Opening Statements

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. I'm will daily. For years, I've been on the road playing shows and seeing America through live music. This summer, I'll hit the stage who Season two of Sound of Our Town ten cities twelve episodes every other Thursday, we explore the live music venues and culture of a new American city. With each new episode, our tour continues into the kind of venues you want to get to

when you landed in Detroit, Providence, Denver, or Seattle. Listen to Sound of Our Town on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is the story of a man who's fascinated me. His name was Sweet Daddy Grace, and that's a name you don't forget. He was a visionary who built a fortune as a black man during Jim Crow during the Depression, but today not many people know about him. He raised sort of wiped out,

and I want if this was done intentionally. Listen to Sweet Daddy Grace on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The first trial involving the Wagner family for the Rodan Family massacre has begun. George Wagner, the fourth is the first to go on trial. That thirty year old will face a jury for the first

time when opening statements begin around nine o'clock. Jake Wagner said that he rearranged Hannah May's body so that her newborn baby could breastfeed off of her now a dying or dead mother. They were thinking that if they wiped out the entire Rodan family, there would be no one left to battle them for 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 Pike did 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 Wagoner, 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 pinked murreau on the wall behind Judge Deering that says Justicia. It's Latin and means justice for all. Present today is the

defendant with his attorneys John Parker and Richard Nash. The statable HIO was represented by Rob Junk, prosecuting attorney and special prosecutors Angela 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 thin earth 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. Angeanette 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 feed, 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 witness his call 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 of 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 Kneppa gets up to address the jury. She has blonde, shoulder lenked 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 a George Wagner and his brother Edward J. Wagner, Jacob Wagner and father George by Her the third, also known as Billy Webber, 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 too, 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 Knight 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. Kneppa spends almost twenty minutes detailing the last known moments of the Roden family. Chris Roden, Sr. Was forty years old at the time of his death. You see here that on April twenty first of twenty sixteen, his last out wayne 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 One Stop having

a conversation with her friend and co worker, Frankie. Roden 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's 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 Hannahme 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 his track. Actually, 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 coworker 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 up Christiniors 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 plays, 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 Pike 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 Hannahme, which state quote I'll take and if I have to buy force? This is when 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 the little girl to call her mom even when Hannahme is there. It's all too much for Hannah. Hearing these text messages really puts to light the fact that Hanname rode In was clearly in an abusive relationship with Jake Wagner. And sometimes when you're in interviewsive 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. She tried 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, Hannahme 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 five day old 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 Rodin'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 herself

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 Christinior 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. Oh. 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 any thing, 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 girl Friends on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts from iHeart podcasts. Whitney. Hell is going on here. Everyone has their limits. I'd never confronted a situation like this. I just thought it was just a really terrible immoral thing, a line they won't cross. I was stunned, and I just said, no,

we're killing people. You may never have to face that decision when you find yourself at that line. Bounce Ricin, arn't ricin, And somebody needs to just for once give everybody the whole truth, like this is evil and the only person who can sound the alarm is you. I wasn't just going to sit silently. Buy from iHeart podcasts. These are the whistleblowers. If you are disloyal, thinks are going to happen to speak out disgrace to our cut.

Evil play should be prosecute. When power corrupts conscience is the last line of defense. I'm Miles Taylor. Listen to the Whistleblowers on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. My name's Laverne Cox. I'm an actress, producer, fashionista, and host of The Laverne Cox Show. You may remember my award winning first season. I've been pretty busy. There's always time to touch incredible guests about important things. People

like me have been screaming for years. We've got to watch the Supreme Court. Where they're doing is wrong. What they're doing as evil. They will take things away. And I can only hope that Dobbs is that like Pearl Harbor, Mo girl, you and I both know what it took to just get through the day in New York City and get home in one piece. And so the fact that we're here and what you've achieved and what I've achieved, you know, that's momentous. It's not just sitting around complaining

about some bills. The only reason that you might think, as Chase said, that we're always miserable is because people are constantly attacking us and we're constantly noticing it. Listen to The Laverne Cox Show. On the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast be sure to subscribe and share. She's a Hollywood Western She's Jack Harrowak, but in a nap dress with braids. She is one of the most important American children's authors of the twentieth century.

She's the basis for a television show still watched around the world. Somebody somewhere is watching Little Us in the Proof. She's been called a hero, a racist, a feminist, and a proper gandhist. I think the harm is too great because it's just one more thing that Native children have to endure. She is Laura Ingles Wilder, author of the book series Little House on the Prairie. As a kid, I idolized Laura, and last summer I went on the road in search of the real Laura. We're literally on

the prairie. What I found was a complicated person alongside the complicated country she represents. I'm Glennis McNichol, and this is Wilder. Listen to Wilder on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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 Wagner's When Jake Wagner was initially interviewed pretty eartham 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 aware of a chilling statement that Hannah me 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 too. 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 Colin 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 Indicatie 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 Kneppa 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

Anjeanette Levy. In Chris Senior's home, there was a long path of blood drag marks from where apparently he and Gary Rowden had been dragged back into a back bedroom and essentially thrown on top of each other, and then a comforter 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, Anti Kneppa alludes to the lateral damage and indiscriminate killing in this focused custody battle over Jake Wagner and Hannah May's share daughter. Chris Roden Senior was one of the intended targets of the Wagner's 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 Defenses 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 taliated 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 Gilly, 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 Rowden was killed because he was there. The logic doesn't grock 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 say 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 Rodin 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 Roden 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 to 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 or they would have killed that person. They would have killed whoever was there. So how was Dana Road not an intended target? According to Kneppa, Dana was privy to the threatch Dick made towards Hannah Dana couldn't

be left alive to reveal what she knew. When Chris Senior and Gary's bodies were 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, did heavy equipment, and did construction, built decks and stuff like that. You will learn that they immediately thought something was amiss because Christinior'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 Sior 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,

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 he 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. Also a 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 Rodent 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 Roden and Hanname 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 rod of the drug cartel idea. Yeah, you know in 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 Auntie Kneppa 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 an ass 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, or these jurors going to be confused, but had to be overwhelming.

Much has been made about Angie Caneppa'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 much 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 them. Let's stop here for another break. Oh. 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 chouked 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 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 from iHeart Podcasts. Whatney hell is going on here. Everyone has their limits. I'd never confronted

a situation like this. I just thought it was just a really terrible immoral thing, a line they won't cross. I was stunned, and I just said, no, we're killing people. You may never have to face that decision when you find yourself at that lineouts ricin, arn't ricin, And somebody needs to just for once give everybody the whole truth, like this is evil and the only person who can sound the alarm is you. I wasn't just going to sit silently. Buy from iHeart Podcasts. These are the whistleblowers.

If you are disloyal, thinks are going to happen to speak out disgrace to our good. Evil should be prosecuted when power corrupts. Conscience is the last line of defense. I'm Miles Taylor. Listen to the Whistleblowers on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. My name's Laverne Cox. I'm an actress, producer, fashionista, and host of The Laverne Cox Show. You may remember my award winning first season. I've been pretty busy. There's always time to

touch incredible guests about important things. People like me have been screaming for years. We've got to watch the Supreme Court. What they're doing is wrong, what they're doing as evil. They will take things away. And I can only hope that Dobbs is that like Pearl Harbor moment, Grol, you and I both know what it took to just get through the day in New York City and get home in one piece. And so the fact that we're here and what you've achieved and what I've achieved, you know,

that's momentous. It's not just sitting around complaining about some bills. The only reason that you might think, as Chase said, that we're always miserable is because people are constantly attacking us and we're constantly noticing it. Listen to The Laverne Cox Show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Be sure to subscribe and share. On the Best Podcast Ever with Raven and Miranda, you'll

hear well the best podcast Ever. Join Raven Simone and her partner Miranda may Day as they let the Wheel of Words determine the topic of that week's show. Every episode will spend a wheel of random words from things like animosity, to something like Zodiac and whatever it lands on, that's what we're going to talk about for around an hour. I think we can't do it. Well, then you've never

heard us talk. Each week, Raven and Miranda and celebrity guests like Demi Levado, Kiki Palmer and Megan Trainer will spend the Fateful Wheel and then the conversation will begin. Also, we're gonna have a ton of amazing guests because you don't want to just hear us to all the time. Do yes, you do? And somehow We're going to start with something like Spider and end with well, when was

your last nervous breakdown? Listen to the Best podcast Ever with Raven and Miranda on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts, and you can up and may already be planting seeds. One of the more eviting aspects of the opening statement is about the evidence the jury will see in coming weeks. On the day after the Wagners 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 Wagner's. 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 Jakes, 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 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 Angeanette Levy. We know that there were custody documents drawn up that gave custody of Jake and Hannamey'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 he 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 Pipes and Maskers 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 Pike Damasker is a production of iHeartRadio and Katie Studios. For more podcasts from My Heart Radio, visit the heart Radio 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 bachelors. One of them one of the spot Baron Bout. On paper, he was perfect, but in reality, this guy's a wacko. He choked into the point she 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. This is the story of a man who's fascinated me. His name was Sweet Daddy Grace, and that's a name you don't forget. He was a visionary who built a fortune as a black man during Jim Crow during the Depression, but today not many people know about him. The race sort of wiped out, and I wonder if this was done intentionally. Listen to Sweet Daddy Grace on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm will daily. For years, I've been on the road playing shows and seeing America through live music. This summer I'll hit the stage. Who Season two of Sound of Our Town ten Cities twelve episodes, every other Thursday, we explore the live music, venues and culture of a new American city. With each new episode, our tour continues into the kind of venues you want to get to when you landed in Detroit, Providence, Denver,

or Seattle. Into Sound of our Town on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Free and I'm rthy. We have spent the last twenty years building and working at some of the largest companies in the world. We worked with some remarkable people. Rob Mcalenney. When I see the people of Wrexham, I grew up exactly like them. Check out the Art and tree Arm Show. That is a R D HI and s R I

R A M show. Listen to the Art and stree Arm Show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.