OH - Pike County: 8 people from one family dead as police hunt for killer(s) #11

[Toralei]

I have been using their first names because it makes it easier for me.
The 2 Hannah's (Hanna) are spelled different ways, which helps me keep everyone straight. All the initials make me :crosseyed:

I can't remember which Hanna goes with which last name so HR and HG are easier for me with them.
I don't mind typing out their names. Part of me feels like we should. These were people who died, not just some letters on a Web page. Whatever they may have done or been they had dreams, plans, hopes, fears... just like all of us. We are diverse in our backgrounds but basically we all want the same thing: health, happiness, and security for ourselves, family and friends. Typing out the victims' full names helps us remember that these were real people as well.

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[Betty P]

Just my very own opinion of course, but i think if there is any kind of Message being sent by this terrible action..
The Message is as likely to be for the law enforcers of the area, as it is to be for the poor family caught up in it.
More likely, i feel.

I agree. When I do an online search every day to catch up on the news of this case, it's amazing how much news coverage this story generates. News outlets around the US and around the world are following it. If these crimes were committed by some kind of organized crime group, this was their intent. They wanted to send a message to a lot of people that they won't tolerate betrayals. Revenge and discipline were part of the motive, but the out of bounds nature of the crime was definitely meant to strike fear in the hearts of anyone else working for or against them.

 

[Toralei]

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The divorce, oddly enough, was finalized in September of 1995, and seems to have come on the heels of her husband getting out of prison, six years early, on Nov. 25, 2004, after being found guilty of five, felony counts, of sexual battery. Might explain the division in the family.

http://publicrecords.onlinesearches.com/view/lid/95841

Ok wait a sec, now I'm confused. I need to look up when Chris Rhoden Sr and Dana got divorced if they did... that's the divorce I was posting about earlier, not Clarence Sr. and his wife.

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[Betty P]

I can't remember which Hanna goes with which last name so HR and HG are easier for me with them.
I don't mind typing out their names. Part of me feels like we should. These were people who died, not just some letters on a Web page. Whatever they may have done or been they had dreams, plans, hopes, fears... just like all of us. We are diverse in our backgrounds but basically we all want the same thing: health, happiness, and security for ourselves, family and friends. Typing out the victims' full names helps us remember that these were real people as well.

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Agree, whatever works best for people. Sometimes, when the news is moving quickly on a case, the initials are easier than typing out full names repeatedly.

 

[CSIDreamer]

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The divorce, oddly enough, was finalized in September of 1995, and seems to have come on the heels of her husband getting out of prison, six years early, on Nov. 25, 2004, after being found guilty of five, felony counts, of sexual battery. Might explain the division in the family.

http://publicrecords.onlinesearches.com/view/lid/95841

Which division are you talking about?

 

[Toralei]

Which division are you talking about?

Post 158 by Dayna on this thread

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[rsd1200]

I had understood the mailbox issue to be she didn't know the address so went to the mailbox to get it.

It could be either way. A lot of folks in my area do not have the numbers on their boxes. I don't, neither do my parents.

 

[RAISINISBACK]

I didn't think of the address issue since I know my families addresses and would not have to look them up since most are numbered on the front of the house but I suppose in a rural area it would be different. I am new on here so thank you everyone for clearing that up for me.

 

[Ellmau]

I just realized Clarence is a Senior which means there's a Clarence Jr out there somewhere....

Not any more.

Chris senior and Kenneth's oldest brother was Clarence junior (but I think was usually called by his middle name Steven); he died fairly young, before his father.

And technically Frankie was a Clarence too.

 

[kindheart]

I have read most the post but after 10 threads and so many pages I may have missed a conversation about this.
Does anyone find it strange have HR boyfriend (according to facebook) and father was involved in meth lab and a crime scene clean up?

 

[peacehope]

To all the wonderful moms on this thread " Happy Mother's Day. Have a fabulous day"

*Life does not come within instructions, it comes with moms*

 

[Ray_of_hope]

To all the wonderful moms on this thread " Happy Mother's Day. Have a fabulous day"

*Life does not come within instructions, it comes with moms*

The very same to you, peacehope :loveyou:

 

[Toralei]

Not any more.

Chris senior and Kenneth's oldest brother was Clarence junior (but I think was usually called by his middle name Steven); he died fairly young, before his father.

And technically Frankie was a Clarence too.

ok. I think I see their pattern. The firstborn male is named after his father. Second born probably after his uncle so that may be why there is so much overlap and so many Kenneth Rhodens.

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[VicVixvi]

My mom actually went thru a similar scenario, too. Neither of her siblings gave or sold their shares to the rest, but they were forced to make a compromise. My grandpa was a tobacco farmer and left his farm land to his three children when he died. My aunt wanted to sell the land and my uncle wanted to keep it. My mom didn't care either way. They ultimately sold a portion of it but kept the land surrounding his house. It still caused a some resentment between my aunt and uncle though... as they still don't speak to each other unless they have to. But nothing major.

My grandpa solely inherited the farm when his dad died, and he had 11 brothers and sisters. But he was the only child who chose to stay and help his dad w/ the farm instead of going off to college, so he left the whole thing to him. A few of his siblings were really upset about that, and some of them never spoke to him again.

It's crazy sad when people let money and resentment destroy their family.

Before he died, my brother-in-law was a mortician. He used to say, "Grief turns to greed about 24 hours after the burial".

 

[CSIDreamer]

I have read most the post but after 10 threads and so many pages I may have missed a conversation about this.
Does anyone find it strange have HR boyfriend (according to facebook) and father was involved in meth lab and a crime scene clean up?

There's actually $$ to be made in crime scene cleanup, if you have a strong stomach. Not to be too graphic, but the Rhoden crime scenes haven't been released yet. Think about that. I don't think I could handle getting near the door at this point, much less try to bag and clean.

 

[nada]

Since there not much new going on....I found my neighbor/friend dead. I can see their place from mine. Morning i see their lights are on and door is open, but i wait an hour till my child leaves for school. I wander over to friends place, stand in front of house and think--'this is not good'. I enter cautiously, from about 20 feet away i see him, , he is down on floor, dry blood on head , i watch from distance for a bit ?...he's dead i decide. Then i do a slow walk thru of his place, see if any thing is out of place.
Then i phone , dispatcher asks how i know he's dead "he looks dead" -dispatcher-we would like you to go check for sure---"i'd prefer not to" dispatcher-go check him. I check him . "he's rigored, cold and bloods dry and his bowels have evacuated" dispatcher -wait for emergency services to arrive. Then the police interviewed me, they took notes, couple hours later police want to interview me again, this time they are going to record it. (I've been reading Websleuths for years, so my first thought is, damn, what did i say last time).
Then the rumors start--he kept $$stuffed in his couch, etc, etc,---so now i am a possible killer. Official cause of death, he fell and hit his head.
I'd never thought about what i'd do if i ever found someone dead, but in my mind, you would go check them, but i did not do that
You are damned if you do, and damned if you don"t.
I was very calm, but i think that was a shock thing. He was dead-i saw no reason(at that time)to act quickly

 

[Toralei]

Since there not much new going on....I found my neighbor/friend dead. I can see their place from mine. Morning i see their lights are on and door is open, but i wait an hour till my child leaves for school. I wander over to friends place, stand in front of house and think--this is not good. I enter cautiously, from about 20 feet away i see him, , he is down on floor, dry blood on head , i watch from distance for a bit ?...he's dead i decide. Then i do a slow walk thru of his place, see if any thing is out of place.
Then i phone , dispatcher asks how i know he's dead "he looks dead" -dispatcher-we would like you to go check for sure---"i'd prefer not to" dispatcher-go check him. I check him . "he's rigored, cold and bloods dry and his bowels have evacuated" dispatcher -wait for emergency services to arrive. Then the police interviewed me, they took notes, couple hours later police want to interview me again, this time they are going to record it. (I've been reading Websleuths for years, so my first thought is, damn, what did i say last time).
Then the rumors start--he kept $$stuffed in his couch, etc, etc,---so now i am a possible killer. Official cause of death, he fell and hit his head.
I'd never thought about what i'd do if i ever found someone dead, but in my mind, you would go check them, but i did not do that
You are damned if you do, and damned if you don"t.
I was very calm, but i think that was a shock thing. He was dead-i saw no reason(at that time)to act quickly

Yes it's easy from our desks/couches to say "I would do ______" But we don't know HOW we are going to react until faced with that situation. BTDT with someone trying to break into my apartment. You'd have thought I'd call the cops. Instead, I called my boyfriend who was visiting neighbors and a lot closer.
I froze. I never thought I would have done that.

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[CSIDreamer]

It was his father's land that was deeded to all 8 of his kids at his death. There are several parcels that make up the 50+ acres at 799 Left Fork. The sisters (I can't imagine why ) wanted nothing to do with their 1/8 share of the land from their father and basically gave their shares to the 4 sons of Clarence and so the Christopher et al was formed. Two of the sisters gave their shares ONLY to CR1 for some reason. Thus leaving CR1 the majority owner.

I have pointed out the family division before because CR and KR stayed with their dad and took care of dad when their parents got divorced. The other two brothers went with their mom and still take care of their mom. In my opinion that's one reason for jealousy and one possible theory of what could have happened. Take out CR and KR and they probably thought the property was theirs and they got what they felt like they deserved. However if that was the case, I don't think they realized the grandchildren would get CR1 shares of the property. Also I could see some jealousy between the siblings of each of the families. The two brothers children (not CR and KR children) could feel like they deserve more of the property or family "businesses". Just possibilities. I definitely don't think the siblings were united and the 4 sisters have sort of separated themselves from the brothers. I kind of find it interesting that the sisters aren't really ever mentioned. Some moved away.

Help me understand this. I'm only finding one sister mentioned in any of the sales histories on Christopher's (or et als) properties. I'm also finding 3 of the 4 sisters on victim's facebook friends lists. Are these all in Pike County or is there more in another county. Sorry I'm being so vague ... rules.

 

[RAISINISBACK]

To me the thing that stands out about this crime is the number of houses visited that night. If this was all over drugs then I feel only CR1's or KR's house would have been targeted and the only way DR and the kids would have been involved is if they were there at the time. I cannot see any drug dealers/cartels bringing that much heat down on themselves over a few hundred pot plants or going door to door hunting people down. Yes, whole families are killed over drugs but that is usually because the family was in the house at the time with the primary target. Ditto for a robbery. The cartels/dealers are fully aware of how hard it is to do business with tons of LE wandering around and killing 8 people would bring every cop in the state (not to mention DEA and FBI) running, so I don't think the drugs had anything to do with it. Burglars don't go door to door either, if they suspect money then they go to where they think it is in a smash and grab sort of way so that kind of rules out robbery as a motive.
The only way I can put this together is to start with the assumption that the primary targets were CR1, KR, FR and DR since they are the heads of household in the targeted houses. GR, HG, CR2, and HR were just there. In other words I do not think the killer would have hunted for them if they were somewhere else at the time, like at a friend or relatives house. It also explains why other relatives living close by were passed over on the way to kill KR.
So I wondered what these 4 had in common. Not drugs since I think LM was correct in saying he didn't think his daughter was involved in the grow operations. She might have known about it but it is unlikely she would have been actively involved in the selling. As someone else on here said the only thing that all 4 had in common was cars e.g. selling, fixing, buying.
So I started looking at that and found a statement made a few months ago about the AG of Ohio saying he was cracking down on used car lots for not giving titles and stolen cars being "refurbished" with VINs from salvaged cars. That meant the risk involved in such activities increased greatly. I looked at the car lot DR kept linking to and found the owners name, looked on her website and noticed her manager's name was the same as owner of the BB lodge they all worked at and the same one who gave interviews to the press.
I don't think stolen cars would be motive to kill 8 people though so I wondered what would be worth killing that many people for. Hunting them down at different houses even. The only thing I came up with is a career. A career that could potentially be worth many millions of dollars (e.g one mega hit song).
The public is fickle where their entertainers are concerned. Drugs don't ruin a career. The public has sort of come to expect that of entertainers thanks to Elvis, Michael Jackson and others. They might frown on them being connected to selling them but they could also deny knowing about the selling and it would be hard to prove they did know. The only thing that will tank a career is something that affects the public directly, like Milli Vanilli who lip synced their songs and tanked overnight because their fans felt deceived.
Being involved with stolen cars could potentially be (or be perceived to be by someone who had a direct interest in that career) unforgivable also since it affects all of us in the fact that if it is not our car that was stolen, a spike in stolen cars causes a rise in car insurance all over the nation. The insurance companies are not going to lose money and we see such rises after every hurricane or other natural disaster. That costs everyone who owns a car. Serving time in prison for selling stolen property could tank it too since extended time spent out of the spotlight usually means people forget about you. Protecting such a career that could be worth millions would be a good motive if you had a substantial interest in that career.
I also read somewhere that throwing money on a dead body is a sign that person got too greedy. Given that and the AG's vendetta on stolen cars I am wondering if CR1 and KR decided since the risk was greater the pay should be too. That they may have communicated that with a threat to go to LE if they didn't get that pay raise. Extortion would be a motive and would also explain why everyone who knew about it had to go. Killing that many people would also serve to warn anyone else who knew about it to keep quiet. (LM's statement in an interview of "Are they going to kill me? Maybe or maybe not. I don't know." could be interpreted as a sign of fear for his life or his surviving families lives because of what they knew.)
It would also explain why those all those cars were towed. It would even explain why LM's son JM's truck was towed since relatives and ex relatives usually buy vehicles from family feeling they would get a better deal. Could also be the reason he didn't have tag since you need a title to get one. Maybe the reason LM was so angry about it being towed is he knew and he was fearful about his son buying stolen property?
Any thoughts on this theory anyone? I hope I have not broken any TOS rules with this post. If so please delete it.

 

[creepcrusher]

There's actually $$ to be made in crime scene cleanup, if you have a strong stomach. Not to be too graphic, but the Rhoden crime scenes haven't been released yet. Think about that. I don't think I could handle getting near the door at this point, much less try to bag and clean.

A lot of money. My husband is a fire captain and one of the guys on his crew does it for a second job. They make big bucks.