Pike County Massacre: Jake and Angela Wagner, Rita Newcomb Sentenced

Jake Wagner: Judge Jonathan Hein sentenced him to eight life sentences and is eligible for parole in 32 years because he cooperated with his brother’s case. Jake began by addressing a lengthy speech directly to the victims’ families.

Angela Wagner: Judge Hein sentenced her to 30 years in prison with time served. According to our media partners at the Cincinnati researcher, When Angela is released, she will serve two to five years of probation and will have to register as a violent offender for 10 years.

Rita Newcomb: Judge Hein sentenced her to five years of probation and a suspended sentence of 90 days of which he has already completed seven. Newcomb asked the judge if he had to go to jail. Judge Hein said not unless she “misbehaves.”

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WAVERLY, Ohio (WXIX) – Three members of the same family who took plea deals years ago in the 2016 Pike County massacre case were sentenced Friday.

That includes Edward “Jake” Wagner, 32, and his mother, Angela Wagner, 54.

The visiting judge overseeing the cases, retired Darke County Court of Common Pleas Judge Jonathan Hein, presided over the sentencing.

Angela Wagner’s mother, Rita Newcomb, was also convicted.

As part of their plea agreements, Jake and Angela Wagner testified on behalf of the state against Wagner’s eldest son, George Wagner IV, at his 2022 murder trial.

However, once they are sentenced, it is unclear whether they will return to the stand to testify again on behalf of the state, this time against Jake’s father and Angela’s husband, George “Billy” Wagner III, 53.

Following Friday’s sentencing, a hearing is scheduled for Billy Wagner. That hearing could announce whether Judge Hein will move his trial to another county after saying he did not believe an impartial jury could be empaneled in Pike County.

COMPLETE SECTION | Pike County Massacre

The victims of the April 2016 massacre were Christopher Rhoden Sr., 40; his older brother, Kenneth Rhoden, 44; his cousin, Gary Rhoden, 38; Chris Rhoden Sr.’s ex-wife, Dana Lynn Rhoden, 37, and their children: Clarence “Frankie” Rhoden, 20, Hanna May Rhoden, 19, Christopher Rhoden Jr., 16, and Frankie’s fiancée, Hannah “Hazel” Gilley. 20.

The killers saved two babies and a toddler and left them behind at the crime scene: a 5-day-old girl, a 6-month-old boy, and a 3-year-old boy.

Prosecutors have said the motive for the murders was the custody and control of Jake Wagner’s young daughter and one of the victims he confessed to shooting twice in the head, 19-year-old Hanna May Rhoden.

The young couple began dating when she was 13 and he was 18. She became pregnant with their daughter at 15.

They separated in 2015 after the birth of their daughter in 2013.

Jake Wagner testified during his brother’s trial that he didn’t want the relationship to end.

Hanna Rhoden had a second child, a girl, with another man and was dating another man at the time of her murder.

Their baby was only five days old when the victims were found on the morning of April 22, 2016.

Jake Wagner testified during his brother’s trial that he shot most of the victims, including Hanna Rhoden as she lay in bed nursing her new baby.

He said on the stand that he positioned her body after shooting her so she could continue breastfeeding her newborn, whose life he spared.

He also testified that he picked up the shell casings and cell phones and took them away.

But, according to other testimony, he missed a bullet casing that investigators found under the baby’s crib.

George Wagner IV, 33, was found guilty on all charges, including eight counts of murder, even though the state and defense agreed he never shot anyone and Jake Wagner also testified about it.

George Wagner IV is currently appealing his conviction and asking that his sentence: eight life sentences and 121 years on 16 other charges be overturned.

Meanwhile, Jake Wagner is being held in the Gallia County Jail, state and county records show.

Billy Wagner’s trial was scheduled to begin Jan. 6, but a change of venue followed by a flurry of court filings delayed it.

He has pleaded not guilty to all 22 charges, including eight counts of aggravated murder, for the execution-style slayings of his son’s ex-girlfriend and seven members of her family in April 2016.

Two key decisions remain pending at the appeals court:

• Whether Judge Hein can rule out the possibility of Billy Wagner facing the death penalty against the state’s wishes and without the state requesting it in an official motion.
• Whether you can move the trial out of Pike County against the wishes of a victim identified only in court records as “TR”

“The judge has single-handedly overturned the death penalty,” explained FOX19 NOW legal counsel Mark Krumbein. “So, there are so many things, you know, up in the air right now. Something like this case is truly unique. It’s in my career. In all the homicides I’ve handled, I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

If the appeals court upholds the decision on the new venue, the judge has not yet announced the new location.

Jake Wagner pleaded guilty in April 2021 to eight counts of aggravated murder and 15 other charges including felony conspiracy, four counts of aggravated robbery, and multiple counts of tampering with evidence.

In total, Jake pleaded guilty to 23 charges.

As part of the plea deal, he agreed to a sentence of eight life sentences without parole and to cooperate with prosecutors and testify against his family members.

“We are fully satisfied,” Wagner’s defense said during the hearing on April 22, 2021. “He knows he is going to die in prison without any judicial relief.”

Jake Wagner then testified for the state the following year against his own brother.

Jake Wagner shot and killed five of the victims, including his son’s mother, 19-year-old Hanna May Rhoden, and shot and wounded a sixth, his father Chris Rhoden Sr., according to his confession and testimony.

Special prosecutor Angie Canepa said Jake confessed and apologized for the crimes. In an interview, he led investigators to the weapons and vehicles used in the murders.