Judge Randy Deering on Monday denied a request to change the venue for the upcoming aggravated murder trial of 30-year-old George Wagner IV.
news.yahoo.com
Interesting for anyone who may have missed this or wants to see it again. How the Wagner's treated their son's partners. I believe the partners will testify at trial and a lot more about this will come out. Stomach turning stuff. There is more in the Other Acts Motion evidence. Spying, threats, etc...
The four Wagner family members charged shared all their finances with each other and made decisions as a group about every aspect of their lives, Canepa said. While this included committing the homicides, it also involved relationships and selecting partners, as well as sharing intimate details of ongoing relationships.
The elder Wagners had a history of seeking control over the offspring of their two sons and of seeking to isolate and control their girlfriends/wives, Canepa said. This included making the grandchildren call Angela their mother and becoming upset when Jake’s wife, the child’s stepmother, called the wife "mom," prosecutors said.
To help demonstrate the control the elder Wagners had, George IV’s ex-wife would testify that she was only allowed to call her mother once a year, Canepa said.
There were threats of violence against former partners, including one incident where Angela told son George’s now ex-wife that she would “go get the gun," Canepa said. The woman fled the home, hid in a barn until dark and then rode a bike to a nearby gas station to call for help, she said.
Canepa said the woman Jake met and married while in Alaska became a concern to the Wagner family, and she even kept a journal about their controlling nature. Jake didn’t want to end the relationship, but gave in to the other family members who voted that he end the relationship.
Prosecutors in the Pike County massacre case laid out new evidence to paint the Wagner family as a "criminal enterprise" during a hearing on what could be allowed at trial Monday, including that the family allegedly took a vote to commit the murders and then set up a fake drug deal as an ambush.
www.wcpo.com
Canepa said the Wagner patriarch, Billy, set up a fake "lucrative" drug deal meeting with Christopher Rhoden Sr. at his Union Hill Road property, but it was an ambush.
"Chris Sr. expected to see Billy Wagner that night," Canepa said. "He did not know Jake and George were present, because they were hidden in the car."
That new fact squares with an anecdote Dana Rhoden's late father, Leonard Manley, told reporters shortly after his daughter and her family were found dead.
“Whoever done it know’d the family because there were two dogs there that would eat you up, but I ain’t gonna say no more,” Manley said at the time.
Leonard also was the one who mentioned the custody dispute right away. When asked about the Wagner's specifically he said nothing because I believe he suspected them. This was either after the laser focus or after the arrests.
