WAVERLY, Ohio — On the fifth day of trial for George Wagner IV in Pike County, the so-called “smoking gun” was finally introduced: a bloody shoeprint at one of the crime scenes.
Friday the jury only heard from one witness who was an Ohio BCI agent who processed the scene of Chris Rhoden Sr.’s house, where Rhoden and his cousin, Gary Rhoden were found dead. Their bodies had been dragged from the living room, through the kitchen, and into a back bedroom after being shot. The dragging, of course, left blood streaks throughout the home and the state said it was those streaks that made a major break in the case.
BCI Agent Shane Hanshaw testified about bullet holes in the living room and on the front porch until after lunch; that’s when things went into blood patterns. During the testimony of blood patterns, the shoe prints were introduced, and here’s why those shoe prints are important: the state says the Wagners bought and wore special “murder shoes” to carry out the eight killings of the Rhoden family. Originally, when the crime scenes were processed, several bloody shoe prints were found at two of the scenes, including the home of Chris Rhoden Sr., which was in the kitchen.
The BCI agent said the shoe prints were the last piece of evidence they collected because it would be a tedious task to copy the print and document it. During the previous three days of testimony, the state asked each first responder and witness they called to the stand what kind of shoes they were wearing when they were at the property the day the bodies were found. The reason this question was asked under oath was to rule out the print belonging to a first responder.
During the investigation of the homicides and before the Wagners were indicted agents served a search warrant on one of the Wagner properties and found a Walmart receipt for two pairs of shoes in a box named “important things” in Angela Wagner’s handwriting. Detectives took the date and time on the receipt and went to Walmart and looked at the security camera video and saw Angela Wagner buying the pairs of shoes; it was that shoe that Angela was seen on video buying that matched the same print of the bloody evidence.
Agents never found the shoes that were used in the killings or the shoes that Angela bought, but alluded in their opening statements on Monday that Jake Wagner confessed to burning them with his family after the murders. The state has yet to introduce who was wearing which shoe size but said two of the Wagner men wore the same type to carry out the killings, but in a different size.
A shoe expert has been placed on the list of witnesses and will be called sometime during the trial. It is expected that the state will try to pin the size and print to George Wagner IV to prove he was present during the murders.
There was no cross-examination on Friday as the state was not able to finish a direct examination of Hanshaw. The jury will return on Monday at 9 a.m. with Hanshaw to finish his testimony.