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Pike County murder trial: Third week of trial moves on to Kenneth Rhoden's home

During his testimony, Donald Stone burst into tears as the prosecution showed photos of the crime scene where he found his cousin Kenneth Rhoden dead in his camper.
Week three of testimony in Pike County trial
Posted at 9:04 AM, Sep 26, 2022
and last updated 2022-09-27 08:46:40-04

WAVERLY, Ohio — More testimony from officials with Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations and the Hamilton County Coroner's office began proceedings Monday as the trial of a man accused of murdering eight people in Pike County in 2016 continues into its third week.

George Wagner IV — along with his mother Angela, father George "Billy" Wagner and brother Edward "Jake" Wagner — is accused of shooting and killing the Rhoden family members "execution-style." The family's bodies were found on April 22, 2016. He faces eight charges of aggravated murder, along with other charges associated with tampering with evidence, conspiracy and forgery.

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.

The trial is the first time a person has faced a jury for the deaths of the Rhoden family six years ago.

On Monday, as court started the third week of proceedings, prosecutors called BCI investigator George Edward Staley to the stand to talk about the fourth crime scene, where Kenneth Rhoden was found dead six years ago.

He was brought down from the northern BCI districts to help with the investigation and arrived at Kenneth's property at around 5:45 p.m. that day. Kenneth was the final victim found, after family members went to his home when they struggled to get ahold of him to tell him about the other murders.

Kenneth's son, Luke, testified during the first week of the trial, as did Donald Stone, a cousin and the man who first found Kenneth's body.

When Staley arrived on the scene, he said he was briefed by local law enforcement officers who'd secured the scene for processing. He began by photographing the property, working from the road toward the camper in which Kenneth lived, photographing several different locations around the home.

A second, smaller camper was also on the property, but Staley said it hadn't appeared anyone had lived in it for awhile, so it wasn't documented the way he did the main camper and the rest of the grounds nearby.

Also on the grounds was a small shed, Staley said. Photos he took that day showed the door was unlatched and hanging slightly open, a key ring holding a fob and a single key lying on the stairs that led to the door. When Staley opened the shed's door, another key ring, including a key that was still inside a large, round lock, was lying on the floor just past the threshold, he said.

Staley noted there were three different cameras mounted around the outside of the shed, though when he searched inside he said he found they weren't connected to anything. A DVR device that could have been the recording unit for the cameras was inside, but it wasn't attached to the cameras and Staley said he found it covered in cobwebs.

Because it hadn't appeared to have been touched or disturbed in quite some time, Staley said it wasn't marked or collected as evidence.

Inside the shed, there was a black, rectangular bracket mounted on a wall that Staley said he believed had held a trail camera, but no camera like that was found inside the shed or anywhere else on the property.

Stairs heading down into an underground basement to the shed led Staley to a marijuana grow room. Staley said there was no evidence of forced entry into the shed.

While photographing the walk up the driveway toward the property, Staley said he noted a device mounted on a tree that he said was a motion detector; later, inside Kenneth's home, Staley found the receiver for it. The motion detector worked, Staley said, but he didn't record or document what it sounded like when it was activated.

Despite the motion detector, Kenneth didn't appear to have been awakened before he was shot to death the night of April 22, 2016; items in his bedroom were not disturbed and there was no obvious signs of struggle.

As Staley approached the large camper, he said he noticed a hasp on the front door that was in an open position and a lock lying on the deck near the door. In a small window to the right of the door was an iPhone, propped up with the back of the phone facing the outside of the camper.

There were no signs anyone had forced their way into the camper, Staley said.

Inside, investigators focused on the bedroom in which Kenneth was found; nothing of evidentiary value was found in the kitchen or seating area of the camper, Staley said.

Inside the bedroom, Kenneth was found lying on the bed, shot once through the eye. To the right of the door was a dresser; the top drawer was open and the receiver for the outside motion detector was inside, sticking out of the top of the drawer.

A window in the bedroom was where the iPhone was propped, Staley said.

As they turned their attention to the area near the bed, Staley said investigators found a pair of blue jeans with the pockets turned out and a set of keys near some money lying on the foot of the bed.

Kenneth was on his back with a gunshot wound in his right eye; his left eye was partially closed, Staley said.

"In my opinion, that was the position that he was shot," he said, adding he believed Kenneth was asleep when he was killed.

Also lying on the bed, on top of a green comforter, was a .40 caliber shell cartridge.

The cartridge, assorted keys and locks and swabs of the wall near the bed were all sent to labs for testing, but none showed any DNA that could be used for comparison, except for Kenneth's himself.

Again, prosecutors announced that investigators did not locate or process any evidence containing the DNA of Angela, Jake, Billy or George Wagner. This means DNA from the Wagner family has not been found at any of the four crime scenes in which eight members of the Rhoden family were found dead in 2016.

After a lunch break, prosecutors re-called Dr. Karen Looman, the chief deputy coroner with the Hamilton County Coroner's Office, to talk about Kenneth's autopsy; Looman performed the autopsies for each member of the Rhoden family found dead.

Before questioning Looman on Kenneth's autopsy, Prosecutor Rob Junk circled back to one of the victims Looman already testified about: Hanna May.

The 20-year-old had a mark on the back of her head that was consistent with her head being pressed against a hard surface, Looman said. There was a bar above her head on her bedframe that matched the mark made; Looman said if Hanna May had been alive, that mark would have eventually gone away, but because she was already dead when it pressed on her head, the mark remained. A brown color to the mark also indicated she was dead when the mark was made, Looman said.

Looman said the mark could have happened because, after being killed, her body rested back against the bar.

During cross-examination, attorney John Parker asked if that mark could have been made because Hanna May's body was re-arranged after she was killed; Looman said it was possible. During opening statements, Special Prosecutor Angie Canepa said George's brother, Jake Wagner, admitted to moving Hanna May's body so her days-old baby, whom she was nursing when she was shot, could continue to breastfeed.

Looman's testimony surrounding Kenneth's autopsy was briefer than it has been for other victims; Kenneth was shot just once, directly through the eye. Looman noted there was gunpowder stippling around his eye and on his face, and the edges of his wound were blackened with soot. This indicated the shot was fired from an "intermediate" distance, Looman said.

She previously testified that "intermediate" distance is typically anywhere from three inches away to three feet.

Looman said she believed Kenneth was asleep when he was shot, because the bullet was shot through both of his eyelids, indicating his eyes were closed at the time. The shot was immediately fatal, she said.

The bullet, which remained mostly intact inside Kenneth's head, was larger than those she'd retrieved from Dana, Hanna May, Chris Jr., Hannah Hazel and Frankie; they were similar to bullets found in the bodies of Gary and Chris Sr. in the first crime scene.

The bullet traveled directly to the back of Kenneth's head, where it heavily fractured the back of his skull but didn't exit through the bone, Looman said.

In addition, Looman said they found a red, plastic plug like those discovered in Gary and Chris Sr.'s wounds.

Toxicology testing revealed Kenneth only had caffeine in his system when he was killed — a detail he shares with six other members of the family killed. Gary Rhoden tested positive for the presence of cocaine, but no other family member has had a substance other than caffeine present.

After Looman finished her testimony, prosecution called BCI agent Matt White to the witness stand.

White is a firearms examiner with the state agency, and he was the expert who examined and identified much of the ballistic evidence collected in all four crime scenes and during all eight autopsies.

White began by describing the anatomy of a bullet and a gun to the jury and explaining the differences between a center-fired bullet and a rim-fired one. Prosecution also questioned him on the differences between several firearms, including a .40 Glock pistol, a .22 Walther Colt pistol and an SKS rifle — all weapons Canepa claimed the Wagner family used the night of the murders.

Prosecution then led him through each crime scene and each piece of ballistic evidence collected from the autopsies; White identified three different kinds of bullets.

In the first crime scene, where Chris Sr. and Gary were killed, several bullets collected were .30 caliber 7.62 by 39mm rounds — high-powered ammunition typically associated with a rifle, White said.

Rifling marks from the gun's barrel left four lands and grooves on the bullet, with a right-hand twist. Uniquely, the jacket on the bullet was different than a typical bullet of similar brand and size, said White. The bullets also had a boat-tailed design on their ends, designed to help the bullet to be more aerodynamic, he said.

These bullets were also much heavier than typical 7.62x39 bullets, which White said made him hesitate during his identification of them.

Typically bullets lose weight after they've been fired or damaged, but these .30 caliber bullets weighed more in their damaged form than a typical bullet of the same kind would weigh whole, White said. Eventually, White said he discovered a Tul Ammo brand that was more consistent with the heavier-sized bullets.

Two bullets recovered from Gary and Chris Sr.'s bodies were .40 caliber pistol rounds with six lands and grooves in a right-hand twist and polygonal-shaped rifling. They were consistent with the Hornady brand, White said, and typically utilized a red, plastic plug in the hollow tip of the bullet.

In the second and third crime scenes, the gun used to kill Frankie, Hannah Hazel, Hanna May, Chris Jr. and Dana was different than the two used in the first scene. Bullets collected in these scenes and during the autopsies showed they were instead killed with a .22 caliber, rim-fired, brass-washed, lead bullet. Cartridges collected from those scenes also showed a rectangular, wedge-shaped stamp on the rim of the case from where the firing pin struck the cartridge during firing.

In the fourth crime scene, the single bullet that killed Kenneth was again the .40 caliber Hornady-brand round, as was the cartridge case collected from Kenneth's bed.

Court then adjourned for the day, though White is expected to be re-called to the stand Tuesday morning.

You can catch up on the day's testimony below:

Watch opening statements below:

You can read recaps of each day of the trial in our coverage below:

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