Two more family members convicted in the killings of eight members of an Ohio family received lengthy prison terms on Friday for their roles in the 2016 shootings, as prosecutions near completion in what has been described as the most heinous crime in modern Ohio history.
Visiting Judge Jonathan Hein sentenced Edward “Jake” Wagner to life in prison with the chance of parole in 32 years – after 12 years on gun charges and then 20 for the murders of five of the eight victims.
It was a surprising turn, given that Wagner had pleaded guilty to aggravated murder and other charges and agreed earlier to serve eight consecutive life sentences with no chance of parole.
However, Hein said he took into account other participants’ sentences in the case, as well as Wagner’s cooperation with authorities in solving the murders of seven adults and a teenager from the Rhoden family in southern Ohio’s Pike county.
Hein sentenced Wagner’s mother, Angela Wagner, to 30 years including credit for six years served. She had pleaded guilty to her role in helping plan the slayings.
Angela’s mother, Rita Holcomb, was also sentenced, receiving five years of probation, a $750 fine and a suspended 180-day jail sentence, seven days of which she has already served, for lying to investigators.
“Each generation has its own people who can prove the depths of depravity of human nature, and that’s what this case did,” the judge said before handing down the sentences in a Waverly courtroom, about 80 miles (129km) south of Columbus.
He added: “It showed the boundless depravity of people who have no respect for others, only their own self-interest in mind.”
During the emotional hearing, Andrea Shoemaker, the mother of shooting victim Hannah Gilley, scorned Jake Wagner as the “spawn of Satan” and his mother as “evil”.
A group of the victims’ supporters later walked out of the packed courtroom in protest as Wagner went on at length about Christian forgiveness during his final statement to the judge.
According to prosecutors, George Wagner, his brother and their parents plotted the killings amid a dispute over custody of Wagner’s niece, whose mother was among those killed.
The April 2016 shootings at three mobile homes and a camper near Piketon terrified residents in that part of rural Ohio and initially prompted speculation about drug cartel involvement. The resulting multimillion-dollar investigation and prosecution is among the state’s most extensive.
The victims were 40-year-old Christopher Rhoden Sr and his ex-wife, 37-year-old Dana Rhoden; their three children, 20-year-old Clarence “Frankie” Rhoden, 19-year-old Hanna Rhoden and 16-year-old Christopher Rhoden Jr; 20-year-old Hannah Gilley, who was Clarence Rhoden’s fiancee; Christopher Rhoden Sr’s brother, 44-year-old Kenneth Rhoden; and a cousin, 38-year-old Gary Rhoden.
