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.
Jake took the stand Monday morning — the first time he and his brother have laid eyes on one another since the family’s arrest in 2018.
Prosecution began by questioning him on the different homes owned by the Wagner family; he admitted they’d intentionally burned down their house on Bethel Hill Road for insurance money. After that, the Peterson Road farm the family bought was put into his and George’s names because their insurance history was clean.
He also admitted the family burned a semi truck in 2016 and that he intentionally wrecked George’s truck in order to collect insurance money.
Jake described meeting Hanna Rhoden, when she was 13 and he was 17, in the 4-H building at the Pike County fair; he said the pair began dating, with her parents’ permission. At the age of 16, Hanna gave birth to their child, Sophia.
The relationship ended in February of 2015 — a little over one year before the murders — and Jake said that’s when custody concerns began.
“I was concerned that Hanna was going to let my daughter be molested,” he told the jury.
Hanna was dismissive of that worry, he said.
More about Jake Wagner and his plea deal:
Jake pleaded guilty to the murders in April 2021, accepting a deal from the state.
In exchange for Jake’s testimony in the trials of any family members who face a jury, prosecutors have agreed to dismiss the possibility of the death penalty for himself, his parents, Angela and Billy, and his brother, George Wagner IV, all of whom face similar charges in connection to the killings.
In addition to pleading guilty to all eight counts of aggravated murder, which is punishable by life imprisonment, Wagner admitted guilt to:
- Felony conspiracy
- Aggravated burglary
- Unlawful possession of a dangerous ordinance
- Tampering with evidence
- Forgery
- Unauthorized use of property
- Interception of wire and oral communications
- Obstruction of justice
- Engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity
- Unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, Hanna May Rhoden, who was 13 when their relationship began
Jake and Hanna Rhoden began dating when she was 13, prosecutors said. She became pregnant by 20-year-old Wagner at 15 and gave birth to a daughter. When the relationship ended and Hanna began seeing another man, with whom she conceived her second child, Wagner began to pressure her about custody over their daughter and allegedly pressured Hanna to put his name on her second child’s birth certificate, even though he was not the father.
In a court document, prosecutors wrote that Wagner threatened, chased and strangled Hanna, threatening to kill her and “put her body where it would never be found.”
Jake’s family allegedly drew up custody documents that she refused to sign. She wrote in one Facebook message: “(I’ll) never sign papers ever. They will have to kill me first.”
She didn’t send the message to any of the Wagners, but they saw it. They had already been monitoring Facebook accounts connected to the Rhodens, in some cases hacking in and using the accounts without their owners’ knowledge.
Four months after she wrote the message, Hanna and seven of her family members were found dead.
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