WAVERLY, Ohio – Several residents of this Pike County The community still feels fragile despite the arrests related to the massacre of the Rhoden family more than two years ago and despite the fact that the authorities claim that all the culprits have been held responsible.

Angela Wagner, 48 years old; her husband, George "Billy" Wagner III, 47 years old; and their two sons, George Wagner IV, 27, and Edward "Jake" Wagner, 26, whose addresses were located in Lucasville, Peebles and South Webster, Ohio, were charged with eight counts of aggravated murder. in connection with this macabre murderer. Death of the Rhoden and Hannah "Hazel" Gilley family. Rita Newcomb, 65, of South Webster, and Fredericka Wagner, 76, of Lucasville, mothers of Angela Wagner and Billy Wagner, are charged with perjury and obstruction of justice for allegedly misleading investigators ; Newcomb is also accused of falsifying custody documents to cover the crimes.

"This has not been solved until someone has been sentenced," said Denny Adkins, who owns a watering point in the Pike County headquarters called Denny's Doghouse.

Bartender Carol Estep and he said none of the Wagners had ever entered. Adkins has owned the establishment since 2002.

► November 14th: A family accused of murders in Ohio will spend years in the courts
► November 13th: The battle for the guard played a role in the killing of 8 people in Ohio in 2016, prosecutors said
► September 19th: The autopsy reports of the Rhoden family show that 8 murders were methodical and vicious

Estep and Adkins both initially expressed their fear of having their names published in a newspaper article.

"I could get killed," said Adkins.

But they said the guns they kept at home would give them a sense of security. Estep lives in the rural area of ​​Pike County, near the scene of the murders, and was completely "scared" when they were reported for the first time.

Those who know the Wagner consider them a rich family. Some have been incredulous at risking losing their money and land by committing such heinous crimes.

Although they sometimes lived about 25 miles from here, at South Webster, in Scioto County, they were riding horses and owned Flying W Farms about 12 miles away in Newton Township.

► June 14th: Cousin's death under investigation 2 years after the Ohio massacre
► June 2017: A family named in the investigation of the massacre in Ohio travels to Alaska
► May 2017: A parent of mass murder victims accused of falsifying evidence

Previously, Estep was donning miniature horses owned by Billy Wagner's father in the 1970s. The elder Wagner showed horses "all over the world," Estep said.

Barry Rider, 53, formerly worked at Hadsell Chemical Processing, off Ohio 220. The mobile homes removed from the Rhodens properties near Peebles, in Adams County, for the purpose of evidence, were stored there, quarantined behind seven-foot fences.

They are now in a facility built by the sheriff to house them.

Rider's son went to high school with Christopher Rhoden Jr., who was 16 when he died.

Chris's father, Christopher Rhoden Sr., 40; Chris's mother, divorced from her father, Dana Manley Rhoden, 38; his uncle, Kenneth Rhoden, 44; his brother, Clarence "Frankie" Rhoden, 20; his sister, Hanna Rhoden, 19; a cousin, Gary Rhoden, 38; and Frankie Rhoden's fiancée, Hannah "Hazel" Gilley, 20, was also killed on April 22, 2016 in four houses near Peebles, about 25 km southwest of Waverly.

► April 2017: A father murdered in the massacre of the Rhoden family, 3 years old
► March 2017: A Rhodens Hope poster on the massacre of a family in Ohio

"I can not believe it's been two and a half years," said Rider. Rumors were circulating about a drug cartel responsible. Rider stated that he had always believed that the culprits were "people from the region".

Rider congratulated the sheriff but also expressed his wish that they "would not let them (the Wagners) wander before … years".

Casey McCutcheon, a mother living in Waverly, said it was relieved of the arrests. She lives on a dead end street, surrounded by parents, many of whom have a concealed transport permit.

Despite everything, "it was to say the least creepy".

► March 2017: A Rhodens Hope poster on the massacre of a family in Ohio
► October 2016: Mom resigns: Rhoden murders will not be solved in my lifetime

She was operated on the hip at about the time of the murders, hindering her mobility. This frightened her when she wondered who in her area could kill so many people.

But when she heard that the Wagner were in battle for the Rhodens' guard, "it was a bit like a light bulb."

Follow Max Londberg on Twitter: @ MaxLondberg

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