WEBVTT - Daddy's Playing Zombie 0:00:00.520 --> 0:00:03.400 Welcome to the piked In Massacre, a production of iHeartRadio 0:00:03.480 --> 0:00:05.160 and Katie Studios. 0:00:06.040 --> 0:00:11.240 Nine nine one. 0:00:12.680 --> 0:00:14.040 Okay harn Hongstead. 0:00:15.920 --> 0:00:20.599 It was an unimaginable crimes all over the house. It 0:00:20.720 --> 0:00:23.840 was the second biggest mass murder in twenty sixteen, behind 0:00:23.840 --> 0:00:25.040 the Pulse night Club shooting. 0:00:25.160 --> 0:00:28.160 Eight people dead, all from the same family. 0:00:28.960 --> 0:00:32.720 It would become the largest criminal investigation in Ohio's history. 0:00:32.800 --> 0:00:36.760 Pike County Sheriff's requested state help immediately after they got word. 0:00:37.920 --> 0:00:40.720 In the early morning of April twenty second, twenty sixteen, 0:00:41.240 --> 0:00:44.920 eight members of the Rodent family were brutally murdered, shot 0:00:44.960 --> 0:00:50.440 to death execution style in their homes. Eight victims, thirty 0:00:50.440 --> 0:00:54.600 two gunshot wounds, three children left alive. At the scenes 0:00:54.840 --> 0:00:58.880 in This Is the piked In Massacre. 0:00:59.360 --> 0:01:02.560 Believed there was a shooter or shooters out there somewhereever 0:01:02.640 --> 0:01:02.959 they are. 0:01:03.600 --> 0:01:08.240 They were trying to possibly white out something. Family episode 0:01:08.280 --> 0:01:14.640 one Daddy's Playing Zombie. Piked In, Ohio is a rural 0:01:14.680 --> 0:01:17.840 town located on the Seyota River just sixty miles south 0:01:17.880 --> 0:01:21.320 of Columbus. It's home to twenty two hundred residents and 0:01:21.440 --> 0:01:23.440 the people of piked And say that because the town 0:01:23.520 --> 0:01:26.080 is so small, neighbors really look out for each other 0:01:26.160 --> 0:01:27.640 and treat each other like family. 0:01:33.280 --> 0:01:37.360 It was just it was a good, wonderful area to 0:01:37.440 --> 0:01:40.440 grow up in. It was we lived in the country, 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:44.840 and you know, we rode horses on the road, We 0:01:44.959 --> 0:01:48.880 rode bikes to each other's houses, and we played. You know, 0:01:48.960 --> 0:01:51.320 the kids in the neighborhood played together all the time. 0:01:51.640 --> 0:01:53.680 I slept the whole time I was a kid with 0:01:53.720 --> 0:01:57.000 my window wide open. There's no way you could do 0:01:57.040 --> 0:02:00.400 that now, there's no way. This place was one wonderful 0:02:00.760 --> 0:02:06.920 everybody took care of everybody, and now it's like a 0:02:06.960 --> 0:02:07.960 whole different place. 0:02:12.080 --> 0:02:15.200 The Roden family lived in piped In for generations. In fact, 0:02:15.280 --> 0:02:17.520 this close knit family all lived within miles of each 0:02:17.560 --> 0:02:20.160 other and were a beloved fixture in the community. It's 0:02:20.240 --> 0:02:23.120 part of what makes this story so heartbreaking and disturbing. 0:02:23.880 --> 0:02:26.960 Eight members of the Rodent family, ranging in age from 0:02:27.000 --> 0:02:31.919 sixteen to forty four, were murdered, each killed execution style 0:02:32.040 --> 0:02:36.399 over one night in four different locations. The only known 0:02:36.440 --> 0:02:39.440 witnesses the three small children left alive at the scenes, 0:02:41.280 --> 0:02:48.240 the Rodent family was literally being hunted. I'm Courtney Armstrong, 0:02:48.280 --> 0:02:51.000 a television producer who helped make a documentary about the 0:02:51.040 --> 0:02:55.200 case for NBC Universal's Oxygen Network in twenty nineteen. Since 0:02:55.200 --> 0:02:57.640 it aired, the team and I at Kat's Studios haven't 0:02:57.639 --> 0:03:00.680 stopped thinking about the case. With trials on the horizon, 0:03:00.760 --> 0:03:05.760 there are new details and theories to explore. By all accounts, 0:03:05.800 --> 0:03:08.919 April twenty second, twenty sixteen, was an ordinary spring day 0:03:08.960 --> 0:03:12.000 in rural Pike County, but that would be far from 0:03:12.000 --> 0:03:16.760 the truth. Here's Barbara longtime picked in resident. 0:03:16.960 --> 0:03:20.080 I'll never forget that day. I'll never forget that day. 0:03:20.320 --> 0:03:22.880 I had gone into the office at the high school 0:03:23.080 --> 0:03:27.440 to pick Brittany up for an appointment. And when I 0:03:27.520 --> 0:03:31.400 walked in, they had a TV on and everyone in 0:03:31.440 --> 0:03:35.320 there was sitting with their mouths hanging open, and I 0:03:35.400 --> 0:03:40.520 was like, what's going on in here? And the secretaries said, 0:03:40.680 --> 0:03:44.400 my god, there's been a shooting. They said six people 0:03:44.440 --> 0:03:47.800 were killed, and she said, we are very worried because 0:03:47.880 --> 0:03:51.760 little Chris Rodent didn't show up today and we think 0:03:51.800 --> 0:03:56.680 he might be one of them. Everyone was just in shock. 0:03:58.040 --> 0:04:01.320 So little Chris law enforcement because I couldn't find him. 0:04:01.560 --> 0:04:04.480 There was some speculation early on that he might have 0:04:04.520 --> 0:04:05.640 been involved. 0:04:08.840 --> 0:04:10.760 For the residents of piked In there was little more 0:04:10.760 --> 0:04:13.120 than confusion. At this point. People knew there was a 0:04:13.120 --> 0:04:16.000 shooting and that Chris Roden Junior, the sixteen year old 0:04:16.040 --> 0:04:19.719 freshman at Piketon High was missing. Where was the team. 0:04:21.920 --> 0:04:24.039 It was at the home of Chris Roden Senior that 0:04:24.080 --> 0:04:28.440 the nightmare began. Chris Rodin Senior was known to be 0:04:28.480 --> 0:04:30.120 a strong, hard working family man. 0:04:30.520 --> 0:04:33.440 He was, you know, a great father. He was a 0:04:33.440 --> 0:04:35.400 good man, just like the rest of the guys you 0:04:35.440 --> 0:04:38.480 know in that family. He would do anything for anybody. 0:04:40.920 --> 0:04:43.320 He and Dana Roden were married for twenty two years, 0:04:43.360 --> 0:04:47.240 and although they divorced, they remained close, so close that 0:04:47.320 --> 0:04:49.600 Chris Senior had recently bought Dana a home on the 0:04:49.640 --> 0:04:52.920 same road he lived on Union Hill Road. He did 0:04:52.920 --> 0:04:57.360 it so they could stay close to their children. Chris 0:04:57.360 --> 0:04:59.760 Senior's cousin, Gary Roden, was more like a brother to 0:04:59.800 --> 0:05:04.160 him and often stated his place little. Chris's aunt Bobby Joe, 0:05:04.200 --> 0:05:06.400 who also lived nearby, was the first to make the 0:05:06.400 --> 0:05:09.360 gruesome discovery at seven forty nine am when she came 0:05:09.400 --> 0:05:11.160 to feed the dogs at Chris Senior's house. 0:05:13.600 --> 0:05:27.040 Yes, yes, over, we walked to the no, boll Okay, 0:05:27.080 --> 0:05:32.680 my brother Hall's dead, Yes, fly all over the house. Okay, 0:05:32.800 --> 0:05:39.520 my brother, look like I'll beat the hell out of them. 0:05:39.720 --> 0:05:42.480 Patriarch of the family, Chris Rodin was dead. He looked 0:05:42.480 --> 0:05:45.480 like he'd been beaten to death. His cousin Gary, who 0:05:45.520 --> 0:05:47.600 was staying with Chris, was also dead. 0:05:47.720 --> 0:05:50.240 Madam, Yeah, what's her name? 0:05:50.880 --> 0:05:55.960 Chris Rodan gry Rode and Roman first und and it 0:05:56.040 --> 0:05:59.360 looks like a dad. Think you're both dead, I think, 0:05:59.400 --> 0:06:01.200 the boy said. If I told her speak to stalk 0:06:01.240 --> 0:06:02.000 out of them. 0:06:02.040 --> 0:06:05.520 Okay, did there anybody else in the house? I don't 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:07.000 know us Okay. 0:06:06.839 --> 0:06:09.400 So dor when was on here? But I hope he 0:06:10.360 --> 0:06:12.559 found went in and then Leney on the floor. 0:06:13.160 --> 0:06:15.279 Bobby, I needed to get out of the house. 0:06:15.400 --> 0:06:18.799 And the way he done the house now. 0:06:18.120 --> 0:06:20.479 Okay, just stay out of the house. So why anybody 0:06:20.480 --> 0:06:23.279 going in there? Okay? Yeah, all right, we don't take 0:06:23.320 --> 0:06:44.120 any on the way. Okay, I thank you here, mother, Yeah, suspatch. 0:06:44.200 --> 0:06:46.840 This forty year old Christopher Roden was the only one 0:06:46.880 --> 0:06:49.640 of the eight family members who was shot somewhere other 0:06:49.720 --> 0:06:50.200 than they had. 0:06:50.279 --> 0:06:51.520 He had multiple. 0:06:51.120 --> 0:06:54.560 Gunshot ones to the head, torso and extrumins. 0:06:54.720 --> 0:06:56.920 We found out. You know that the news broke over 0:06:57.040 --> 0:07:02.440 night and saw the email. I saw the alerts, you know, 0:07:02.520 --> 0:07:04.920 the initial news coverage, and I knew this was We 0:07:04.960 --> 0:07:06.240 all knew this was a big deal. 0:07:07.200 --> 0:07:10.240 James Pilcher as an investigative reporter who was assigned to 0:07:10.320 --> 0:07:11.160 cover this story. 0:07:11.480 --> 0:07:16.360 Chris Roden may have been awake when the intruders came in, 0:07:17.520 --> 0:07:20.640 at least there's some indication of that. He was shot 0:07:20.760 --> 0:07:24.720 nine times, but he was shot in the forearm, which 0:07:24.800 --> 0:07:28.720 means which seems to mean that he may have raised 0:07:28.760 --> 0:07:33.320 his arm in defense. His cousin Gary got shot twice 0:07:33.320 --> 0:07:36.800 in the head and once in the face, and one 0:07:36.880 --> 0:07:39.080 was execution style, and I had a muzzle stain. It 0:07:39.160 --> 0:07:40.440 was that close to his temple. 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:44.520 Even for a multiple murder scene, this stood out as 0:07:44.520 --> 0:07:48.560 being particularly violent. Wood fragments found on Chris's body indicate 0:07:48.600 --> 0:07:52.280 he was dragged through the house. Blood was everywhere. Was 0:07:52.320 --> 0:07:55.440 it a robbery, a serial killer, a random thrill kill? 0:07:56.120 --> 0:07:58.720 And if it wasn't random, why were these two men targeted? 0:08:02.600 --> 0:08:05.600 I spoke with Mike Allen, criminal defense attorney from Ohio. 0:08:05.920 --> 0:08:09.080 Are you familiar? Are you able to talk about the 0:08:09.120 --> 0:08:10.600 scenes themselves? 0:08:10.920 --> 0:08:13.080 You know, if you look at it, and it's all 0:08:13.120 --> 0:08:17.680 from the autopsy reports. Chris Senior's autopsy report says that 0:08:17.760 --> 0:08:20.320 they believe that he was awake when he was confronted 0:08:20.640 --> 0:08:23.640 by at least one person with a gun. He got 0:08:23.720 --> 0:08:27.600 nine gun shot wounds, and one of them apparently was 0:08:27.640 --> 0:08:32.000 a defensive wound to his right forearm that shattered the bone. 0:08:32.200 --> 0:08:35.400 He was also shot in the torso and cheek, according 0:08:35.440 --> 0:08:41.000 to that report. Then Chris Senior's cousin Gary, and they're 0:08:41.000 --> 0:08:43.160 all kind of related here. He was shot twice in 0:08:43.200 --> 0:08:46.960 the head and once in the face. One of the shots. 0:08:47.280 --> 0:08:50.400 The reports indicate that the gun was pressed to the 0:08:50.480 --> 0:08:55.480 side of his head, leaving a gunpowder mark that's called 0:08:55.480 --> 0:09:00.160 a muzzle stain. I mean, those kind of injuries leaves 0:09:00.160 --> 0:09:03.520 no doubt that this was an intentional or these all 0:09:03.559 --> 0:09:07.920 were intentional killings, kind of designed to send a message 0:09:07.960 --> 0:09:08.600 to someone. 0:09:08.800 --> 0:09:11.560 The muzzle mark sticks in my mind. You have to 0:09:11.600 --> 0:09:15.280 be obviously arms reach, I mean, you are locking eyes 0:09:15.360 --> 0:09:18.360 with the victim, it would seem Does that paint any 0:09:18.440 --> 0:09:22.600 kind of picture to or indicate to officers or attorneys anything? 0:09:23.600 --> 0:09:26.920 Sure it does, and maybe even closer than arm's length, 0:09:26.960 --> 0:09:32.280 I mean, maybe just inches. That indicates that the shot 0:09:32.400 --> 0:09:35.360 was fired right on top of the person, and it 0:09:35.440 --> 0:09:38.360 indicates to me, at least, especially when you have the 0:09:38.480 --> 0:09:41.880 number of shots like that here, that somebody was trying 0:09:41.920 --> 0:09:43.840 to send a message. I don't think there can be 0:09:43.880 --> 0:09:47.040 any doubt about that. It's personal. I mean, it was personal, 0:09:47.080 --> 0:09:49.679 and I think that's what that demonstrates. 0:09:54.840 --> 0:09:56.800 We're going to take a quick break here. We'll be 0:09:56.880 --> 0:10:07.400 back in a moment. At this point, Bobby Chose sees 0:10:07.440 --> 0:10:10.800 two people are dead by twelve gunshot wounds. While waiting 0:10:10.840 --> 0:10:13.800 desperately for police to arrive, she makes her way over 0:10:13.840 --> 0:10:17.960 to her nephew, Frankie's house. She wanted to get some 0:10:18.080 --> 0:10:19.960 help and to tell him what had happened to his 0:10:20.000 --> 0:10:26.280 father and uncle whose body she had just found. Frankie 0:10:26.360 --> 0:10:29.720 Rodin was Chris Senior and Dana's oldest son. The twenty 0:10:29.840 --> 0:10:32.319 year old was a father to two boys, three year 0:10:32.320 --> 0:10:36.760 old and six month old. Like his parents, Frankie was 0:10:36.800 --> 0:10:40.559 a hard worker. He loved fishing, hunting, and demolition derby, 0:10:41.040 --> 0:10:43.800 but nothing so much as his family and his fiance, 0:10:44.120 --> 0:10:47.560 nineteen year old Hannah Gilly. Hannah Gilly was on the 0:10:47.600 --> 0:10:50.280 homecoming court in high school, and at that time she 0:10:50.360 --> 0:10:52.319 told friends she planned to go to college, get a 0:10:52.360 --> 0:10:53.800 business degree, and open a daycare. 0:10:54.480 --> 0:10:57.920 Frankie and Hannah wanted a lot of kids. They had 0:10:57.920 --> 0:10:58.760 a bright future. 0:11:00.240 --> 0:11:02.520 The young family lived together just up the street from 0:11:02.600 --> 0:11:05.840 Chris Senior, also on Union Hill Road. They were looking 0:11:05.880 --> 0:11:10.400 forward to getting married soon. Here's reporter Jeff Winkler recounting 0:11:10.440 --> 0:11:12.959 the details of what happened that night based on his reporting. 0:11:13.520 --> 0:11:17.679 So, after Bobby Joe made the call to nine one one, 0:11:17.920 --> 0:11:22.440 she went to Frankie's house near right nearby, and the 0:11:22.480 --> 0:11:24.200 person who came to the door was Frankly's three year 0:11:24.200 --> 0:11:29.280 old son and was as the police reports and newspaper 0:11:29.400 --> 0:11:35.000 reports showed, he was, you know, covered in blood, and he, 0:11:35.840 --> 0:11:38.160 like any three year old, he sort of didn't fully 0:11:38.200 --> 0:11:40.440 understand what was going on. And he told his aunt that, 0:11:41.080 --> 0:11:44.840 you know, his father was playing zombie in the bedroom, 0:11:45.000 --> 0:11:48.760 and that's because the family were fans of The Walking Dead, 0:11:49.000 --> 0:11:54.720 so you know, was in there with his father playing zombie, 0:11:56.600 --> 0:11:59.440 which is, you know, absolutely heartbreaking. 0:12:01.360 --> 0:12:03.720 Bobby picked up her nephew and made her way inside. 0:12:04.800 --> 0:12:10.360 She finds two more victims. Frankie was shot three times 0:12:10.360 --> 0:12:13.320 in the head. His fiancee, Hannah Gilly, was shot five 0:12:13.400 --> 0:12:16.000 times in total, with one shot to her left eye. 0:12:16.840 --> 0:12:19.120 They were both in bed with their six month old baby. 0:12:19.920 --> 0:12:28.240 Thankfully the infant was spared. Meanwhile, and this is all happening. 0:12:28.240 --> 0:12:31.720 Around eight am on April twenty second, Bobby Joe calls 0:12:31.760 --> 0:12:36.600 their brother James. She's in hysterics. There's now two murder scenes, 0:12:37.000 --> 0:12:41.679 four people dead, twenty gunshot wounds, two children left alive. 0:12:41.720 --> 0:12:49.920 At the scenes, James immediately goes over to his sister 0:12:50.000 --> 0:12:56.360 Dana's house to check on her and the remaining kids. 0:12:57.400 --> 0:12:59.959 Dana Rudin was a nurse known for her gregarious nature 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:03.040 and loving smile. She'd met Chris Rhadin Senior when she 0:13:03.160 --> 0:13:04.880 was just in high school and it was love at 0:13:04.920 --> 0:13:08.959 first sight. Even though they divorced twenty two years later, 0:13:09.160 --> 0:13:13.600 they remained very close together. The pair had three beautiful children, 0:13:13.920 --> 0:13:18.240 twenty year old Frankie, Hannah May and little Chris. 0:13:18.240 --> 0:13:21.920 Good hearted, a lot of fun, you know, always laughing, 0:13:22.040 --> 0:13:22.720 cracking up. 0:13:23.240 --> 0:13:25.360 She was a very very good person. 0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:29.600 She sent me a text she said, my grandbabies here 0:13:30.440 --> 0:13:33.640 and I said, well, congratulations, I said, she's beautiful. What 0:13:34.360 --> 0:13:39.720 did hanname name her? She said, Caylie May, and I said, 0:13:39.720 --> 0:13:42.360 that's so pretty. And that was the last, you know, 0:13:42.480 --> 0:13:45.120 the last thing I ever heard from Dana. 0:13:46.120 --> 0:13:49.160 This particular April seemed extra special because Hannah Ma had 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:51.720 just given birth to her second daughter five days prior. 0:13:52.360 --> 0:13:54.840 Just weeks before that, Dana threw Hannah May a big 0:13:54.880 --> 0:13:57.600 baby shower at their new house. The pictures from the 0:13:57.640 --> 0:14:01.760 shower show what a happy celebration it was. Sadly, James, 0:14:01.840 --> 0:14:05.480 Dana's brother, was about to enter yet one more unimaginable scene. 0:14:06.640 --> 0:14:09.160 Dana and her nineteen year old daughter, Hannah May were 0:14:09.160 --> 0:14:14.600 both dead. Like the rest of the family. They were 0:14:14.640 --> 0:14:18.480 shot execution style, Dana three times in the right side 0:14:18.480 --> 0:14:21.720 of her head and once under her chin. Hannah was 0:14:21.720 --> 0:14:23.720 shot twice in the head, lying in bed with her 0:14:23.760 --> 0:14:27.840 new born daughter, just five days old. The infant was 0:14:27.840 --> 0:14:31.480 spared alive, and thankfully, Hannah's older daughter, Sophia, just two 0:14:31.560 --> 0:14:33.840 years old at the time, was not at the house 0:14:33.880 --> 0:14:38.640 at the time of the murderers. This brings us back 0:14:38.680 --> 0:14:41.360 to when Dana's son, the high school freshman Chris Junior, 0:14:41.520 --> 0:14:45.040 was nowhere to be found. It took detectives several hours 0:14:45.080 --> 0:14:48.080 to locate him, but Finally, little Chris was found in 0:14:48.120 --> 0:14:50.840 the home with his mother, Dana and his sister Hannah May. 0:14:51.720 --> 0:14:58.320 He'd been shot four times in the head. There's now 0:14:58.360 --> 0:15:02.880 seven people dead, thirty one gunshot wounds, and three children 0:15:02.960 --> 0:15:07.080 left alive. At the scenes, the once small and sleepy 0:15:07.080 --> 0:15:10.480 town became the epicenter for grizzly crime and the subsequent 0:15:10.560 --> 0:15:14.360 complex murder investigation. When it was all said and done, 0:15:14.480 --> 0:15:16.840 two families would be destroyed and the town would never 0:15:16.880 --> 0:15:23.200 be the same. Here's Jeff Winkler. It was a long 0:15:23.280 --> 0:15:26.160 form article he'd written on the case that originally piqued 0:15:26.200 --> 0:15:26.720 our interest. 0:15:27.120 --> 0:15:30.960 I'm a writer and journalist based in Flyover, so I 0:15:31.040 --> 0:15:34.680 cover a lot of stuff that happens away from the coasts. 0:15:35.280 --> 0:15:40.240 The Rodent case. I remember seeing coverage of it in 0:15:40.280 --> 0:15:43.360 twenty sixteen as it was happening on live TV, and 0:15:43.400 --> 0:15:47.680 there was a helicopter flying over the property, and it 0:15:47.800 --> 0:15:49.560 was just one of those things that seemed like it 0:15:49.600 --> 0:15:53.480 was straight out of southern noir. The crime is as 0:15:53.520 --> 0:15:57.160 complex as it is gruesome, because all the victims except 0:15:57.160 --> 0:15:59.600 for one, were found on the same sort of back 0:15:59.720 --> 0:16:03.400 road and piked him, and they were all found gunned 0:16:03.440 --> 0:16:07.280 down on the same night and all had gunshots to 0:16:07.320 --> 0:16:13.400 the head. This was an incredibly well executed execution of 0:16:13.880 --> 0:16:14.560 several people. 0:16:15.160 --> 0:16:18.920 Here again is criminal defense attorney, former prosecutor and judge 0:16:19.000 --> 0:16:19.600 Mike Allen. 0:16:20.160 --> 0:16:22.160 Did this area like a ton of bricks. I mean, 0:16:22.280 --> 0:16:25.640 with the local media down here, we're all over this thing. 0:16:25.880 --> 0:16:27.960 I mean, like white on Rice. So yeah, it's a 0:16:27.960 --> 0:16:28.480 big deal. 0:16:28.800 --> 0:16:30.880 Do you have any theories, because I've spoken to people 0:16:30.920 --> 0:16:33.440 and they're all, I guess, just theories. But why do 0:16:33.480 --> 0:16:37.000 you spare the children? Is that some line a killer 0:16:37.040 --> 0:16:38.840 won't cross or what does that tell you? 0:16:39.080 --> 0:16:42.480 Yeah, and it's a really good question. I guess it 0:16:42.560 --> 0:16:47.160 shows that I don't know, the killers wanted to demonstrate 0:16:47.280 --> 0:16:53.760 that they have some humanity left in and just would 0:16:53.760 --> 0:16:59.040 not kill infants. I guess that's small consolation, but I 0:16:59.040 --> 0:17:01.480 don't know. It probably is some kind of code thing. 0:17:01.600 --> 0:17:04.760 But they did find it within their hearts to spare 0:17:04.840 --> 0:17:07.920 the the infants and the children. You know, as brazen 0:17:08.080 --> 0:17:11.400 and as violent as these killings were, I guess they 0:17:11.480 --> 0:17:15.280 just couldn't bring themselves to do it to small children 0:17:15.440 --> 0:17:16.520 and an infant. 0:17:17.280 --> 0:17:21.200 Yeah, a five day old, I mean that's yeah, that's crazy. 0:17:28.400 --> 0:17:32.600 For the quiet town. The scene was unreal. Nearly seven 0:17:32.680 --> 0:17:35.520 hours after the first bodies were found, at one twenty 0:17:35.520 --> 0:17:41.159 six pm on April twenty second, a final fatal discovery. 0:17:41.440 --> 0:17:44.359 Yeah, I need they as come out to blast of 0:17:44.440 --> 0:17:46.080 seven ninety nine Black Force. 0:17:46.600 --> 0:17:49.919 Okay, it's all this stuff. 0:17:49.920 --> 0:17:53.399 It's on the news. I just found just found my 0:17:53.480 --> 0:18:03.640 cousins with against yet one. Okay, I'll be saying out 0:18:03.720 --> 0:18:11.800 by the very white Donaldson, Donald Stone, Dolph Stone. Yeah, 0:18:11.880 --> 0:18:15.280 I'm gonna what's his name, Kenneth. 0:18:15.040 --> 0:18:21.800 Roden, Kenneth Roden dear. Okay, sir, are you out of 0:18:21.840 --> 0:18:22.320 the house. 0:18:23.520 --> 0:18:25.680 I'm out of the house right now. I just went 0:18:25.760 --> 0:18:30.960 in horr nighty and chick right up, and I was 0:18:31.160 --> 0:18:32.479 saying he had a gun shot win. 0:18:32.720 --> 0:18:38.000 Okay, Sure we're gonna get repubing down thirteen. Okay, all right, 0:18:38.480 --> 0:18:38.960 sick mare. 0:18:43.600 --> 0:18:46.200 A few miles down Union Hill Road was Chris Roden 0:18:46.280 --> 0:18:49.840 Senior's brother Kenneth. The forty four year old was shot 0:18:49.840 --> 0:18:56.280 once through his right eye. Kenneth's cousin, Donald Stone, went 0:18:56.320 --> 0:18:59.119 to check on Kenneth after hearing about the murderers of 0:18:59.160 --> 0:19:02.360 their six other family members. He'd failed to hear from 0:19:02.440 --> 0:19:04.960 Kenneth that day here's Jeff Winkler. 0:19:05.280 --> 0:19:09.119 There were a lot of breaking news moments during the 0:19:09.160 --> 0:19:13.439 first day, and the details just kept piling up and 0:19:13.560 --> 0:19:17.360 piling up, and more police, more law enforcement would show up, 0:19:17.560 --> 0:19:23.639 and the body count got larger and larger. And then 0:19:23.680 --> 0:19:26.240 I think the real sort of twist and the real 0:19:26.440 --> 0:19:29.040 sort of what the heck has happened in a moment 0:19:29.200 --> 0:19:31.359 was when, you know, nearly seven. 0:19:31.119 --> 0:19:34.119 Hours after the first bodies are found, at around one 0:19:34.119 --> 0:19:39.480 point thirty pm, there is finally another body of Kenneth 0:19:39.960 --> 0:19:42.320 and he was found as well as the others, as 0:19:42.440 --> 0:19:47.000 you know, shot execution style, and in this case, he was. 0:19:47.000 --> 0:19:50.040 Covered with dollar bills that were strewn about his body. 0:19:50.720 --> 0:19:53.320 And it's just sort of he just got it. 0:19:53.440 --> 0:19:56.000 I mean, you can't, you can't make this up. 0:20:03.680 --> 0:20:06.240 Let's stop here for another quick break. We'll be back 0:20:06.280 --> 0:20:16.960 in a moment. By the time officials released the names 0:20:16.960 --> 0:20:19.320 of the eight victims piked in residence were reeling. 0:20:19.600 --> 0:20:22.200 You know, they had snuck in in the night and 0:20:22.280 --> 0:20:28.359 committed this these murders, and nobody had a clue. 0:20:27.720 --> 0:20:29.320 About you know. 0:20:30.760 --> 0:20:35.440 Who or why, and that's really scary. 0:20:35.960 --> 0:20:40.040 There were rumors about who had done the crime everywhere 0:20:40.080 --> 0:20:44.800 online in the coffee shops. You know, amongst the police, 0:20:44.840 --> 0:20:47.320 I mean everyone was talking about who could have done 0:20:47.359 --> 0:20:48.720 it and why they would have done it. 0:20:52.119 --> 0:20:55.879 Within two days of the murder, officials make another shocking announcement. 0:20:56.400 --> 0:21:00.000 I'm all, let sure, thank you very much. 0:21:00.560 --> 0:21:03.639 This is Mike DeWine, then Attorney General of Ohio, at 0:21:03.680 --> 0:21:06.640 a news conference on April twenty fourth, twenty sixteen. 0:21:07.080 --> 0:21:09.399 Let me go ahead, and I think it's okay for 0:21:09.480 --> 0:21:14.320 us to confirm that we did find marijuana in three 0:21:14.920 --> 0:21:15.840 three locations. 0:21:16.840 --> 0:21:18.760 Well, there's a grow operations. 0:21:22.560 --> 0:21:25.080 Here's Jeff Shane. We worked together on the case, and 0:21:25.119 --> 0:21:27.720 he reached out to Jody Barr, an investigative reporter who 0:21:27.760 --> 0:21:30.200 was working in Cincinnati at the time of the murders. 0:21:30.480 --> 0:21:32.760 Let's like run through some of the theories, like what 0:21:32.800 --> 0:21:34.320 people were saying might have happened. 0:21:35.040 --> 0:21:36.680 So there were a. 0:21:36.640 --> 0:21:37.400 Lot of theories. 0:21:37.640 --> 0:21:40.760 Jody has followed the crime and investigation for years. 0:21:41.040 --> 0:21:43.120 We got all of these tips in and we're trying 0:21:43.160 --> 0:21:45.320 to make sense of these tips, vet them see if 0:21:45.320 --> 0:21:48.239 there's anything that could indicate who did it, why they 0:21:48.280 --> 0:21:51.320 did it, what caused someone to kill eight people of 0:21:51.359 --> 0:21:54.439 the same family. So, you know, the one theory that 0:21:54.560 --> 0:21:58.840 sort of became the prevailing idea of what might have happened. 0:21:58.880 --> 0:22:03.119 Here was the drug cartail theory, and that came about because, 0:22:03.160 --> 0:22:07.000 you know, hours after the murders, Attorney General Mike DeWine 0:22:07.000 --> 0:22:09.920 and Pike County Sheriff Charlie Readers standing at a press 0:22:09.920 --> 0:22:13.440 conference and the Wine tells the public that they found 0:22:13.560 --> 0:22:16.639 commercial grow operations at three of the four crime scenes. 0:22:17.000 --> 0:22:19.320 Another theory was that the murders could have been the 0:22:19.359 --> 0:22:22.280 result of a dispute with another family in the area. 0:22:22.440 --> 0:22:23.600 Here's Jodi Barr again. 0:22:23.720 --> 0:22:27.480 We had gotten word that apparently Chris Junior had some 0:22:27.520 --> 0:22:30.800 sort of road rage or some sort of incident with 0:22:30.880 --> 0:22:34.399 another family in the area some days before this, and 0:22:34.840 --> 0:22:39.960 there were some messages, social media messages exchanged that could 0:22:40.000 --> 0:22:43.760 have indicated a possible motive. So that was one theory. 0:22:44.160 --> 0:22:46.119 As I got on the ground over there and you 0:22:46.200 --> 0:22:49.280 started talking to some of these family members, and you 0:22:49.440 --> 0:22:50.920 talk to some of the neighbors, some of the people 0:22:50.960 --> 0:22:55.359 who knew the Rodents, it became clear that either people 0:22:55.520 --> 0:22:58.840 knew or had a very good idea about what happened, 0:22:59.040 --> 0:23:03.920 but they absolutely would never say it because I think 0:23:03.960 --> 0:23:06.800 they were they were afraid because at that point in time, 0:23:07.240 --> 0:23:10.040 whoever did this had not been arrested. There have been 0:23:10.400 --> 0:23:13.760 no persons of interest named. So you know, if you 0:23:13.880 --> 0:23:15.840 lived in that area, man, it was hush hush, you 0:23:15.880 --> 0:23:18.840 were just kind of walking around looking over your shoulder. 0:23:19.119 --> 0:23:22.159 It's seeing with some of these people not knowing, you know, 0:23:22.200 --> 0:23:27.359 who could be next? Who did it? 0:23:27.400 --> 0:23:29.160 This is again Jeff Winkler. 0:23:29.560 --> 0:23:32.199 The majority of those theories rested on, you know, as 0:23:32.240 --> 0:23:34.920 a cartel. It was a cartel hit because the family 0:23:35.080 --> 0:23:38.240 was growing marijuana on their property. You know, was it 0:23:38.359 --> 0:23:40.760 a rifle marijuana farm? 0:23:40.960 --> 0:23:41.520 The area? 0:23:41.800 --> 0:23:46.520 Was it where the killings related to the family disputes 0:23:46.560 --> 0:23:50.520 that were going on with various members of adjacent families 0:23:50.960 --> 0:23:54.080 and no one, no one quite knew, but they all 0:23:54.080 --> 0:23:55.200 had a bunch of theories. 0:23:59.200 --> 0:24:01.760 With the town living in fear, investigators worked around the 0:24:01.800 --> 0:24:03.600 clock to bring the killers to justice. 0:24:03.880 --> 0:24:06.960 Mike Dwine is and again I know him, but he's 0:24:06.960 --> 0:24:10.399 not a friend or anything, but he really is a 0:24:10.440 --> 0:24:14.520 professional and he was a professional prosecutor. I mean that's 0:24:14.560 --> 0:24:19.120 how he started his political life. And he ran this 0:24:19.200 --> 0:24:22.800 thing like a prosecutor or a law enforcement officer would. 0:24:22.960 --> 0:24:26.119 And I'll tell you what there is just no way 0:24:27.119 --> 0:24:33.600 that the sheriff's office or the prosecutor's office up there 0:24:33.680 --> 0:24:36.520 could have handled this thing by themselves. And that's no 0:24:36.680 --> 0:24:39.280 knock on them, It's just that they don't have the 0:24:39.359 --> 0:24:40.960 resources for something like this. 0:24:41.320 --> 0:24:46.240 There were in some of the news conferences sheriff reader 0:24:46.560 --> 0:24:50.960 without telling people to arm themselves as a precaution. 0:24:51.480 --> 0:24:56.640 In a small county like that, and just the horrific 0:24:56.840 --> 0:25:00.280