A man pleaded guilty Thursday to the murder of his son's mother and seven other family members in 2016, a gruesome crime that spread terror in a rural Ohio community and uncovered rumors that it involved drug traffickers and hit men, but now authorities have concluded that it was due to a dispute over the custody of a minor.
On the fifth anniversary of the bloody crime, Edward 'Jake' Wagner pleaded guilty to 23 criminal charges in Pike County, southern Ohio, after reaching an agreement with prosecutors to avoid the death penalty.
He confessed to personally killing five of the eight victims.
The young man, only 28 years old, agreed to cooperate with the prosecution in the cases against his parents and his brother, who are also accused of the murder of the eight members of the Rhoden family, including seven adults and a teenager.
Wagner's parents and his brother have pleaded not guilty.
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"I am guilty, your honor," Wagner repeated calmly before Judge Randy Deering over and over again, as he read each charge aloud.
Eight of them are for aggravated murder, and the rest for conspiracy, aggravated robbery, tampering with evidence, illegal sexual conduct with a minor, and others.
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When Wagner pleaded guilty, surviving members of the Rhoden family, Gilley and Manley, were also in the room.
Wagner told the judge that he is "deeply sorry" for his actions.
He was not immediately sentenced, but prosecutors recommended that he be sentenced to eight life terms without the possibility of parole.
Previously, the young man had pleaded not guilty.
The young man's attorneys said he understands he faces a life behind bars.
“He knows that he is going to die in jail.
Despite how horrible this is to everyone, he regrets it as much as possible, ”defense attorney Gregory Meyers told the judge.
Five years ago, the bodies of the victims were found in several mobile homes and a caravan in a sparsely populated area of Pike County, in southern Ohio.
They had all been shot in the head.
The mass murder terrified residents of the surrounding rural community and sparked one of the longest criminal investigations in state history.
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The victims were
Christopher Rhoden
Sr, 40; his ex-wife,
Dana Rhoden
, 37; his three sons,
Clarence 'Frankie' Rhoden
, 20,
Christopher Jr.
, 16, and
Hanna
, 19 (the mother of Jake Wagner's daughter); Clarence Rhoden's fiancee
, 20-year-old
Hannah Gilley
; Christopher Rhoden Sr.'s brother,
Kenneth Rhoden
, 44; and a cousin,
Gary Rhoden
, 38.
According to the prosecution, the Wagner family planned the murders for months, and they were motivated by a dispute over custody of Jake Wagner's daughter.
Wagner had tried unsuccessfully to convince Hanna Rhoden to agree to joint custody of her daughter, according to prosecutors.
Jake Wagner began dating Hanna Rhoden when he was 13 years old.
She got pregnant at 15.
According to the prosecution, the Wagners used weapons with homemade silencers to kill the family while they slept.
Most of the victims received more than one shot to the head and some had signs of bruising.
Three young children at the scene of the crime, including Jake Wagner's daughter, were unharmed.
With information from The Associated Press
