2nd woman freed after arrest related to family massacre

Published 8:09 am Friday, November 23, 2018

WAVERLY (AP) — The second of two women charged with misleading authorities investigating a 2016 Ohio family massacre has been released from jail.

Prosecutors have said the two women are accused of lying to a grand jury but haven’t offered any specifics. They are the mothers of two suspects in the killings, and the grandmothers of the other two.

On Tuesday, 65-year-old Rita Newcomb was released from Pike County Jail after posting a $50,000 pond.

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Last week, 76-year-old Fredericka Wagner was released after posting a portion of her bond.

Both have pleaded not guilty to felony charges of obstructing justice and perjury.

George Wagner III, 47, Angela Wagner, 48, George Wagner IV, 27, and Edward “Jake” Wagner,  26, of South Webster, are each charged with eight counts of aggravated murder with death penalty specifications in the slayings of eight members of the Rhoden family two years ago.

The  Wagners lived in Peebles at the time of the murders before moving to Alaska.

The Wagners are accused of killing seven members of the Rhoden family, including Christopher Rhoden Sr., 40, his ex-wife Dana Manley Rhoden, 37, and their three children, Hanna May Rhoden, 19, Christopher Rhoden Jr., 16, and Clarence “Frankie” Rhoden, 20. Frankie Rhoden’s fiancée, Hannah “Hazel” Gilley, 20, was also killed, along with the elder Christopher Rhoden’s brother Kenneth Rhoden, 44, and cousin Gary Rhoden, 38.

Most of the victims were killed as they slept.