PIKE COUNTY, Ohio. (WLWT)– The sheriff who has been investigating the slayings of the Rhoden family in Ohio is now under investigation, according to WLWT.
They report that there are Pike County, Ohio court documents showing that a special prosecutor has been appointed to the case. WLWT says that the investigation is into allegations of misconduct in Sheriff Charles Reader’s office.
Details about the investigation were not immediately available.
In April 2016, seven adults and a teenager were shot and killed in Pike County, Ohio. The victims were members of the Rhoden family. They were identified as Christopher Rhoden Sr., 40, his ex-wife Dana Manley Rhoden, 37, and their three children, Hanna May Rhoden, 19, Christopher Rhoden Jr., 16, and Clarence “Frankie” Rhoden, 20. Frankie Rhoden’s fiancée, Hannah “Hazel” Gilley, 20, was also killed, along with the elder Christopher Rhoden’s brother Kenneth Rhoden, 44, and cousin Gary Rhoden, 38. Three young children were left unharmed.
Last month, six members of the Wagner family were charged in connection with the killings. Investigators have said the families involved had been longtime friends and that the crime was precipitated by a child custody dispute along with “an undercurrent of drugs.”
George “Billy” Wagner III, his wife, Angela Wagner, and their two sons, George Wagner IV and Edward “Jake” Wagner areeach facing eight counts of aggravated murder.
