'I would have never let it happen:' George Wagner IV testifies in Pike County murder trial

WAVERLY, Ohio – George Wagner IV stunned the Pike County Courthouse when he took the witness stand in his own defense Wednesday morning – and stunned listeners again in the afternoon when he denied any knowledge of his family’s involvement in the eight-person 2016 homicides in Pike County. 

Halfway through the 11th week in his trial on 22 charges related to the killings – after sitting mostly silent and stoic between his defense attorneys since the end of August – Wagner told a hushed courtroom about a sometimes-violent father who groomed him as a criminal and a task-master of a mother who told him he was going to hell.  

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His sole brother, meanwhile, was arrogant and rude with no filters. “He thinks he’s better than everyone else,” Wagner IV said of Edward “Jake” Wagner, the younger brother who earlier testified that he killed five of the eight victims in the 2016 shooting deaths of seven Rhodens and one future member of the family.  

George “Billy” Wagner III, the son of one of Pike County’s most prosperous landowners, began teaching his sons how to pick locks, siphon fuel and steal loads from semi-truck trailers when Wagner IV was about 13, he said. He learned to empty the cash boxes from motel vending machines and break into trailers. Looking for targets, “We’d drive around from truck stop to truck stop,” he said. 

Billy Wagner would reward his sons for spotting law enforcement or security cameras, Wagner IV said. Spotting a cop earned him $1. Missing a camera cost him a week on his four-wheeler ATV. 

Wagner IV said his father did not support his earlier plan to become a game warden or forester after he’d stopped homeschooling with his mother at age 14. “My father didn’t want no one in the family who wore a badge,” he said. “He thought all law enforcement was crooked.” 

Wagner IV’s mother, Angela Wagner, used her sons as free labor, he said. They were expected to feed and water their farm animals and complete other chores for four or more hours a day, he said.  

Jake Wagner was content to stay close to home, playing video games, collecting action figures, watching cartoons and obeying their mother, Wagner IV said. Once 16 with a license, “I did what I wanted to do,” he said. That included coming and going, through a private entrance in the family home, to fish, hunt, ride ATVs and eventually camp and drink beer at nearby Big Bear Lake with friends. 

His mother condemned his behavior, frequently telling him “you’re making Jesus cry.” 

The conflicts in the family continued as Wagner IV grew into his late teens, completed a diesel mechanic program and began long-haul driving with his father and brother. He fought with his father, argued with his mother and tried on at least three occasions to flee his family. Once, at 16, he drove 250 miles south but turned back, low on gas and short on money.  

Any regrets, lead defense attorney John P. Parker asked Wagner IV. “I wish I just hadn’t turned around in Kentucky.” 

But Wagner IV had no idea that his troubled and troubling family were involved in the Rhoden homicides, he said under questioning from Parker.  

Were you aware of the plan to kill the Rhodens, triggered over a custody dispute? Parker asked. 

Did they discuss the plan with you? Did Jake tell you? Did your mother tell you? Did your father? 

To each question, Wagner IV offered the same reply: “No.” 

"I never would have believed my family would be capable of doing something of this magnitude," he said. “Theft is one thing. Murder is an entirely different thing.” 

And if you’d known, what would you have done? Parker asked him.  

“I would have never let it happen,” he replied. “One way or another, I would not have let it happen.” 

Wagner IV said he learned the Rhodens – including Frankie Rhoden, whom he called one of his best friends, and Hanna May Rhoden, whom he considered a little sister – were dead from TV reports on the morning of April 22, 2016. The news was ”more heartbreaking, more traumatizing than I've ever known,” he said.