Pike County Massacre: Billy Wagner returns to court for change of venue hearing

PIKE COUNTY, Ohio (WXIX) - George “Billy” Wagner III was back in court Monday as the judge hearing the case heard arguments for and against moving the case.

The Wagner defense team told retired Darke County Common Pleas Court Judge Jonathan Hein that granting the change of venue motion is needed because “the jury pool has already been tainted.”

On the other hand, the state says they found jurors for George Wagner, Bill Wagner’s son.

“The idea that you can’t find a fair and partial juror is just not realistic,” special prosecutor Angela Canepa told the judge.

After hearing from both sides, Judge Hein said he would review the arguments and issue his decision in writing.

He did not specify when his ruling on the change of venue request will come.

As for Billy Wagner, he is expected back in court in November when the judge will hear arguments from both sides on the evidence that is expected to be presented in Wagner’s trial.

The trial is set to begin on Jan. 6, 2025.

Recent hearings, decisions

The lone Wagner family member facing trial in the 2016 Pike County massacre has been permanently moved to a new county jail.

Billy Wagner has been locked up at the Butler County Jail in the northern Cincinnati suburbs since the day he was arrested nearly six years ago.

He was named in a multi-count indictment along with three other members of his family with the execution-style slayings of eight people in southern Ohio in April 2016.

Now, he’s waking up at the Pickaway County Jail in Circleville, where he is closer to his Columbus-based attorneys, FOX19 NOW has learned.

Billy, 53, was booked into Pickaway previously, jail records show.

His wife and two grown sons have all been convicted for their roles in the slayings of the Rhoden and Gilley families and are serving prison sentences.

Billy continues to plead not guilty and is set for trial in early January.

A new visiting judge has taken over the case.

The previous judge denied a change of venue motion from Billy’s defense late last year.

However, this new judge can revisit that if he chooses.

Other hearings are set for Nov. 6 and Dec. 16, court records show.

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

Two infants and a toddler were spared by the killers and left behind at the murder scenes: a 5-day-old baby girl, a 6-month-old baby boy, and a 3-year-old boy.

Prosecutors have said the motive in the murders was the custody of the young daughter of Jake Wagner and one of the victims he confessed to shooting in the head twice, Hanna May Rhoden.

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

They broke up after she was born.

Three of the four Wagners involved in the case have already pleaded guilty or have been convicted: Billy’s wife, Angela Wagner, 52. Their sons, Edward “Jake” Wagner, 28, and George Wagner IV, 32.

Angela and Jake confessed and pleaded guilty for their roles in the massacre in separate hearings in 2021, but George IV maintained his innocence through his 2022 jury trial.

It ended in swift “guilty” verdicts on all 22 charges.

George IV is currently serving eight life sentences and 121 years on 16 other charges.

The life sentences are running consecutively.

The death penalty was taken off the table after his brother and mother testified against him for the state.

George IV recently filed an appeal seeking to overturn his conviction.

Gov. DeWine has called his trial “one of the longest, if not the longest, trials in Ohio history.”

Estimates from state and local officials have placed the costs at nearly $4 million, all funded by the state of Ohio.

Those taxpayer-funded expenses are only going to grow as George IV now appeals, and his father heads for trial.

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