Three members of an Ohio family were sentenced Friday for their roles in the 2016 massacre of eight members of another family.
In 2018, Angela Wagner, along with her mother Rita Newcomb, her husband George “Billy” Wagner III, and her two sons — Edward “Jake” Wagner and George Wagner IV — were accused of conspiring to and carrying out the killings of Jake Wagner’s ex-girlfriend, Hanna May Rhoden, and seven other members of her family and extended relatives.
Although Angela Wagner, Newcomb, and Jake Wagner had previously pleaded guilty to their involvement, it wasn’t until recently that they received their sentencing, as reported by the Dayton Daily News. During the sentencing, Judge Jonathan Hein surprised everyone by ripping up Jake Wagner’s plea deal and offering him the opportunity for parole.
Prior to this, Hein had already given Newcomb a five-year probation sentence for impeding the investigation, and Angela Wagner had been sentenced to 30 years behind bars, before her son’s case was brought before him for judgment.
“How do I resolve the good deal your mom got, especially since she could have stopped the whole thing dead in its tracks?” said Hein.
His mother pleaded guilty to conspiracy, aggravated burglary, tampering with evidence, forgery, unauthorized use of property, and unlawful possession of dangerous ordnance. In exchange, prosecutors dropped eight charges of aggravated murder and recommended 30 years in prison with no early release.
Hein said he couldn’t balance Angela Wagner’s sentence with the proposed sentence for her son — eight consecutive life sentences with no parole, the same sentence his brother George Wagner IV received after he was convicted at trial in 2022 — despite both cooperating with investigators. Jake Wagner even testified against his brother.
“How do I resolve the good deal that your mom got?” Hein said, according to Law&Crime. “Thirty years is a really long time; that’s a really good deal for the level of the conduct. Especially since she could have stopped the whole thing dead in its tracks before it ever happened. And I don’t let her off the hook because she didn’t go to the scene. I put her equally responsible because the eyes of the law put her equally responsible.”
Jake Wagner pleaded guilty to two gun charges and eight murder charges. Hein sentenced him to six years each on the gun charges and life on the murder charges, to be served concurrently, with the possibility of parole after 32 years.
“Because you cooperated. Because you did something to acknowledge the responsibility for the crime,” Hein said. “That’s not a deal, that’s as close as I can come to solving the problem that was handed to me by these ancient plea agreements.”
Prosecutors alleged that the slayings were motivated by a custody dispute between Jake Wagner and Hanna Rhoden, as CrimeOnline reported. The Wagners were allegedly trying to force Rhoden to sign an unfavorable custody agreement. In a Facebook post that was produced as evidence, Rhoden wrote, “(I’ll) never sign papers ever. They will have to kill me first.”
The Wagners allegedly planned the killings for months and then moved to Alaska afterward. They returned to Ohio a few months before their arrests.
The eight victims were all shot execution-style at three campers and a trailer on a property in Piketon. The victims were identified as Christopher Rhoden Sr, 40, and Dana Rhoden, 37; their three children, Hanna Rhoden, 19, Christopher Rhoden Jr, 16, and Frankie Rhoden, 20; Frankie’s fiancee, Hannah Gilley, 20; Christopher Sr’s brother, Kenneth Rhoden, 44; and a cousin, Gary Rhoden, 38. Two children — Hanna’s children — were not harmed.
The last defendant, Billy Wagner, 53, has pleaded not guilty. His trial has been repeatedly delayed because of appeals.
