WEBVTT - Air & Opportunity 0:00:00.440 --> 0:00:03.640 Welcome to the Pikedon Massacre, a production of iHeartRadio and 0:00:03.720 --> 0:00:09.880 KATI Studios. In April twenty sixteen, when eight members of 0:00:09.880 --> 0:00:12.840 the Rodent family were murdered in their homes, the media 0:00:12.880 --> 0:00:15.360 descended on the sleepy town of Piketon, Ohio. 0:00:15.680 --> 0:00:19.320 Community clearly shaken after this morning's multiple homicides. 0:00:19.440 --> 0:00:22.200 People in this small community being told to be on 0:00:22.560 --> 0:00:27.120 alert tonight as news of the unthinkable and gruesome killing spread, 0:00:27.280 --> 0:00:31.280 The small rural community is left feeling and rumors begins swirling. 0:00:31.320 --> 0:00:34.320 Discoveries the murder scenes are now advancing the theory the 0:00:34.400 --> 0:00:36.839 killings could be related to a drug cartel. 0:00:36.920 --> 0:00:40.480 Authorities aren't commenting on whether they had any potential suspects. 0:00:41.159 --> 0:00:41.760 Gooybody, thanks. 0:00:41.800 --> 0:00:44.239 All the bad stuff happens in the big cities, but 0:00:44.320 --> 0:00:46.040 the devil works at it everywhere. 0:00:46.640 --> 0:00:49.280 But in the aftermath of the arrests of six members 0:00:49.280 --> 0:00:52.240 of the Wagner family, attention turns to the very people 0:00:52.320 --> 0:00:53.840 responsible for the investigation. 0:00:54.080 --> 0:00:57.160 There was this belief among almost everybody I talk to 0:00:57.280 --> 0:01:01.440 about incompetence when it came to law enforce in that county. 0:01:02.160 --> 0:01:06.160 There's nobody watching the watchers in these small communities, and 0:01:06.200 --> 0:01:10.559 in many cases that can lead to major corruption and. 0:01:10.480 --> 0:01:13.160 The dark secrets of a once quiet town are slowly 0:01:13.200 --> 0:01:13.840 brought to light. 0:01:14.160 --> 0:01:16.920 There's been a lot of murders here that have not 0:01:17.240 --> 0:01:20.720 been solved. But if I say what I think, I 0:01:20.760 --> 0:01:21.959 could probably end up in the river. 0:01:23.800 --> 0:01:28.640 This is the piked In Massacre, Episode five, air and Opportunity. 0:01:33.360 --> 0:01:35.760 In the days after the killings, the Rodent murders became 0:01:35.800 --> 0:01:39.880 an international headline and it was a sensational story, a 0:01:39.959 --> 0:01:43.920 series of murders, multiple potential motives, all taking place in 0:01:43.959 --> 0:01:48.280 a small town in Ohio. I'm Courtney Armstrong, a TV 0:01:48.360 --> 0:01:51.440 producer at Katie Studios, where I work with Stephanie Leidecker 0:01:51.480 --> 0:01:54.200 and Jeff Shane. We've been following the case for a 0:01:54.240 --> 0:01:57.080 long time and through the course of our investigation learned 0:01:57.120 --> 0:01:59.320 that the town of piked In, Ohio has its own 0:01:59.360 --> 0:02:03.360 story to tell. Journalist Jeff Winkler wrote about the story 0:02:03.400 --> 0:02:06.040 for the website The Outline. He told me about his 0:02:06.120 --> 0:02:08.799 impressions of the initial reporting coming out of piked In. 0:02:09.120 --> 0:02:12.200 It was a big media story for about two weeks, 0:02:12.360 --> 0:02:15.920 and you know, everybody from all over came to cover it, 0:02:15.960 --> 0:02:18.520 all over the world, and a lot of people had 0:02:18.520 --> 0:02:23.400 been similarly executed in the middle of Appalachia and no 0:02:23.440 --> 0:02:25.680 one knew what was going on. I mean, I grew 0:02:25.760 --> 0:02:29.560 up in the Ozarks in Arkansas, and these are people 0:02:29.560 --> 0:02:31.480 I feel familiar with. You know, when I go up 0:02:31.520 --> 0:02:35.760 to New York, California, that's like a Disneyland and it's 0:02:35.760 --> 0:02:40.800 a strange, people daring place. These areas and folks like 0:02:40.800 --> 0:02:44.280 this are not wildering to me in the same way 0:02:44.320 --> 0:02:48.000 that they weren't the people who came down and covered 0:02:48.360 --> 0:02:51.240 the story Originally. You get a lot of talk of 0:02:51.680 --> 0:02:54.680 a book at these people smoking and you know, wearing camo, 0:02:54.919 --> 0:02:56.920 and you know a lot of gwking. You know, it 0:02:57.040 --> 0:02:59.560 was just these sort of quotes from sad sort of 0:02:59.680 --> 0:03:04.040 back its people is how they're perceived, and that's that's just. 0:03:03.960 --> 0:03:04.760 Not where I come from. 0:03:05.360 --> 0:03:07.280 But I think this thing that stood out for me 0:03:07.760 --> 0:03:10.160 was just how human everyone was. 0:03:12.200 --> 0:03:14.840 Piked In Resident Angie Montgomery shared her view of the 0:03:14.880 --> 0:03:17.240 media coverage with producer Jeff Sheane. 0:03:17.840 --> 0:03:19.799 How do you think like piked In and the like 0:03:19.840 --> 0:03:22.000 Pike County in general, I guess has been portrayed in 0:03:22.040 --> 0:03:22.520 the media. 0:03:23.240 --> 0:03:26.000 I don't think they've been very kind to us. I've 0:03:26.000 --> 0:03:29.720 seen a lot of reports where they call this uneducated 0:03:31.680 --> 0:03:35.760 kill billy just dumb. They think we're dumb, they think 0:03:36.520 --> 0:03:41.680 we're a bunch of inbread. I've actually seen that in 0:03:41.800 --> 0:03:45.440 some reports, and it's sad. 0:03:48.760 --> 0:03:50.520 Well, it's easy for some to view the town of 0:03:50.520 --> 0:03:54.400 piped In through this kind of provincial, almost stereotypical lens. 0:03:54.800 --> 0:03:57.080 It's not what we found when we visited the area. 0:03:57.600 --> 0:04:00.320 It's pretty far removed from the big cities of Olo. 0:04:00.560 --> 0:04:02.760 It's about an hour and a half south from Columbus, 0:04:03.040 --> 0:04:06.240 an hour and a half east of Cincinnati, and just 0:04:06.320 --> 0:04:09.880 under thirty minutes from the Ohio River, which basically separates 0:04:09.920 --> 0:04:14.920 southern Ohio from northeastern Kentucky. There's a Walmart, there's a restaurant. 0:04:15.040 --> 0:04:16.800 There used to be this great dive bar that has 0:04:16.800 --> 0:04:19.240 since closed, I believe, and look for the twenty two 0:04:19.400 --> 0:04:23.640 hundred residents piked In his home Native Barbara and Jeff 0:04:23.720 --> 0:04:25.640 actually spoke of it about that when we were there. 0:04:26.120 --> 0:04:31.000 Piked In's considered a village and it is a small 0:04:31.120 --> 0:04:34.919 just a small little town that has a grocery store 0:04:35.080 --> 0:04:39.359 and a pizza shop, and gas stations and there's a 0:04:39.560 --> 0:04:42.719 tire shop. People sit and talk to the gas station, wherever, 0:04:43.040 --> 0:04:46.600 wherever they go. They people know each other and they 0:04:46.680 --> 0:04:48.839 just sit and talk. You know, at the tire shop 0:04:48.880 --> 0:04:51.480 you're waiting for a or an oil change or whatever. 0:04:51.520 --> 0:04:53.840 You just sit there and chat with your neighbor or 0:04:53.920 --> 0:04:57.480 whoever happens to come in. You probably know who it is. 0:04:58.120 --> 0:05:03.480 You know somebody everywhere, or you know somebody that knows 0:05:03.520 --> 0:05:05.920 somebody everywhere anywhere you go. 0:05:06.680 --> 0:05:09.800 I imagine that is probably like sometimes kind of enjoyable, 0:05:09.800 --> 0:05:11.440 and then other times it's probably pretty maddening. 0:05:11.880 --> 0:05:15.880 Yeah, sometimes people know when when I spend the day 0:05:15.920 --> 0:05:19.640 in my pool or when I skip a day. If 0:05:19.640 --> 0:05:21.599 if there's a day goes by, I don't get in 0:05:21.640 --> 0:05:24.320 my pool. Next time I see someone else, they'll say, 0:05:24.440 --> 0:05:26.240 how come you weren't in your pool the other day. 0:05:27.400 --> 0:05:32.120 So it's crazy. 0:05:34.720 --> 0:05:37.320 The majority of people we spoke with depicted piked in 0:05:37.360 --> 0:05:42.240 this way. Small town USA, everyone knows everyone, nobody ever 0:05:42.279 --> 0:05:45.039 locked their doors growing up. But when we started to 0:05:45.040 --> 0:05:47.120 pull back the curtain, it was clear that piked In 0:05:47.200 --> 0:05:51.480 harbored some dark secrets, secrets that didn't start with the rodents. 0:05:52.600 --> 0:05:54.479 It seems like there's like two sides of piked In, 0:05:54.480 --> 0:05:57.120 which is one is like the blue collar hard workers 0:05:57.160 --> 0:05:59.840 who you know, want to raise their families the right way, 0:06:00.320 --> 0:06:03.679 and yet somehow something horrible still did happen to this town. 0:06:04.279 --> 0:06:06.400 I think it's like every town, you're gonna find that 0:06:06.440 --> 0:06:09.440 wherever you go, there's going to be the ugly part, 0:06:10.560 --> 0:06:11.599 and piked In has it. 0:06:15.080 --> 0:06:17.960 Jeff spoke to Stephanne, a former Pikedon resident who had 0:06:18.000 --> 0:06:21.800 recently left town. She shared barber sentiments about the community. 0:06:21.960 --> 0:06:23.560 I want to ask you, so you now you're in 0:06:23.560 --> 0:06:25.840 Florida and you're away from Pikedon and all this, but 0:06:25.880 --> 0:06:27.760 it still seems like it's very much a part of 0:06:27.800 --> 0:06:28.760 your DNA, right. 0:06:29.440 --> 0:06:34.000 I haven't been home since July a year before last, 0:06:34.520 --> 0:06:39.120 since twenty eighteen, and I just I don't know if 0:06:39.160 --> 0:06:42.280 I'll ever really like go back and live there. Ever. 0:06:43.120 --> 0:06:45.440 You know, if you look back through the history of 0:06:45.520 --> 0:06:48.919 piked In, you know there's quite a bit of things 0:06:48.960 --> 0:06:52.560 that just happened that, you know, there's no explanation for 0:06:52.960 --> 0:06:55.560 get swept under the rug. I don't know. 0:06:55.640 --> 0:06:58.880 I think there's just more evil there than just what 0:06:59.040 --> 0:07:00.840 happened to those eight. 0:07:04.640 --> 0:07:08.280 Stephan's remarks left us unsettled, but when we followed up 0:07:08.279 --> 0:07:11.920 with investigative reporter Jodi Barr. He seemed to corroborate her 0:07:11.960 --> 0:07:14.440 thoughts with some troubling stories he had heard during his 0:07:14.560 --> 0:07:15.880 time covering the road in case. 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:20.320 This was national news the day after a few days 0:07:20.360 --> 0:07:21.280 after it happened. 0:07:21.840 --> 0:07:24.080 But you know, as it typically. 0:07:23.680 --> 0:07:27.480 Happens with the news cycles, you know, the national folks 0:07:27.520 --> 0:07:28.040 move on to. 0:07:28.000 --> 0:07:28.880 The next big story. 0:07:28.920 --> 0:07:32.120 We were left with that, and we would get emails 0:07:32.160 --> 0:07:34.880 and constant questions or phone calls about new information. 0:07:35.120 --> 0:07:37.440 Is there anything to know? And there was nothing to know. 0:07:37.800 --> 0:07:39.280 So my boss came to me and said, hey, can 0:07:39.320 --> 0:07:42.000 you go over and start digging into this and see 0:07:42.000 --> 0:07:43.760 if there's anything at all that we could find out. 0:07:44.360 --> 0:07:47.600 I was in Pike County a lot, and I kept 0:07:47.600 --> 0:07:52.160 getting stories about other homicides in Pike County, and I thought, Man, 0:07:52.200 --> 0:07:55.120 if there were that many homicides in a county, this 0:07:55.240 --> 0:07:57.920 small man, there could be something here that we don't 0:07:58.000 --> 0:07:59.960 yet know, and it's worth taking a look. 0:08:02.000 --> 0:08:04.520 Through his research, Jodi discovered that there have been at 0:08:04.600 --> 0:08:08.760 least three recent cases in By County involving multiple homicides. 0:08:09.440 --> 0:08:12.760 Cases like the January twenty sixteen murders of Candace Newsom 0:08:12.800 --> 0:08:16.240 and her teenage daughter, Christina. They were both shot execution 0:08:16.360 --> 0:08:21.240 style in their home. Police finally did arrest the Newsom's 0:08:21.240 --> 0:08:25.360 neighbor for their murders in twenty nineteen. Neighbor Christian R. Davis, 0:08:25.480 --> 0:08:27.880 was indicted by a grand jury, but did not plead, 0:08:28.000 --> 0:08:30.800 nor has he been convicted, but there was plenty of 0:08:30.880 --> 0:08:33.520 chatter on social media, none of which can be confirmed, 0:08:33.679 --> 0:08:37.000 mentioning the possibility of an accomplice to the murders still 0:08:37.000 --> 0:08:42.920 at large. Candace Newsom's sister, Darla has even spoken publicly 0:08:43.559 --> 0:08:45.760 she thinks that her sister and niece's murder may be 0:08:45.880 --> 0:08:48.480 related to the Rodents, stating that they ran in the 0:08:48.480 --> 0:08:51.360 same circles. 0:08:51.679 --> 0:08:55.360 What struck me about Candace and Christina and was just 0:08:55.440 --> 0:08:58.080 the fact the similarities between, Like just the idea that 0:08:58.080 --> 0:08:59.600 in the middle of the night these people were gunned 0:08:59.600 --> 0:09:02.760 down in the in their homes while they slept. Just 0:09:03.360 --> 0:09:06.400 it is striking, you know, before even reading any other details, 0:09:06.440 --> 0:09:08.800 just hearing that when you're researching the road in case, 0:09:08.840 --> 0:09:11.520 you're like, well, that's weird. You know, that's fifteen minutes away. 0:09:11.559 --> 0:09:13.640 It's the same exact style of murder. 0:09:13.920 --> 0:09:16.800 Yes, And it was just so odd that you had 0:09:16.840 --> 0:09:19.600 that type of crime in happening in a place like that. 0:09:20.920 --> 0:09:23.920 Then in April twenty sixteen, just weeks before the Rodents 0:09:23.920 --> 0:09:28.120 were killed, Douglas Eatman and Carolyn and Tomlinson were shot 0:09:28.160 --> 0:09:35.280 execution style in their home. According to Jodi Barr, one 0:09:35.320 --> 0:09:37.840 detail of the crime struck a familiar chord. 0:09:38.040 --> 0:09:42.000 A double homicide, four children left alive. This is very 0:09:42.000 --> 0:09:43.360 similar to the Rodent case. 0:09:43.840 --> 0:09:46.280 I mean again, it's a striking coincidence that in the 0:09:46.320 --> 0:09:48.960 same area this is happening. In the same month, you know, 0:09:49.040 --> 0:09:50.959 the same month and year that the Rodents were murdered, 0:09:50.960 --> 0:09:51.880 this has also happened. 0:09:52.160 --> 0:09:53.200 That's what led us down. 0:09:53.080 --> 0:09:55.160 The path of even looking at these cases, because we 0:09:55.200 --> 0:09:57.440 had heard that there were other people who were shot 0:09:57.760 --> 0:10:00.160 no the night, execution style in their home. 0:10:03.040 --> 0:10:03.880 When you're looking at. 0:10:03.800 --> 0:10:06.679 The Rodent case and then you see these other cases 0:10:06.679 --> 0:10:09.800 in a county that small, you start asking yourself what 0:10:09.840 --> 0:10:13.680 the hell is going on, because it doesn't make sense 0:10:13.679 --> 0:10:16.200 that this is happening there unless there is some sort 0:10:16.200 --> 0:10:20.080 of common denominator. And it's still hard to believe today 0:10:20.120 --> 0:10:22.760 that there were these types of murders that took place 0:10:23.160 --> 0:10:26.600 in a county so small, with so few people living 0:10:26.640 --> 0:10:28.880 in it. I mean, you don't hear about that in 0:10:28.920 --> 0:10:32.840 big cities, and you sit back and you wonder to yourself, 0:10:33.040 --> 0:10:33.800 what is going on? 0:10:33.920 --> 0:10:35.360 I mean, why is this happening. 0:10:38.160 --> 0:10:42.199 Fortunately, police arrested Douglas Eatman's uncle Charles and his cousin 0:10:42.280 --> 0:10:46.720 James Allen, on suspicion of Douglas and Carolyn's murder. Each 0:10:46.760 --> 0:10:49.560 face is twenty to fifty years or life in prison, 0:10:49.640 --> 0:10:53.920 with enhanced sentencing for capital offenses also a possibility. The 0:10:53.960 --> 0:10:57.000 pair were indicted but have not pled or been convicted. 0:10:57.400 --> 0:11:01.760 The case is ongoing. According to investigators, it was a 0:11:01.800 --> 0:11:06.280 drug related killing. The motive for Candas and Christina Newsom's murders, however, 0:11:06.559 --> 0:11:10.160 remains unclear. But beyond the methods of these killings, there's 0:11:10.160 --> 0:11:12.520 another thing that Jody told us about that ties them 0:11:12.559 --> 0:11:13.080 all together. 0:11:13.600 --> 0:11:16.320 Then in some cases people get away with it for 0:11:16.400 --> 0:11:21.600 extended periods of time. Kendice Newsom and her teenage daughter Christina. 0:11:22.040 --> 0:11:26.160 It took four years before investigators charged a neighbor and 0:11:26.240 --> 0:11:31.520 family friend with murder in that And that's four years 0:11:31.600 --> 0:11:35.240 and the alleged perpetrator in that case is what a 0:11:35.280 --> 0:11:38.959 next door neighbor, and it took four years a piece. 0:11:38.960 --> 0:11:41.880 That together is just you wonder if Pike County if 0:11:41.920 --> 0:11:46.920 people were getting good at committing crimes and potentially getting 0:11:46.920 --> 0:11:47.520 away with it. 0:11:50.640 --> 0:11:53.160 One case that remains unsolved is the two thousand and 0:11:53.200 --> 0:11:56.240 six murder of thirty four year old Curtis Francis and 0:11:56.320 --> 0:11:58.040 thirty year old Jennifer Brigett. 0:11:58.480 --> 0:12:01.400 Kurt Francis and Jennifer berg At. You know, they were 0:12:01.440 --> 0:12:04.520 both shot and killed in their beds, in their homes 0:12:04.520 --> 0:12:06.120 in the middle of the night. And you know, when 0:12:06.120 --> 0:12:09.000 I'm looking through these incident reports of these murders and 0:12:09.080 --> 0:12:10.120 I go, WHOA. 0:12:10.040 --> 0:12:13.240 This sounds very similar to the road case. 0:12:13.960 --> 0:12:16.079 You know, two people shot in their bed in their 0:12:16.120 --> 0:12:18.800 homes in the middle of the night, and I thought, 0:12:19.080 --> 0:12:21.760 this is one we need to pursue. 0:12:23.040 --> 0:12:24.400 But no one would talk. 0:12:26.559 --> 0:12:29.600 We couldn't find out any information. All the search warrants 0:12:29.600 --> 0:12:32.880 were sealed at the courthouse and there's absolutely no arrest. 0:12:33.480 --> 0:12:37.080 Ten years later, there's nothing here. We are today still nothing. 0:12:37.800 --> 0:12:39.960 We're in a dead end and it may never be solved. 0:12:42.080 --> 0:12:45.000 And unfortunately there are other cases like that there that 0:12:45.360 --> 0:12:46.400 just didn't get the attention. 0:12:53.320 --> 0:12:55.280 We're going to take a quick break here we'll be 0:12:55.360 --> 0:12:56.040 back in a moment. 0:13:05.400 --> 0:13:07.560 Let's take one quick step back for a minute and 0:13:07.600 --> 0:13:10.560 really look at the Curtis Francis and Jennifer Burguett case. 0:13:10.800 --> 0:13:12.840 That's the couple who was also shot in their home 0:13:13.080 --> 0:13:16.560 while they slept in two thousand and six. They only 0:13:16.600 --> 0:13:18.840 lived about fifteen minutes down the road from the road 0:13:18.840 --> 0:13:22.360 in property. Fifteen minutes and to this day, that case 0:13:22.400 --> 0:13:23.839 remains unsolved. 0:13:26.040 --> 0:13:30.000 For Angie Montgomery, Curtis Francis's cousin, it remains a devastating 0:13:30.040 --> 0:13:33.040 memory without closure. She spoke to Jeff about it. 0:13:33.480 --> 0:13:35.880 I was shocked that I had never even heard of 0:13:35.880 --> 0:13:38.920 Curtis and Jennifer's case, because it's a pretty it's egregious 0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:42.320 that this happened and it's unsolved, and it just seems 0:13:42.400 --> 0:13:45.080 crazy that another in such a small community that something 0:13:45.120 --> 0:13:47.760 like this could happen again. And so what I would 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:49.280 would love to do, and maybe it would kind of 0:13:49.320 --> 0:13:52.720 be to like walk through kurt and Jenny's case and 0:13:52.840 --> 0:13:54.920 kind of like explain who they were and any of 0:13:54.960 --> 0:13:56.520 the facts that you know about the case. 0:13:57.080 --> 0:14:01.160 Well, Curtis was a very hard working, good guy, loved 0:14:01.160 --> 0:14:04.920 his family, loved hunting and animals, and fishing and all 0:14:04.960 --> 0:14:07.960 that stuff, and he would help anybody. And he was 0:14:08.080 --> 0:14:11.320 very protective. That's one word I like to use to 0:14:11.400 --> 0:14:15.120 describe him. Very protective of the people. We loved. Jenny 0:14:15.240 --> 0:14:18.080 was a good girl. It's always taking care of others. 0:14:18.880 --> 0:14:22.480 I think they just got messed up with the wrong people. 0:14:24.600 --> 0:14:28.960 The wrong people and he's referring to are local drug dealers. 0:14:29.120 --> 0:14:32.080 The most of the crime that happens around here, like 0:14:32.960 --> 0:14:36.840 carthev's and breaking and enterings and things like that, is 0:14:36.920 --> 0:14:43.280 from drugs. There's a huge problem with opioids and methodmphetamine here, 0:14:44.080 --> 0:14:47.600 huge and that probably does play a part in every 0:14:48.280 --> 0:14:51.200 almost every murder that's happened, probably in the past ten years. 0:14:52.480 --> 0:14:55.000 I think the people that killed my cousin lived I 0:14:55.040 --> 0:14:58.280 think four or five minutes up the road from Curtain Jenny. 0:14:59.120 --> 0:15:04.320 They were big druggillers, and Curtis owed in some money, 0:15:04.680 --> 0:15:06.160 supposedly for marijuana. 0:15:06.600 --> 0:15:08.000 So you feel like you know who did it. 0:15:09.200 --> 0:15:15.800 Oh, yes, I don't want to be that person, but 0:15:16.720 --> 0:15:19.880 I'm pretty blunt and upfront in the law enforcement here. 0:15:20.200 --> 0:15:23.480 They have mishandled Curtain Jenny's case from the rip. 0:15:25.080 --> 0:15:27.760 When Angie says law enforcement, she's talking about the Pike 0:15:27.800 --> 0:15:31.800 County Sheriff's Office, the same agency heavily involved in conducting 0:15:31.840 --> 0:15:37.440 the Rodent murder investigation. In twenty sixteen, a plumber discovered 0:15:37.440 --> 0:15:40.040 a well that had seemed to have been mysteriously hidden 0:15:40.040 --> 0:15:42.760 with rocks and dirt. It was on a property that, 0:15:42.920 --> 0:15:46.440 according to eyewitness statements, was the last place Curtis Francis 0:15:46.480 --> 0:15:48.960 was seen on the night of his murder. The Pike 0:15:49.000 --> 0:15:53.120 County Sheriff's Office was called in to investigate. Officers lowered 0:15:53.160 --> 0:15:55.880 a plumber's drain camera into the well and discovered what 0:15:55.960 --> 0:15:58.200 appeared to be burned clothes and a gun. 0:15:58.560 --> 0:16:01.360 It was a thirty out six was at the bottom 0:16:01.360 --> 0:16:05.280 of the well and Curtis's pistol that was taken in 0:16:05.400 --> 0:16:07.640 nine of the murders, and that's what they were shot with, 0:16:08.040 --> 0:16:09.000 a thirty out six. 0:16:09.240 --> 0:16:09.960 Both of them. 0:16:09.920 --> 0:16:13.760 Curtain Jimmy with a potential murder weapon line just thirty 0:16:13.800 --> 0:16:16.680 feet down a well. The Pike County Sheriff's Office decided 0:16:16.680 --> 0:16:19.760 to use a curious tactic to recover the gun. They 0:16:19.800 --> 0:16:22.000 called in a fire truck to pump water into the 0:16:22.000 --> 0:16:24.680 well to try and push the firearm back up out 0:16:24.720 --> 0:16:27.280 of the well. Shaft so investigators could get their hands 0:16:27.320 --> 0:16:29.520 on it. It did not go as planned. 0:16:29.880 --> 0:16:32.280 They blew the water down the well, which in turn 0:16:32.680 --> 0:16:36.400 made the ground break because of the force of you know, 0:16:36.400 --> 0:16:38.600 a fire hose could blow the skin off of it. 0:16:40.520 --> 0:16:42.840 So they did that. This is what they told us 0:16:42.960 --> 0:16:46.640 that happened. When they did that, it busted the ground loose. 0:16:47.000 --> 0:16:51.240 The guns went down into the ground, and that they 0:16:51.280 --> 0:16:55.280 don't have the money or the equipment to get them out, 0:16:55.840 --> 0:16:59.880 so they hired a guy to seal the well shut. 0:17:00.280 --> 0:17:03.920 He's a welder. He welded the well shut and that 0:17:04.040 --> 0:17:09.240 was it. I think after this fiasco with the guns 0:17:09.440 --> 0:17:12.440 in the well, when the guns were found, and how 0:17:12.480 --> 0:17:18.600 they handled that situation and handled the possible murder weapons, 0:17:19.560 --> 0:17:23.280 I think they're ashamed, and they should be. They took 0:17:23.800 --> 0:17:26.320 probably the only hope we have of any type of 0:17:26.560 --> 0:17:31.520 physical evidence and blew it to snotherings basically, and nothing's 0:17:31.560 --> 0:17:32.920 been done with it since. 0:17:35.720 --> 0:17:38.960 With Curtis and Jennifer's case going cold, Angie decided to 0:17:38.960 --> 0:17:40.360 pursue the killers herself. 0:17:43.400 --> 0:17:46.960 I've spent years and years. I've got file after file 0:17:47.119 --> 0:17:52.000 after file of things I've done. I've actually went and 0:17:52.320 --> 0:17:55.640 got names I've went and talked to people. Well, I'm 0:17:55.640 --> 0:17:57.280 just going to be honest with you. I've done with 0:17:57.359 --> 0:18:01.359 the police. I've tried to do the police haven't done, 0:18:01.600 --> 0:18:05.160 which is talk to people, get information, you know, get date, 0:18:05.320 --> 0:18:07.320 get time, get people talking. 0:18:07.800 --> 0:18:08.000 You know. 0:18:08.440 --> 0:18:11.560 All you've seen Kurt that day, Okay, who was with him? 0:18:11.560 --> 0:18:15.040 What was his demeanor? Things like that. There's eyewitness statements, 0:18:15.720 --> 0:18:21.160 and I've tried my best to get somebody or anybody 0:18:21.640 --> 0:18:26.199 just to listen. It's pretty cut and dry, you know. 0:18:26.280 --> 0:18:30.920 It's I've had a few people out of state that 0:18:30.960 --> 0:18:34.760 are like retired homicide investigators and stuff look at the 0:18:34.800 --> 0:18:38.200 case and tell me that they can't, for the life 0:18:38.200 --> 0:18:40.879 of them, figure out why there hasn't been an arrest 0:18:40.960 --> 0:18:44.160 made for the town that we you know, the size 0:18:44.200 --> 0:18:46.560 of our town, there's been a lot of murders here 0:18:46.720 --> 0:18:51.240 that have not been solved. It's ridiculous. But if I 0:18:51.280 --> 0:18:53.040 say what I think, I could probably end up in 0:18:53.080 --> 0:18:53.400 the river. 0:18:58.640 --> 0:19:01.679 According to Jody barr Angie's thoughts about the Pike County 0:19:01.680 --> 0:19:04.080 Sheriff's Office are shared by many in the community. 0:19:04.400 --> 0:19:06.399 The impression I got from the people in Pike County 0:19:06.400 --> 0:19:09.040 when I was working there covering the road and murders. 0:19:09.560 --> 0:19:11.760 There was this belief among. 0:19:11.680 --> 0:19:15.240 Almost everybody I talked to about incompetence when it came 0:19:15.320 --> 0:19:19.200 to law enforcement in that county and the lack of 0:19:19.920 --> 0:19:24.960 that sheriff's office ability to do a large scale murder 0:19:24.960 --> 0:19:27.359 investigation and carry that through to a prosecution. 0:19:28.280 --> 0:19:29.879 And the man at the head of the Pike County 0:19:29.880 --> 0:19:34.880 Sheriff's office is none other than Sheriff Charles Reader. You've 0:19:34.920 --> 0:19:38.119 heard about Sheriff Reader before. He's the officer who stated 0:19:38.160 --> 0:19:40.400 he would stop at nothing to solve the Rodents case. 0:19:41.200 --> 0:19:42.760 I've got a message for the killers. 0:19:43.800 --> 0:19:48.200 We will find you, the family and the victims will 0:19:48.240 --> 0:19:49.320 have justice one day. 0:19:50.680 --> 0:19:53.360 To a lot of people watching these news conferences, Reader's 0:19:53.400 --> 0:19:57.600 passionate campaign for justice was admirable, But to journalists like 0:19:57.680 --> 0:20:01.480 Jeff Winkler, Reader's determination, his mishandling of the road and 0:20:01.560 --> 0:20:03.520 investigation from the very start. 0:20:03.960 --> 0:20:08.280 It was the largest mass murder in Ohio's history, and 0:20:08.480 --> 0:20:10.960 the law enforcement at the beginning, the local law enforcement 0:20:11.520 --> 0:20:15.199 was almost comically inept to handle such a large and 0:20:15.720 --> 0:20:19.119 bloody incident. They were just they weren't equipped to handle it. 0:20:19.119 --> 0:20:22.440 From the very beginning of the investigation, and they bungled 0:20:22.600 --> 0:20:25.200 a lot of stuff right from the get go. It 0:20:25.400 --> 0:20:27.440 was one problem after another. 0:20:30.040 --> 0:20:32.600 Nearly a month after the bodies were found, Sheriff Reeder 0:20:32.640 --> 0:20:36.000 had key pieces of evidence, including the roadents, mobile homes, 0:20:36.000 --> 0:20:39.000 and automobiles, moved to a warehouse in the nearby town 0:20:39.040 --> 0:20:44.800 of Waverley. Jodie Barr was on the scene and told 0:20:44.840 --> 0:20:45.760 Jeff what he saw. 0:20:46.760 --> 0:20:49.280 So I'm out of the warehouse where they moved these vehicles, 0:20:49.400 --> 0:20:52.240 the equipment from all the roadent properties where they moved 0:20:52.240 --> 0:20:55.000 the four mobile homes where these murders happened. 0:20:55.320 --> 0:20:58.400 There's a large fence around this huge. 0:20:58.200 --> 0:21:02.480 Outdoor lot and it is full of cars and ATVs, 0:21:03.000 --> 0:21:08.480 farm equipment, back hos, huge tractor trailers. So, as a 0:21:08.560 --> 0:21:12.920 reporter with you know, at least a small knowledge of 0:21:12.960 --> 0:21:15.760 the chain of custody of evidence. I know that with 0:21:15.840 --> 0:21:18.879 all this evidence just you know, fifty yards away from me, 0:21:18.960 --> 0:21:22.280 that you've got to have it secured somehow. 0:21:22.400 --> 0:21:25.080 There's got to be a peace officer. 0:21:24.760 --> 0:21:27.480 Someone there with a gun and a bat swore who 0:21:27.760 --> 0:21:31.280 swear an oath to uphold the laws in the constitutions 0:21:31.320 --> 0:21:32.359 of the state of Ohio. 0:21:32.640 --> 0:21:35.560 They're guarding that that was not the case. Yeah. 0:21:35.600 --> 0:21:38.040 So this it's the largest in criminal investigation in the 0:21:38.040 --> 0:21:41.000 state's history, right, and the main evidence is not getting watched. 0:21:41.480 --> 0:21:44.760 There was no one in that parking lot watching that evidence. 0:21:45.160 --> 0:21:47.879 So when you drive up to a warehouse and you 0:21:47.960 --> 0:21:52.240 look and there's nothing between you and hundreds of pieces 0:21:52.240 --> 0:21:56.520 of evidence except air and opportunity, if that doesn't raise 0:21:56.520 --> 0:21:58.480 a red flag, I don't think you're doing your job. 0:21:59.119 --> 0:22:00.720 I knew at that point time. 0:22:01.000 --> 0:22:05.680 That there was something to explore here because potentially this evidence, 0:22:05.840 --> 0:22:09.320 if it's unguarded, they can't establish a chain of custody. 0:22:09.800 --> 0:22:13.000 This entire investigation could be jeopardized. So that's why we 0:22:13.040 --> 0:22:13.440 took them. 0:22:13.440 --> 0:22:16.720 We took Mike Allen, the former Hamilton County District Attorney. 0:22:17.000 --> 0:22:18.920 We took him to Pike County. I called him and 0:22:18.920 --> 0:22:19.680 I said, hey. 0:22:19.680 --> 0:22:21.639 I want to take you to Pike County. Here's what 0:22:21.800 --> 0:22:23.680 I found. I don't want to show you what I've 0:22:23.720 --> 0:22:25.919