PIKE COUNTY, Ohio — The matriarch of an accused murderous family spoke exclusively with the Guardian Friday evening after the guilty plea of her daughter-in-law.
Fredericka Wagner, 79, said by phone that it’s been a long five years since her family was charged in the killing of eight people, and that her faith is helping guide her through it.
“I’m fine. I’m doing just fine. Going through it with Jesus,” she told the Guardian’s editor-in-chief Derek Myers. “Rather, Jesus is going through it with me. He’s taking me through it.”
Wagner’s son, Billy, her daughter-in-law Angela, and her two grandsons, Jake and George were charged with eight counts of murder after the slayings of the Rhoden family in 2016. Investigators said that a custody dispute was at the center of the murders.
Fredericka, herself, was caught up in the crimes when she was charged with obstruction of justice in 2018. Prosecutors said she lied to a grand jury during the investigation, but her charges were later dismissed.
“I had nothing to do with it. I’ve been cleared …. I’m not involved in it in anyway, I’ve been completely cleared. I had nothing to do with it ….”
On Friday, Angela Wagner pleaded guilty to 13 charges, including conspiracy to commit aggravated murder. The murder charges were dismissed. She was promised thirty years in prison if she testified against her son, George and husband, Billy. Wagner’s youngest son, Jake, pleaded guilty earlier this year to all eight counts of murder in exchange to avoid the death penalty. He awaits sentencing.
Billy has a hearing slated for later this month and George has a trial set for the spring.
Fredericka Wagner is worth millions of dollars, according to public records. She reportedly owns the most land in Pike County, according to locals, and property records with the county show that the land she does own is valued at $4 million. That should not be a full calculation of Wagner’s net worth, however. She owns numerous businesses, including the breeding of rare horses and exotic animals, some of which have been big winners in the Kentucky Derby.
She continues to live on her family farm outside Piketon, which has been a focal point of the five year long investigation. Still breeding horses, the great-grandmother is also breeding a rare pig, known as the “KuneKune” breed.
“Oh yeah, they’re real popular,” she said about the pigs on Friday. The average cost of the pig goes for $1,600.
Eight members of the Rhoden family were found fatally shot near Piketon, in rural southern Ohio, on April 22, 2016.
The victims are Christopher Rhoden, 40; his older brother, Kenneth Rhoden, 44; his cousin, Gary Rhoden; his former wife, Dana Lynn Rhoden, 37, and their children: Clarence “Frankie” Rhoden, 20, Hanna Mae Rhoden, 19, Christopher Rhoden Jr., 16, and Frankie’s fiancé, Hannah Gilley.
