Speaker 1: Welcome to the Pikedon Massacre, a production of iHeartRadio and
Speaker 1: Katie Studios. Grown Up Brown him he had such a
Speaker 1: sweetheart and everything. Jake Wagner, he originally pleaded not guilty
Speaker 1: to the murder of eight Rodent family members, say that
Speaker 1: he was guilty. I am guilt. It just gives you
Speaker 1: a complete chills. Jake admitted to personally killing five of
Speaker 1: the eight into trying to burn and get rid of Avid,
Speaker 1: and he'll now avoid the death penalty and spend the
Speaker 1: rest of his life in print. If I've done something
Speaker 1: to making that outrageously mad, he could have killed me too.
Speaker 1: Wagners showed a little to no emotion in cour today,
Speaker 1: just answering yes or no to the judge. But his
Speaker 1: life was controlled all the time. Special Prosecutor said the
Speaker 1: Wagners were a cult like family. I think it was
Speaker 1: Jill Angelo behind the scene, control and everything, like a
Speaker 1: little puppet master. This is the piked To Massacre. Returned
Speaker 1: to Pike County season two, Episode two. Cinnamon and Hay
Speaker 1: Courtney Armstrong a television producer at Katie Studios with Stephanie
Speaker 1: Lydecker and Jeff Shane. On April twenty second twenty twenty one,
Speaker 1: Jake Wagner pleaded guilty to twenty three counts, including eight
Speaker 1: aggravated murder charges, in the Rodin murder case. The motive
Speaker 1: behind the killings back in twenty sixteen, according to prosecutors,
Speaker 1: was a custody dispute between Jake and victim hannahme Roden
Speaker 1: over their young daughter. As it stands, the other three
Speaker 1: Wagners accused in the murders, Jake's father Billy, mother Angela,
Speaker 1: and brother George, have all pled not guilty. The day
Speaker 1: that Jake appeared in court for his plea deal, we
Speaker 1: caught up with Christina Howard. Her sister Tabby had a
Speaker 1: relationship with the accused eldest son, George Wagner. The two
Speaker 1: were married and had a son together, but eventually divorced.
Speaker 1: When you found out for a fact that Jake was guilty,
Speaker 1: what was your reaction? My reaction was like wow and away,
Speaker 1: kind of speechless, because me and him were friends when
Speaker 1: we were younger. You never really think about somebody who
Speaker 1: is or once was a friend being able to take
Speaker 1: so many lives like that. Last season, Christina told us
Speaker 1: a little bit about a custody dispute that ensued between
Speaker 1: Tabby and George Wagner after the couple split up. It
Speaker 1: piqued our interest when we heard about it, since it
Speaker 1: foreshadowed what was to come for hannahme Roden. Christina was
Speaker 1: a little hesitant to divulge too much last time we spoke,
Speaker 1: but in light of Jakes Please, she chose to delve
Speaker 1: into Tabby's story a little more, and what we found
Speaker 1: is far darker and much more disturbing than we could
Speaker 1: have ever imagined. What follows is Christina's recollection of the events.
Speaker 1: Christina's relationship with the Wagner family goes back to her childhood.
Speaker 1: Her mother began working for grandmother of the accused, Frederica Wagner,
Speaker 1: whom Christina affectionately refers to as Freddie. When she was
Speaker 1: a kid. She was a grandmother to in a way.
Speaker 1: I would go to work with my mother and I
Speaker 1: would hang around Freddie a lot, and she traded my
Speaker 1: family pretty kindly. On holidays, she would always get me
Speaker 1: and my sister's presents, and I have Christmas dinners and
Speaker 1: Easter dinners, and it was like, you know, us being
Speaker 1: part of her family, and it was pretty nice. Eventually,
Speaker 1: Christina and her sister Tabby, met Frederica's grandsons, George and
Speaker 1: Jake Wagner. Christina told Jeff that George and Tabby hit
Speaker 1: it off and soon became a couple. They got together
Speaker 1: when they were young teens. I think my sister was
Speaker 1: like thirteen fourteen, you know, and they ended up liking
Speaker 1: each other. Did you think that George was badness? He
Speaker 1: was a little bit of a travelmaker. Christina would often
Speaker 1: tag along when Tabby went to visit George at the
Speaker 1: Wagner's home. They had like this pretty little like house
Speaker 1: up on the hill, and they had like their own
Speaker 1: little pond up there. It was pretty isolated. They had
Speaker 1: a privacy gate at the bottom that in order to
Speaker 1: get in, somebody up at the top of the house
Speaker 1: would have to come down and unlock it. Me, George, Jake,
Speaker 1: and Tabby we would like go outside and you know,
Speaker 1: do young dumb teenager kid type stuff and play tag,
Speaker 1: jump on the trampoline and the treehouse and all that.
Speaker 1: It was really fun and we could be as rowdy
Speaker 1: as and noisy as we wanted because they didn't have
Speaker 1: no neighbors whatsoever. While George and Tabby were hanging out,
Speaker 1: Christina struck up a friendship with Jake Wagner. Jake was
Speaker 1: actually a really nice kid. Me and him were kind
Speaker 1: of friends. It was pretty cool. He was really nice,
Speaker 1: kind of shy, who played video games and all that
Speaker 1: good stuff as a kid. Jake struck Christina as kind
Speaker 1: and almost unusually empathetic. I remember in Jake's bedroom, you know,
Speaker 1: he had his own little TV and video game system
Speaker 1: and all that stuff, and he had just one stuff duck,
Speaker 1: and it was like hanging on the wall or something,
Speaker 1: and it kind of gave me the creeps whenever I'm
Speaker 1: a little kid. And he was sweet enough to take
Speaker 1: it off his wall and hide it in his closet
Speaker 1: or something, because the game of the creeps. The more
Speaker 1: time Christina spent at the home, the more familiar she
Speaker 1: became with the boy's mother, accused murderer, Angela Wagner, she's
Speaker 1: sometimes referred to as Angie. Christina told Stephanie that on
Speaker 1: the surface, everything about Angela Wagner seemed to personify the
Speaker 1: typical all American mom. Out front was like this nice
Speaker 1: little walk away with flowers and you know, the white
Speaker 1: picket fence. Except in the country kind of deal. And
Speaker 1: then like you go inside the house or the kitchen,
Speaker 1: and then right beside the kitchen of the living room
Speaker 1: and it's pretty big. They got like this huge section
Speaker 1: ale and a nice big TV. And the house smelled
Speaker 1: like it kind of smelled like cinnamon mixed with hay.
Speaker 1: I don't know she could really imagine that, but like,
Speaker 1: take some may start around everywhere and sprinkle some cinnamon
Speaker 1: in it, and that's what it smelled. Watched Angela would
Speaker 1: make us some snacks or some lunch or whatever. I
Speaker 1: think even like maybe twice she made us dinner. It
Speaker 1: was pretty good. She sounds like a homemaker, which is
Speaker 1: again what makes it so shocking to imagine that she
Speaker 1: had the ability to do something so horrific. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: the more time Christina spent at the Wagner home, the
Speaker 1: relationship between the Wagner boys and their mother came into focus.
Speaker 1: They were always around their mom, no matter what their
Speaker 1: mom said. When always they wanted to play outside longer
Speaker 1: if Angie said no, it was no. I yeah, they
Speaker 1: wanted to play the video games longer if Andy said no,
Speaker 1: it was no. Even if like they slightly disobeyed her,
Speaker 1: she put her foot down meaning like, you better listen
Speaker 1: to me or I'm gonna book your butt. And they're
Speaker 1: just like, all right, Mama, It didn't matter what Angie said.
Speaker 1: That's what went. As the kids got older, Angela Wagner
Speaker 1: seemed to take more control over her boys lives, especially Jake.
Speaker 1: We had a job somewhere and his mom like actually
Speaker 1: made him quit the job because she said that the
Speaker 1: job wasn't good enough for him, meaning Angela Wagner. Jake
Speaker 1: Wagner's mom said, this job's over, it's not good enough
Speaker 1: for you. Yeah. It's like, you know, your mom controls
Speaker 1: your whole entire life. And it wasn't long before Angela
Speaker 1: turned her controlling ways towards Christina's family. Angie made George
Speaker 1: break up with Tabby because Angie didn't like my sister
Speaker 1: because you know, George and Jake were Mama's boys and
Speaker 1: ain't nothing in the world gonna be able to steal
Speaker 1: her boys from her. She was just so controlling. Soon,
Speaker 1: Angela Wagner's true colors began to shine through her all
Speaker 1: American facade. In some photos that I've seen ev Angela,
Speaker 1: she looks smiley, and she's pretty and just looks like
Speaker 1: an all American mom. But then in other pictures, like
Speaker 1: her mugshot for example, she's sort of grimacing and has
Speaker 1: a scary vibe. What was she like in prison? In person?
Speaker 1: She was the tide, you know, to talk about every
Speaker 1: day stuff like how you do, and how's your family
Speaker 1: and everything else like that. But it felt like whenever
Speaker 1: she would talk to you, it felt like an act
Speaker 1: because that she was putting on, like you know, she
Speaker 1: would looking down on the kind of thing is. At
Speaker 1: least that's what I always picked up. She seemed like
Speaker 1: she was put on a map. Makes people think so
Speaker 1: she's all right, so whatever. But I never really did
Speaker 1: like her. She's just books me. After the Wagner family
Speaker 1: was arrested in twenty eighteen, the family's unusual dynamic became
Speaker 1: a key building block in the States case against Angela,
Speaker 1: Billy Jake, and George Wagner. On August thirty first of
Speaker 1: last year, George Wagner appeared in court for a pre
Speaker 1: trial hearing. Special Agent Ryan Scheiterer of the Ohio Bureau
Speaker 1: of Criminal Investigation testified that day. He provided details of
Speaker 1: what authorities had uncovered about the Wagners over two years
Speaker 1: of investigating here's Prosecutor Angie Kaneppa questioning agent Scheiterer. How
Speaker 1: would you describe the Wagner family. The Wagner family from
Speaker 1: what we found through the investigation as well as their
Speaker 1: own admittances, they're very close. When I say they lived together,
Speaker 1: they've always lived together. There's not been a period of
Speaker 1: time where George Wagner has not lived with his brother
Speaker 1: or his mother. But their finances are intermingled. They worked together,
Speaker 1: They've always worked together. They homeschool together, they raised their
Speaker 1: kids together. Everything is done together. So from birth until
Speaker 1: the day they were arrested, they lived together. Yes. Do
Speaker 1: you have an opinion as whether or not one of
Speaker 1: them might strike out and go commit some haynes tiding
Speaker 1: with you out and the others knowing about it or
Speaker 1: participating in it. No, we have an informant who says
Speaker 1: that every decision within that family is made as a
Speaker 1: family decision. Years after Angelo Wagner force George Wagner and
Speaker 1: Tabby Howard's relationship to end, the couple rekindled their romance.
Speaker 1: Soon after, victim Hanname Rodin started going out with Jake
Speaker 1: Wagner and the Rodens. Wagner's and Howard's became very close.
Speaker 1: Hannah's brother, Victim Frankie Rodin even joined the Phray. Hannah
Speaker 1: and Tabby were best friends, and Hannah and Jake were together,
Speaker 1: and Tabby and George were together, and Frankie would hang
Speaker 1: out with him a lot because they were like best
Speaker 1: friends with Frankie ussos, so they were always like going
Speaker 1: out hunting and fishing and stuff. Then one day, Tabby
Speaker 1: Howard came to her family with some surprising news. She
Speaker 1: and George Wagner were getting married. We didn't know anything
Speaker 1: about it until shortly before it, so Karen something like us, like, wow,
Speaker 1: that's crazy. Instead of excitement, Christina felt something much different
Speaker 1: based on her time spent around the family and accused
Speaker 1: mother Angela Wagner in particular. It just didn't feel right
Speaker 1: to me, and I thought I'd speak my mind about it.
Speaker 1: I told her, I said, listen, you don't want to
Speaker 1: marry him, and she said, well why not? I said,
Speaker 1: because his mom is very controlling. I said, you want
Speaker 1: to wait a few years and see how things go
Speaker 1: before you, you know, jump into getting married to him
Speaker 1: and stuff. And she said, well, you're just full of it.
Speaker 1: You don't know what you're talking about we love each
Speaker 1: other and everything, and Angie's just trying to look out
Speaker 1: for me. So towards that part, I feel like Angie,
Speaker 1: you know, like kind of turned her against her family
Speaker 1: a bit more of like a I don't need you
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna spend my time with my new family.
Speaker 1: I didn't want her to get married because of the
Speaker 1: way I felt, but I felt like it wasn't my place,
Speaker 1: because you know, intervene. If she's happy, let her be.
Speaker 1: If not, she'll figure it out. On July first, twenty twelve,
Speaker 1: all three families gathered for Tabby Howard and George Wagner's wedding.
Speaker 1: That was a normal, pretty wedding. It was kind of
Speaker 1: country because you know type. She had a camouflage dress
Speaker 1: and George she had a camo tugs. Everybody's camouflage crazy
Speaker 1: around here. They love it. Hanging up, you have somebody
Speaker 1: what their favorite colors and they're like, oh, it's camouflage.
Speaker 1: Me and two of my sisters and Hannah were her bridesmaids.
Speaker 1: The bridesmaids we wore black dresses, and Jake was George's
Speaker 1: best man. Obviously, the Wagoners were there. There was Freddy,
Speaker 1: George and Angela and Billy and then some of the
Speaker 1: other Rodents were there and I was walking down the
Speaker 1: aisle with Frankie. They had a smash cake, I guess
Speaker 1: you'd call it, you know, where you smashing into each
Speaker 1: other's faces. It was a really good wedding. We talked
Speaker 1: last episode about the photo of the Rodents and Wagner's
Speaker 1: from Tabby and George's wedding, and we can't stop looking
Speaker 1: at it because it's just so chilling. The happiness on
Speaker 1: everyone's face is palpable. But Christina now sees details in
Speaker 1: the pictures she never saw before. In my mind, I
Speaker 1: feel like the people in the picture should be sorted
Speaker 1: out differently, you know, like in this placement, it's like
Speaker 1: Tabby and George just sent off to Spike because even
Speaker 1: though they're getting married, they're not the like the main attraction.
Speaker 1: And Angie is just like top center wearing that white dress,
Speaker 1: like laughing in their face, like ha ha, y'all are
Speaker 1: beneath me. Yeah. I was gonna ask you because people
Speaker 1: have different views. But some people think you don't wear
Speaker 1: white to anyone else's wedding. You know, why would Andrew
Speaker 1: wear white? To another person's wedding. I mean, you're not
Speaker 1: supposed to do that, because that is like supposed to
Speaker 1: be like bad juju the married couple, like saying that
Speaker 1: I hope that your wedding don't wind a long kind
Speaker 1: of thing. It's clear that George Wagner and Tabby Howard's
Speaker 1: wedding marked an inflection point in the lives of all
Speaker 1: three families. After that day, nothing would ever be the same.
Speaker 1: Shortly after the wedding, we stopped hearing from her. The
Speaker 1: last thing that we heard from Tabby was that she
Speaker 1: was pregnant was my nephew, and she was given birth
Speaker 1: to him, and that was it. We didn't get no
Speaker 1: pictures of him, no nothing. We didn't hear anything from Tabby,
Speaker 1: nothing from Angela or George or anybody. They just like
Speaker 1: straight up disappeared. We're going to take a quick break here,
Speaker 1: we'll be back in a moment. Nobody knew where they were,
Speaker 1: nobody would knew what they were doing or anything. And
Speaker 1: it weren't like that for a couple of years. Everybody
Speaker 1: was just so concerned about my sister because we're like,
Speaker 1: you know, we literally have not heard a thing from her.
Speaker 1: Then one night, Tabby suddenly resurfaced. It was a call,
Speaker 1: like a random call in the middle of the night
Speaker 1: from a gas station, from a number we didn't know,
Speaker 1: and she's calling us, telling us, hey, can you come
Speaker 1: get me. I'm here at this gas station, and you know,
Speaker 1: we're freaking out, like, what's going on. We ain't heard
Speaker 1: nothing from you in a few years. She said, I
Speaker 1: don't really have time to explain, can come get me
Speaker 1: and all that. So we packed up in the cars, me,
Speaker 1: my mom and dad to go get my sister. And
Speaker 1: then we get there and she's bawling her eyes out.
Speaker 1: She rode there in the middle of the night. It
Speaker 1: was raining cats and dogs outside. She's all wet and cold.
Speaker 1: She rode there on a bike, and the police showed
Speaker 1: up and put my sister in a car in the
Speaker 1: cop car, asking her what was going on and everything,
Speaker 1: and apparently her and George got into a fight. Angie
Speaker 1: called the cops on her and said that she was
Speaker 1: beating George and hitting was her two boy four and
Speaker 1: everything else, and tried to stab him with scissors and
Speaker 1: all this, And Tabby said that that wasn't how it happened.
Speaker 1: She said she was you know, I guess you got
Speaker 1: into a fight with George and Angie and George wouldn't
Speaker 1: like let her go and get his hands off of her.
Speaker 1: George didn't have any marks on him to prove that
Speaker 1: Tabby had beaten him. Tabby didn't have any marks on
Speaker 1: her to prove that he was putting his hands on her.
Speaker 1: So nobody got arrested, and just Tabby just got questioned
Speaker 1: and all that, and then you know, she comes home
Speaker 1: with us, and you know, we're sitting there trying to
Speaker 1: catch up on everything. What Tabby Howard told her family
Speaker 1: that night was deeply disturbing. Here's Christina's recollection of her
Speaker 1: sister's story. According to Tabby, Angie wouldn't let her like
Speaker 1: have a phone nan. She always said that Tabby was crazy,
Speaker 1: and she was telling us all about how she was controlling,
Speaker 1: and Tabby said that she wasn't allowed to, you know,
Speaker 1: do anything with her kid, and Angie always said, no,
Speaker 1: you're not, you're crazy, You're an unfit mother. She said
Speaker 1: that she would all the time tell George about what's
Speaker 1: going on and everything, and George was like, Oh, it's okay,
Speaker 1: you're just being dramatic. Mom, want to do that? To you,
Speaker 1: and it's all for your own good blah blah blah,
Speaker 1: We're just looking out for you. But why would they
Speaker 1: do that? What would they have to gain from, you know,
Speaker 1: sitting there keeping my sister is basically a prisoner, and
Speaker 1: you know, sitting there like mentally abusing her and everything else.
Speaker 1: What would they have to gain from it other than
Speaker 1: you know, my nephew. Christina's story about Tabby's escape from
Speaker 1: the Wagner household may sound outrageous. However, it was convincing
Speaker 1: enough for Agent Scheiterer to testify about it in court
Speaker 1: during George Wagner's hearing last year. Was George Wager married? Yes?
Speaker 1: Who is he married? And did he still live with
Speaker 1: family at the time? During the time he was married
Speaker 1: to Tabitha? Yes, okay, So Tabitha lived with them? Yes okay?
Speaker 1: And are you aware of what happened that ended that relationship? Yes?
Speaker 1: What happened? She fled the relationship. There was an incident
Speaker 1: on one particular day, her and George had gotten into
Speaker 1: an argument. Schiderer included a few frightening details that Christina
Speaker 1: hadn't told us. Eventually, there was a comment by Angelo
Speaker 1: that she was going to kill Tabitha, So she fled
Speaker 1: to a gas station and ultimately never returned. And actually specifically,
Speaker 1: she first hit on the property until nightfall and then
Speaker 1: got out bike and drove to a gas station, and
Speaker 1: Mabor escaped that way and never went back after that. Correct.
Speaker 1: Soon after Tabby Howard fled the Wagner's household, the family
Speaker 1: became too much for victim Hanname Roden to bear as well. Hannah,
Speaker 1: I guess she told my sister that that was really
Speaker 1: courageous of her. She's proud of her. She was saying
Speaker 1: that she was tired of it, tired of always being
Speaker 1: controlled and told what to do and everything. So Hannah decided,
Speaker 1: you know, that she was going to leave too. It
Speaker 1: seems that Hannahme Rodin left Jake Wagner due to the
Speaker 1: same reasons Tabby Howard left George. Some of these details
Speaker 1: were illuminated at that same hearing for George Wagner last year.
Speaker 1: Here's Prosecutor Angie Kaneppa questioning agent Ryan Scheiderer about some
Speaker 1: messages hannahme had written. They were two other Roden family members,
Speaker 1: and where about Jake, their breakup and her relationship with
Speaker 1: new boyfriend Charlie Gilly. Were you aware why Canna may
Speaker 1: laughed Ja domestic violence issues between Jacob solving her okay?
Speaker 1: And you observe specific communications about that, Yes, she made
Speaker 1: it aware, She made people aware of it, okay. Did
Speaker 1: she also make comments about the Wagner family as a
Speaker 1: whole being controlling? Yes. After she had left Jake, she
Speaker 1: started seeing another individual and ultimately conceived a second child
Speaker 1: with that individual, correct, yes, okay. And that was who
Speaker 1: Charlie Gilly okay? And are you aware as to whether
Speaker 1: or not Hannah told Jake that she was pregnant and
Speaker 1: that she also told him who the father of the
Speaker 1: child was. She told Jake as well as Angela, that
Speaker 1: she was pregnant and it was Charlie Gilly's child, Okay.
Speaker 1: During that time after she was pregnant Charlie Gilly's child.
Speaker 1: In the months leading up to the homicides, did she
Speaker 1: make it clear to Jake that they were not getting
Speaker 1: back together? Very clear? Okay? And had he asked her
Speaker 1: to engage in dialogue with an attorney in order to
Speaker 1: try to work out custody between them, Yes, she made
Speaker 1: attempts to get that done. Yes, okay. And what was
Speaker 1: she interested in doing that. By the time Hannahme road
Speaker 1: and left, Tabby Howard was in the middle of her
Speaker 1: own custody battle with Jake's brother, George Wagner. Well, we
Speaker 1: don't know all the details of George Wagner and Tabby's
Speaker 1: custody case, there is evidence to support Christina's account of it.
Speaker 1: It was a preview of what would come to bear
Speaker 1: for Hannahme and the following months. My sister was gonna
Speaker 1: do joint custody. My mom tried to help my sister
Speaker 1: go through court and all that, with all that, you know,
Speaker 1: trying to help her, and my sister told my mom
Speaker 1: she said, no, it's okay, Angie will help me out
Speaker 1: with it. And why she trusted Angie with it is
Speaker 1: beyond me, and why she's still wanted to trust her.
Speaker 1: Was court, I don't know. I don't know what it
Speaker 1: was running through tabbith head, But somehow she got Tabby
Speaker 1: to sign some paperwork saying that George would get full
Speaker 1: custody of my nephew and that Tabby would only get
Speaker 1: visitation rights like on their terms. She wasn't allowed to
Speaker 1: leave the property. Was my nephew. Tabby Howard's custody story
Speaker 1: was also highlighted by Agent Scheiderer. Last year, there was
Speaker 1: a divorce with some child custody issues where ultimately she
Speaker 1: was forced to give up all control of her son
Speaker 1: to George. So she gave up all of her parental rights. Okay,
Speaker 1: and when you see she was forced to did someone
Speaker 1: who would have gone into her head. No, okay, but
Speaker 1: in fact what she prosed in the custody proceeds in
Speaker 1: not representing it correct and George Yes. Despite the Wagner's
Speaker 1: repeated attempts to keep Tabby away from her son, she
Speaker 1: tried to visit him as much as she could. Whenever
Speaker 1: she would try to reach out to George like hey,
Speaker 1: can I come visit my son, Angela would get on
Speaker 1: there and be like, oh, he's not your son anymore.
Speaker 1: You might have gave Martel him, but I'm his real
Speaker 1: mother because I take care of em and all these
Speaker 1: just nasty things. We're going to take a quick break here.
Speaker 1: We'll be back in a moment. Tabby Howard made one
Speaker 1: last valiant effort to see her son. It was an
Speaker 1: Easter because I remember my sister made her son an
Speaker 1: Easter basket, you know, wanting to give it to him
Speaker 1: for Easter and everything. I went there with her. It
Speaker 1: was me, her and my mom, and my mom stayed
Speaker 1: in the car and I got out of the car
Speaker 1: with Tabby and we walked up there, you know, knocker
Speaker 1: on the door, because she had previously called George j
Speaker 1: askin if she could come see her son and give
Speaker 1: him an Easter basket. He said, yeah, that's fine, come
Speaker 1: on over and you can see your son and give
Speaker 1: him his Easter basket. And she said all right. So
Speaker 1: we went there, and then once we got there, Angie
Speaker 1: answered the door, and you know, Tabby said, oh, I'm
Speaker 1: here to see my son. Can I have a few minutes,
Speaker 1: you know, spend a few minutes with him for Easter?
Speaker 1: She said, let me go get George, and then she
Speaker 1: slammed the door, and my sister's faith and we're sitting
Speaker 1: out there waiting a good ten fifteen minutes, and then
Speaker 1: George comes out. She asked George, she said, what was
Speaker 1: that about? Why was your mom, you know, being hateful.
Speaker 1: I didn't do anything. And he was like, oh, she's
Speaker 1: just not in a good mood today. And she said,
Speaker 1: where's our son. You know, I'd like to see him?
Speaker 1: You said I could come see him. He said, oh,
Speaker 1: he's in there with a fever right now. He's sick
Speaker 1: from staying up all night and day, throwing a fit
Speaker 1: and everything else, you know, just coming up with another excuse.
Speaker 1: And then my sister started crying. She said, well, I
Speaker 1: just wanted to see my son. You said I could.
Speaker 1: What's the problem? Man. He was telling her like, oh,
Speaker 1: don't cry, Everything's all right, And then he like tried
Speaker 1: to hugger, and she said, no, I don't want to
Speaker 1: hug you know. She said, don't touch me, and he's like,
Speaker 1: all right, I won't touch you, you know. She was
Speaker 1: like wiping away her tears and stuff. She said, well,
Speaker 1: can you at least give this to our son, and
Speaker 1: if you have time, whenever he gets it, can you
Speaker 1: send me a picture of him with it, even if
Speaker 1: it's just a picture. I'm happy to see my son.
Speaker 1: I don't know if he ever got the Eastern Basket
Speaker 1: or not, or if they threw it away. I don't know.
Speaker 1: Like Tabby Howard victim, Hannime Rodin kept up the fight
Speaker 1: for her child after she and Jike Wagner had broken up.
Speaker 1: But the Rodents had one advantage Tabby didn't We didn't
Speaker 1: have money like the Roden's got money, because they had
Speaker 1: money too, maybe not as much as the Wagner's, but
Speaker 1: they still they still, you know, lived pretty damn comfortably.
Speaker 1: If they wanted you to, you know, take Angie to
Speaker 1: court and all that, then Angie would have a real
Speaker 1: pride monor hands, especially since they had money too, and
Speaker 1: Hannah was the mom and here in ohiyas, the mom
Speaker 1: has the right, and they weren't married, You're a sister,
Speaker 1: and George were married, which immediately changes the custody discussion
Speaker 1: from the start. So unlike with the two of you,
Speaker 1: Hannah and Jake were unmarried, so he legally had no rights.
Speaker 1: So that became an added trigger potentially right. And it
Speaker 1: seems that the Wagners knew that. We talked last season
Speaker 1: about forged custody documents the Wagners had drawn up in
Speaker 1: order to get soul custody of hannahme Rodin and Jake
Speaker 1: Wagner's young daughter. Agent Schuiderer discussed the genesis of these
Speaker 1: custody documents, also called declaration documents, in great detail at
Speaker 1: George Wagner's hearing last year. Here's an excerpt from that testimony,
Speaker 1: you seize the computer from the Wagner's Is that correct,
Speaker 1: trut okay, and that computer was analyzed for evidence correct.
Speaker 1: During that review of the content of the computer, you
Speaker 1: discovered that there had been documents Googled searched for on
Speaker 1: April thirty, twenty sixteen. Correct, declaration documents correct, okay. And
Speaker 1: then do you also see that those documents were printed
Speaker 1: out of the computer on the same day. Yes, And
Speaker 1: the bottom corner of the pages that says April third,
Speaker 1: twenty sixteenth. Okay. So like computers sometimes do when you
Speaker 1: print something and it says what day you're printing. React.
Speaker 1: Did you ultimately recover those documents, the actual physical documents, yes, okay.
Speaker 1: And it's your testimony that one of them was a
Speaker 1: declaration reportedly made were apparently made by Hannah May where
Speaker 1: it bore what was intended to be her signature. Correct.
Speaker 1: Did you submit all of these documents to be examined
Speaker 1: by a handwriting expert within DCI, Yes, okay. Did you
Speaker 1: find out if in fact that was her signature? We did,
Speaker 1: It was not her signature, okay. Additionally, you talked about
Speaker 1: the fact that they were dated at a prior time,
Speaker 1: and so I clear, are you saying that they were
Speaker 1: in fact backdated? Yes, that is backdated as if it
Speaker 1: were signed in twenty fourteen by Hannah a correct. Okay.
Speaker 1: So they print out a piece of paper on the
Speaker 1: April thirty, twenty sixteen. You see evidence of that in
Speaker 1: the computer that it is also printed out that same day.
Speaker 1: You later also recovered the original documents with a raised
Speaker 1: stamp on it. Correct, And that piece of paper didn't
Speaker 1: exist in two thousand and fourteen, correct, so it could
Speaker 1: not have been signed on those dates. Correct. Okay. Prosecutor
Speaker 1: Angie Kaneppa noted the unusual settlement on the Wagner's forged
Speaker 1: custody documents. This paper says, if Hannah is to meet
Speaker 1: her demise, then Sophia should go to Jake. Correct, Okay.
Speaker 1: But if Jake meets his demise, then his child goes
Speaker 1: to his mom correct, not to Hannah. Correct. Last season,
Speaker 1: we highlighted an ominous Facebook message that hannahme Rodin had
Speaker 1: written during her protracted custody battle with Jake. It was
Speaker 1: discovered on a laptop owned by the Wagner family. Agent.
Speaker 1: Scheider spoke about that message and the warning she received
Speaker 1: from someone who was intimately familiar with the Wagner's nefarious ways.
Speaker 1: At the hearing, you talked about the fact that this
Speaker 1: relationship between Jake and Hannah was not going well, that
Speaker 1: he was bugging her to sign stuff giving him custody.
Speaker 1: Obviously they forged documents that if she were to die,
Speaker 1: Jake would get custody. Was there a specific communication that
Speaker 1: sticks out in your mind that Hannah may made to
Speaker 1: another person that the Wagoners became aware of? Yes, a
Speaker 1: Facebook message? Okay, messenger message? Okay, so a Messenger message?
Speaker 1: Then who was that message too, Patricia? But it would
Speaker 1: be Tabitha's mother, Okay, Tabitha, Georgie's wife. You said it
Speaker 1: was a private messenger, correct, Yes, And so, if I'm
Speaker 1: understanding correctly, private messenger is not something that anyone else
Speaker 1: would be able to see except for the two people
Speaker 1: that are messaging each other. Correct. Are you aware whether
Speaker 1: or not the Wagoners became aware of that conversation? Absolutely,
Speaker 1: we're aware of it. And how do you know that
Speaker 1: there is a screenshot of this conversation found on the
Speaker 1: laptop that belonged to the Wagner family. Okay, the device
Speaker 1: was registered to Jake, but there's strong evidence that Angela
Speaker 1: seemed to be the primary user of that laptop. Can
Speaker 1: you tell us what were they discussing at the time
Speaker 1: that she made this statement. The theme of the conversation was, basically,
Speaker 1: Patricia was telling Hannah, you know, don't let what happened
Speaker 1: to Tabitha happen to you. You know, don't you know,
Speaker 1: keep fighting for your kid, don't give up your kid,
Speaker 1: you know, basically saying, don't don't become another Tabitha. Okay.
Speaker 1: And what does Hannah say get in the response to that?
Speaker 1: This is the copy of the body of their text
Speaker 1: their conversation, and her reply is, I won't sign papers. Ever,
Speaker 1: it won't happen. They will have to kill me first.
Speaker 1: So not only did was that Hannah Ma's sentiments at
Speaker 1: the time that she would not sign papers ever, that
Speaker 1: they would have to kill her first. This was her
Speaker 1: sentiments on December tenth, twenty fifteen. And you know for
Speaker 1: a fact that the Wagner saw it, in fact, the
Speaker 1: same date as she said that. Correct. Yeah, okay, and
Speaker 1: just over four months later, Panna and all of her
Speaker 1: family are dead. Correct? And nonother question after the Rodent
Speaker 1: family was murdered. Christina Howard and her family were panicked.
Speaker 1: Pretty much, a whole bloodline gets marched off over the
Speaker 1: custody of one kid. And you know, my sister is
Speaker 1: she's got a kid with them too, And you know,
Speaker 1: after we heard about it, we was like, oh shit,
Speaker 1: better up on security because we ain't we ain't about
Speaker 1: to get crossed out. But when the Wagoners were arrested
Speaker 1: in twenty eighteen, Tabby Howard's nightmare finally came to an end.
Speaker 1: Once they were arrested. Um. He was in like a
Speaker 1: child protect the services for a while, and after a
Speaker 1: few months she was finally granted full custody of her son.
Speaker 1: Following Jake Wagner's admission in court just weeks ago. Christina
Speaker 1: had to come to terms with her feelings about the
Speaker 1: one Wagner. She thought she could always trust grandmother, the accused, Frederica,
Speaker 1: I love, but she's very gollible. They probably told her
Speaker 1: some crazy stuff like all these people are after us,
Speaker 1: they're trying to frame us for these murders. Blah blah blah. Well,
Speaker 1: of course, if I'm gollible, I'm gonna hide them. Not
Speaker 1: saying she did or anything, but like and in that
Speaker 1: kind of situation, Yeah, so what does the Wagner's sort
Speaker 1: did history mean? If Angela, Billy, and George decide to
Speaker 1: stand trial, they all maintained their please of not guilty,
Speaker 1: it may force Jake Wagner to go to court and
Speaker 1: sit in front of his mother, father, and brother of
Speaker 1: a jury and Spiller's guts and a lot of things
Speaker 1: we haven't known in the last five years are going
Speaker 1: to be known. Then you know who went into what home,
Speaker 1: who died first, why they died. You've got to believe
Speaker 1: we are going to learn things we never knew before
Speaker 1: and hear things you would have never believed. And if
Speaker 1: the trials move forward, the stakes for Pike County prosecutors
Speaker 1: couldn't be higher. The case that the prosecution is building
Speaker 1: against the Wagner family. It's not a single story ranch.
Speaker 1: It's a freaking mansion. And they're investing a lot of time,
Speaker 1: a lot of hours, a lot of capital in this thing,
Speaker 1: and they don't want to see it fail because if
Speaker 1: this thing fails, can you imagine what a nightmare this is.
Speaker 1: If one little thing goes wrong with it, the whole
Speaker 1: case can be destroyed. But on April twenty eight, twenty
Speaker 1: twenty one, less than one week after Jake Wagner's pleadale
Speaker 1: took place, his brother George appeared in a Pike County courtroom.
Speaker 1: Reporter Angeanette Levy was on the scene. George just found
Speaker 1: out and the weak prior that his brother had confessed
Speaker 1: and implicated his whole family. His attorney had been so
Speaker 1: steadfast in court documents and saying, you know, my guy
Speaker 1: didn't do this, he wasn't involved. Well, clearly now his
Speaker 1: brother was saying that's not the case. That George the
Speaker 1: fourth was very much involved. I think we were all wondering,
Speaker 1: what is this emotions hearing going of you? Like, was
Speaker 1: George Wagner going to change his plea More on that
Speaker 1: next time. The Piked and Massacre Returned to Pike County
Speaker 1: is executive produced by Stephanie Lydecker and me Courtney Armstrong.
Speaker 1: Editing and sound designed by executive producer Jared Aston. Additional
Speaker 1: producing by Jeff Shane, Andrew Becker, Chris Graves, Tim Hamilton,
Speaker 1: and Haley Nielsen. Engineering by Jason Freeman. The Piketon Massacre
Speaker 1: Returned to Pike County is a production of iHeartRadio and
Speaker 1: Katie Studios. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
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