Jake Wagner: Judge Jonathan Hein sentenced him eight life sentences and he’s eligible for parole in 32 years because he cooperated with his brother’s case. Jake started off by making a lengthy address to the victim’s families directly.

Angela Wagner: Judge Hein sentenced her to 30 years in prison with time served. According to our media partners at the Cincinnati Enquirer, When Angela is released, she will serve two to five years of probation, and will have to register as a violent offender for 10 years

Rita Newcomb: Judge Hein sentenced her to five years of probation and a suspended sentence of 90 days of which she has already served seven. Newcomb asked the judge if she has to go to jail. Judge Hein said no unless she “acts out”.

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WAVERLY, Ohio (WXIX) – Three members of the same family who took plea deals years ago in the 2016 Pike County massacre case were sentenced Friday.

That includes Edward “Jake” Wagner, 32, and his mother, Angela Wagner, 54.

The visiting judge overseeing the cases, retired Darke County Common Pleas Court Judge Jonathan Hein, presided over the sentencings.

Angela Wagner’s mother, Rita Newcomb, was also sentenced.

As part of their plea deals, Jake and Angela Wagner both testified for the state against the eldest Wagner son, George Wagner IV, at his 2022 murder trial.

Once they are sentenced, however, it’s not clear whether they will return to the stand to testify for the state again, this time against Jake’s father and Angela’s husband, George “Billy” Wagner III, 53.

Following Friday’s sentencing, a hearing is scheduled for Billy Wagner. It could be announced in that hearing if Judge Hein will move his trial to another county after saying he didn’t think that an impartial jury could be seated in Pike County.

FULL SECTION | Pike County Massacre

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 and control of the young daughter of Jake Wagner and one of the victims he confessed to shooting in the head twice, Hanna May Rhoden, 19.

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

They broke up in 2015 after their daughter was born in 2013.

Jake Wagner testified during his brother’s trial he didn’t want the relationship to end.

Hanna Rhoden had a second child, a baby girl, with another man and was dating another man at the time of her murder.

Her baby was just five days old when the victims were found on the morning of April 22, 2016.

Jake Wagner testified during his brother’s trial that he shot most of the victims, including Hanna Rhoden as she was propped up in bed breastfeeding her new infant.

He said on the stand he positioned her body after he shot her so she could keep breastfeeding her newborn, whose life he spared.

He also testified he picked up the shell casings and cell phones and took them.

But, according to other testimony, he missed one shell casing that investigators found under the baby’s crib.

George Wagner IV, 33, was convicted of all counts including eight counts of murder even though the state and defense both agreed he never shot anyone and Jake Wagner also testified to that.

George Wagner IV is currently appealing his conviction and asking that his sentence be thrown out: eight life sentences and 121 years on 16 other charges.

Jake Wagner, meanwhile, is being held at the Gallia County Jail, state and county records show.

Billy Wagner’s trial was set to begin on Jan. 6, but a change of venue followed by a flurry of court filings has delayed that.

He has pleaded not guilty all all 22 charges, including eight counts of aggravated murder, from the execution-style slayings of his son’s ex-girlfriend and seven of her family members in April 2016.

Two key decisions remain pending in the appeals court:

• Whether Judge Hein can dismiss the possibility of Billy Wagner facing the death penalty against the state’s wishes and without them requesting it in an official motion
• Whether he can move the trial out of Pike County against the wishes of a victim identified only in court records as “T.R.”

“The judge has sort of knocked out the death penalty on his own,” explained FOX19 NOW legal advisor Mark Krumbein. “So, there’s so many things, you know, up in the air right now. Something like this case is really unique. It is in my career. In all of the homicides I’ve handled, I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

If and when the appeals court upholds the new venue decision, the judge has yet to announce the new location.

Jake Wagner pleaded guilty in April 2021 to eight counts of aggravated murder and 15 other charges including felony conspiracy, four counts of aggravated burglary and multiple counts of tampering with evidence.

In all, Jake pleaded guilty to 23 charges.

As part of the plea deal, he agreed to a sentence of eight life sentences without parole and to cooperate with prosecutors and testify against his family members.

We are fully satisfied,” Wagner’s defense said during the hearing on April 22, 2021. “He knows he’s going to die in prison without any judicial relief.”

Jake Wagner then testified for the state the following year against his own brother.

Jake Wagner shot and killed five of the victims, including the mother of his child, Hanna May Rhoden, 19, and shot and wounded a sixth, her father Chris Rhoden Sr., according to his confession and his testimony.

Special Prosecutor Angie Canepa has said Jake confessed and apologized for the crimes. In an interview, he led investigators to the weapons and vehicles used in the killings.