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A man was found guilty on Wednesday on all charges for his role in the murders of eight people of another Ohio family after his brother and mother testified against him.
George Wagner IV, 31, was found guilty on 22 counts, eight of which were for aggravated murder, in the 2016 shooting of the Rhoden family that left seven adults and one teenager dead in their home. Most were shot repeatedly in the head. Edward “Jake” Wagner and his father, George “Billy” Wagner III, were accused of committing the killings, and George Wagner IV and his mother, Angela Wagner, were charged in connection to the murder plot. Prosecutors argued that the Wagner family planned the killings for months.
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Ohio Family Killed
In addition to aggravated murder, George Wagner IV was also convicted of conspiracy, tampering with evidence, obstructing justice, and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity.
Jake Wagner pleaded guilty to aggravated murder and other charges in 2021, on the fifth anniversary of the murders, and is expecting to spend life in prison. He testified against his family members in a deal to help the family avoid the death penalty.
Prosecutors recommended his mother, Angela, who pleaded guilty to planning the killings that same year, should receive a 30-year sentence. She struck the same deal to testify against her son and her husband, George Wagner III, who pleaded not guilty and awaits a trial.
Wagner IV, who was convicted on Wednesday, denied that he had any knowledge of his family’s involvement in the killings and said on the witness stand that he would have put a stop to it had he known the plan.
However, during his testimony, Jake Wagner said the plan was for his brother to shoot Christopher Rhoden Sr. with an SRS rifle, but George Wagner IV never fired, prompting Jake Wagner to grab the gun and shoot Rhoden Sr. in the midsection, per the Washington Post.
Jake Wagner emphasized during his testimony that he killed five of the victims with a .22-caliber Walther Colt 1911 handgun, and his father killed three with a .40-caliber Glock handgun. Wagner IV did not kill any of the victims, Jake Wagner testified.
Despite not physically shooting anyone, prosecutors argued that Wagner IV did know of the murder plot and participated in it, helping his father and brother move two bodies after the shootings.
The Wagners and Rhodens were linked by a daughter shared by Hanna Rhoden and Jake Wagner, and a custody dispute spurred the murder plot, according to prosecutors. Other children at the scene, besides one 16-year-old, were not harmed. Hanna Rhoden and Jake Wagner’s daughter is “well taken care of,” according to family member Tony Rhoden.
The victims were Christopher Rhoden Sr., 40; ex-wife Dana Rhoden, 37; their children, Clarence “Frankie” Rhoden, 20, Hanna Rhoden, 19, and Christopher Rhoden Jr., 16; Clarence Rhoden’s fiancee, Hannah Gilley, 20; Christopher Rhoden Sr.’s brother, Kenneth Rhoden, 44; and a cousin, Gary Rhoden, 38.
Tony Rhoden, who is a brother, uncle, and cousin of the victims, said after the trial that he felt sorry for Wagner IV “because he is human.”
“George Wagner is human. They just didn’t show it on that night,” Rhoden said. “It should have never happened.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The tragedy marked one of the state’s most extensive criminal investigations and “one of the longest, if not the longest, trials in Ohio history,” according to Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine. DeWine oversaw much of the case during his time as state attorney general.
George Wagner IV’s sentencing date will be scheduled later, per the judge.
