Speaker 1: Billy said, well, you know, if you kill her, you're
Speaker 1: gonna have to kill Chris and Frankie because they will
Speaker 1: know you get it and they will come after you.
Speaker 1: Jake testified George was in a firing position. Jake said
Speaker 1: he told him to shoot, but he didn't. Jake takes
Speaker 1: the rifle from George, and then when Chris shows up
Speaker 1: in the doorway, he shoots him. What really stood out
Speaker 1: to me, it's just the way he talked about killing
Speaker 1: people like it was no big deal. This is the
Speaker 1: Pike and Massacre Returned to Pike County season four, episode eighteen.
Speaker 1: Jake Wagner on the stand. I'm Courtney Armstrong, a television
Speaker 1: producer at Katie's Studios with Stephanie Lydecker and Jeff Shane.
Speaker 1: It's important to note that George Wagner the fourth pleaded
Speaker 1: not guilty to all charges. His father, Billy Wagner, whose
Speaker 1: trial is upcoming, also pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Speaker 1: At the beginning of the eighth week of testimony, I
Speaker 1: traveled to Ohio to be in the courtroom when jurors
Speaker 1: heard from the man who seems to be at the
Speaker 1: center of this trial, Jake Wagner. In April of twenty
Speaker 1: twenty one, on the five year anniversary of the murders,
Speaker 1: Jake played guilty to eight counts of aggravated murder and
Speaker 1: agreed to testify against his own family, including his older
Speaker 1: brother George. In exchange, the prosecution removed the death penalty
Speaker 1: as a possible punishment for all. Wagner's judge, Randy Deering,
Speaker 1: allowed Jake Wagner to opt out from having his testimony recorded.
Speaker 1: That's why we will not hear Jake Wagner's voice in
Speaker 1: this episode. Still, his testimony is chilling, dramatic testimony in
Speaker 1: Pike County Today, brother versus brother. Today, Jake Wagner took
Speaker 1: the stand against George Wagner the fourth. When Jake Wagner
Speaker 1: entered the courtroom, both his hands and feet were shackled
Speaker 1: with long chain manacles. He wore thick black glasses and
Speaker 1: a prison issued tan jumpsuit. His hair was slicked back
Speaker 1: and in a ponytail. I was not surprised to see
Speaker 1: him in jail clothes. You know, A lot of the
Speaker 1: reporters had been speculating that, oh, maybe they'll put him
Speaker 1: in street clothes, And I just thought to myself. I've
Speaker 1: never seen an inmate testify. Was put in street clothes.
Speaker 1: I mean, the prosecution wanted these people to be seen
Speaker 1: at least Jake and Angela as criminals. Now twenty nine
Speaker 1: years old, Jake Wagner has been in the Franklin County
Speaker 1: jail for nearly four years. The only noticeable change in
Speaker 1: his appearance as he looked stronger. He looked fitter than
Speaker 1: the thin, gangly man he was before his arrest. He
Speaker 1: looks like a different person. Now you see Jake as
Speaker 1: a teenager, and suddenly you got a con sitting there
Speaker 1: at that big table there in a courthouse. It's an
Speaker 1: understatement to say Jake Wagner's testimony has been highly anticipated. Unsurprisingly,
Speaker 1: the courtroom was packed. This is me speaking with Stephanie
Speaker 1: from Ohio. Was anybody on the Wagner side that you
Speaker 1: could identify or was it still a total no show
Speaker 1: for George. There wasn't a seat to be had completely filled,
Speaker 1: including extra seats that were put into the aisles, so
Speaker 1: that was just getting in. So it felt unlike any
Speaker 1: other day in the trial so far. It was a
Speaker 1: real buzz. There appeared to be no one there for George. Wagner.
Speaker 1: A lot of the people outside of the media and
Speaker 1: victims family members were family members of the attorneys on
Speaker 1: the prosecution and defense sides. That's interesting because you never
Speaker 1: would really think that that's who would come, but this
Speaker 1: is their big moment, So for family members of the lawyers,
Speaker 1: that does make sense. After Jake took the stand, he
Speaker 1: looked directly at his brother George from across the room
Speaker 1: and smiled for a brief moment when they made eye
Speaker 1: contact the first time in years, before George looked away.
Speaker 1: Here's reporter a Jeanette Levy, who was in the courtroom.
Speaker 1: I was sitting right behind George, and George made eye
Speaker 1: contact with him, but I don't think it was for
Speaker 1: very long. Was pretty short lived. And Jake just kind of,
Speaker 1: you know, he kept looking around a little bit like
Speaker 1: he was very It was almost kind of like this
Speaker 1: alert look. He kept turning his head, looking back and forth,
Speaker 1: and you know, then things started. The questioning started. Prosecutor
Speaker 1: Angiekineppa started by asking Jake if it was difficult to
Speaker 1: testify against his own family. He said it was very difficult.
Speaker 1: When he was asked, would you love nothing more for
Speaker 1: your brother, your mother, and your father to be able
Speaker 1: to go home, and he said yes. The only other
Speaker 1: emotion Jake appeared to show that morning was when he
Speaker 1: mouthed quote, I am sorry in the direction of the
Speaker 1: road and family sitting in the courtroom. Then he calmly
Speaker 1: and with little emotion, walked Jerrs through the killings. During
Speaker 1: more than six hours of detailed testimony, Jake Wagner explained
Speaker 1: why he wanted to kill Hannah Rodin, the mother of
Speaker 1: his child. With Jake Wagner, what's fascinating about him is
Speaker 1: that he's kind of the doorway into what can be
Speaker 1: described only as a horror show. It's not just the
Speaker 1: night of the home songs. It's everything waiting out to it.
Speaker 1: It's life. But these people led in the years preceding.
Speaker 1: Jake Wagner detailed how his family's criminal activity began long
Speaker 1: before they were arrested for the Rodin, Manly and Gilly murders.
Speaker 1: Prosecutor and JIW. Kneppa asked Jake Wagner about the various
Speaker 1: homes and vehicles his family owned. We found out from
Speaker 1: Jake Wagner's testimony today that he, his brother, and his
Speaker 1: father would commit crimes together, including multiple arsons to collect
Speaker 1: insurance money and stealing high priced item from businesses. Jake
Speaker 1: admitted that his parents set fire to their own home
Speaker 1: on Bethel Hill Road to collect the insurance benefits. He
Speaker 1: also testified that the Wagner's torch multiple vehicles for the
Speaker 1: same reason. Jake said they would steal everything from fuel
Speaker 1: to building materials to livestock, also that he learned to
Speaker 1: pick a lock at a very young age. Here again
Speaker 1: is long crime reporter and Jeanette Levy. She's followed by
Speaker 1: forensic investigator Joseph Scott Morgan. They were taught these things
Speaker 1: so that they could get away with crimes, and not
Speaker 1: necessarily so they could be like good human beings. I mean,
Speaker 1: they were raised to be criminals. It's quite sad when
Speaker 1: you listen to them talk about how their dad would
Speaker 1: sit them down with like a lock pick set when
Speaker 1: they were seven nine years old something like that, and
Speaker 1: teach them how to pick locks and weird games about oh,
Speaker 1: if you were out and about and you spot a cop,
Speaker 1: you get a dollar. When you hear about the way
Speaker 1: that Jake grew up, where he was essentially cycled into
Speaker 1: a life of crime, Billy described it as he was
Speaker 1: teaching his boy survival skills, you know, how to essentially
Speaker 1: steal a car or hot wire car in case he
Speaker 1: ever got quote unquote kidnapped. And I'm thinking, you know,
Speaker 1: I don't know if any parent out there that sits
Speaker 1: around and thinks, well, let me tell my child how
Speaker 1: to steal a car in case they ever get kidnapped.
Speaker 1: I wonder, I wonder where all changes in tire rotations
Speaker 1: came in? You know, did you at least talk about
Speaker 1: that first, you know, And he's saying this, he's saving
Speaker 1: this from the stand, and you're really getting a peek
Speaker 1: behind the curtain at this life that they led. Jake
Speaker 1: told the courtroom his relationship with Hannah Me Rodin began
Speaker 1: when she was just thirteen years old. He said he
Speaker 1: met Hannah at the Pike County Fair where she was
Speaker 1: showing off her pet rabbits. Despite being four years older
Speaker 1: than Hannah, Jake asked her parents, Dana and Chris Rodin,
Speaker 1: if he could date her. At times, their relationship ship
Speaker 1: was violent. Prosecutor Angie Kaneppa asked Jake if he ever
Speaker 1: choked his young girlfriend, as Hannahme had once claimed, and
Speaker 1: he said, I never choked her, and he was very
Speaker 1: like adamant about it, and he said, she was having
Speaker 1: a fit, and you know, I held her up against
Speaker 1: the wall and I put my arm on her collar bone,
Speaker 1: but I didn't choke her. I just held her there
Speaker 1: until she calmed down. And after he gave that answer,
Speaker 1: he kind of like Angie Kaneppa kind of made a
Speaker 1: sighing noise. But it was just like he was talking
Speaker 1: about this, like, oh, I didn't choke her. I was
Speaker 1: just you know, holding her there. It was like this
Speaker 1: minimization or justification or rationalization for basically holding your ex
Speaker 1: girlfriend against a wall because she was upset about something.
Speaker 1: And you know he's claiming he didn't choke her. Well,
Speaker 1: Hannah May saying he choked her like that his arm
Speaker 1: was on her throat. So some of these things were
Speaker 1: pretty strange to me that way he would describe them.
Speaker 1: By age fifteen, hannahme Rodent was pregnant and gave birth
Speaker 1: to her daughter she shared with Jake Wagner. Her tumultuous
Speaker 1: relationship with Jake ended in February of twenty fifteen, a
Speaker 1: little more than a year before the murders. Jake Wagner
Speaker 1: described his family's motive and one of the worst massacres
Speaker 1: in Ohio's history that led to the death of eight
Speaker 1: members of the Rodent family. After their relationship broke up,
Speaker 1: Jake testified that he and his mother, Angela began to
Speaker 1: have concerns about the safety of his daughter, who was
Speaker 1: living with the Rodents. This was true in particular after
Speaker 1: Hannah May started dating Corey Holdron, who Jake believed was
Speaker 1: dealing drugs. Jake said he was concerned his daughter wouldn't
Speaker 1: be safe living with the Rodents, even going as far
Speaker 1: as saying he was concerned would be molested, since he
Speaker 1: said it happened in both his family and Hannah's family.
Speaker 1: Jake testified that his mother, Angela Wagner, monitoring Hannah May's
Speaker 1: private Facebook conversations. Jake's concern for his daughter only grew
Speaker 1: when he became aware of an online conversation where Hannah
Speaker 1: said the only way she would give up custody of
Speaker 1: their daughter is if the Wagner's killed her first. Wagner
Speaker 1: said that his father, Billy Wagner, first mentioned a murder plot,
Speaker 1: but he would not let it happen. Jake testified he
Speaker 1: told Hannah he was concerned that their daughter could be molested,
Speaker 1: and he claims that Hannah was dismissive, saying, quote, if
Speaker 1: that happens, we'll just have to deal with it. That
Speaker 1: alleged response, Jake Wagner told the court was the tipping point.
Speaker 1: Jake Wagner said, by the winter of twenty fifteen and
Speaker 1: twenty sixteen, he was concerned that his daughter with Hannah
Speaker 1: Rodin might be molested, so he decided his only choice
Speaker 1: to protect his daughter was actually to kill Hannah. The
Speaker 1: prosecution says basically that that was made up, this fear
Speaker 1: that the little girl would be molested. The prosecution basically
Speaker 1: says that was something they kind of whipped up in
Speaker 1: their heads to justify what they wanted to do. And
Speaker 1: we get earlier in the trial seeing text messages or
Speaker 1: Facebook messages where Hannah May and Jake were talking about
Speaker 1: their child, and it was just amazing to me that
Speaker 1: in some points he would say things like I'll take
Speaker 1: her even if I have to do it by force,
Speaker 1: just some really eerie foreshadowing. So it just seemed to
Speaker 1: me that they, for whatever reason, and everybody wants their
Speaker 1: children to be with them, but this seems to be
Speaker 1: some type of demand like, no, this child is going
Speaker 1: to be with me. Once he made up his mind
Speaker 1: that Hannah may had to be killed, Jake testified that
Speaker 1: the Wagner family began to plan and plot. His first
Speaker 1: deal was to frame Hannah's boyfriend, Corey Holdron. Here's James Pilcher,
Speaker 1: longtime investigative reporter in Cincinnati, now with Local twelve. He's
Speaker 1: followed by Long Crimes and Jeanette Leavy. Jake was convinced
Speaker 1: that something needed to be done, that they were going
Speaker 1: to kill Hannah and Corey and make it look like
Speaker 1: a murder suicide, and Billy said, no, you can't do
Speaker 1: that either, because they'll figure out it was awesome, they'll
Speaker 1: come after us. I don't want somebody up there on
Speaker 1: the hill with a sniper rifle killing us. Billy said, well,
Speaker 1: you know, if you kill her, you're gonna have to
Speaker 1: kill Chris and Frankie because they will know who you
Speaker 1: did it and they will come after you. So it
Speaker 1: was just this insane like, oh yeah, I mean you're
Speaker 1: gonna kill well, we're gonna kill her. We gotta kill
Speaker 1: everybody else too. We're going to take a break. We'll
Speaker 1: be back in a moment. Jake said the Wagner spent
Speaker 1: three months preparing, buying everything from ammunition to shoes from
Speaker 1: Walmart to a device to jam phone calls. Jake even
Speaker 1: order to captain Americo Winter Soldier mask, specifically for his
Speaker 1: brother George to wear. Jake Wagner said that his brother George,
Speaker 1: who's on trial, was with him when he bought a
Speaker 1: pickup truck and a false truck bed cover for those killings.
Speaker 1: On the afternoon of April twenty first, Billy Wagner told
Speaker 1: his sons this would be the night. Four days earlier,
Speaker 1: Hannah Rodin had given birth to her second child, so
Speaker 1: they knew she would be home. Billy Wagner also believed
Speaker 1: the cloudy weather would prevent surveillance satellites from tracking their movements.
Speaker 1: Wagner said he dyed his hair a dark brown, like
Speaker 1: a character in the movie Boondocks. Saints. Wagner said before
Speaker 1: heading out, he watched a clip of the movie to
Speaker 1: quote psyche myself into what I was about to do next.
Speaker 1: Jake Wagner described how he walked barefoot to the truck
Speaker 1: to avoid tracking any dirt from his home. Here again,
Speaker 1: forensic expert Joseph Scott Morgan We have longed to hear
Speaker 1: about what happened that night, what went into the planning.
Speaker 1: You know, I was particularly interested in the care that
Speaker 1: Jake talked about with walking barefoot when he went back
Speaker 1: to the vehicle. He wanted to prevent any kind of
Speaker 1: prints being left behind. He had enough sense about that,
Speaker 1: and he even knew about soil types, which is fascinating
Speaker 1: me because you know, there's an entire discipline. He's not
Speaker 1: a dummy. He was aware of that. He had a
Speaker 1: sensitivity to it. I think it's another kind of point
Speaker 1: along the continuum that goes to guild because that's a
Speaker 1: premeditative factor. Then Jake described how they went from house
Speaker 1: to house, killing eight people. Jake described how his father, Billy,
Speaker 1: as well as George Paul took part in these murders.
Speaker 1: On that he went into detail, describing that they modified
Speaker 1: the bed of their truck in order to hide George
Speaker 1: and himself in the back while his father drove them
Speaker 1: to the Rodents trailers. Once at the Roden's property on
Speaker 1: Union Hill Road, Billy Wagner lured Chris Roden outside. Jake
Speaker 1: said the plan was to shoot Chris Senior as he
Speaker 1: and Billy walked back towards the Roden's marijuana grow site,
Speaker 1: but the shot never came. Prosecutors were asking if George
Speaker 1: was going to be involved in the killings. Jake said yes.
Speaker 1: Jake testify that George was actually supposed to kill Chris
Speaker 1: Roden Senior. Jake testified George was in a firing position.
Speaker 1: Jake said he told him to shoot, but he didn't.
Speaker 1: After a few minutes outside, Chris Senior and Billy Wagner
Speaker 1: went back into the trailer where Chris's cousin, Gary Roden was.
Speaker 1: After a few minutes, Billy was able to convince Chris
Speaker 1: to come to the door one more time, and the
Speaker 1: killing spree began again. Investigative reporters James Pilcher and Antinette Levy,
Speaker 1: Jake takes the rifle from George and then when Chris
Speaker 1: shows up in the doorway, he shoots him with the
Speaker 1: s cast and he says he missed or couldn't get
Speaker 1: a shot. He missed the first shot that went above him,
Speaker 1: and then he'd lowered it close his eyes and just
Speaker 1: pulled off a bunch of shots. And that's later corroborated
Speaker 1: by the evidence where you see all of these other
Speaker 1: bullet holes all around the doorframe where he missed, but
Speaker 1: then obviously on the line hit Chris in the shoulder,
Speaker 1: in the belly, in the arm. I'll never forget seeing
Speaker 1: that autopsy photo of the arm. What really stood out
Speaker 1: to me it was just the way he talked about
Speaker 1: killing people like it was no big deal. You would
Speaker 1: think after you maybe fired the first shot at somebody's head,
Speaker 1: you might flinch, but it doesn't sound like there was
Speaker 1: any flinching on Jake's part. Inside, Billy Wagner killed Gary
Speaker 1: Rowdin and fired several more shots into Chris Senior's body.
Speaker 1: Jake Wagner said his father came running out of the
Speaker 1: house in a quote nervous breakdown. Jake said that Billy
Speaker 1: came out and was freaking out, and he was like,
Speaker 1: you can't freak out now, it's too late. There's no
Speaker 1: turning back. Jake went through Chris Roden Senior's pockets and
Speaker 1: grabbed the keys to the marijuana shed so he could
Speaker 1: remove the hard drive from the security system. When Jake
Speaker 1: returned to the trailer, he said Chris and Gary Roden's
Speaker 1: bodies have been moved into the back bedroom. Jake testified
Speaker 1: he threw a blanket on top of them, but admitted
Speaker 1: to the jury that he didn't know why. Throughout his testimony,
Speaker 1: Jake appeared calm and responsive, and several times throughout it
Speaker 1: he would even look at his brother George. However, I
Speaker 1: can't say that George would avert his gaze multiple times
Speaker 1: and appeared to not even want to look at his brother. Next,
Speaker 1: the Wagners went to Frankie Roden's home. Jake said after
Speaker 1: he crawled through a window, he let his brother and
Speaker 1: father in through the front door. Frankie Roden's three year
Speaker 1: old was lying on the couch. Jake said he walked
Speaker 1: past the sleeping child to the back bedroom and shot
Speaker 1: Frankie Rode in his head as he slept. He further
Speaker 1: testified that Frankie's fiance, Hannah Hazel Gilly, began to wake
Speaker 1: and Jake said he shot her too. Then, for no
Speaker 1: explained reason, Billie Wagner shot both Frankie and Hannah Hazel
Speaker 1: Gilly in the head as well. Their six month old
Speaker 1: son was sleeping between them. It was quite chilling in
Speaker 1: a way, and I feel like that word is sometimes overused,
Speaker 1: but just the matter of fact way in which he
Speaker 1: described shooting people. It was just very nonchalant, according to Jake.
Speaker 1: Then he his brother George and father Billy Wagner went
Speaker 1: to Dana Roden's home. She had just arrived home from work.
Speaker 1: The door was unlocked, and Jake said he just walked in.
Speaker 1: He was surprised to see Dana awake in her bed.
Speaker 1: Here again, investigative reporter Anjeanette Levy. He literally standing in
Speaker 1: the hallway and he said he can see inside Dana's
Speaker 1: bedroom from where he was standing, and then he could
Speaker 1: also turn his head and see inside Hannah May's bedroom.
Speaker 1: He could see that Dana was on her cell phone.
Speaker 1: He could see the light from her cell phone shining
Speaker 1: on her face, and she made it. She looked at
Speaker 1: him and made a gasp, and he said he took
Speaker 1: a step and he shot her like I think twice,
Speaker 1: and then he took and then he pivoted. He said
Speaker 1: he was at a pivot point and he moved into
Speaker 1: Hannah May's bedroom. She made a noise, she saw him,
Speaker 1: and he shot her in the head. And then he
Speaker 1: went back and he shot Dana again. There was no
Speaker 1: hesitation on his part. It was just really disturbing. Before
Speaker 1: leaving Jake said he realized Hannah's fort ye old newborn
Speaker 1: was in the room and was concerned she might starve.
Speaker 1: He said, you know, I know it doesn't really make sense,
Speaker 1: but I didn't want to starve. I thought that if
Speaker 1: you know, it took too long for them to find
Speaker 1: the bodies, he might starve. So I moved Hannah so
Speaker 1: she could breastfeed. I mean, it's a newborn baby. Newborn
Speaker 1: babies are helpless as can be, and it's just that
Speaker 1: weird thought that you thought a four or five day
Speaker 1: old baby is going to nurse off her dead mother.
Speaker 1: It's just so crazy. Jake Wagner then walked into Chris
Speaker 1: Roden Junior's bedroom and shot him point blank. Jake said
Speaker 1: then that he, his brother George, and father Billy drove
Speaker 1: to Kenneth Roden's home, where his father Billy killed him.
Speaker 1: He was the final victim, and he was murdered with
Speaker 1: one gunshot. According to Jake's testimony, The Wagner's collected shell casings,
Speaker 1: cell phones and returned to their home on Peterson Road.
Speaker 1: Here's Jeff speaking with attorney and legal analyst Mike Allen
Speaker 1: on the impact of Jake Wagner's chilling testimony. I'm just curious,
Speaker 1: like what your take on those impactful moments are and
Speaker 1: how they kind of changed the course of this trial
Speaker 1: moving forward. His testimony appeared credible to me. It didn't
Speaker 1: sound like he was puffing it up or exaggerating it
Speaker 1: to a great degree. And I just think he was believable.
Speaker 1: And do you think that level of gory detail, like
Speaker 1: Hannah Rodin's last moments, does that move the jury in
Speaker 1: a way that none of the other stuff has probably
Speaker 1: up until this moment. Absolutely, absolutely, I'm sure those jurors
Speaker 1: were riveted hearing that testimony, because, I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: that's the guts of the whole thing. Again. You know,
Speaker 1: that's why everyone is there, the judge, the jurors, the prosecutor,
Speaker 1: the defense lawyer is because of what he did, what
Speaker 1: Jake did at that time, and it's just a real,
Speaker 1: real important part of the trial. In the aftermath of
Speaker 1: Jake Wagner's first day of testimony, the media pool filed
Speaker 1: emotion with Judge Randy Deering to allow cameras in the
Speaker 1: courtroom for the rest of Jake's testimony. The media argued
Speaker 1: that the public had a right to see and hear
Speaker 1: all of the testimony in the most expensive of murder
Speaker 1: investigation in their state's history. Under Ohio law, witnesses can
Speaker 1: object to being filmed or recorded. In early October, an
Speaker 1: Ohio Court of Appeal sided with the media outlets who
Speaker 1: challenged the law, striking down parts of it, but Judge
Speaker 1: Deering continued to allow witnesses to opt out as is
Speaker 1: his right. After Jake Wagner's first day of testimony, a
Speaker 1: coalition of media groups hired a first Amendment rights lawyer
Speaker 1: to visit the issue. Hearing was scheduled for the next day.
Speaker 1: Here's James Pilcher. Another eventful day here in Waverley as
Speaker 1: Jake Wagner, the younger brother of defendant George Wagner, took
Speaker 1: the stand for the second straight day to testify against
Speaker 1: his brother. Inside the courtroom, prosecutor Angie Kinneppa asked Jake
Speaker 1: Wagner to describe what he and his family did after
Speaker 1: arriving at home immediately following the murders. Today's testimony picked
Speaker 1: up right where they left off Monday, where Jake and
Speaker 1: Billy and George had returned home from the killings at
Speaker 1: about four to thirty am on April twenty second. Now,
Speaker 1: he says on that night they actually drove back to
Speaker 1: their family barn and began burning their clothes to get
Speaker 1: rid of any evidence on them. Jake also says he
Speaker 1: took each of their guns and began cutting them in
Speaker 1: half with power tools, and even went so far as
Speaker 1: to try burning them with a torch. However, Jake said
Speaker 1: he was unable to melt down the weapons, so instead
Speaker 1: he burnt off the serial numbers and then hit them.
Speaker 1: Then he admitted to burying pieces of the guns in
Speaker 1: the barn underneath the support beam, which he dug up
Speaker 1: with help from George. Once they were done cleaning up,
Speaker 1: they went inside to change clothes. Jake said he saw
Speaker 1: his mother, Angelo Agner in the kitchen, but did not
Speaker 1: speak with her. Later in the morning, friend Andrew Carson
Speaker 1: called Jake and asked if he'd heard what happened. Jake
Speaker 1: said he had seen it on the news. Once news
Speaker 1: of the rodent's death began to spread, Jake says he
Speaker 1: refused to speak about it with his family while in private,
Speaker 1: and even tried to forget about it completely out of guilt.
Speaker 1: Let's stop here for another break. Several weeks after the murder.
Speaker 1: As Jake said, BCI agents came to the Wagner's home.
Speaker 1: It was after this visit that the Wagners began to
Speaker 1: worry they were under surveillance. Billy Wagner decided they should
Speaker 1: dig up the weapons and place them into a concrete
Speaker 1: bucket and drop them into a lake on his parents' property.
Speaker 1: The weapons remained underwater until the Wagners were arrested in
Speaker 1: twenty eighteen. The best played bargain in the state of Ohio.
Speaker 1: It is how the defense described the deal that Jake
Speaker 1: Wagner made to avoid the death penalty. On the third
Speaker 1: day of Jake Wagner's testimony at the defense took over
Speaker 1: questioning immediately. George Wagner's attorney, John Parker, tried to paint
Speaker 1: Jake as a liar who turned on his own brother
Speaker 1: to avoid the death penalty. Many and the jury were
Speaker 1: poised in their seats as a defense attorney John Parker said,
Speaker 1: you got off the hook for the death penalty for
Speaker 1: killing the Rodents, yet your brother, who you admit did
Speaker 1: not kill any of them, is still facing debt. Parker
Speaker 1: quickly asked him question after question to poke holes in
Speaker 1: Jake's account of the massacre. The defense argued during its
Speaker 1: cross examination that Jake Wagner murdered everyone and that George
Speaker 1: tried to stop the murders. The defense read quotes from
Speaker 1: Jake's statements to investigators that said, George didn't like the
Speaker 1: idea whatsoever. He thought of Hannah as a sister. He said,
Speaker 1: he didn't want to do it, don't trust Dad. He
Speaker 1: decided to go because he was thinking Dad was trying
Speaker 1: to set me up. Then the defense led Jake through
Speaker 1: each step of the massacre as he smiled at the
Speaker 1: strangest times. After the second day of Jake Wagner's testimony,
Speaker 1: I spoke with Jeff and Stephanie. Something that really struck
Speaker 1: me from Jake's first day of testimony was his attempt
Speaker 1: at interaction with the Rodent family, mouthing I'm sorry, or
Speaker 1: trying to make eye contact with George. Did you see
Speaker 1: any of that and what was that like person if
Speaker 1: you did, No, there really wasn't any of that. Upon
Speaker 1: cross examination, I believe the attorney mentioned it three or
Speaker 1: four times because it was so pronounced. Was Jake's smiling
Speaker 1: slash smirking the same thing that we all noticed and
Speaker 1: commented on when he pled guilty, specifically when he was
Speaker 1: asked about killing Hannah Rodin and he kind of smirked.
Speaker 1: And what Jake did was acknowledge. He said, I know
Speaker 1: this is a very serious matter. It's not funny. It's
Speaker 1: just something happened. Anyone who knows me knows that I
Speaker 1: smile at the worst moments, right like when they're watching
Speaker 1: the Bundac Saints clip in court, He's smiling. At least
Speaker 1: that's what I read the defense attorney. He had an
Speaker 1: interesting way of getting Jake to say stuff. What it
Speaker 1: appeared to be was that the defense attorney was kind
Speaker 1: of doing everything he could to get Jake to contradict himself,
Speaker 1: even in small ways from what he has laid out.
Speaker 1: So as an example, he said, oh, so you shot
Speaker 1: Hannah rode In, the mother of your child, in the
Speaker 1: back of the head. He said, no, I shot her
Speaker 1: in the front of the head, and was smiling. So
Speaker 1: is he just a sociopath or just as horrible social skills?
Speaker 1: I mean, what's her? You obviously can't diagnose him, But
Speaker 1: I hadn't realized the extent of just how long everything took.
Speaker 1: For example, and here are a couple of things that
Speaker 1: came to like today. They actually stopped, they being Billy, Jake,
Speaker 1: and George. They made a stop on the way to
Speaker 1: Chris Roden's house what and Billy was driving. Jake was
Speaker 1: under he had constructed in the back bed of the car.
Speaker 1: He had constructed a wooden platform and put bales of
Speaker 1: hay under it and was underneath that to hide so
Speaker 1: he could lie and wait to then sniper under the car.
Speaker 1: On the drive there, Billy pulled over and said, are
Speaker 1: you sure you want to go through at this? You
Speaker 1: know now the times turnaround of dot and the answer
Speaker 1: was to just continue on shocking. Later the courtroom was
Speaker 1: shown some of the graphic crime scene photos. Jake admitted
Speaker 1: that he had tried to block the grewsome images from
Speaker 1: his mind. Can you imagine having to look at those
Speaker 1: photos now with distance, knowing that you were the perpetrator,
Speaker 1: But it's a different perspective you're seeing it in a photograph.
Speaker 1: Has he seen crime photos yet? Yes? On cross examination,
Speaker 1: the attorney was reminding Jake, he said, you have seen
Speaker 1: pictures of Kenneth Roden who was shot one time in
Speaker 1: the eye. The similarity of just as Hannah Gilly was
Speaker 1: shot straight through the eye, and Jake said, oh, when
Speaker 1: I look at the photos, I try I don't want
Speaker 1: to look at any of the wounds. I try not
Speaker 1: to Tom He said why, and he said, because I
Speaker 1: don't want that to be in my memory. Attorney said, well,
Speaker 1: that must be really nice. Hanname. Rowden's final moment was
Speaker 1: him smiling at her. Can you imagine she's waking up,
Speaker 1: maybe allegedly in her bed, nursing her child, and you
Speaker 1: see your ex smiling at you. Those are her final moments.
Speaker 1: At the end of Jake Wagner's testimony, George Wagner's defense
Speaker 1: attorney John Parker once again asked Jake if he was
Speaker 1: a stone cold killer. Jake said yes. Parker accused Jake
Speaker 1: Wagner of selling his testimony to the state of Ohio
Speaker 1: and implicating George to save his own life. Jake insisted
Speaker 1: he had provided truthful testimony. Parker then said, while waving
Speaker 1: his hand, dismissively. Take him away, Judge, no further questions here. Again.
Speaker 1: Legal analyst Mike Allen on the impact of George Wagner's
Speaker 1: three days of testimony, nobody was contending, not the defense
Speaker 1: certainly and not the execution that George shot anyone. That
Speaker 1: was never the case. I mean, the closest he got,
Speaker 1: according to the testimony, was he was supposed to pull
Speaker 1: the trigger on one of them, but he couldn't and
Speaker 1: then Jake had to do it. What the State of
Speaker 1: Ohio had the show and I watched this closely. They
Speaker 1: had to show that George was a part of the
Speaker 1: preparation for the murder murders. He was a part of
Speaker 1: the execution, although somewhat a small part in the execution
Speaker 1: of the murders, but he was a really big part
Speaker 1: in the aftermath with respected disposing of evidence and things
Speaker 1: like that, and the state showed that. More on that
Speaker 1: next time. For more information on the case and relevant photos,
Speaker 1: follow us on Instagram at Katie Underscore Studios. The Peckton
Speaker 1: Masker is produced by Stephanie Lydecker, Jeff Shane, Connor Powell,
Speaker 1: Andrew Arnow, Gabriel Castillo and me Courtney Armstrong. Editing and
Speaker 1: sound designed by Jeff Tis, Music by Jared Aston. The
Speaker 1: piked In Massacre is a production of iHeartRadio and Katie Studios.
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