WAVERLY, Ohio — On the 22nd day of George Wagner IV’s trial in Pike County, his mother’s interrogation was played before the jury, as his uncle — Angela Wagner’s brother — took the stand against the family.
The two-hour-long interrogation took place in Montana in May 2017 as the Wagner family crossed back into the United States from moving to Alaska. BCI agents had the United States Air Force fly them to the border to intercept the family after they learned they were traveling back to Ohio. Once in Montana, BCI agents interviewed all the Wagners, including the defendant, and also placed listening devices in the family’s vehicle, as well as bugging their cell phones.
During Angela’s interview, she denied having any knowledge about who killed the eight victims of the Rhoden family in 2016. She said she learned about the killings while inside her kitchen, when her son and co-defendant Jake Wagner came inside hysterical, telling her to turn on the news. Jake, the defendant — who is his brother, their mother, and their father, Billy, all face the possibility of the death penalty for the eight murders; prosecutors claim a custody dispute was at the center of the massacre.
Angela was confronted by agents at the border with a copy of a Walmart receipt where she bought the proclaimed “murder shoes” for her sons to wear in the killings, according to prosecutors. The receipt was found during a search warrant on Wagner property while the family was in Alaska. Agents took the receipt and went to Walmart to seize the security video where they saw Angela buying the shoes; shoes, that the state says, left bloody footprints at the crime scenes.
Later on, Angela would fess up to buying the sneakers, saying that she bought them for her sons, but threw them away because Jake and George did not like them, while her son, Jake, said they were burned after the killings.
Angela was also confronted with forged custody documents that the state claims she forged using her mother, Rita Newcomb’s notary stamp. The documents were the center of the killings, investigators say.
After lunch, Angela’s half-brother, Chris Newcomb took the stand to testify against the family. He spoke about buying guns for the Wagner clan, including a .40 caliber gun. Prosecutors did not say if the gun Newcomb bought for the defendants was a murder weapon, but the state has said that a .40 gun was used.
Newcomb was also asked if he knew what George and Jake’s favorite movie was, which Newcomb said was “Boondock Saints.” The movie portrays two brothers who go on a murder spree using guns with silencers. Agents said the movie inspired Jake Wagner to use silencers in the killings, and one was found in a well on the Wagner property, which was used in the executions, the state said. Prosecutors claim that Jake Wagner idolized an actor — Norman Reedus — in the movie and dyed his hair to mimic the actor’s appearance before carrying out a real-life movie scene on-script.
The uncle testified that when he learned that the Wagners — specifically Jake — were accused of the murders, he wanted to kill Jake, himself.
The jury dismissed around 4:15 p.m. and will be back Friday at 9 a.m. to finish their fourth week of service.
