WAVERLY, Ohio — On the night of April 21, 2016, eight members of the Rhoden and Gilley family were shot to death — many while they were asleep in their beds. Six years after the murders, George Wagner IV was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for each murder.
Found dead that day were 40-year-old Christopher Rhoden Sr., 37-year-old Dana Rhoden, 20-year-old Hannah "Hazel" Gilley, 16-year-old Christopher Rhoden Jr., 20-year-old Clarence "Frankie" Rhoden, 37-year-old Gary Rhoden, 19-year-old Hanna May Rhoden, and 44-year-old Kenneth Rhoden.
After almost 3 months of trial, on Nov. 30, a jury found George guilty of the murders and 14 other charges of aggravated burglary, conspiracy and tampering with evidence. It took the jurors just over seven hours of deliberation to come to their verdict.
Before Judge Randy Deering handed down George's sentence, family members of those murdered stepped forward to give victim impact statements in which they all asked Deering for the harshest punishment possible for George.
George initially faced the death penalty, but the prosecution agreed to take that off the table in exchange forhis mother and brother's testimony against him and any others standing trial for the crimes.
Family of those murdered speak
The first impact statement was read by the families' victim's advocate, on behalf of Hannah Hazel Gilley's aunt.
Everyone knew what happened "that night in April of 2016," the victim's advocate read aloud, but for a long while family members never knew if they would fully learn the truth of what happened inside those trailers that night, or who was responsible.
Because of the work of investigators and prosecutors in the case, the family was not only able to learn the truth but also to see the alleged perpetrators arrested, the statement said. It went on to thank law enforcement and those with the prosecution who'd helped the case reach this point.
Next, the statement recalled Hannah Hazel from childhood through much of her life, up to when she "met the love of her life, Frankie Rhoden." The two planned to marry and in October 2015, just six months before both Hannah Hazel and Frankie would be murdered, their son was born.
"Our family is in total shock," the statement read. "Why? Why did this happen? I guess now we know why. The Wagner family."
The statement lamented that neither George nor the rest of his family would face the death penalty for the murders, pointing out that Hannah Hazel had just been collateral damage in the family's "sick and twisted plan."
"They don't want the death penalty," read the statement. "They don't want to die. How ironic is that?"
"I pray for you not to live."
Hannah Hazel's mother, Andrea Shoemaker, approached the podium and asked Deering for permission to address George directly; Deering hesitated, but said he'd allow it to a point, despite preferring impact statements be made to him.
Shoemaker's hands shook as she read, but still she listed each of the victims and what they'd meant to Hannah Hazel and her family, recounting relationships that had been cut short because of the murders.
Hannah Hazel and Hanna May both left behind infants they'd been nursing when they were killed; both infants were found, covered in blood, in bed next to their dead mothers.
Hanna May's infant, who'd been just days old when her mother was murdered, had been conceived with Hannah Hazel's brother and was Shoemaker's first granddaughter, she said. Now, the girl is old enough to ask questions she should never have had to ask about her mother, Shoemaker said, and the family watches her mourn.
Shoemaker also lamented the loss of Frankie, who he said had great love for her daughter and his sons.
"Oh, how my heart aches to see you, to hug you, to have you pester me, to have you eat all of what I cook for dinner and lunch," she said.
She added George had claimed during his testimony and throughout the trial that he'd been close friends with Frankie — but in the end, the Wagners were cowards who'd killed him, she said.
"My grandson was made an orphan in one night," she shouted, slamming her hand on the podium between words. "He mourns for a dad so bad and that is something he will do for the rest of his life — is want his daddy."
Hannah Hazel had wanted nothing more than to watch her son grow up, hunt for eggs at Easter, joyfully open presents on Christmas morning, celebrate each birthday. When she and Frankie were murdered, their son's life, in a way, was also taken away from him, Shoemaker said, emphasizing that the list of victims from the Wagners' crimes extended further than the eight lives that were taken that night.
In fact, she said, her dad "mourned himself to death" over the loss of his granddaughter, Hannah Hazel, Shoemaker said, adding she feels George and his family were also responsible for his death.
"Children left with only a mom, children left with only a father and children without a mom and dad at all," she said. "All because the devils like the dark — devils hunt at night. Just like you, George Wagner IV, and your evil family did."
Shoemaker angrily said she wished George and his family could still face the death penalty, though she knew the plea deal struck with the prosecution was the best way to guarantee everyone responsible for the homicides were fully held accountable. Still, she said she hoped he would die.
"I pray for you not to live," said Shoemaker. "I want you to die. Just like you and your evil family did my baby girl Hannah Hazel Gilley."
A letter penned by a child
Chelsea Robinson, the mother of Frankie's oldest child — who was just 4 years old at the time of the murder and was inside the home when his father and Hannah Hazel were shot to death — spoke, reading aloud a note written by the now-10-year-old.
Many of the thoughts written in the letter hadn't been disclosed to his mother, Robinson said. Still, the boy wrote it himself and had asked his mother to read it for George.
"Dear George," she read, sobbing. "I find myself wondering why you killed my daddy?
"There are things that make me sad because I can’t learn from him. He could have taught me stuff like working on derby cars and hunting. My mommy tried, but it's not as good as daddy was.
"I've been scared since that night, knowing bad guys came into my house while I was sleeping. I'm always scared now that I will lose my mommy.
"You did that to me. I just want you to know I hate you and your family."
Those are the words of a 10-year-old boy, Robinson added, crying. Her son was asleep on the couch that night, as George's brother Jake "slithered" through a window of the home where Frankie and Hannah Hazel lived and crept past the sleeping toddler to their bedroom, where he shot them both to death.
The boy was inside the home with the bodies until the next morning, when family discovered the homicides and managed to open locked doors that had been meant for the boy's safety — family testified he'd discovered how to open doors and had taken to wandering outside in the mornings.
Robinson said her son described finding his baby brother screaming, lying in bed between Frankie and Hannah Hazel and covered in blood.
"I don't know to this day what he saw in that bedroom," said Robinson, adding that knowing he saw any of it hurt her heart.
He still suffers from panic attacks, anxiety and countless sleepless nights from nightmares, she said.
"You and your family did that," she told George.
Robinson recalled becoming a then-21-year-old single mother, grappling with a toddler who'd experienced unfathomable trauma — but there was no caseworker or therapist available to her in Scioto County at the time, she said. So, to get her son the help he needed, she had to drive him counties away.
"We may have been friends in the past, but for you to get up on that stand, take an oath and still lie to me... I hope you burn in hell," she said.
Family who testified face George Wagner IV again
Kendra Rhoden, who took the stand during the trial, returned to the front of the Pike County courthouse to speak about losing her father, Kenneth, and best friend and cousin, Hanna May, at the hands of the Wagners.
She said she knew she was supposed to feel peace or some sense of relief that George had been found guilty and would go to prison, but she couldn't. Instead, she still wondered if her dad felt pain in the minutes it took him to die from the single gunshot wound to his eye, or if Hanna May died in fear, not knowing what would happen to her infant lying in the bed next to her.
Still haunted by nightmares, Kendra said she was heartbroken that her father was never able to meet her daughter and wouldn't be there to walk her down the aisle for her coming wedding; she wouldn't be able to look to her bridesmaids and see Hanna May's face among them.
April Manley, who also took the stand during trial, said she was there to speak on behalf of Leonard Manley, Dana's father. He died from complications from cancer before the trial was held — something April said was a direct result of the murders.
"He wouldn't fight for his life," she said. "He just couldn't walk this road without his daughter anymore."
Before he'd died, Leonard had made her promise to be there for the trial — a promise she intended to keep, she said. Although she married into the family — her husband, James, is Dana's brother — the Rhodens are her family and she'd been in the lives of Frankie, Chris Jr. and Hanna May from the start, she said.
"To this day, my husband still screams 'sis' in his sleep," she said.
Her oldest son was Frankie's best friend, and unfortunately was there to see him and his fiancee shot to death in their beds. Her youngest son, the same age as Hanna May, walked across the stage at graduation with a pin bearing her photo — so she could graduate with him, like she was supposed to, April said.
"The Wagners have taken so much from us that I just can't forgive right now and I don't know that I ever will," she said, asking Deering to send George to prison for the rest of his life.
Bobby Manley, Dana's sister, testified at trial but was unable to read her statement in court, so it was read by the victims' advocate.
"It disgusts me that you're allowed to live," the advocate read from Bobby's statement. "I hope your life is long and miserable."
Another statement was then read by the advocate, this one from Ruth Rhoden, Gary's mother. She wrote that more than eight people were dead because of the Wagner family — Gary's father "grieved himself to death." The day of George's sentencing was Gary's birthday, she said, and had he not been murdered he would have been 45.
"A life cut short by selfish acts of others"
The final family member to speak was Tony Rhoden, brother of Kenneth and Chris Sr. He began by thanking the court for the opportunity to speak and quickly launched into stories of what it was like to grow up alongside his brothers.
He recounted how he, Kenneth, Chris Sr. and their other brother, would build small boats out of whatever they could find and race them. The brothers would trap skunks with 5-gallon buckets — often with no plan on how they would release the animal without being sprayed.
"To this day, I don't know how we didn't get sprayed," he said, smiling.
Eventually they began having children and grandchildren, all of whom came with their own stories and memories. He recounted a time he was called to pull Chris Jr. from a mud pit after he'd buried a Reaper four-wheeler in the muck.
After each story about each family member, Tony ended the same:
"A life cut short by selfish acts of others," he said.
In November, 2018 the family was finally able to learn an arrest had been made in the case, he said. It was that same year that, around Christmas, the family played phone tag for ages to arrange for Sophia, Jake and Hanna May's daughter, and Bulvine, George's son, to join the Rhodens for the holiday. During the celebration, each child in the family was called to his mother and matriarch of the family, Geneva Rhoden.
When Bulvine's name was called, he walked to her and she put him on her lap like she'd done with all the other children — despite Bulvine having no blood relation to the Rhoden family. She gave him a present, like she had the others, and they posed for a photo together.
"True love, that's what was showed that Christmas dinner," said Tony. "It was embedded by our mom to all her kids. Chris taught it to his kids, it showed. Kenneth taught it to his and it still shows."
Tony then read aloud a statement made by Geneva, who attended nearly every day of the three-month-long trial.
"George Wagner IV, you are still breathing," read the statement. "My two sons are not. My grandchildren are not breathing. They are all children left behind. I'd just like to see some justice."
George — along with his mother Angela and brother Edward "Jake" Wagner — is guilty of charges associated with shooting and killing the Rhoden family members "execution-style." The family's bodies were found on April 22, 2016.
The trial was the first time a person faced a jury for the deaths of the Rhoden family six years ago.
His father, George "Billy" Wagner III, has maintained a plea of "not guilty" and is scheduled to face trial in 2023.
You can read recaps of each day of the trial in our coverage below:
- George Wagner IV found guilty of 8 murders
- After a nearly three-month trial, closing arguments concluded
- Prosecution delivers closing arguments
- Prosecution will no longer seek death penalty
- No jury, court holding procedural hearings
- State and defense rest, court paused for holiday week
- 'They should have death given to them,' George said should be fate of Rhoden killers
- George Wagner IV testifies in own defense
- Arguments over evidence, defense calls witnesses
- No jury Monday as defense and prosecution argue over evidence
- The prosecution rests its case after playing final wiretap recordings
- 'We get electrocuted...it's your fault," George told his brother in wiretap
- Jury dismissed early again over disagreements on wiretap recordings
- Prosecution tries to tie murder plot to movie plot
- Trial postponed to Monday over evidentiary issues
- Murders were about protection, not custody, said Angela
- Angela told the prosecution bloody shoeprints belonged to George
- Angela Wagner called to stand, opted out of recording
- Investigators describe recovering, testing murder weapons
- Jake Wagner finishes testimony as seventh week of trial wrapped up
- Photos of murder weapons are shown for first time as Jake testifies for third day
- Jake Wagner 'could not bear to think' or speak about his crimes after the murders
- 'I felt I had no other choice than to kill Hanna,' Jake Wagner told jury
- 'I was afraid they were going to kill me,' Jake's ex-wife testifies
- Texts between Hanna Rhoden and Jake Wagner detail ongoing custody argument
- Witnesses describe intertwined Wagner finances and a device found inside a well
- Clandestine recordings made by Jake, Wagner family finances presented
- Wire taps played for jury as court enters sixth week of testimony
- George Wagner IV's grandmother testifies
- Interview with Angela played for jury, Angela's half brother takes stand
- Texts highlight Wagner family dynamic, purchases for possible silencer
- Dozens of guns collected in search of Flying W Farm, but no murder weapons
- Jury shown evidence collected from Wagner belongings
- Evidence collected on Wagner property presented
- BCI agents testified to evidence
- Ex-wife of George Wagner IV describes 'strange and controlling' Wagner home
- Jury hears from George Wagner IV's ex-wife as fourth week of testimony begins
- Family members tearfully describe the day of the homicides
- Bloody shoe prints, cell phone records are focus
- Experts testify about ballistics, shoeprint evidence
- Third week of trial moves on to Kenneth Rhoden's home
- Evidence presented from third crime scene
- Scene where Dana, Chris. Jr and Hanna May Rhoden were killed is focus
- Testimony focuses on second of four crime scenes
- Coroner describes two of eight victims autopsied
- Forensic testimony continues into Monday
- Forensic evidence takes center stage
- Testimony centers on Kenneth Rhoden, final victim discovered
- Emergency responders testify about chaotic scenes
- Witnesses describe discovering their family members' bodies
- Opening statements detail grisly moments in the six-year-old murder case
- Read a full timeline of the Pike County murder investigation
