Did a Film Series Inspire Ohio Brothers to Massacre a Family?

Prosecutors in the trial of George Wagner IV, one of the men accused of executing members of an Ohio family in 2016, called a detective to testify Monday that Wagner may have been inspired to kill based on scenes from his favorite film series, The Boondock Saints.

Screen grabs from the films were displayed in court as the case’s lead investigator, Ryan Scheiderer, laid out parallels between the films and the slaying of eight people from the Rhoden family.

Jake Wagner, who has already pleaded guilty in the murders, testified in October that he watched The Boondock Saints to “psych himself up before the killings,” reported FOX 19. Scheiderer made no mention of this statement Monday, but prosecutors referred to it during a recess in which they convinced Judge Randy Deering that Scheiderer’s testimony was relevant to the trial.

Scheiderer testified that the Wagner brothers dyed their hair to look like characters in the film and that authorities believe they equipped their handguns with silencers to mimic the movie characters.

Ski masks were also allegedly used by the brothers and characters in The Boondock Saints, Scheiderer said. And the detective showed off a photo of George Wagner IV holding a Beretta pistol—the same gunmaker as the handguns used in the film series.

The defense repeatedly objected to statements throughout Scheiderer’s testimony, but Deering rejected each one.

In Boondock Saints II, two brothers travel to Boston from Ireland to clear their names and avenge a priest who was murdered by the mob. Scheiderer detailed a scene from the film in which the fable “The Scorpion and the Frog” was discussed, just moments before a father kills his best friend with the help of his two sons.

In the years before the real-life Rhoden massacre, the Wagner and Rhoden families were reportedly close friends. Some of the Wagner family members who have since been arrested even attended funerals for the victims they are accused of killing, FOX 19 reported.

Scheiderer said that similarity between the film and the massacre likely was not a coincidence, adding that after the killings George Wagner IV got a tattoo of a scorpion, which the detective suggested was a reference to the film’s scene about the fable.

In 2018, police arrested four members of the Wagner family: George “Billy” Wagner III, 47; his wife, Angela Wagner, 48; and their sons George Wagner IV, 27, and Edward “Jake” Wagner, 26. Each of them faced eight charges of aggravated murder for which they could be sentenced to death, with the exception of Jake Wagner, who took a plea deal.

The victims, all but one shot in the head while they slept in their homes, were Christopher Rhoden Sr., 40; his ex-wife Dana Manley Rhoden, 37; and the couple’s three children, Christopher Rhoden Jr., 16; Hanna May Rhoden, 19; and Clarence “Frankie” Rhoden, 20.

Frankie Rhoden’s fiancée, Hannah Gilley, 20; Christopher Rhoden Sr.’s brother, Kenneth Rhoden, 4; and a cousin Gary Rhoden, 38, were also murdered.

Many in Piketon, Ohio Town Turn on Massacred Rhoden Family

Authorities have said a custody dispute between the families over a young child was the motive for the massacre.

“This is just the most bizarre story I’ve ever seen in being involved in law enforcement,” Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said at a press conference in 2018 to announce the arrests, adding that the Wagner family had an “obsession” with custody and controlling children connected to the victims.

Monday’s testimony by Scheiderer was preceded by defense witnesses for George Wagner IV. That testimony typically would come after the prosecution rested its case but was moved up in George Wagner IV’s trial because witnesses needed to return to Alaska, where they live.

Kelly Cinereski, a priest who oversaw a church the Wagner family attended in Alaska, said the family was “trying to find their relationship with the Lord” when they moved to the far-off state in 2017.

“I hoped that they could not have done something like that—murder,” Cinereski said, adding that the massacre was “evil” and “disgusting.”

The defense also called a tattoo artist who did work for George Wagner IV to testify. The artist, Shawn Fisher, said a tattoo of a skull and eight ball he created was to cover up a past tattoo and that he had suggested the design. Some had previously suggested the tattoo was a symbol of the massacre of the Rhoden family, as eight people died in total.

Four others testified in defense of George Wagner IV on Monday but objected to having the public present to hear their testimony.

The case is now in its 11th week, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported. The state is expected to wrap up its arguments on Tuesday by playing tapes from a wiretapped vehicle the Wagner brothers rode in together in 2018, according to the Law & Crime Network.

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