality of the crime the entire family. Early in her statement, Antioquanepa alludes to the collateral damage and indiscriminate killing in this focused custody battle over Jake Wagner and Hannahme's shared daughter. Chris Roden Senior was one

of the intended targets of the Wagners. That's because he was the patriarch of the family and they considered basically that if they kind of got rid of him, that the structure of the family would fall. And they also knew that if they only killed Hannah May that he would know who did it, and he would that would either get them arrested or he would retaliate. Gary Roden

was killed simply because he was there. As Kneppa goes through the entire family at the defense as council table, George Wagner the fourth looks down for this entire part of the statement. Kenneth Roden and Chris Roden Senior were very close to each other. There had been prior occasions where Chris Roden had been hurt and Kenneth retaliated on his behalf. So the Wagners very much knew that about Kenneth, and so they decided that he had to be killed

because again, he would know who it was. We have kind of been working under the narrative that whoever did this wanted to wipe out the entire bloodline, frankly, or anybody who would potentially lay claim to custody of the then three year old. But it also sounds like some

of the victims were targeted because they feared retribution. Kenneth Rowden has always been a confusing crime scene to me because we never understood why, And maybe now it makes sense that the idea was he was very very close with Chris Senior, and he was very close to the entire family, and had he known that anybody had ill will toward his family that, you know, he would have taken retribution. That makes sense to me, but I hadn't

thought of it before. I always thought they would have been wiped out because they would have possibly known who did it, not necessarily because of the retribution or revenge aspect of it. It would have just been like, oh, you have knowledge that you knew you were going to put the point the cops at us. But they make it sound like no, Kenneth would have maybe taken matters into his own hands and taken care of this himself.

The fact that Hannah Hazel. I always thought she was killed because of Charlie Gillie, because of a jealousy type thing there. But apparently they say she was just collateral damage, that she was killed because she was there. Gary Roden was killed because he was there. The logic doesn't rock with me. She was Frankie's fiance. Of course she was going to be there. Seemed like it was Dana's house. Of course she was going to be there. I really

I can't logically compute it. I think it's more like Hannah Hazel wasn't a target, but it was almost like they had to kill her because she was there. You can't go in and kill Frankie and not kill her and said that to me. It's just not that it ever makes sense to kill anybody. But that's just even more senseless. If they were fearing that the Roden family would want to take matters into their own hands, not that they said that, but it was intimated that they

feared retribution. That also shows how much they were loved. They were all steeped in so much loving history that yeah, it speaks to the fact that they were all very close. The motive to kill Dana Rodin always seemed murky. And how about the fact that Dana Rodin was considered not a target, which I find really strange because how could she not have been an intended target because she could have possibly laid claim to She would have known about the custody battle, and she was going to be home

that night. I mean maybe if she had worked an overnight shift. We knew she worked a later shift, a double that day and got home later. But how could she not have been an intended target if they had already said, you know, even if Chris Junior had a friend over, they would have killed that person. They would have killed whoever was there. So how was Dana Rodin not an intended target? According to Kneppa, Dana was privy to the threat Dick made towards Hannah. Dana couldn't be

left alive to reveal what she knew. When Chris Senior and Gary's bodies are found. Another persistent theme in our investigation was discovered. Bobby Joe will tell you that on this particular morning, she and Billie and Emma Morgan drove up to that location. Emma and Billy Morgan were a married couple living with Bobby Joe Manley. They would come to Chris Senior's house in the morning to help feed

his animals. Typically, Chris Senior is not there when they arrive because he gets up early and he's already on his way to Big Bear Lake where he works every day. He operated heavy equipment and did construction, built decks and stuff like that. You will learn that they immediately thought something was amiss because Chris Senior's truck was still at the house and both of the inside dogs were sitting outside of the house on the front porch. Gary Roden

was thirty eight when he was killed. He was from Kentucky and would come up to piked In and live with Chris Senior on and off. Gary also worked at Big Bear Lake. Billy went to go start feeding the animals. Bobby Joe goes up to the house to see what's going on with Chris. Why the dogs are out all that stuff? The door is locked. That's also unusual. They obviously were not prepared for what they saw when they entered that residence. When they found Chris Sor, he was

wearing a big bear Lake sweatshirt. They quickly exited and she went to the car where Emma Morgan they call her Emmy, was still seated, and she retrieved her telephone and made a phone call to nine one one. Another loose end in the case has brought up as well. Angie Kneppa mentions what she calls a quote false exculpatory story. It's a story about a big drug deal in California that Billy Wagner and Chris Rodinorre supposed to be a part of. So part of this alleged deal was a

man named Skid Montgomery. It's important to note that we are not saying Skid Montgomery has any drug related convictions, nor are we saying he's implicated in any way into the murders. This is simply a reporting of what was brought up in open court. After the murders, a local man named Jeff Tackett got a visit from his friend Billy Wagner. He said, after the homicides, Billy came to his home and stood at the end of the driveway and talked to him and said that he couldn't stand himself.

He also told a story about Skid Montgomery one of the wealthiest and most powerful people in Pike County, possibly arranging the road in murders because Chris Senior cut Skid out of a drug deal. And we've heard no evidence that Chris Senior and Skid Montgomery were actually involved in drug dealing together, but we've heard that Billy and Chris Senior were business associates. We've also gotten a lot of tips from listeners in and around the area who keep

pointing to Skid Montgomery as something relevant. The prosecution also seems to be rolling out the cartel as part of their case. Whoever killed these individuals were very intimate with both the personal habits of the Rodents and the residences themselves. I told you that Dana Rodin and Hannime and little Chris had just moved into that residence less than thirty days prior, so you had to know them well enough

to know that, right. This kind of gets rid of the drug cartel idea, you know, and other individuals who just wouldn't know that. So here's Billy putting out this new theory, and it's caught enough wind that even we've heard about it. I'm curious what the connection to this Skid Montgomery is what do you think about the fact that Anti Kaneppa is sort of eliminating any of the theories regarding the cartel. I think that what she's doing is a good job at her job as a prosecutor.

She's laying forth a narrative and she wants to make sure there is no other focus on anything but what she is saying is true and that it was the Wagners and the Wagners alone. Is it the full story? We'll find out. Much has been made of the fact that the opening statements are very long. Keep in mind, there's so much to cover and it has to be very thorough. She has to really take her time and lay it all out there because one misstep could jeopardize

the whole case. All in all, Angie Kneppa's opening statement runs nearly four hours long. The reaction from the media swift and none too kind. Let's talk about the prosecution and the storytelling, because we've had legally and on as on and viewers has said the opening statement of the prosecution was very lengthy, somewhat confusing, pretty tedious about the details.

It wasn't what I would have done, which is to come out say what the crime was, tell them what the crime was, who the victims were, who you think the perpetrators are. I thought it could have been done a much more streamlined and more effectively. I was thinking to myself, Oh my god, are these jurors going to

be confused? But had to be overwhelming. Much has been made about Angie Kneppo's maybe being too long winded, or she's giving so much information that to your earlier point, it would be really hard for a juror to kind of track all of these details. At the end of the day. Mike Allen had a different take. You know a lot of people lawyers too that I see, had said, Man, how could she had given such a long opening statement? You know, she probably lost the jury, and opening statements

are never usually that long from the prosecutor. However, in this case, there is so that she had to unpack and tell that jury. And I was there that day, I watched it. She did not lose that jury. She didn't. They were just transfixed by what she was telling. Now let's stop here for another break. Angie Caneppa may already be planting seeds. One of the more riveting aspects of the opening statement is about the evidence the jury will

see in coming weeks. On the day after the Wagoners left for Alaska, search warrants were already in place and police were combing the property for evidence. A neighbor approached them and offered up a tip. The Wagner family had put all of their belongings and trailers and parked them off Route forty one. When please search these trailers, they found a gold mine in a plastic tub labeled quote

important things. They found custody documents and more. And by custody documents, I mean documents that one would fill out so that if anything happened to you, your children would go to somebody. So there were documents that purported to be signed by Hannah May that said if I die, I want my child to go to Jake Right. That piece of paper was dated as if Hannah May had signed it on December twenty fourth of twenty fourteen, Christmas Eve twenty fourteen, which was really the last holiday that

she spent with the Wagners. As she lays this out to the jury, you can hear confidence in Kneppa's voice. She stares them directly in the eye. The problem with that, first of all, was that our handwriting people looked at it and said that Hannah May likely did not sign that thing. But more importantly, it was printed off the computer on April third, two thousand and sixteen. That piece of paper didn't even exist until April third or two sixteen, so it could not have been filled out in December

twenty fourteen. April third of two thousand and sixteen, just a little over two weeks before the homicides. They're printing this out so that if Hannah May would unexpectedly meet the end would go to Jake. But what they found next speaks to the question of who might be the instigator of the entire massacre. But there were two other documents that we found on that day which are extremely telling.

There were two documents, one that Jake filled out and one that George filled out, and they were dated, I believe in twenty fifteen March of twenty fifteen. But they said for j if he dies and goes to Angela Wagner, not Hannah May, almost like they knew Hannah May wasn't going to be alive. That's one George Wagner also fills out a custody document that if something happens to him on the night of the murders, his child will go

to his mother. So they were anticipating whether they got arrested, caught in the middle of the act, or something worse. They wanted to make sure that custody of their children was secure. On April third, twenty sixteen, all three of those documents were printed out and filled out and signed Anjeanette Levy. We know that there were custody documents drawn up that gave custody of Jake and Hanna May's daughter to Angela. Should anything happen to Jake or George, maybe

and I say maybe, because I don't know. You make it look like Jake did this and it was a murder suicide. Or maybe you just take him out because you want custody your granddaughter all to yourself. You make him do the dirty work. I don't know, but Billy is obviously somebody who's been described by Jeff Tackett and other people as somebody who's capable of violence. For sure, kill your own kid. We're going from more demented to

more demented. Angela did not minimize her own involvement. In fact, she will tell you that it was her idea to begin with, and that she nagged and nagged, nagged Billy to figure out a solution to the problem, the problem being that we're losing control of the prosecution has argued that you know this was a family affair, that it was all for one, one for all. George Wagner of

the Force lawyers disputed almost all of that. They also pointed out that their client, despite phasing eight aggravated murder charges, is not believed to have killed anyone. George is an outsider, George does not go along with what his family does and who didn't do it on that night. George is not guilty of murder, and we believe when you've heard all of the evidence, you will agree George had no part in this murder much you'll find him not guilty.

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 Masker is produced by Stephanie Lydecker, Jeff Shane, Chris Graves, Scott de Graw, Andrew Arnow 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 Katie Studios. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.