How We Got Here- Seasons 1 & 2 Recap

I'm hosting a podcast called The Girlfriends. It's Las Vegas, it's the nineteen nineties, and it is time to find a husband. There were four Jewish doctors who were felt to be eligible bachelors. One of them was of the Baron bat On paper he was perfect, but in reality, this guy's a wacko. He shouted to the point went unconscious. I would call him and I would say, I know you killed my sister. You can listen to The girl Friends on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you

get your podcasts. So how does a half American, half Nicaraguan party girl from New Orleans there's absolutely no journalism experience right the biggest story of the eighties, That's what journalista is all about. I'm a woman, wife beater or T shirt, not wearing a brawl curses like a sailer. I got balls bigger than any man. Dan Rather used to call me his secret weapon. Listen to Journalist to every Tuesday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

you get your podcasts in California. We're on a journey to make energy cleaner, safer, and more reliable. At PGNE. Our goal is to get there without leaving any family behind. We're undergrounding lines because it's safer and more affordable in the long run. We're helping our customers lower costs by choosing the right energy plan and taking control of their bills with predictable budget billing. As your hometown, you tell, we won't stop until we deliver the safe, reliable, renewable,

and affordable energy you deserve. Learn ways to save at PGE dot com. Welcome to the Piked and Massacre, a production of Katie Studios and iHeartRadio. This special episode will recap our previous seasons to get you up to date on the case and mark your calendars because Season three premiers May twenty fifth. Multiple people found dead in more than one location along Union Hill Road in piked In

this morning. My two PM investigators say they found eight people dead, seven adult victims and a sixteen year old boy, all from the Rodent family. Just a nightmare scenario, all of them shot in the head, execution style. They were trying to possibly wipe out this entire family. It's absolutely shocking. I hope that the afortune in this area apprehend eaching everyone. These are peoples, these are monsters. This has been by far the long US most complex and labor intensive investigation

the Ohio Attorney General's Office has ever undertaken. Go down your knee, mind your back, Mind your back. Yesterday, a Pike County grand jury and died four individuals for aggravated murder with death penalty specifications for allegedly committing this heartless, ruthless murder. One family targeted, murdered in their sleep, and the killers vanished. It's personal. Somebody was trying to send a message. Everyone was talking about who could have done it and why they would have done it. I want

to know exactly what happened that night. Thirty two gunshot wounds, eight people dead, two families destroyed, one grizzly crime. What will happen is any guests? This is the Piked and Massacre Seasons one and two recap How we got here. I'm Courtney Armstrong, a television producer at Katie Studios with Stephanie Leidecker and Jeff Shane. Our journey started back in twenty nineteen when we made a documentary about the crime, and we've been covering the story ever since. I think

I speak for all of us. Would I say that from then until now we have not been able to shake it or get it out of our heads. I think for me personally, the part of this case that continues to haunt me is the fact that there were mothers brutally murdered in front of their babies. What kind

of a monster would do that. We've had the benefit of going to Pike County many times and have interviewed to date probably hundreds of people, whether that's local townspeople or experts, or family members to the victims and family members of the accused. And one thing we can say a small town like this, there's not a single person that hasn't been affected by this hideous story, and there's not a single person you can talk to on the street that doesn't know somebody connected to it in a

meaningful way. Through all these conversations, we began to piece together what happened on that fateful night. As you'll learn in the upcoming season three, there is still so much left to unravel in the community. Here's piked a native barb. Piked In's considered a village, and it is just a small little town that has a grocery store and a pizza shop and gas stations, and there's a tire shop. People sit and talk to the gas station. Wherever they go.

People know each other and they just sit and talk. You know, at the tire shop you're waiting for an oil and oil change or whatever. You sit there and chat with your neighbor or whoever happens to come in. You know somebody anywhere you go. But at some point, out in the shadow of its green hill, the area has an erie passed. Everybody thinks all the bad stuff happens in the big cities, but the devil works at it everywhere. Pike County is beautiful. It's a beautiful place,

but there's a lot of dirty people here too. For the side of our town. There's been a lot of murders here that have not been solved. On April twenty first, twenty sixteen, evil reared its face in Pike County in the dead of night under cool, cloudy skies. Eight people were brutally shot and killed in four separate homes. I'll

never forget that day. I'll never forget that day. I had gone into the office at the high school to pick Brittany up for an appointment, and when I walked in, they had a TV on and everyone in there was sitting with their mouths hanging open, and I was like, what's going on in here? And the secretaries said, my god, there's been a shooting. They said six people were killed, and she said, we are very worried because little Chris Roden didn't show up today and we think he might

be one of them. Everyone was just in shock. So little Chris law enforcement because they couldn't find him. There was some speculation early on that he might have been involved. For the residence of Pikedon. There was little more than confusion at this point. People knew there was a shooting and that Chris Roden Jr. A sixteen year old freshman at Pikedon High was missing. Where was the team? It was at the home of Chris Roden Senior that the

nightmare began. Chris Roden Senior was known to be a strong, hard working family man. He was, you know, a great father. He was a good man, just like the rest of the guys you know in that family. He would do anything for anybody. Chris sen Dana Rodin were married for twenty two years, and although they divorced, they remained close, so close that Chris Senior had recently bought Dana a home on the same road he lived on Union Hill Road. He did it so they could stay close to their children.

Chris Senior's cousin, Gary Rodin, was more like a brother to him and often stayed at his place. Little Chris's aunt, Bobby Joe, who also lived nearby, was the first to make the gruesome discovery. At seven forty nine am when she came to feed the dogs. The patriarch of the family, Rodin was dead. He looked like he'd been beaten to death. Chris's cousin, Gary Rodin, who was staying with Chris, was also dead. Yeah, what's her saying? Chris Werenting, Harry right

than Frank and Gary Roden? First times it look like the dead dead, I think the great and the I phone has been to talk out of Okay, there anybody else in the house. I don't know us. Okay, the door was awfull. We got here, but I hope I didn't hit her. Letting on the floor, Bobby and need to get out of the house and way done, okayen stime, right now, Okay, just watch this. Thoe year old Christopher Roden was the only one of the eight family members who was shot somewhere other than the head, and he

had multiple gunshot wounds to the head. Torso and Extremities Coroner Distinguished Professor and criminal forensic expert Joseph Morgan tried to make sense of the Roden murders, starting with father and family patriarch, Chris Senior. Some of this will be hard to hear, particularly if you're personally connected to the tragedy, but it's important to understand the magnitude of what happened

that night. He was shot nine times. Now, for me, as a forensic investigator, I would look at that and I would deem that as overkill, and you know, why would somebody need to be shot nine times? They're saying that there's evidence that he attempted or reacted at least to the point where he raised his arm his right form and it shattered one of the bones. When you've got an individual that has gotten defensive loans, that person has an awareness, so that goes to a level of

callousness that that's roses to victim. Gary D Chris Your's cousin, was a beloved member of the family. By all accounts, Gary and Chris Sr. Were very close. Gary just happened to be at Chris's home that night. He was actually from Kentucky, so you know, he didn't even live in the area or the neighborhood, but you know, lived close enough to where he was staying with Chris that evening.

We do know that the shooter was very close to Gary when they fired, because they talked about what is referred to as a press contact bench at wanted and if our listeners will essentially take your index finger, okay, and point it toward the palm of your hand and extend the tip of your finger maybe I don't know, probably about half an inch away from the surface of your palm. That's kind of what we will refer to

as a contact moon. And what that means is that you're going to have, you know, the bullets not the only thing coming out of the end of the weapon. You're going to have the fire that actually the ignition of the bullet, and around you'll of this burning of powder that's coming out. You'll have unburned powder that's coming out. So this is a very intimate event. I spoke with my Gallen, criminal defense attorney from Ohio. Are you able

to talk about the scenes themselves? You know, if you look at it and it's all from the autopsy reports, those kind of injuries leaves no doubt that this was an intentional or these all were intentional killings, kind of designed to send a message to someone. The muscle mark sticks in my mind. You have to be obviously arms reach. I mean, you are locking eyes with the victim, it

would seem. Does that paint any kind of picture to or indicate to officers or attorneys anything, Sure it does, and maybe even closer than arm's length, I mean maybe just inches. It indicates to me at least, especially when you have the number of shots like that here that somebody was trying to send a message out. I don't think there can be any doubt about that. I mean, it was personal, and I think that's what that demonstrates. At this point, Bobby Josie's two people did by twelve

gunshot wounds. While waiting desperately for police to arrive, she makes her way over to her nephew, Frankie's house. She wanted to get some help and to tell him what happened to his father and uncle, whose bodies she had just found. Frankie Rowden was Chris Senior and Dana's oldest son. The twenty year old was a father to two boys. Like his parents, Frankie was a hard worker. He loved fishing, hunting, and demolition Derby, but nothing so much as his family

and his fiance, nineteen year old Hannah Gilly. Hannah Gilly was on the home coming court in high school, and at that time she told friends she planned to go to college, get a business degree, and open a daycare. Frankie and Hannah wanted a lot of kids. They had a bright future. The young family lived together just up the street from Chris Sr. Also on Union Hill Road.

They were looking forward to getting married soon. So after Bobby Joe made the call to nine one one, she went to Frankie's house near right nearby, and the person who came to the door was frankie three year old son. As the police reports and newspaper reports showed, he was, you know, covered in blood, and he, like any three year old, sort of didn't fully understand what was going on.

And he told his aunt that, you know, his father was playing zombie in the bedroom, and that's because the family were fans of the Walking Dead, so you know, he was in there with his father playing zombie, which is absolutely heartbreaking. Twenty year old Frankie Rodin was shot three times in the head as he lay in bed next to his fiance and they're six month old. We talked about Hannah Gillie Hayes shot five toms, she catches one in the eye. It poses this idea, why are

you shooting these people in the face. What's the purpose of it? Because not only shooting him in the face, you're shoot him multiple times. What threat did she post? She's laying there, was her child in the bed meanwhile, and this is all happening around eight am on April twenty second, Bobby Joe calls their brother James. She's in hysterics. There's now two murder scenes, four people dead, twenty gunshot wounds,

two children left alive. At the scenes, James immediately goes over to his sister Dana's house to check on her and the remaining kids. Danna Rudin was a nurse known for her gregarious nature and loving smile. She'd met Chris Rudden Senior when she was just in high school and it was love at first sight. Even though they divorced twenty two years later, they remained very close together. The pair had three beautiful children, twenty year old Frankie, Hannah May,

and little Chris. She's goodhearted, a lot of fun, you know, always laughing, cracking up. She was a very very good person. She sent me a text she slaved my grand babies here and I said, well, congratulations, I said, she's beautiful. What did you What did Hannah May name her? She said Kylie May and I said that's so pretty. And that was the last, you know, the last thing I

ever heard from Dana. She again, like Chris Senior, was shot multiple times, and only was she shot multiple times, but specifically reports have her having been shot five times, four times, four times in the head. Now, what in the hell would you shoot somebody four times in the head, because you know one should suffice. But the shooter took the time to take that muzzle of that weapon. Stick

it beneath Dana's chin. Stick it beneath her chin. This is a common location for suicide, all right, This is atypical for homicide. This particular April seemed extra special because Hannahme had just given birth to her second daughter five days prior. Just weeks before that, Dana threw Hannahme a big baby shower at their new house. The pictures from the showers show what a happy celebration it was. Sadly, James, Dana's brother, was about to enter yet one more unimaginable scene.

Dana and her nineteen year old daughter, Hannah May were both dead. Hannah road and she was shot twice in the head as their newborn laid beside her. Maybe they're curled in a fetal posture along with her baby, just curled in a fetal posture. Mom was slowly stroking the head of the baby. Try to, you know, calm sue the baby. During the night, Maybe she awakes and breastfeeds the baby during the night while she's sleeping. It's a position and people have slept in for thousands and thousands

of years. It's a position of comfort. You imagine you're laying there, You're there to protect your baby, and you're curled up on your side. There's an awareness. This brings us back to when Dana's son, the high school freshman, Chris Junior, was nowhere to be found. It took detectives several hours to locate him, but finally little Chris was found the home with his mother, Dana, and his sister Hannah. May sixteen year old Chris Junior was shot four tops,

including twice in the top of his head. He was found wedged behind his bed, implying that he was trying to hide from the killer or killers. There's now seven people dead, thirty one gunshot wounds, and three children left alive. At the scenes, the once small and sleepy town became the epicenter for grizzly crime and the subsequent complex murder investigation. When it was all said and done, two families would be destroyed and the town would never be the same.

For the quiet town, the scene was unreal. Nearly seven hours after the first bodies were found, at one twenty six pm on April twenty second, final fatal discovery. Yeah, I need to Deny has been out to post a seven nine nine left for Okay, uh, it's all that stuff. It's on the news. I just sound just sound. My cousin was again shot wing. Okay, very right, So okay, I'll be staying out by the very way. It don

whole thing, Donald Dond whole thing. Sound. Yeah, I'm gonna says, what do you mean it's Rody can it's rod Yeah, Okay, care honey, out of the house. I'm I'm out of the house right now. I just went in Laura name and check Laura and a little to say he had again shot wing. Okay, sure we're gonna get that. You do down thirty okay, all right. A few miles down Union Hill Road was Chris Roden Senior's brother Kenneth. The forty four year old was shot once through his right eye.

Kenneth's cousin, Donald Stone, went to check on Kenneth after hearing about the murders of their six other family members. He'd failed to hear from Kenneth that day. What does it say that they would take the time and put themselves in a position where they could be face to face with Kenneth. He was found covered with dollar bills that were strewing about his body. He just god, I mean, you can't, you can't make this up. By the time officials released the names of the eight victims piked In,

residents were reeling. You know, they had snuck in in the night and committed this, these murders, and nobody had a clue about you know who or why, and that's really scary. We're going to take a break. I'm Carol Fisher, and I'm hosting a podcast called The Girlfriends. Back in the nineteen nineties in Las Vegas, a few of us dated the most eligible bachelor in town, Bob. He spoke several languages, he did medical missionary work, and he was Jewish.

He was perfect on paper. But he wasn't. He really wasn't. He shouted into the point she went unconscious. Bob could lie about anything, but only takes the one time when somebody ends up dead. Unfortunately for Bob, us girlfriends know how to fight back. I wanted him to pay for his crime. He needed to be put to justice. I'll be honest with your five song him right now. I'd spit up them. I would call him and I would say, I know you killed my sister. I will always hound

you and haunt you. You can listen to the Girlfriends on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Delia Wild. Then I want to invite you to listen to my newest podcast, The Afters to make up our bodies already existed in the style. It's called the Oh My God Particles Show or OMGPS for short. How you like me always wondering about the universe, like what the universe is made of? What is in the atmospheres of alien punic? And you know, how are

we even here to even ask those questions? So road Trip, I want to get some answers directly from researchers at the Large Hadron Collider. We're colliding particles with energies that naturally existed when the universe was about a trillions of a second old. I found scientists from all over the world. Everybody is working together to get that experiment working. Got to doctor Brilliant astrophysicist who collaborated with Brian May, the

guitarist from Queen. Listen to the Oh My God Particle Show on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is the unbelievable but true story of George Remus. You might know him as a character from Boardwalk Empire or as the inspiration for Jay Gatsby. He was an eccentric and genius lawyer who figured out

how to game the system during Prohibition. Remus is in the whiskey business, and Remus is the biggest man in the business, while living the life of luxury with his clamorous and ambitious wife Imogene. Daddy, I am so glad you're here. But George Remus's wild existence took a dark and shocking turn, leading to betrayal. She had Remus just exactly where she wanted him revenge. Feel this muscle. I got this for Remus. I could crush him like an egg.

And one of the most sensational murder trials in American history, Jury Find the Defendant. Join me Abbot Kaylor as we trace George Rimus's transformation from bootleg king to alleged madman. Listen to Remus the mad Bootleg King every Tuesday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello and welcome to Bad Manners. This is the podcast that takes you inside Britain's stately homes and tells all the tales the guide books don't. My name is Tom

Horton and I'll be your host. Britain is riddled with the big houses, from crumbling castles, massive mansions and stately piles bigger than Buckingham Palace. As a comedian, I'm not really bothered about the facts and figures. I just want the juicy stuff. So I'm on a mission to find out the frightening, filthy and downright jaw dropping stories of

these stately homes and the people in them. This podcast ventures deep inside some of Britain's most incredible and outrageous buildings to spill the tea on the scandalous, scary, shocking and hilarious tales. So if you want to get historically horrid, royally raucous and down to dirty, look now. If listen to Bad Manners on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts, We'll be back in a moment.

There were rumors about who had done the crime everywhere online, in the coffee shops, amongst the police, I mean everyone was talking about who could have done it and why they would have done it. Investigators believed that the murders were clearly premeditated, but the killing spree was so staggering and merciless there were endless questions. One of the first things investigators studied where confrontations the roads had with locals

in recent years. Could these conflicts have triggered of vendetta against the family. There was one concerning incident that had happened at a demolition derby. Based on what's been recorded in the court documents, I think it's fair to say that Frankie and Chris Junior, I mean definitely were hotheads. It definitely got into fights here and there. They had an incident with a fellow named Tommy Gorman who was

a rival in the demolition derbys. They got into a bit of a sort of heated match and there was a believe a sort of incident on the track they

got him. Stay with each other's bad blood and then again it's you know, kind of kicked up speed with Facebook posts about sort of consulting each other, and then, of course, Chris Junior Frankie drove over to Gorman's house and proceeded to really beat on Gorman and his father, And the fights and meetings were only really broken up after grandfather came out and pumped a few shotgun shells into the air. Chris Junior had also gotten into a

scuffle with another local kid named Rusty Mongol. Mongold had posted on Facebook that Christ Junior hid him with a car, and in his message, you know, he uses some pretty tough language. I mean, Rusty was nineteen at the time, and you know he's talking about I'm gonna break his fucking legs and curb stop his ass and sort of nineteen year old bluster. Really, the Rusty Mongol thing happened

just two weeks before the murders. But police scoured both of these leads, even taking DNA evidence of the suspects, they came up empty. An ominous feeling had spread throughout Pike County. Here's investigative reporter Jodi Barr. You got eight members of one family targeted, murdered in their sleep in their homes, and the killer seemingly vanished. We didn't know the pieces, we didn't know how to put it together. There was no information coming out about these murders, about motives.

Even the family members who were in direct communication with law enforcement, even they weren't being told anything. I mean, it's called it good investigative work, and you hold your cards close to the chest as an investigator. Maybe that's what it was. But from the outside looking in, it was almost like law enforcement didn't have a clue at that point in time. Led by an ambitious sheriff, Charles Reader, the ensuing investigation soon became the largest in Ohio's history.

I've got a message for the killers. We will find you. The family and the victims will have justice one day. There are so many pieces that have to be put into place with this, you're leap frogging from this blood bath to another blood bath. One of the first major developments in the case came when Mike d Line, then Ohio's Attorney General, announced that he believed the killings were planned and premeditated. He cited clear efforts taken by the

shooter or shooters to remove any incriminating forensic evidence. The Attorney General Dwine at the time said it was a pretty sophisticated operation, and the people that carried it out were trying to do everything they could to make sure that they didn't get caught. Attorney General Dwine and Sheriff Reader, they both said that the investigation was going to be a long one and a lengthy process, and Boyd sure

has played out that way. An investigative task force of massive scope kicked into gear, led by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation the BCI. More than two hundred and fifty one law enforcement officials were mobilized, including sheriffs from twenty five offices across Ohio. The FBI and the DA stepped in to provide technical expertise to Dwine's office. Solemn funerals were held for all the victims. For two years, not a single arrest was made. You lived in that area, man,

it was hush hush. You were just kind of walking around looking over your shoulder at seeing with some of these people, not knowing you know, who could be next. Who did it? There was one very curious lead that investigators had unhearthed. At three of the crime scenes on Union Hill Road, police found a substantial marijuana grow operation, including a grow house harboring hundreds of cannabis plants. This grow operation on the Rodents property was clearly being cultivated

for sale. It was also worth almost half a million dollars. The Rodents had a pretty sizable crop of marijuana plants on their property. You know, there were indications that they were involved in fund drug deals and drug trade with marijuana. That obviously feeled even more speculation than these were outside operators. Possibly was as a drug deal gone bad, or was somebody trying to take over their turf. All kinds of rumors started to slow after that disclosure. As the months

swore on. No one's been arrested, no one charged, no people named as persons of interest. You really started to wonder, you know, maybe this drug cartel thing there was something too that they definitely knew how to kill people. You know, you're looking for signs of the drug cartel, and then you find Kenneth Roden with what appeared to be a gunshot in the head, but that there were dollar bills or some sort of paper money spread around the body.

Was that a sign? What did that mean? Could the Rodent's operation have motivated a cartel hit, a lethal battle over territory? It was a tenable idea. But over the next months, as the investigation dug deeper, an entire new set of possible culprits came into frame. The Wagner family Angela Wagner forty eight years old, her husband Billy Wagner forty seven, their two sons, George and Jake, both in their mid twenties, Angela's mother, Rita Newcombe, and the family matriarch,

Frederica Wagner. Here's Jeff. The Wagners were a well known and well to do family in the Piketon area, and Frederica Wagner was at the helm of this. A self described entrepreneur, she owned properties Oliver Pike County that spanned over seventeen hundred acres and were valued at more than four million dollars. She had also founded two nonprofits, Lucasville Mission, a church that helps underprivileged children, and the Crystal Springs Home,

a facility that provides services to developmentally disabled adults. As we've learned throughout the series, Frederica had her detractors as well as her supporters in the community. We probably need to clarify here. The Wagners seemed like a good, God fearing country family, but police were gathering heart evidence linking the Wagners to the crime, and the Wagners had had some tangles with law enforcement in the past. In two thousand and one, seemingly homespun mother Angela Wagner, along with

Billy Wagner, were charged with improperly handling a firearm. In two and twelve, they were both charged with receiving stolen property, a felony. Investigators discovered that in the months prior to the killings, the Wagners began making their own gun silencers. Police believe silencers were necessary to pull these killings off because they happened in such close proximity. Investigators also found that the Wagner family had bought ammunition, a magazine clip,

a bug detector, and materials to build brass catchers. The brass catcher is a bag that hooks on the side of a firearm. It will catch spent cartridges, so every time you pull the trigger, a cartridge is ejected. And if you were really interested in not leaving anything behind as far as holistic evidence, it sounds like a great story. This bag will collect the shell casing so there's no

left behind. The bug detector so purely that helps someone find Listening devices will sometimes create white noiset to muffle sounds or discussion. Authority starts to seventy one acre farm in Peebles that was once owned by Jake Wagner. Jake was victim Hanname Roden's former boyfriend. The pair shared a three year old child together. Jake and Hanname Rodin had parted bitterly and were fighting over custody at the time

of her murder. The vice was tightening around the Wagner family, and some speculate that the only way they felt they could escape it was to move four thousand miles away. They moved to Alaska, which raised even more suspicions. But then the very following month, law enforcement actually finally searches properties where the Wagners lived, So that was really the first public indication that the Wagners were possible suspects of not people of interest. The Wagners made keen I, Alaska,

their new home. It's a tiny town south of Anchorage. All the while they vehemently denied any wrongdoing. Jake's mother, Angela Wagner, said her husband Billy Wagner, and victim Chris Roden senior were like brothers. She claimed that Billy would never harm Chris. Billy's mother, grandmother, Frederica Wagner, said the Wagners were quote a good Christian family and despite the speculation about the family, many in Pike County couldn't figure the Wagners from murderers. I read that and I had

to laugh. I had to laugh so hard. Okay, so you have to remember that this was a very organized, brilliantly done execution. This is something that you wouldn't learn on a DVD, something with military background, Navy seals. I mean, whoever did it was was brilliant. They're professional. These people

are not professional killers. I think that is the common theme of this entire story about Pike County and about this road and massacre, is it seems just too far fetched out when you try to connect the dots through the histories of you know, how the Waggoners conducted their business, how they live their lives. I don't know that I have seen any reporting, any fact brought out about the Waggoners that would say, Yep, there you go, mass murderers. I think that is the draw that continues to keep

people interested in this story. Is that you would have never seen any of this coming. In the spring of twenty and eighteen, the Wagner's returned to the piked In area to take care of Billy's aging father. The plan was to set him up with care and then returned to Alaska, but things did not go as planned. If you seek about it, the Wagners were scott free. They went to Alaska. It could have took off and nobody could have ever seen them again ever, But they came

back here. They came back now the way that I am, I would never do that. But if I had pulled something off like that and got away with that loan and went to Alaska, you know, I'm packing my ship and I'm hitting the woods, and nobody's ever going to see me again, I'm sure the hell I'm not going to come back. It's the only way I would come

back is if I thought my ass were covered. With their investigation reaching a fever pitch, then Bio Attorney General Mike Dwine and Pike County Sheriff Charlie Reader asked the public for information on the Wagner family. I hope that an unfortune in this area apprehend eaching everyone these are peoples, These are monsters. Dwine said he was quote laser focused on the Wagners their business dealings, vehicles, firearms, and ammunition.

Investigators had solid ballistic evidence connecting firearms using the homicide with guns believed to be owned by the Wagners. These included a twenty two caliber long rifle, a forty caliber handgun, and a thirty caliber gun. They also recovered a homemade silencer at the bottom of a well on the Wagner's property. Well, good afternoon. We promised that the day would come when a rush would be made in the Pike County massacres

today or is that today? In a series of arrests that sent shock waves through the insulated community, six members of a local family, the Wagners, were taken into custody. Hold up, keep your hands up, Oh up. Forty seven year old Billy Wagner is the patriarch of the Wagner family and was arrested near Lexington, Kentucky, and a horse trailer that was pulled over. Go down your name, I'm Wagner. I'm Wagner. Angela Wagner is Billy's wife and matriarch of

the Wagner family. The forty eight year old, was arrested at their home near Pikedon, Ohio. Go Ahead. Angela Wagner in the car twenty one copy thirteen thirty one. Angela and Billy's two sons, George Wagner and Jake Wagner, were arrested together during a traffic stop. George's twenty seven and

Jake was twenty six. Seventy six year old Fredrika Wagner, Billy Wagner's mother, was arested at the family's horse farm, The Flying w Angela Wagner's mother, sixty five year old Rita Joe Nukam, was arrested at her home, while six members of the Wagner family were arrested in connection with the crime. Billy, Angela, George, and Jake Wagner were charged with eight counts of aggravated murder. Details about the arrests of four people and the murders of eight members of

the road In family. All the arrests happened within minutes of each other, and that tells me that the BCI, the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification, who was in charge of this investigation, they know what they're doing and they wanted to make sure that they affected these arrests without any kind of problems or tipping anybody off, So they hit that thing down pretty tight. Six months later, four members of the Wagner family were indicted on charges of

aggravated murder with death nalty specification for the murders. Yesterday a Pike County grand jury and died foreign individuals for aggravated murder with death pality specification for legilate committing this heartless, ruthless, cold blood murder. Did they do it? We want to know now, obviously everybody wants to know right now. And man, if they're cooperating, as this attorney says, they're giving over computers, a laptop, DNA, whatever it takes. You know, people who

aren't experts of criminology. If we look at that and go, well, man, that sounds like an innocent person. An innocent person will be doing that. On the other hand, there were the ballistics discoveries. Here's Bureau of Criminal Investigation agent Ryan Scheiterer testifying in court that shell casings found in the Wagnus proper match the ones found at the Rodents crime scenes.

We recovered twenty two caliber shell casings, and where we recovered those which at two sixty Peterson Road, which was a property that was owned by George Wacker and his brother Jake. And were those shell casings submitted to the lab for comparison to the shell casings that had been

recovered from both Frankie's and Dana's residences. Yes, and what was the opinion of the The weapon that fired the shell casings at two sixty Pierson Road also fired the shell casings at Anna's and Dana's residents as well as Frankie and Hannah Gillis residents. So the same firearm had been suspired on the same properties. Okay. So the exact same gun, not just the same type of gun, the

same firearms okay. The indictment also includes a reference to a specific pair of boots that the Wagner family purchased at Walmart and allegedly wore during the murders. The theory was that the Wagners were trying to frame Dana Roden's brother, James Faniley, who was known to wear this make of boot. Sheriff Frieder said the Wagner's plan these killings for months studying the Roden's habits. He alleged that they then covered up the killings, including stealing the Rodan security footage and

tampering with their phones. It seems a single minded, cult like obsession drove these murders. So we've talked about the Wagners and how insulated that family was, and you know, the word cult has been thrown around in reference to

the family. It's hard to imagine a nuclear family of a mother, father, and two adult sons who started doing reconnaissance on the Roden family, which by all accounts were as a family that they were close with, friendly with in some way, and months before the murders, allegedly the Wagners started to track their comings and goings. And the

question is why would they do that? I mean, the only thing I can think of is that Angela Wagner was this obsessed mother who not only wanted to control her son Jake, but also all the people in his life. By all accounts, it appears that the Rodens were being hunted by the Wagner family, and that's unbelievable when you really put it into context. The idea of a killer family sitting around the kitchen table holding murder meetings is

impossible to imagine. What came into focus is that there was a raging custody dispute between Jake Wagner and his former girlfriend, Hannah Mee Rodin over their three year old daughter that is speculated as the real motive behind these murders. They would travel back and forth between Hannah's mother's house and Jake's family's house, and they would live as a family a few weeks at a time in each home. And for everyone who knew them, they said that the

couple was very happy. They were talking about marriage and building a life together until seemingly in March of twenty fifteen, they broke up and that's when Hannah started dating a new guy, a man named Charlie Gilly, and Jake was devastated. Jake was pressuring Hannah to sign over full custody, something

she adamantly did not want to do so. In the summer of twenty fifteen, when Hannah wrote in announced that she was pregnant with a new child, Jake Wagner was adamant that he was the dad of this kid, and he was desperate to prove it, so much so that he went to the hospital when the baby was born and checked for a Wagner family trait In the tow, and we know that just days after Hannah was murdered, the Wagner family filed for custody of not only Jake's

three year old daughter, but also the newborn baby. So it's clear that this family had plans to raise both children as their own. As you'll hear in season three, there's a lot more contexts to Jake's relationship with Hannah and what his state of mind was around the murders and before the murders in terms of moving on and how he felt about her. The Wagners wanted custody over Jake and Hannah's child at all costs, but was that possibly enough to justify a wholescale slaughter of another family.

It seemed Jake Wagner was highly distraught over having lost hannahme Roden here is an anonymous Wagner source. He was trying very hard to make sure that they got back together. He still wanted to be with her. He was trying to get get back with her just everything that he could. On top of the breakup, Hannah was also allegedly withholding their daughter from Jake. There was a custody battle. Hannah wasn't allowing Jake to see her or any of the family to see her, and so it kind of just

got out of hand at that point. It just set him off to the point where Jake because he had made the comment a couple of times, I mean, and I had told a couple of people's about this. I mean, he had made the comments, you know that he was going to to kill her, and he told her that, you know, He's like, I'm going to I'm going to have to kill you. Like you're not going You're not gonna let me see the baby, then you know you're not gonna have her. And I'm like, Jake, you can't

say those things. Please just chill out. And of course, you know, nobody ever really thinks like, oh my god, he's actually going to consider that. I mean, he was just completely out of his mind. It really really upset him. The Wagners had allegedly orchestrated another ruthless custody battle once before. Jake's brother, George Wagner, had a child with a woman named Tabitha, and when they split up, accusmaer George Wagner and his mother, Angela Wagner, blocked Tabitha from seeing her son.

Here's Tabitha's sister, Christina Tabby, like whenever she would try to reach out to George, like hey, can I come visit my son? And Angela would get on there and be like, oh, he's not your son anymore. Would tell Tabby like, oh, you might have gave bertilin, but I'm his real mother because I take care of e and all these just nasty things. At one point, accused murderer Angela Wagner even threatened Tabitha and ran her out of town.

Here's court testimony about the incident. Eventually there was a comment by Angela that she was going to kill Tabitha, so she fled to a gas station and ultimately never returned. And actually specifically, she first hit on the property until nightfall and then drove to a gas station and neither escape that way and never went back after that. Correct. And Yet the idea that the Wagoners would resolve a

custody issue in such a ruthless fashion is confounding. I don't think anybody would believe that a family could have put together such a tactical hit on another family that they had created life with. It's still too difficult to accept, it, too hard to believe. I'm Carol Fisher and I'm hosting a podcast called The girl Friends. Back in the nineteen nineties in Las Vegas, a few of us dated the most eligible bachelor in town, Bob. He spoke several languages,

he did medical missionary work, and he was Jewish. He was perfect on paper, but he wasn't. He really wasn't. He shouted and to the point that she went unconscious. Bob could lie about anything, but only takes the one time when somebody ends up dead. Unfortunately for Bob, us girlfriends know how to fight back. I wanted him to pay for his crime. He needed to be put to justice. I'll be honest with you. If I saw him right now, I'd spit on him. I would call him and I

would say, I know you killed my sister. I will always hound you and haunt you. You can listen to The Girlfriends on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Delia Wild and I want to invite you to listen to my newest podcast, The ass to make up Our bodies have already existed in the true styles. It's called The Oh My God Particles Show or OMGPS for short. How you like me always wondering about the universe, like what the universe is

made of? What is in the atmospheres of alien panics? And you know, how are we even here to even ask those questions? So road trip I want to get some answers directly from researchers at the Large Hadron Collider. We're colliding particles with energies that naturally existed in the universe. Was about a trillion of the second old. I found scientists from all over the world. Everybody is working together

to get their experiment working. I've got to darct, a brilliant astrophysicist who collaborated with Brian May, the guitarist from Queen. Listen to the Oh My God Particle Show on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, and welcome to Bad Manners. This is the podcast that takes you inside Britain's stately homes and tells all the tales the guide books don't. My name

is Tom Horton and I'll be your host. Britain is riddled with the big houses, from crumbling castles, massive mansions and stately piles bigger than Buckingham Palace. As a comedian, I'm not really bothered about the facts and figures. I just want the juicy stuff. So I'm on a mission to find out the frightening, filthy and downright jaw dropping stories of these stately homes and the people in them.

This podcast ventures deep inside some of Britain's most incredible and outrageous buildings to spill the tea on the scandless, scary, shocking and hilarious tales. So if you want to get historically horrid, royally raucous and down to dirty, look now for listen to Bad Manners on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Everybody, we know there are a ton of podcasts out there. Well, we have one we would love for you to check out.

It is called The pen Pals Podcast with Daniel Van Kirk and Rory Scoville. We are both stand up comedians where actors were writers, but now most of all, we are your pen pals. Every single episode we get two letters that we read from our listeners, our new pen pals. It can be about anything going on in their life and sometimes we're also joined by guests like Will Ferrell, I'm gonna bring you up in front of the group and I'm gonna punch you as hard as I can

in the stomach. Rose Burn, Well, this is West Hollywood. We keep it clean. Jo considered, Brian, I'm just showing you that my mind is quick, if not that funny. And Mandy Moore, we're all crossing the line together. Listen to the pen Pals podcast on Will Ferrell's Big Money Players Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts, and crely your new pen Pals Daniel van Kirk and Rory Scobel. Let's stop here for

another break. Before the killings, the Wagners were trying to coerce victim hannahme Roden into signing forged documents seating custody of her daughter to Angela Wagner in the event of Hannah's death. The forged custody documents that have been discussed in this case, they were declaration documents, and it was stated in Rita Newcomb's case, because she was the one accused of charged with forgery or obstruction, it said that it was declarations for the children of Hannah Roden. George

the Fourth and Jake. And so basically these documents designated a guardian should any of them die, and these documents had been signed and notarized nineteen days before the murders, and it designated the children go to Angela should any

of them die. That's just one of those puzzle pieces that I felt like showed that Angela she may have been the driving force here since she was the one that had the Facebook message that's been referenced in court that showed that Hannah said they'd have to kill me first before I gave up my child, and she showed that message to Jake. This paper says if Hannah is to meet her demise, then Sophia should go to Jake corrrect. Okay, But if Jake meets his demise and his child goes

to his mom, correct, not to Hannah. Correct. Then. On April twenty first, twenty twenty one, on the five year anniversary of the murder, and in a case where nothing made sense, accused murderer Jake Wagner abruptly pled guilty to eight counts of aggravated murder, felony, conspiracy, unlawful possession of a dangerous ordinance, and tampering with evidence. The State of Ohio agreed as part of the guilty plea not to seek the death penalty for him or his father, mother,

or older brother. Here's Stephanie speaking with reporter James Pilcher. Is it possible that Jacob could say I was in a very controlling environment, My mother, Angela Wagner, controlled us, My father was a bully and said I had to do these things, and we were coerced into it. Is there any value in that even? I mean, that's entirely possible, and some of the reporting, that's what we've heard Lee cow.

The other thing I will say is that maybe they're going after bigger game than Jake, and they figured we'll cut this deal. Now, he'll give us what we want and then we can go get the mom and the dad. But clearly they were going after the people who auted it. This was not Jake's idea, right, or at least not according to prosecutors. This was a family coming together. That's what the prosecutors are after is that, Okay, we get Jake to help us, we get Jake to plead out.

It shows that this really did happen. Now we can go after the people who are actually planned it. Jake, who admitted to shooting five of the eight victims, agreed to cooperate with prosecutors and testify against his family members. He knows he will die in prison. Do you think Jake is lying about being personally responsible for five of the eight? I don't know what his incentive to lie about that is. I mean, is he that afraid of the death penalty. The economics of that equation just does

not make sense to me. Where he would openly confess to murdering five people. Probably the worst act you could commit as a human is taking the life of another, and he did that five times over. I think we got a good idea of what happened here. The charges against Frederico Wagner were dismissed. She maintained her faith throughout the ordeal, even as her son, accused murderer, Billy Wagner, and his family were charged with horrible crimes. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not to your

own understanding, in all your ways. Acknowledge Him and he will direct your path. And as my attorney will tell you, it was dismissed because I was innocent. They had no evidence against me. I never lied about anything. The investigation had a snag when Sheriff Frieder was arrested on felony

charges not related to the case. There had been criticism about how Sheriff Frieder handled evidence in the road massacre, but these new charges conflict of interest, saft in office, and tampering with evidence stripped him of his badge and office. I stand here before you today to take accountability for my actions. Took that responsibility for my conduct, I said, Sheriff of Ohio. I should excuse me. Everything that I've worked for professionally and honorably for twenty five years was

stripped to me, with nobody good blame but myself. If I could go back and change it, I would a million times. This is not who I am. Never ever did I imagine myself on the defense side of this court route that I've spent twenty five years of my life in this county in law enforcement. I am a good person, made bad decisions and choices I have, and I'm now pray that the will mercy on me. According to reports, Reader allegedly stole cash sees from drug arress

to fund a gambling problem. He even blamed his gambling addiction on the stresses of investigating the Rodan killings. You know, now he's blaming gambling habits on because what he's seen in the Rodent crime scenes have haunted him so much he couldn't sleep, so he would go gamble one name Charlie for thirty years and he's been gambling waved before this happened. And that's just that, just to me, shows

you his character. You know, I'm I'm gonna use the death of eight people to try to smooth over that I'm still a money off my county in gambling, and that is disgusting to me. You're talking about a guy who led the Sheriff's office and who for a time, a moment in time when this first happened, these murders first happened, who was also leading that investigation until the state came in and took it over. You just said back and go, man, let's see where this ends. I mean,

Pike County has been a crazy ride. So ever since the end of April of twenty sixteen, it has been an absolutely crazy half a decade there. But despite Sheriffrid's downfall, the Wagner's Billie George Jake and Angela remain locked up. Jake's mother, Angela, father Billy, and brother George await their fate as Jake prepares to testify against them. The Wagners are facing three hundred and thirty two thousand files of evidence from the prosecution. Will the Wagners remain behind bars?

And what will Jake reveal about what happened that harrowing night in April twenty sixteen. Based on the totality of information now known by the state, including the fourth right statements of the defendant, we have overwhelming evidence of the defendant and the three co defendant numbers of the Feeling Farm in fact responsible for planning and carrying out the homicide.

Jake admitted it in the league evening hours of April twenty first, two sixteen into the early morning hours of Able twenty second, twenty sixteen, is when they admitted these homicides. You think about staring into the eyes of your kin folks across the room as you're sitting in the dock there and you're looking at them straight in the eyes,

and people that you've spent Thanksgivings with Christmases. You know these moments throughout your life and you're looking at them, and you're potentially sending them to the proverbial gallows by virtue of what you're going to say. Will we figure out exactly what happened on the night of April twenty first in Piketon? I want to know exactly what happened that night? You know, how did they get in the homes?

We know the end, We've got some idea what happened in the middle, But I think I want to know about the beginning. You know, was this truly about custody? You know, I would just like to know, you know, exactly why from Jake Wagner, When did the switch flip to where the only resolution to whatever was going on between him and the Roses at that point was to go and kill them all? It makes absolutely no sense.

And was Angela the mastermind behind it all? I think it was still Angela behind the scene, control of everything went in a little public master. What will happen in the meantime is anyone's guess. Will there be another Plea deal? It'll be interesting to see where this case goes from here. It's the pike to massacre. Who knows. You never know where this is going next. This season, we have a much fuller picture of who the Wagner family was prior to this and how they became the monsters we now

know them to be. We've really started to learn more about the Wagner family, not only the lives that they led, but also their motivations for the crimes they allegedly committed. Just when we thought it couldn't get any stranger or darker, it has. All will be revealed on Season three of The Piketon Massacre. For more information on case photos, follow us on Instagram at Katie Underscore Studios. This special episode was produced by Stephanie Leidecker, Jeff Shane, Chris Graves, Alan Wheater,

and me Courtney Armstrong. Editing and sound designed by Jeff Tui, music by Jared Aston, audio mixing by Ken Novak. The Piketon Massacre is a production of Katie Studios and iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. I'm Carol Fisher and I'm hosting a podcast called The girl Friends. It's Las Vegas, it's the nineteen nineties, and it is time to find a husband. There were four Jewish doctors

who were felt to be eligible bachelor's. One of them was of the spot Baronmout. On paper, he was perfect, but in reality, this guy's a whacko. He shouted to the point she went unconscious. I would call him and I would say, I know you killed my sister. You can listen to the girlfriends on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. So how does a half American, half Nicaraguan party girl from New Orleans.

There's absolutely no journalism experience, right, the biggest story of the eighties, That's what journalista is all about. I'm a woman wife beater T shirt, not wearing a brawl curses like a sailor. I got balls bigger than any man. Dan Rather used to call me his secret weapon. Listen to Journalist to every Tuesday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. They say history is written by the victors, but you know what they

left out A hell of a lot of juicy stuff. Ah. We all know who invented that, right, and we'll think again. Truth is Alexander Graham. Bell stole the idea for the telephone and then claimed it as his own. We're going to uncover the forgotten pieces of history you didn't know you need it to know. Listen to the Backstory with me Patty Steele, twice a week on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, Hello,

Mountain Globo. Here. This year on Revisionist History, we're tackling more ambitious stories than ever, from how to fix education to what Americans get completely wrong about guns. We're debating with teenagers handing out awards and hunting for the perfect medical raccoon. This is, after all, a podcast about you overlooked and misunderstood. Find Revisionist History on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.