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Pike County murder trial: Texts highlight Wagner family dynamic, purchases for possible silencer

The prosecution and defense debated the validity of interrogation tapes today during the Pike County Murder Trial.
George Wagner IV trial continues in Pike County
Posted at 9:24 AM, Oct 12, 2022
and last updated 2022-10-12 18:08:07-04

WAVERLY, Ohio — On Wednesday, witnesses presented cell phone data, including text messages between members of the Wagner family, and investigators set the scene for the Wagners' return from Alaska — when they were finally declared suspects in the murders of the Rhoden family.

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 Wednesday, prosecution called Dana Forney, a criminal intelligence supervisor with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations, to the witness stand. Forney analyzed data from Billy Wagner's cell phone, including communications made leading up to the 2016 murders and locations for his phone.

It took investigators longer than usual to analyze Billy's phone, Forney said, because the number he was using to communicate with law enforcement and others was registered to a "Denisse Carter," rather than Billy himself. That name was also associated with one of the phone numbers regularly used by Chris Sr., Forney said.

Beginning in January 2016, Forney tracked the cell towers Billy's phone regularly pinged from — usually cell towers near the Flying W Farm, where he was living, though for a time in February he appeared to have been traveling throughout the Midwest. Billy often worked as a long-haul truck driver, so travel was not unusual.

Except when he drove for work, Forney said Billy's phone typically pinged from one of two cell towers near Flying W Farm during his final communications of each day and his first communications each morning — indicating that was where his phone likely was each night. However, from April 21 through the end of that month, Billy's phone pinged each night and morning on a cell tower near the Wagner home on Peterson Road.

On April 21, 2016, the day before the murders happened, Billy exchanged several calls with Jake and George, Forney said. During those calls, Billy's phone pinged on cell towers near the Flying W Farm. At 5:55 p.m. that day, Billy called Chris Sr. and spoke to him for just under a minute and a half; Billy's phone was at Flying W during that call, Forney said. Then, at 8:51 p.m. that evening, Billy called Chris Sr. again; Billy's phone was at the Wagner home on Peterson Road at that point.

Between 10:22 p.m. and 10:55 p.m. that night, Chris Sr. called Billy's phone four times, each time going to voicemail, Forney said; Billy's phone was on Peterson Road. Prosecutors said during opening statements that Billy set up a meeting with Chris Sr. to discuss an upcoming drug deal as a ruse to murder him that night. Prosecution also claims Billy asked Chris Sr. to call his phone that night as a way to lure him to the porch, while Jake and George hid outside with a high-powered rifle, ready to fire.

During an interview with Billy, played in the court room earlier in the trial, the Wagner patriarch told investigators he'd gotten a new phone because he'd smashed the old one after he'd tried to call Chris Sr., who he declared was his best friend, too many times after the murders. Foley said none of the numbers investigators had for Billy ever called Chris Sr.'s phone after the murders.

After Foley stepped down from the stand, prosecutors re-called Julia Eveslage, the other BCI intelligence agent assigned full-time to the Rhoden murder case. Eveslage testified to data recovered from Jake and Angela's cell phones, including internet searches made on the phones and text messages recovered.

Angela searched for information on trauma responses in children and "signs of penetration" on a toddler in January 2016; Tabitha, George's ex-wife, testified earlier in the trial that Angela and the other Wagners had accused her and others of child abuse and theft after she fled the home. Eveslage said she highlighted these searches because they spoke to Angela's concern about her grandchildren being abused.

In February of that year, Angela also searched several times for homes for sale in different towns in Alaska. On March 13, 2016, she searched through Hanna May's Facebook page and photos. Later that same month, she searched for and visited an article by The Atlantic titled "Rape culture in the Alaskan wilderness."

On April 27, 2016, days after the murders, Angela's phone showed search histories for information on the Pike County massacre.

Eveslage also testified to several text message conversations she said spoke to the Wagner family dynamics in the months leading up to the murders; Angela and Billy argued several times about their relationship, their sons and Angela's insistence that she take care of her two grandchildren, Bulvine and Sophia. Billy repeatedly expressed that he missed Angela, but wouldn't move back home because he didn't want to continue fighting with his sons; he also repeatedly suggested Angela run away with him, sometimes suggesting she take the grandkids and leave.

Angela argued that Billy was making her choose between her sons, her grandchildren and her husband. In another text conversation, Billy told Angela he didn't plan to move to Alaska with the family, but Angela replied that the whole family was going together.

The couple also texted about custody issues between Jake and Hanna May, Eveslage said. At one point, Angela texted him that Sophie, for the fourth time, was complaining her butt hurt, that the child was "red down there" and that she wouldn't let them touch her. Angela also told her husband Hanna May had gotten Sophie's ears pierced; Angela called it child abuse, and Billy said he was sure Jake was angry.

Eveslage also presented text conversations between Angela and Jake, in which they talked about the ear piercings, and Jake's decision to remove the studs the next time Sophie was in his custody.

Angela and Jake also texted about things to buy — specifically a die and two fittings. Eveslage said she believed they were discussing parts to buy to construct a silencer. In a separate text conversation, Eveslage pointed out the two used code words, conversing about a "pink bunny" and "sprinkls."

The only text message presented to the jury involving George was one between he and Jake, in which the brothers talked about their grandfather — Angela's dad — being robbed at gunpoint. During cross-examination, Parker asked Eveslage if she was aware the boys' grandfather, Ed Carter, was a drug deal and that the home robbed had been where he ran his business. Eveslage said she was aware of allegations to that nature, but she didn't know for certain.

Prosecutors also pointed out that, although George had been close with Carter, the family did not return from Alaska for his funeral when he died.

Another conversation between Billy and Jake was also presented; the texts happened in April 2016, after the murders. In the conversation, Billy apologized to Jake for fighting with his mother in front of him and George. He later told Jake he was proud of him; Eveslage said the conversation stood out to her, because it was more affectionate than Billy's typical text conversations with his sons.

Following Eveslage, prosecution re-called BCI agent Ryan Scheiderer, lead investigator on the case, to the stand. He explained that, at this point in the investigation, the Wagners were officially suspects. BCI had determined that shell casings found at two of the crime scenes, where five people were killed, matched shell casings found during the execution of a search warrant in the yard of the Wagner home on Peterson Road.

"We're now to the point where somebody at 260 Peterson Road is probably responsible for these homicides," he said.

Investigators had worked out a plan to get them all into separate interview rooms at the same time for questioning, said Scheiderer.

BCI agents worked to get warrants for wire taps and searches and coordinated with officials in North Dakota, where the Wagners had crossed the border into Canada when they moved to Alaska. Border Patrol agents and other officials were tracking the Wagner's movements through their cell phones and relaying to BCI agents when they expected the family to re-cross the Canadian border back into the U.S.

After BCI agents got off the plane in North Dakota, prepared to intercept the Wagners to interview them and bug their vehicle, they realized they'd made a mistake — Border Patrol alerted them that the Wagners had declared their port of entry into the U.S. as a city in Montana, not North Dakota.

"We scrambled, kind of panicked a bit," said Scheiderer.

Agents then had to contact Montana law enforcement to request the warrants they'd already obtained for the wrong state, working through the night to get paperwork in order to allow the wire taps and bugs for the Wagner vehicle.

By the time the Wagners arrived at the Montana border, BCI agents were there to interview them — but they lacked camera equipment. Scheiderer said agents attempted to use a body-worn camera during the interviews, but didn't know how to use it properly and accidentally deactivated it when they believed they'd turned it on. As a result, only the audio of the interviews was recorded, he said.

While the Wagners were being interviewed, Border Patrol agents installed the bugs in the family's vehicle and seized a laptop and iPad from it.

During cross-examination, Parker questioned Scheiderer about the video recording snafu for the interviews; Scheiderer said agents had set up space to record in the interview rooms set up in North Dakota, but didn't have the time to create a similar set-up in Montana.

As for the bugs placed in the Wagner family vehicle, Parker asked if he would be correct in saying "nothing useful" came from the recordings. Scheiderer responded that the audio quality of the bugs had not been up to par, preventing agents from hearing much conversation.

Parker questioned Scheiderer on the interview conducted with Billy, but prosecution objected, prompting a lengthy sidebar. Eventually, Scheiderer was permitted to respond, telling Parker the interview was short and that Billy hadn't really cooperated.

Parker requested to play one of the interview recordings, but prosecution again objected; Special prosecutor Angela Canepa argued that Parker couldn't play a recording of his client's co-conspirator during the prosecution's side of the case. After arguing whether defense attorneys could be allowed to play the recording during a cross-examination, Judge Randy Deering announced court would adjourn early; both sides are to research the issue and present legal positions on the argument Thursday morning before trial begins at 9 a.m. Deering said in the morning, he will decide whether the recording can be played, based on the prepared arguments.

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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