An Ohio man was sentenced Monday to life in prison with no parole for his role in a 2016 massacre that murdered a family of eight over custody issues with his brother’s daughter.
George Wagner IV, 31, was served by Pike County Court of Common Pleas Judge Randy Deering who ordered him to eight consecutive life sentences plus another 121 years. He was convicted on all 22 counts he faced including eight counts of aggravated murder in November.
George, his brother Edward “Jake” Wagner, and their parents Angela Wagner and George “Billy” Wagner III made a plan to kill the Rhoden family because Jake did not want to share custody of his daughter with the mother, Hanna Rhoden. Jake is the one who gunned down and shot the Rhoden family members in their home on April 22, 2016.
“He was there and participated and certainly there was no effort made to stop the crimes from taking place. In fact, by the testimony, the defendant was a willful planner and willful participant in the crimes,” Deering said in the court room.
Many family members spoke during the hearing and called the Wagner family “sick and twisted.” George was called a “true devil.”
“There’s a special place in hell for you and your entire family. I hope your life is long and miserable. I hope you think of my family and what you have done every day for the rest of your miserable existence,” said Bobby Jo Manley, Dana Rhoden’s sister.
Deering went on to explain how awful the massacre was in court and condemned the Wagner family, “No sentence that the court may impose in this case would right the wrong that was inflicted upon the victims and the families. Murder is an irreversible act. And although time may alleviate the pain of loss, it has not, obviously, at this point — and may never.”
“It will not and cannot restore to the victims’ families what was and what might have been had the lives of their loves not been unlawfully taken and cruelly taken on that night in April 2016,” Deering added.
