Pike County Massacre Unsettled
Were the wrong people convicted for committing the worst mass murder in the history of Ohio? This true crime series re-examines the notorious Pike County Massacre and calls into question everything you think you know about it.
Pike County Massacre Unsettled
3. alternate universe
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A suspiciously-timed raid sends the investigation in an unexpected new direction. But can the man in charge of it be trusted?
Progress tonight in a murder mystery that's baffled the best investigative minds in Ohio for the last 385 days.
SPEAKER_13It's May 13th, 2017, 13 months after the Pike County massacre.
SPEAKER_07And after a year of no movement in this case, things are picking up.
SPEAKER_05A small army of sheriff's deputies and BCI agents scoured the property at 260 Peterson Road. Until recently, the property was owned by the Wagner family.
SPEAKER_13More than 100 officers from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the Pike County Sheriff's Office, and other agencies rolled through Pike County.
SPEAKER_03Earlier today, a local 12 news viewer sent us this video. It shows a long line of law enforcement vehicles.
SPEAKER_05Investigators descended upon the Flying W farm. It's also owned by the Wagner family.
SPEAKER_13And today, May 13th, 2017, more than a year after the massacre, is the first time the public hears these names.
SPEAKER_06The Ohio Attorney General's office is looking for information about 46-year-old Billy Wagner, 46-year-old Angela Wagner, 25-year-old George Wagner, and 24-year-old Jake Wagner.
SPEAKER_13The Wagner family. But before we get into that, I want to take a moment to zoom out and look at the timeline of events leading up to and also coming out of this very public raid. Exactly one month before this raid, on April 14th, 2017, Attorney General Mike DeWine had that awkward anniversary press conference that you heard.
SPEAKER_11Generating some really bad headlines. Ohio's attorney general updated the investigation, but if you're a member of the Roden family, it's not good news.
SPEAKER_13Then, almost exactly one month after that bad press conference, DeWine orchestrates this big media-friendly raid.
SPEAKER_06A possible break in the Roden family murder case.
SPEAKER_04Well, today, Attorney General DeWine's office released the names and the photos of four people from the Wagner family, and investigators want to know everything about them.
SPEAKER_13And then, coming up one month after this raid, on June 21st, 2017, Mike DeWine officially launches his campaign for governor of Ohio.
SPEAKER_10Yes, indeed.
SPEAKER_04As speculated by many in the political world, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine officially and formally announces that he is running for governor in 2018 today.
SPEAKER_13So just a review.
SPEAKER_02Ohio's Attorney General Mike DeWine running for governor in 2018. The 70-year-old Republican made the announcement today.
SPEAKER_13And if you're thinking, well, maybe this raid lines up perfectly with Mike DeWine's political needs by coincidence. There are a lot of questions surrounding what led investigators to search three properties. Maybe something legitimate happened within the investigation that led to this raid at this time. Yeah, no. We know now that investigators don't have anything on the day of this raid that they didn't already have almost a year ago. In fact, the information that comes out later will make this raid look more and more like a political stunt time to benefit Mike DeWine's upcoming campaign. Okay, so back to this raid. Over two days, agents search three places: a horse farm that belongs to Billy Wagner's mom and dad, a property where the Wagners used to live, and a little storage trailer on a friend's property where the Wagners keep some of their stuff. Then, after the raids, the Attorney General's office puts out this weird press release asking the public for help investigating the Wagners. I say it's weird because it's not like the Wagners are on the run or anything. At this moment, agents know exactly where to find them, and the Wagners are kind of an open book. Pike County is a small place, and we're more than a year into this, so detectives already know almost all of the Wagner's friends and neighbors. Plus, detectives have already interviewed the Wagners themselves multiple times because they've fully cooperated with the investigation from the very beginning. But you sure wouldn't know that from these news reports.
SPEAKER_06Investigators say they are interested in information regarding firearms and ammunition, according to the Attorney General's office.
SPEAKER_04Now investigators think that the Wagners may now be living in Alaska, and again, there is a $10,000 reward.
SPEAKER_13Imagine if instead of all this, the Attorney General's press release tells the truth and it says, Hey news media, here are four people with clean records who've cooperated with the investigation from the very beginning, who we've already personally interviewed multiple times. We know exactly where they are right now, and they've never made any attempt to avoid us. We already know all of their friends and neighbors, and none of them have raised any concerns that this family could be involved in the crime. But just in case, if you want to tell us more about them, here's the tip line. Yeah, I don't think that would have the effect that Mike DeWine seems to be going for here. Of course, the news media needs pictures of the Wagners to go with the story of this raid, so Mike DeWine's office has been happy to supply four photos.
SPEAKER_04Please take a look at your screen. We're gonna show you their photos right now.
SPEAKER_13The photos the news stations are running with these stories look like mugshots of criminals. But these four pictures are not mugshots because none of the Wagners have ever had a mugshot taken. These four awful pictures are their driver's license photos. If you have a driver's license, take a look at your picture. Then try to imagine your state attorney general's office putting out a press release saying they're looking for information about you as part of an investigation into a series of murders. And the only photo of you they distribute is this one on your driver's license. But they don't tell anybody that's what it is. Yeah, now you look like a criminal. But the Wagners are not criminals. They're just a family. Billy and Angela have a couple of minor charges that are almost 20 years old. Their adult sons, George and Jake Wagner, have never been arrested for anything in their lives. And this moment when the news media, tipped off by the Ohio Attorney General, puts the names and driver's license photos of the four Wagners in front of the world and reports their persons of interest in the Piketon massacre? This moment sends the Wagner family into an alternate universe. Until almost four years from this point, four years after this raid, after naming them publicly, five years after the murders, two out of the four Wagners will sign confessions. But I'm getting ahead of myself here. Let me back up and tell you about the Wagners. Angela Wagner's great-grandparents moved to the Appalachian Hills of Southern Ohio back when America needed a lot of coal, and Pike County was coal country. Back then there were a lot of mining jobs and businesses connected to the mines and lots of opportunities to make a decent living. But by the time Angela Newcomb, that's her maiden name, is born in 1970, demand for coal is plummeting and those jobs are vanishing. By the time Angela becomes a teenager in the 1980s, her community is nothing like it was for the previous generations. I'm way overgeneralizing here, but those good Appalachian mining jobs are replaced by poverty, drugs, despair. That's the world surrounding teenage Angela. As the local economy tanks, families fall apart, including Angela's. Her father, Ed Newcomb, drinks heavily and he's in and out of jail for petty crimes. Young Angela copes with this turmoil by becoming religious. She prays, she reads the Bible every day, and she goes to church all the time. In middle school, Angela meets Billy Wagner, who's a grade below her. Billy is a really big guy, but he is not a tough guy. People describe Billy as a little lazy and maybe not that smart, but they say he's fun. In a lot of ways, Billy and Angela are opposites. Billy is outgoing while Angela is shy. Angela is religious, Billy not so much. Billy Wagner also has something that Angela Newcomb craves. He has a stable family and a comfortable home life. Billy's parents, Frederica and George Wagner, have built up a successful ranch where they breed and sell horses. Unlike Angela's, Billy's family isn't beset by alcohol or petty crime. Billy's parents spoil him and probably contribute to his laziness, but his family sticks together. When Angela finishes high school, she joins the Air Force and she moves to a base in Florida. But after a year and a half, she requests to be discharged. That's because her dad's drinking is spiraling out of control and her mom has no choice but to run from him. Angela leaves the Air Force and she returns to Pike County to help her mom. When she gets home, Angela marries Billy, who works as a truck driver and mechanic, but mostly gets by on his parents' support. When they tie the knot, Angela is 20 and Billy is 19. A year later, they have their first child, George. And a year after that, they have their second, Jake. Angela, Billy, and the boys move into a house down the road from Billy's parents' ranch. Even for Pike County, it's in the middle of nowhere. And Angela likes it that way. In the 90s, Angela joins a growing movement of devout Christian moms who homeschool their kids because they don't like the secular values taught in public schools. Records show Angela follows Ohio law and she gives George and Jake at least 900 hours of academics every year and reports their progress to the local school district. She also makes them study the Bible every day and she takes them to church. People who know George and Jake as they grow up say that Angela's Christian homeschooling seems to work as she intends. The boys are sheltered and definitely not book smart, but they're very well behaved. The older brother, George, is chubby and he's self-conscious about his weight. He's also sweet, he loves to talk, and he makes friends easily. The younger brother, Jake, is very shy, and people who know him describe him as slow. As a kid, Jake suffers multiple traumatic brain injuries. When he's eight, he rides a four-wheeler at full speed and accidentally smashes into a steel beam that nearly splits his skull. A couple years later, he's helping to build a barn when an iron rod slams right into his head. He has great difficulty learning to read, and for the rest of his life, he'll have pretty serious memory problems. Jake, George, Angela, and Billy all love the outdoors. They hunt, they fish, they camp. In the 2000s, the pastor from the Wagner's Church moves to Alaska and convinces Angela to take the family out there on vacation. All four of them love Alaska and they make a pact that one day they'll move there. But the Wagner family's path into their alternate universe begins in 2010. It begins in the most innocent and unexpected of ways. In 2010, the Wagners are at a Pike County fair when a 13-year-old girl at a 4-H booth asks Angela's younger son Jake if he wants to pet her rabbit. That's when Jake, who's 17 at the time, meets Hannah Mae Roden. Hannah Mae, you'll remember, will become one of the victims of the Pye County massacre six years later. Angela and Billy Wagner know the Roden family well because Billy is best friends with Hannah Mae's father, Chris Roden Sr. You already heard Billy telling investigators how much Chris Sr. means to him. Now, if I had a 13-year-old, I would not want them dating a 17-year-old. And vice versa. I'd guess most people listening to this would probably feel the same way. But when Jake Wagner starts dating Hannah Mae Roden, both families are happy about it. And in the state of Ohio in 2010, it is legal for a 17-year-old to have consensual relations with a 13-year-old. It's gross, but it's legal. When Jake and Hannah May start dating, Hannah May spends a lot of time at the Wagner's house, and Billy and Angela begin to consider her a part of their family. Once Jake turns 18, his relationship with 14-year-old Hannah May is illegal. But neither the Rodens nor the Wagners seem to have any problem with this relationship. Now that he's 18, Jake goes to Chris Rodin Sr. and he asks for his permission to marry Hannah May. Chris Sr. says Jake and Hannah May can get engaged, but he won't approve of their marriage until Hannah May turns 18. So Jake and Hannah May go out and they get wedding rings tattooed on their fingers. Shortly after that, Hannah May discovers she's pregnant. She's only 15, and Jake is now 19. Hannah May thinks her parents will be mad at her for getting pregnant, so she hides it from everyone except Jake. She won't even go see a doctor. But Angela Wagner figures it out and she gently guides Hannah May. She convinces her to see a doctor and takes her to her appointments, and she convinces Hannah May to tell her parents. Hannah May goes to live full-time with the Wagners during her pregnancy, and she continues living with them after she gives birth to a baby girl. The baby has some pretty serious health complications, and for the first few months of her life, Angela helps Hannah Mae get her back and forth to a specialist in Cincinnati for a series of surgeries. As the baby recovers and becomes healthy, Hannah May returns to high school, and Angela stays home to take care of the baby girl. But Hannah and Jake are just 16 and 20 years old. Hannah May returns to doing normal teenage stuff with her friends. Jake thinks Hannah May doesn't spend enough time with the baby and he criticizes her for it. Over time, Jake's criticisms of Hannah May's parenting grow more and more harsh. Hannah May tells friends that Jake insults her and that he's controlling, telling her when she should or shouldn't see her friends and which of them should or shouldn't be allowed around the baby. After two years of living with Jake and raising their child together, Hannah May has had enough. She moves with the toddler back to the rodent's house and she breaks up with Jake. He's heartbroken. Then for the next few months, Hannah May refuses to let Jake see his child or let Angela see her grandchild. But time seems to heal some of the wounds. Eventually, Jake and Hannah May start talking again and even hanging out. Hannah May lets their toddler spend nights at the Wagner's house, and slowly they come to an informal agreement and their daughter spends half of her time at the Rodens and half at the Wagner's. The whole time though, Angela worries that at any point Hannah May could decide again to just cut Jake and Angela out of the child's life. And she could. Under Ohio law, because Jake never married Hannah May, he has no parental rights whatsoever. If Hannah May decides again to cut him out of his daughter's life and cut him out forever, there's nothing he can legally do about it. So Jake talks to Hannah May about formalizing his parental rights, and Hannah May is open to it. Angela goes to a family law attorney who draws up paperwork giving Jake 50-50 rights to the child. Angela and Jake give the paperwork to Hannah May and her parents so they can show it to their own family lawyer. But Chris Sr. and Dana Roden don't seem to be in any rush to find or pay for a family law attorney, and they let months go by while saying they'll get to it eventually. As time passes, Jake gets annoyed at Hannah May for not moving the whole thing forward, and Hannah May gets irritated at the Wagner's for being pushy about it. In December of 2015, Hannah May has a long back and forth with a friend on Facebook, and one of the things she writes is that the Wagner's quote would have to kill me before I sign those papers. Side note: Years later, when George Wagner goes to trial, prosecutors will present this Facebook message from Hannah May to her friend, the one she sends five months before the murders, as the smoking gun circumstantial evidence of the Wagner's guilt. As if the Wagners see Hannah May's sarcastic message and think, oh, good idea. Instead of trying to get this form signed, let's wait half a year and then murder her? And also kill her brothers, her parents, and two of her father's cousins? Seriously, this Facebook message is actually going to be crucial to the state's case. But getting back to Jake and Hannah Mae, the whole time they're going back and forth over this paperwork, they share their daughter, and the evidence doesn't show any major problems between them. They text each other all the time, many times a day, every day and night throughout all of 2015 and the first months of 2016. With that amount of texts over that amount of time, they do show some arguments and definitely some immaturity, but almost all of their messaging is just normal everyday stuff. There is no evidence in these texts of any big blow-up or some dramatic fight or one parent keeping the kid away from the other. None of the kind of stuff that you would think would happen if their disagreement about the custody paperwork is somehow escalating towards the worst mass murder in state history. Their texts show two people who seem committed to doing the best they can for their daughter, and who seem to be genuine friends, who care about each other too. About halfway through 2015, Hannah May gets pregnant again. Jake thinks he might be the father because he and Hannah May have slept together during this time, but Hannah May insists to Jake that her new boyfriend is the father. Still, Jake and Angela and the Wagners are excited about the new baby, who will of course be a little sibling to Jake and Hannah May's now three-year-old daughter. After Hannah May gives birth in April 2016, Jake brings their three-year-old daughter to the hospital to meet her new half-sister. Lots of people saw Jake and Hannah May together at the hospital, and there are no reports that this was anything other than a sweet moment. The day after Hannah May gets out of the hospital, she brings her newborn to the Wagner's house so that Angela and Billy and George can also meet her. Again, I've seen no evidence that this moment with Hannah Mae and all four Wagners is anything other than joyous. But this will be the very last time that Jake and the Wagners, and Jake and Hannah Mae's daughter, will ever see Hannah Mae Roden alive. Just two days after Hannah Mae brought her newborn to the Wagners, Angela is at home watching Jake and Hannah Mae's daughter when a breaking news report comes on TV.
SPEAKER_06For following breaking news, we have been all morning. A report of seven people dead in shootings now in Pike County.
SPEAKER_09Let's take some aerial footage right now of the scene. As you can see, the crime scene tape is surrounding that building and what appears to be a home and a driveway as we take a zoom. In there.
SPEAKER_13Angela recognizes the rodent houses and calls Jake, who's out at work. Jake immediately tries calling Hannah May over and over and over.
SPEAKER_06We know seven people dead in Pike County, but we don't know much.
SPEAKER_13Then a friend calls Jake to say he's heard that Hannah May is among the dead.
SPEAKER_06We now know the names of the eight people gunned-down execution style.
SPEAKER_13Jake races to the hospital where he finds the Roden's devastated cousins in the parking lot. He then spends almost that entire day and the following days with these Roden relatives and friends in person. As far as I can tell, none of them ever told investigators that during these intense early hours, Jake did or said, or acted in any way that would make them suspect that he was involved in this crime. And remember, Jake is not a clever guy. People consider him slow.
SPEAKER_06A long, emotional day for a Southern Ohio community. Today, six members of Rodent family were laid to rest.
SPEAKER_13In the coming days, all four of the Wagners attend the funerals for all eight of the rodents. Another victim is laid to rest. If you believe the state of Ohio, that would mean four murderers going to multiple big public events. We saw a lot of people come out for today's funeral.
SPEAKER_12An estimated 300 cars filled the parking lot here. That translates to a standing room-only funeral. Think about how many opportunities there would be for any of the Wagners to slip up.
SPEAKER_01Hundreds of balloons were released honoring the victims.
SPEAKER_13To do something weird, something to cause suspicion.
SPEAKER_01Followed by a somber candlelighting filled with tears, prayers, and moments filled with memories.
SPEAKER_13Yet as far as I can tell, none of the dozens and dozens of people who were at those funerals who investigators interviewed said the Wagners did anything, said anything, or acted in any way suspicious.
SPEAKER_08The sheriff here is so concerned, he's telling the victim's family to consider carrying weapons.
SPEAKER_13During these early days, Pike County Sheriff Charles Reeder goes on TV to warn that there's still a killer on the loose.
SPEAKER_00As far as public safety concerns and the citizens of Pike County, I can tell you if you are fearful, arm yourself.
SPEAKER_13And that Pike County residents, and specifically Pike County residents who have a connection to the Roden family, should be afraid and should prepare to defend themselves.
SPEAKER_00I've specifically told the Roden family that I would be armed and I would use what extent they have to to protect themselves and their family. And if anyone, any citizen of this county, feel that they are in jeopardy of serious physical harm or death, then they can take those same measures.
SPEAKER_13Jake Wagner's grandmother on his father's side, this is Billy Wagner's mom, Frederica Wagner, the one who owns the horse farm, is so freaked out by Sheriff Reeder's warning that she goes online and she buys two bulletproof vests. Remember these bulletproof vests that Frederica Wagner buys because they're gonna be important later. Sometime in the first couple of weeks after the murders, somebody, and I don't know who, tells an agent at the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation that he's heard that Jake and Hannah May had been in a custody dispute. The BCI agents chase this lead by paying this man $100 to wear a wire and go meet with Jake and secretly record their conversation. The agents give the man instructions in how to draw incriminating statements out of Jake. The man does all of this. He meets with Jake, he records them, he does all the stuff that agents told him to do to provoke Jake. But Jake doesn't say anything incriminating. After that, BCI agents go to talk directly with the Wagners. They go to Jake and he's very cooperative. He answers all their questions about the custody dispute and about his relationship with Hannah May. He lets them take samples of his DNA. He does give them a little bit of pushback when they ask to take his phone with them back to their office so they can copy its contents. He says he needs the phone for his job as a truck driver. But he happily hands the phone over and he lets them search it. Then they go to Angela and they interview her. She's fully cooperative, giving agents a DNA sample and access to her phone and her computer. She describes her relationship with Hannah May as typical mother-daughter-in-law. Loving but with some conflicts. She says the custody dispute wasn't so dramatic. Jake and Hannah May already had a 50-50 arrangement, and the papers were just going to formalize that. Besides, as Hannah Mae's second pregnancy progressed, Angela didn't want to bother her about the papers, and they stopped talking about it. They didn't even discuss the custody papers in the four months leading up to the massacre. Then agents go to Billy Wagner, who's got a lot to say.
SPEAKER_16We need everything that we can get. I'll tell you everything. I'll tell you everything I can tell you.
SPEAKER_13Remember, he gives investigators the details about Chris Roden Sr.'s plan to go up against the powerful and violent Latham drug trafficking organization.
SPEAKER_16I was like, man, you're fucking lying. You have no fucking clue. Emma.
SPEAKER_13During this interview, Billy Wagner pleads with the Ohio agents to call in the FBI and the DEA to help with this investigation.
SPEAKER_16How come the feds and the DEA ain't in on this? Well, because right now we're still lead on the investigation and who and the sheriff's office is helping out. And well, I'm gonna fix them. You don't get like, you know, get the feds or whoever's in here.
SPEAKER_13He also tells the agents that he's heard they suspect Bobby Joe Manley for the murders, and he tells them there's no possible way it could have been her.
SPEAKER_16You know, this shit you're thinking, you know, it was a family. Okay, but none of his family members. Like Bobby Joe. There's no way hell.
SPEAKER_13Think about that. If you were involved in this crime and you're trying to get away with it, why would you beg investigators to call in the FBI? And if they already have a lead suspect, why would you insist they're going in the wrong direction? After each of the Wagner sits for interviews early in the investigation, basically nothing happens for a really long time.
SPEAKER_11And the largest murder investigation in Ohio's history is still unsolved tonight.
SPEAKER_06Investigators have reported no new developments.
SPEAKER_13Meanwhile, the tragedy of this massacre hangs over everyone and everything in Pike County, and there's no relief from the pain of losing the mother of Jake's child and Billy's best friend and six members of their extended family. The Wagners worry about raising Jake and Hannah May's daughter in a town where every single person knows the grisly details of her mother, uncles, and grandparents' mass murder. They want the child to have at least some chance of normalcy. So, almost a year after the crime, the Wagners decide to do what they've wanted to do for years. They're going to move to Alaska. When they make this decision, Angela Wagner voluntarily goes to BCI and she lets them know that the Wagners are planning to move. She then gives them another heads up when they put their Ohio house on the market. She contacts them yet again when the Wagners close on their house, and she informs them ahead of time of the exact date they're planning to move to Alaska. So imagine you're running this investigation and you consider the Wagners persons of interest, and you know well in advance that the Wagners are planning to move. But you think there might be some important evidence at their home? Should you just wait while the Wagners put all their belongings into boxes and throw out a whole bunch of stuff and pack up a U-Haul and hand the keys to their house to its new owners? Or should you search their home while they and their stuff are actually there? You already know what Mike DeWine chooses. He plans a big public raid for the day after the Wagners begin their cross-continent drive to Alaska.
SPEAKER_05Investigators searched a home on Peterson Road that was sold in March by Jake Wagner and his family.
SPEAKER_13He literally waits for the moment the Wagners leave and then sends the agents in. Billy Wagner's sister calls him frantic, saying that the agents haven't only raided his former house, they've also raided the home of Billy's elderly mother and father, Frederica and George Wagner Sr. In fact, Pike County Sheriff Charles Reeder himself leads a SWAT team onto the Wagner's Horse Ranch. First, the SWAT team completely smashes down the gate to the ranch. Then they bust into Frederica's house with guns drawn. At this moment, Billy's father is under hospice care. He's close to dying from COPD. Yet the agents force him at gunpoint to get out of bed and stand in a corner while they tear through the house. The agents don't find much of anything useful, but they do seize those two bulletproof vests that Frederica had bought online way back when Sheriff Reeder warned that anyone connected to the rodents was in grave danger. Almost a year later, those vests are still in their original packaging. They've never been opened, but they are gonna matter later. When the Wagners get all this shocking news, they're up in Canada. But they turn right around and they head back to the U.S. and back towards Pike County. From their point of view, there must be some huge mistake. Surely nobody seriously thinks the Wagners, who've basically never been in trouble with the law, silently crept into four different houses and murdered eight people in the middle of the night, assassination style, in a crime that Mike DeWine described as sophisticated and done by people who know how to thwart an investigation? Surely nobody thinks they'd murder Hannah Mae Roden two days after celebrating the birth of her baby with her and then leave that newborn baby in the bed covered in her mother's blood? What reason would they have to kill Billy Wagner's best friend, Chris Roden Sr. Why would the Wagners go from house to house killing Dana Roden? Or Chris Jr. Or Frankie or Frankie's fiancee, Hannah Gilly? And why on earth would they go and murder Chris's cousin Kenneth Roden, who's all by himself at a gross site? Surely they can go home, talk to the investigators, and clear all this up. But the Wagners don't know that there's something much bigger at play here. Mike DeWine is only weeks away from formally launching his campaign for governor. So when the Wagners turn around and head back towards Ohio hoping to clear things up, they have no idea what kind of powerful forces await them back in Pike County. That's next. Keep listening.
