Mathias was stabbed dozens of times with a metal shank at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, a high-security prison in Lucasville.
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Reinke, 38, is serving a life sentence for aggravated murder, aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary, drug possession, intimidation and other charges.
Pigge, 31, is serving a life sentence and has been convicted of three aggravated murders in three counties: his ex-girlfriend’s mother, his cellmate at Lebanon Correctional and a fellow inmate on a prison transport bus.
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While at Lebanon Correctional, Pigge was held in a cell that had a hole in the wall large enough for him to shimmy through to play cards with the prisoners next door. In February 2016, he used a cinder block from the cell to bash in the head of his cellmate, Luther Wade of Springfield.
Days after appearing in court in a straitjacket for the Wade murder, Pigge was placed in the back of a prison transport bus with 15 other inmates — out of sight of guards on the bus. Despite handcuffs, leg irons and a belly chain, he was able to move about freely at the back section of the bus.
About 10 or 15 minutes into the ride, Pigge slipped off his belly chain, moved up three rows and wrapped the three-foot chain against inmate David Johnson’s neck, the witnesses told investigators. Pigge pulled so hard against the 61-year-old sex offender’s throat that Johnson was lifted off the seat, the witnesses said.
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After the attack, they said, Pigge shook hands with the other inmates, introduced himself as ‘Box Cutter’ and bragged, “This is the first time anyone has ever killed a (expletive) on a bus with his chains on” and “I guess you never seen that on a bus before.”
In June 2018, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction refused to release its internal report on the bus murder.
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