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Angela Wagner pleads guilty to several charges in connection with Rhoden family murders

Angela Wagner pleads guilty to several charges in connection with Rhoden family murders
BREAKING NEWS AND THAT BREAKING WSNE TONIGHT. ANOTHER SUSPECT IS AGREEING TO PLEAD GUILTY IN CONNECTION TO THE PIKE COUNTY MASSACRE THAT LEFT EIGHT PEOPLE IN THE SAME FALYMI DEAD. GOOD EVENING. I’M STEPHEN ALBERT, AND I’M ASHLEY KIRKLAND AND WLW. HE’S CURSTI FULLER HAS THE LATEST ON WTHA HAPPENED IN COURT WHEN ANGELA WAGRNE FACED A JUDGE CURTIS. WELL IN SOME WAYS, YOU KNOW, THIS COMES AS NO SURPRISE CALL IT HER ROAD TO SURVAVIL IN A CASE THAT STILL SENDS CHILLS UP YOUR SPINE. ANGELA WAGNER ENTERED A PIKE COUNTY COURTROOM FACING NEARLY TWO DOZEN CHARGES AND ONE OF THE MOST SHOCKING MURDER CASES IN THE STATE’S HISTORY. WAGNER AGREED TO PLEAD GUILTY TO A DENOZ CHARGES. SHE’LL BE BEHIND BARS FOR 30 YEARS, BUT AVOIDS THE DEATH PENALTY. THE DEFEENS HAPPENED THIS MATTER WE FEEL IT ISN’T INTERESTED JUSTEIC JUST FOR THE RECORD THAT WE’VE DISCUSSED TSHI WITH OUR VICTIM’S FAMILY. WE WROTEHE T DETAILS OF THIS COMES MORE THAN FIVE YEARS AFTER EIGHT MEMBERS OF THE RODENT FAMILY. SHOT AND KILLEDN I FOUR HOMES. ANGELA WAGNER PLAYED A GUILTY ON CHARGES INCLUDING BURGLARY CONSPIRACY TAMPERING WITH EVIDENCE FORGERY CORRUPTION AND MULTIPLE CHARGES RELATED TO FIREARMS, BUT THIS PLEA WILL TAKE THE MAIN CARD OFF THE TABLE MURDER WAGNER’S SON. JAKE WAGNER HAS ALREADY ADMITTED KILLING THE RODENT FAMYIL AND PLEADED GUILTY TO EHTIG COUNTS OF AGGRAVATED MURDER IN EXCHANGE PROSECUTORS DROPPED DEATH PENALTY AGAINST THE YEAR OLD WHO IMPLICATED OTHERS IN HIS FAMILY. NOW AT THIS MOMENTHT AT HEARING IS STILL GOING ONUT O IN PIKE COUNTY AND ALTHOUGH ASOU Y HEARD THE DEFENSEND A PROSECUTION AND THE VICTIM’S FAMILY HAVE ALL AGREED TO THIS DEAL. OF COURSE A JUDGE MUST OFFICIALLY SNIG OFF
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Angela Wagner pleads guilty to several charges in connection with Rhoden family murders
An Ohio woman pleaded guilty Friday to helping plan the killings of eight members of a family, becoming the second member of her own family to admit to a role in a shocking crime prosecutors say stemmed from a dispute over custody of her granddaughter.Angela Wagner, 50, pleaded guilty in southern Ohio’s Pike County to conspiracy to commit aggravated murder, along with burglary, evidence tampering and other charges.In exchange for the plea, prosecutors dropped aggravated murder charges against her and recommended that she serve a 30-year prison sentence. Her agreement to testify against other remaining defendants was also part of the deal, they said.Her husband and their two adult sons also were charged in the 2016 slayings of seven adults and a teenage boy from the Rhoden family. Wagner’s plea comes nearly five months after her son Edward “Jake” Wagner pleaded guilty to aggravated murder and other charges and agreed to testify against the other three in a deal that would help all four avoid potential death sentences. George “Billy” Wagner III and George Wagner IV have pleaded not guilty.The fatal shootings at three trailers and a camper near Piketon in April 2016 terrified residents in a stretch of rural Ohio and launched one of the state’s most extensive criminal investigations, which led to the Wagners’ arrest more than two years later.Most of the victims were repeatedly shot in the head, and some showed signs of bruising. Three young children at the scenes were unharmed.The victims were 40-year-old Christopher Rhoden Sr.; his ex-wife, 37-year-old Dana Rhoden; their three children, 20-year-old Clarence “Frankie” Rhoden, 16-year-old Christopher Jr., and 19-year-old Hanna; Clarence Rhoden’s fiancee, 20-year-old Hannah Gilley; Christopher Rhoden Sr.’s brother, 44-year-old Kenneth Rhoden; and a cousin, 38-year-old Gary Rhoden.Prosecutors say the Wagner family planned the killings for months, motivated by a dispute over custody of the daughter Jake Wagner had with Hanna Rhoden. The Wagners used guns with homemade silencers, allowing them to kill their victims as they slept, according to one of the lead prosecutors. Jake Wagner pleaded guilty in April on the fifth anniversary of the slayings and said in court that he was “deeply and very sorry.” He hasn’t been sentenced, but his lawyer said he understood that he would spend his life in prison.Christopher Rhoden Sr.’s brother, Tony Rhoden Sr., has said the family was grateful for the first plea as “some semblance of justice.”He also has sued the Wagners. That case is pending.

An Ohio woman pleaded guilty Friday to helping plan the killings of eight members of a family, becoming the second member of her own family to admit to a role in a shocking crime prosecutors say stemmed from a dispute over custody of her granddaughter.

Angela Wagner, 50, pleaded guilty in southern Ohio’s Pike County to conspiracy to commit aggravated murder, along with burglary, evidence tampering and other charges.

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In exchange for the plea, prosecutors dropped aggravated murder charges against her and recommended that she serve a 30-year prison sentence. Her agreement to testify against other remaining defendants was also part of the deal, they said.

Her husband and their two adult sons also were charged in the 2016 slayings of seven adults and a teenage boy from the Rhoden family. Wagner’s plea comes nearly five months after her son Edward “Jake” Wagner pleaded guilty to aggravated murder and other charges and agreed to testify against the other three in a deal that would help all four avoid potential death sentences.

George “Billy” Wagner III and George Wagner IV have pleaded not guilty.

The fatal shootings at three trailers and a camper near Piketon in April 2016 terrified residents in a stretch of rural Ohio and launched one of the state’s most extensive criminal investigations, which led to the Wagners’ arrest more than two years later.

Most of the victims were repeatedly shot in the head, and some showed signs of bruising. Three young children at the scenes were unharmed.

The victims were 40-year-old Christopher Rhoden Sr.; his ex-wife, 37-year-old Dana Rhoden; their three children, 20-year-old Clarence “Frankie” Rhoden, 16-year-old Christopher Jr., and 19-year-old Hanna; Clarence Rhoden’s fiancee, 20-year-old Hannah Gilley; Christopher Rhoden Sr.’s brother, 44-year-old Kenneth Rhoden; and a cousin, 38-year-old Gary Rhoden.

Prosecutors say the Wagner family planned the killings for months, motivated by a dispute over custody of the daughter Jake Wagner had with Hanna Rhoden.

The Wagners used guns with homemade silencers, allowing them to kill their victims as they slept, according to one of the lead prosecutors.

Jake Wagner pleaded guilty in April on the fifth anniversary of the slayings and said in court that he was “deeply and very sorry.” He hasn’t been sentenced, but his lawyer said he understood that he would spend his life in prison.

Christopher Rhoden Sr.’s brother, Tony Rhoden Sr., has said the family was grateful for the first plea as “some semblance of justice.”

He also has sued the Wagners. That case is pending.