Jake, Angela Wagner to be sentenced for 2016 Pike County massacre

WAVERLY, Ohio — Edward “Jake” Wagner, his mother, Angela, and his grandmother, Rita Newcomb, are all scheduled to be sentenced Friday for their parts in the 2016 murders of eight members of the Rhoden and Gilley families in Pike County.

You can watch the hearing live in the player below:

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.

Prosecutors filed a request on December 10 and again on December 30 asking the Supreme Court of Ohio to disqualify Judge Jonathan Hein from the Pike County cases.

Both requests were denied, paving the way for sentencing to continue as scheduled.

There will also be a hearing in George “Billy” Wagner III’s case that same day, scheduled for 1 p.m., court records show.

Hein announced to the courtroom during a November 20 hearing that he planned to throw out the death penalty in Billy’s case before trial begins, and officially sentence other members of the Wagner family.

Both Jake and Angela made complicated plea deals with the state in 2021 and have yet to be sentenced, since those deals hinged on testifying during any trials tied to the murders — including Billy’s.

In the deal with Angela, prosecutors agreed to drop eight charges of aggravated murder in exchange for the plea, and recommended she serve 30 years in prison with no early release.

Jake’s guilty plea is more complicated: He pleaded guilty to 18 counts, including aggravated murder. Prosecutors agreed to dismiss the possibility of the death penalty for all members of the Wagner family in exchange for Jake’s testimony at any trials. He could still receive up to eight consecutive life sentences for the murders.

Now, with the death penalty no longer on the table for Billy and the prosecution’s main witnesses scheduled for sentencing, it’s unclear whether Jake or Angela will still have to testify at Billy’s trial.

Newcomb, Angela’s mother, was charged with obstructing justice and forgery charges in 2018 and also took a plea deal in 2019.

Further complicating the case, Hein has also decided to rule in favor of defense attorney’s requests to move Billy’s upcoming trial out of Pike County. On November 25, Hein ruled there has been too much public and media interest in the case to seat an impartial jury.

“The court finds that the intense scope of media coverage in this case — and other closely related cases — was so pervasive that prejudice is presumed,” reads Hein’s decision. “The small population of Pike County and the intense media coverage leads the court to conclude that no jury could truthfully answer that they have no prior knowledge of the horrendous factors of this case.”

So far, where exactly Billy will face trial has not yet been announced.

You can read the latest about about the Pike County murder case, including the trial of George Wagner IV, here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=videoseries