True Crime with Rachel Shannon
SOLVED: The Rhoden Family Massacre // A Family Plots to MURDER Another ENTIRE Family?!
Sat, 10 May 2025
Eight members of the Rhoden family were brutally murdered in one night — execution-style — in rural Ohio. For years, investigators were baffled. No forced entry. No obvious suspects. Just a horrifying, calculated crime that shattered a community.But behind the scenes, a twisted truth was unfolding: an entire family had conspired to kill another family.If you enjoyed this episode, you might also like these:The Disturbing Case of Stephanie ParzeShe Tried to Warn Them About her Son, Then he was MURDERED. THE CASE OF GUNNAR SCHUMACHER7 Year old’s Strange Death Reveals Mom’s DISGUSTING Secret: Did She Starve her for Attention?!
Chapter 1: What happened to the Rhoden family?
Hello everyone, my name is Rachel and welcome back to another true crime video. So the case that I have for you all today is a little bit of a complex case with a ton of different people involved. So it will be a longer video and there will be a lot to discuss. So this case involves the deaths unfortunately of many different individuals who are all connected within a family.
Chapter 2: Who were the victims of the Rhoden family massacre?
So I'm going to start the video with explaining how these individuals in this case connect and who each victim is. Let's start with the Rodin family. So 40-year-old Christopher Rodin Sr. worked as a laborer at Big Bear Lake Family Resort in Lucasville, Ohio. He shared a trailer home with his cousin, 38-year-old Gary Rodin. Gary Roden was described as being Christopher Sr. 's best friend.
Gary was helping Christopher with some alcohol and drug issues, and the trailer that they lived in was located at 4077 Union Hill Road. Christopher Sr. 's ex-wife is 37-year-old Dana Manley Roden. She worked as a nursing assistant at Hillside Skill Nursing Rehabilitation Center in Peebles, Ohio, which the center is actually now closed.
She and Christopher had three children together, 20-year-old Clarence Roden, who went by Frankie, 19-year-old Hannah Mae Roden, and 16-year-old Chris Roden Jr. Dana, Hannah, and Chris Jr. all lived together in a trailer at 3122 Union Hill Road, which is just over a mile and a half away from where Chris Sr. and Gary lived.
Meanwhile, Frankie and his fiance, they lived in a separate trailer of their own nearby Chris Sr. 20-year-old Frankie worked at a local sawmill and occasionally he worked with his dad at Big Bear Lake Family Resort. He was an avid hunter and fisherman and he loved going to the demolition derby. Frankie was engaged to a 20-year-old named Hannah Hazel Gilley.
I know the names are going to get confusing, but bear with me. I will call the Hannahs by their middle names as well so you can differentiate the two of them. So Frankie had a three-year-old son who was born to another woman, and then Hannah Hazel and Frankie, they had a six-month-old baby boy of their own. Both children lived with them and they were present at the time of the incident.
I will discuss more of that later. But Hannah Hazel was described as a doting mother to her six-month-old baby and she described Frankie Roden as the love of her life. 19-year-old Hannah Mae Roden worked as a CNA and she was on her way to graduating high school in May of 2016.
She had two daughters of her own, a two-year-old daughter named Sophia, who was born to a man named Jake Wagner, who she was battling for custody at the time that all of this took place. Then she also had a five-day-old infant named Kylie, who did live with her. We will discuss the fathers of both of these children later in the video.
Hannah Mae was described as a loving mother to her two daughters, and she did whatever she could to care for them to the best of her ability. 16-year-old Chris Roden Jr. was a freshman at Piketon High School. He had just recently gotten his driver's license, and again, Hannah Mae, her five-day-old infant, Kylie, Chris Jr., and Dana all lived together in one trailer.
44-year-old Kenneth Roden was Christopher Sr. 's brother. He loved motorcycles and he was described as a large husky bear of a man. He woke up at 4 30 a.m every single day and traveled to Columbus, Ohio each day to work his job at a utility company. He lived in a camper located at 799 Left Fork Road about 15 minutes away from where Christopher Roden Sr. and the rest of the family lived.
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Chapter 3: What were the circumstances of the discovery of the bodies?
But just as he got there, he saw Bobby Joe jump in her truck and drive away. He said that he could tell just by the way that she drove her truck that something horrible had happened, so he immediately got back into his vehicle and followed behind her. So, Bobby Joe, with James following behind, went over to the other trailer at 3122 Union Hill Road to tell them what happened.
But when they got there, they knocked on the door and Frankie's three-year-old son was the one who answered the door. Immediately, the little boy told Bobby Joe that daddy has a lot of blood. So, she went inside and into the bedrooms. Frankie and his fiancee, Hannah Hazel, were found lying in their beds, covered in blood, with their six-month-old infant lying in between them.
And thankfully, the baby boy was not harmed, but he was covered in the blood of his parents. And thankfully, again, the three-year-old boy also was not harmed. After finding the bodies of their nephew and soon-to-be niece, as well as their brother-in-law and his cousin, Bobby Joe and James hopped back in their trucks to go over to Dana's trailer to now tell her what happened.
When they got there, they found that the door had already been opened. They called Dana's name, but they got no response. They said that they then walked straight back to Dana's room, past Hannah Mae and Chris Jr. 's room, and that is when they found that Dana's room was dark, and they couldn't tell whether Dana was in her room asleep or not.
So, James went over to her bed and felt around the bed for Dana, and when he felt her, he started to pat her and roll her over to wake her up, but she was not moving. He tried to pull the pillow out from under his head, but it was stuck.
At that point, James said that he pretty much just turned around and left the room because he knew that his sister was dead because the pillow was stuck under her head and she was not moving. He didn't see her physically at that time, but I imagine if you feel someone and they feel like they're not living, you probably don't want to turn the light on to see that person dead in their bed.
So that's kind of what he said happened there. As James was walking out of the home, he did hear cries coming from five-day-old Kylie, but he couldn't bring himself to look around the trailer anymore. So he left the property and then went home to get his wife and then returned back to the trailer to go get Kylie out of the home again.
but James and his wife just could not get themselves to go back inside of that trailer, not knowing what happened, but knowing that Dana seemed to be like she was dead. So they actually flagged down the police who were on their way to the other properties after those bodies had been found and after they had called 911. And that is when they got the police to come over, the police went inside,
And they found that not only was Dana dead, but so were Chris Jr. and Hannah Mae. All of them were lying in their beds, absolutely covered in blood. And Hannah's five-day-old infant, Kylie, was in bed next to her mom with her diaper soaked in Hannah's blood. Then, like I said earlier, Hannah Mae's three-year-old daughter, Sophie, was also unharmed because she was not at the trailer at the time.
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Chapter 4: How did the police respond to the massacre?
so this made it seem like if someone had stepped through the window to enter the home it seems like some of these items would have been disturbed but they weren't so it kind of seems like either they didn't climb through the window to gain entry into the home
Or if they did climb through that window to gain entry, they knew those items were there and they knew to work around them as to not disturb them. Then the bodies of Frankie and Hannah Hazel were found lying in their beds with apparent gunshot wounds to their heads and no other apparent injuries.
Autopsies would later discover that Frankie was shot three times in his head, which appeared to be made at intermediate distance, meaning it seemed to be within three feet away. And then Hannah Hazel was shot five times in her face and head at close range, between three inches and three feet away.
Hannah Hazel appeared to have blood smears on her chest and other swipe marks on her body, which investigators said... was from the baby moving around and trying to climb on her mother after she had been shot which is just devastating.
Hannah Hazel was also found wearing a nursing bra that was unclipped on one side which told investigators that she may have been nursing her baby when she was shot to death. Once their bodies were removed from the home and sent to the medical examiner's office, Investigators found five different cartridge casings from a rim strike bullet in or near the bed where they were shot.
And on those bullets, they saw the letters REM stamped on the end, meaning that they were Remington brand bullets.
Across the room near the bedroom door, they found another bullet on the ground, but this was still a live, unfired round, which had markings that showed that it belonged to a different brand, meaning that there was more than one gun used in this crime, or at least present at this crime.
After the autopsy, investigators determined that Hannah Hazel and Frankie had been shot with a .22 caliber gun, both at relatively close range. Then, the other autopsies for Dana found that she was shot five times in her head, Hannah Mae was found shot two times in her head, and Chris Roden Jr. had been shot four times to his head, with two shots being to the very top of his head.
Then, Kenneth Roden was found to have been shot one time in the right eye. Gary Roden was found to have been shot three times in the head, being described as being in close range, while Chris Sr. actually had the worst injuries. He had injuries that indicated that he fought with his attacker, and he ended up being shot nine times to his head, torso, and arms.
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Chapter 5: What evidence did investigators find at the crime scene?
But as the investigation continued with the Wagners, police discovered that the custody battle between Jake and Hannah Mae was even more intense than they originally thought. Going back all the way to November of 2013, Jake was insistent on Hannah moving in with his family and raising Sophie with him and his family, but she refused.
Hannah saw Jake trying to get her to live with him and his family as a way to control her. Jake wrote in one text, quote, Hannah, I'm telling you right now to make a choice and make it now. If you do this, it's over. I'll take Sophie and if I have to by force. I love you with all my heart. If you love me and Sophie, you will make the right choice. I want you to live with me and Sophie.
That don't mean that we have to stay at my house all the time, but she will live wherever I am. He told Hannah that he's not trying to control her, that he wanted to build a house and that he needs a job. He said that he's not living with Hannah and her brother because quote, at least no one at my house would hurt a baby or you. So I'm living at my place till I build a house with Sophie.
You can live with me. If someone freaks out, we will leave and come back when it's calmed down. These types of conversations continued over the next two years with Hannah continuously refusing to live with Jake and his family. By March of 2015, Hannah texted Jake saying, I don't want to be with you. You hurt me.
It was alleged that Jake had threatened Hannah, chased her, and strangled her at one point. It was thought that he even threatened to kill her, saying that he would, quote, put her body where it would never be found. After that, that is when the couple split up.
jake tried to get hannah to sign papers which would mean that she would split custody with him jake and his brother george for whatever reason but she refused to sign these papers she wrote in one facebook message to a friend in december of 2015 saying they will have to kill me first regarding him having full custody of their daughter others who knew the wagner family described them as a very close family who lived together their entire lives
They worked together, they were homeschooled together, and they commingled their money together and voted as a group over everything. Now, like I said about a year before the murders in June of 2017, that is when police asked the public for help with information regarding the Wagner family. but they didn't name them suspects or anything like that at that time.
However, by November 13th, 2018, police announced that they finally had made arrests in connection to the horrific murders. Police announced that they actually arrested six members of the Wagner family, all for their alleged connection to the Rodin family murders, which was eventually being called the Pike County Massacre.
They released the indictments, which charged four members of the Wagner family, including 47-year-old Billy Wagner, 48-year-old Angela Wagner, 27-year-old George Wagner IV, and 26-year-old Jake Wagner on charges of aggravated murder.
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Chapter 6: Was there a connection to drug activity in the Rhoden massacre?
The trial for murder lasted almost three months and after that, the jury finally went in for their deliberations. The jury deliberated for less than a day before they came back with their verdict. They found George Wagner IV guilty on all 22 charges, including the eight charges of aggravated murder.
For this, he was given life in prison without the possibility of parole, as well as 81 years for the firearm charges to be served consecutively.
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, have you reached a verdict?
Yes.
Would the foreman please, foreperson please hand the verdict forms to the bailiff here. Verdict has to count one. It says we, the jury, find beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant, George Washington Wagner IV, is guilty. of aggravated murder as charged in count one of the indictment.
It says we, the jury, further find that the state of Ohio did prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant, while committing the murder as charged in count one, had a firearm on or about his person or under his control as alleged in count one – in specification one to count one. It says we further find that the state of Ohio did prove beyond a reasonable doubt
that the defendant displayed the firearm indicated that he possessed the firearm or used the firearm to facilitate the said offense of aggravated murder as charged in count one of the indictment as alleged specification two to count one.
It says we further find that the state of Ohio did prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the firearm the defendant had on or by his person or under his control while committing the offense of aggravated murder as charged in count one of the indictment was equipped with a firearm muffler or suppressor, as alleged in specification three to count one.
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, is that your verdict? Yes. Verdict as to count five. We, the jury, find beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant, George Washington Wagner IV, is guilty of aggravated murder as charged in count five of the indictment. All three specifications as to count five are also found to be true. Ladies and gentlemen, the jury, is that your verdict? Yes.
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Chapter 7: Who are the suspects in the Rhoden family murders?
But either way, I'm really looking forward to your thoughts on this case. I think it's crazy just how much planning went into this murder only for it to be executed so sloppily. I think that the whole idea that this entire murder of eight people was over a custody agreement is just insane, but I can definitely see how that's the actual motive. Like, I don't think that there's some...
Other secret motive here, I do think that Jake was obsessed with getting custody of Sophie and he just wanted to control everything in his life. And I think the family just supported him for whatever reason and they felt that he deserved custody for whatever reason. Obviously, the family is going to believe their own family members.
So I think that if Jake was telling his parents and other family members that like Hannah and the Rodin family are abusing Sophie, that they would believe him and that maybe they really thought that... Sophie being in her custody was going to harm her or maybe they just really wanted this control but I cannot understand how the entire family was just on board with this entire thing.
It's definitely one of those cases that we hear of like madness of the entire family of one person going mad and the rest of them just sort of follow suit. And with this, I know that they said that the rest of Hannah's family was just collateral that, you know, Hannah was the target, but they killed her brother and her father and her uncle because they didn't want them to get revenge.
But I also think that if there was a family member still living and they were caught for being involved, that one of the rodents would have been the one to get custody of Sophie. So I honestly think that that is another reason why they chose to kill
all of them except the children because really if they can sneak in in the middle of the night and not be detected until the next morning when someone finds the body there was absolutely no reason to kill any of the other members of the family I mean obviously there was no reason to kill them in the first place
but I honestly don't think that they killed like Hannah, Hazel, and Frankie because they were afraid of being caught.
I genuinely think that they went out of their way to go to all of these different properties to kill every member of the family because they knew that there was a possibility that they could be caught and if they were caught that the rodents would obviously have custody of Sophie and the other child.
I think it's sick that Jake, who at one point literally thought that the five-day-old infant was his, literally shot that baby's mother in front of that baby and just left her there in the mother's blood. And I do believe that the children suffered from ruptured eardrums because of the blasts, and I'm sure that they will be traumatized for the rest of their lives even at five days old.
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Chapter 8: What was the motive behind the Rhoden family murders?
There are actually studies to show that if children are traumatized even at that young, it leaves permanent scars on them for the rest of their lives, even if they have no idea why. which honestly can even be more frustrating if you just know like, or you're a certain way or you have mental health issues because you went through something and you have no idea what you went through.
I can imagine how that's like literally so frustrating. She might not know for sure that she was even there when her mother was killed, but she will have trauma and so will that six-month-old and so will that three-year-old. They did not deserve to lose their parents and watch them be murdered right in front of their faces.
And if Hannah really was breastfeeding her child at the time that she was murdered, that just takes this entire thing to a whole nother level of deranged. Again, I don't think there was any reason for Jake to go after Hannah's brother and his fiancé. That part is just sick to me. All of this is just horrible.
I honestly think that it's clear that Jake is just a controlling little douche who just wanted control over Sophie and Hannah and that's it. I think that's why this entire thing happened. It's insane, again, that the entire family, including those old women, were just okay with murdering an entire family because I know that Frederica and Rita knew. They had to know. They knew.
And I don't know if they were involved in the planning or any of the cover-up, They probably weren't, but they knew. I know for a fact that they knew. Even if they say they didn't, I know they knew. It's just so sick. The entire case is really horrible and despicable, but now I honestly want to know what you guys think.
What do you think of Jake taking a plea deal and testifying against his family? What do you think about the same with Angela? What do you think about them dropping the murder charges against Angela? Do you think that George should have been convicted of murder even if he didn't pull the trigger? And how do you think Billy's trial is going to go?
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