Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Family of 8 massacred off rural road

Episode Date: October 4, 2018

The investigation into the killings of 8 members of an Ohio family in 2016 appears to have turned cold, which prompted a judge to order the release victim autopsies. Nancy Grace re-examines the Rhoden family massacre in light of the new revelations with a panel of experts including death scene investigator Joseph Scott Morgan, medical examiner Dr. Michelle Dupre, psychologist Caryn Stark, lawyer Ashley Willcott, and reporter Nicole Partin. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Do you lay awake at night like I do, not able to sleep, whether you're worried about your children, your finances, your job? It could be anything, but could it have anything to do with your mattress? Helix Sleep has built a sleep quiz that takes just two minutes to finish. And they use those answers to match your body type and sleep preferences to make the perfect mattress. Because there's nobody on this earth like you. So why would you buy a generic mattress built for everybody else? Whether you're a side sleeper or a hot sleeper, do you like a plush, a firm bed? With Helix, there's no more guessing or confusion.

Go to helixsleep.com slash Nancy. Take their quiz. They match you to a mattress and you will get the best sleep of your life. For couples, Helix even splits the mattress down the middle, giving you individual support the way you want it. They have a 10-year warranty, and you get to try it out for 100 nights risk-free. Right now, Helix is offering up to $125 off all mattress orders. Get up to $125 off at helixsleep.com slash nancy. That's helixsleep.com slash nancy. $125 off your mattress. HelixSleep.com slash Nancy. Wow, this is making me sleepy. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.

It's horrible. I don't know how else to describe describe it it's horrible for the whole family that's how a family friend described the deaths of eight family members back in april of 2016 it's a mystery that has captivated the state and has apparently puzzled authorities now a little more is being revealed about the deaths of the members of the rodent family we knew the family had been shot to death but now we are learning graphic details. You're hearing from our friends at ABC. That was Tom Bosco with ABC 6.

How did an entire family, and I say this with great pride that I also am from the middle of nowhere, a family of eight murdered in the middle of nowhere. And I say that with great love and wonderment and incredulity, because in an area like Pike County, you don't expect a crime to take place in the middle of Pike County, Ohio, but especially a mass murder and execution style form. A family of eight all shot dead, most of them as they lay sleeping in their bed, except for one, the senior, who had defensive wounds,

showing that he tried to fight back. Let's start at the beginning. Joining me right now, Karen Stark, New York psychologist, joining us from Manhattan. Also, Ashley Wilcott, judge, lawyer, founder of ChildCrimeWatch.com. And yes, there are three surviving children to think about, Ashley. Joseph Scott Morgan, professor of forensics, Jacksonville State University, death investigator and author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon, and renowned medical examiner, Dr. Michelle Dupree out of South Carolina.

But joining me right now, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter, Nicole Parton. Nicole, I really don't know where to start, but let's start where every homicide investigation starts. We'll start with the timeline and specifically the murders themselves. What can you tell me about the crime scene? Here's what we know, Nancy. It's the largest homicide investigation in Ohio history. Sometime in the early morning hours of April 22nd, all eight family members were killed in that rural area of Pike County. Three homes. Wait a minute.

Nicole, Nicole, I hate to interrupt you. No worries. But I want to clarify something because every single fact counts. You say the early morning hours. For timeline purposes, can we narrow that down at all? We're being told sometime between the hours of 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. Okay, that's important. That's important to me because that means that someone was intending to do this, and it's over three different homes.

These eight family members, they weren't all sleeping like the Waltons, the Walton family, in one big family home. This was a big farm covering multiple properties, and there were different homes across the properties for the various family members to live in. They were adults. So, Nicole Parton, sometime after 2 a.m., right when everybody is really getting into the deep REM sleep, what happens? We know that a killer or killers entered into these three homes and viciously murdered these family members, also traveling about three miles away to a camper home where an additional family member lives, killing them as well. You know, this person didn't stop with just one home, going to three separate properties to murder in the middle of the night. Let's start where so many investigations start with the 911 call. I think my brother-in-law is dead. Okay, what's your address?

Give me just a second. Ma'am, ma'am, can I just know what's going on? There's blood all over the house. Okay. My brother-in-law is in the bedroom and it looks like I beat the hell out of him. Okay. There's blood all over the apartment. Ma'am, can you tell me what county that's in?

Pike County. It's Pike County? Yes, and they drive in the bathroom. Okay, okay. I need you to get out of the house. Did you drive over there? Yes, I did. Okay, what's your name?

My name is ******. What's your. Okay, what's your name? Mommy. What's your brother-in-law's name? Huh? What's your brother-in-law's name? I love you. Yeah. Ma'am? Yeah.

What's his name? Chris Roden. And Gary Roden. Chris and Gary Roden? First time he's in there, it looks like they're dead. You think they're both dead? I think they're both dead. It looks like someone has beat the f*** out of them. Okay. Is there anybody else in the house? Not that I know of. Okay. The door was locked when we got here, but I know that she was there. And I went in and hit her laying on the floor. Okay. I need you to get out of the house and wait.

I'm done now. I'm getting outside right now. Okay. Just stay out of the house. Don't let anybody go in. Okay. I'm going to go in. Okay.

I'm going to go in. Okay. I'm going to go in. Okay. I'm going to go in. Okay. I'm going to go in. Okay.

I'm going to go in. Okay. I'm going to go in. Okay. I need you to get out of the house and wait. I'm done. I'm getting outside right now. Okay. Just stay out of the house. Don't let anybody go in there, okay? Yeah. All right.

We got that getting on the way, okay? All right. Thank you. You're welcome. You are hearing a brutal 911 call by a sister, a sister-in-law of Chris Roden, trying to describe to the operator the scene of blood spatter and bodies, both men dead. She and other adult family relatives have been ruled out. To Nicole Parton, Crime Stories investigative reporter, Dr. Michelle Dupree, Joe Scott Morgan, Ashley Wilcott, and Karen Stark joining me from Manhattan. To you,

Ashley Wilcott, the way the bodies were found, the fact that the adults were killed, three little children survived. One was lying between the two adult parents. What does that say? That they would come in, and another thing I noticed is that these gunshots didn't wake anybody up. So did the perp or perps use silencers, which suggests a professional hit, but leaving the child asleep between the two dead parents in the same bed. Ashley, what does that mean? You know, Nancy, this is so hard to imagine that they would come in and commit this heinous, heinous crime. Why would they leave that child sleeping? I don't

know. Maybe because the child was asleep, didn't wake up. They felt like it wasn't a threat. But the other thing is that this has been described as a very methodical crime. And so I believe that in this particular case, it was someone that had the motive to say, we're going to do it in a methodical way. These are the people we're killing. These are the people we're going to kill in this particular order. And that's how they executed this family the way they did. Straight back to Joseph Scott Morgan, death investigator, author of Blood Beneath My Feet. Weigh in. Hey, you know, Nancy, we keep using plural, they, that sort of thing. I got to tell you, you mentioned three locations. I have to

imagine, at least I'm imagining, that there was more than one perpetrator potentially involved in this, that this would be coordinated in this world that we live in, where we've got all these abilities to communicate with one another. I don't see how you could pull this off without having multiple shooters involved in this event. And also to you, Dr. Michelle Dupree, medical examiner, renowned pathologist joining us from South Carolina. The way the people were murdered, an entire family wiped out. What does that mean? That means that the reason that these people were killed is because they knew something or potentially could say something.

The children that didn't recognize these people or didn't know anything, they were spared. But the adults, they almost have known something or seen something that could have told on someone. There's so many clues left behind. Take a listen to this 911 call. 911, can I help you? Yeah, I need a deputy to come out to close this. Okay. All this stuff that's on the news,

I just found my cousin with a gunshot wound. Okay. Sir, is he still alive? No, no. Okay. Well, there is. I don't know what his address is. He don't have a box. He don't have a box. He don't have a box. Okay.

I'll be standing out by the very way, ma'am. What's your name, sir? What's his name? Kenneth Roden. Kenneth Roden? Yeah. Okay, sir. Are you out of the house?

I'm out of the house right now. I just went in, hollered at him, and checked his house. And I looked up at him, he had a gunshot wound. Leonard, what would you want people to know about your daughter? Well, she'd give you a shirt over her back. She worked hard. And she took care of all the old people and nursing homes and people's houses. I mean, if you want anything with my daughter, go to Pables, ask anyone how close the family was.

But I mean, you know, a lot of that have been covered up right here in Pike County. Leonard, what's been covered up? Tell us what you think. No, no, I can't say that yet. Tell us how you found out the news about your daughter. Well, my daughter feeds them animals out there every morning. And Bobby Joe, the one that made the 911 call, and she got the keys to the place. She went in, found my grandson and his girlfriend dead, went down there and found my brother, the son-in-law and his cousin dead.

And then she came out and got me and I went out there and my boy went to my daughter's house and they found them. And my daughter, her daughter, and her son. Whose home was your daughter in? Was she in her home or something? Yeah, she was in her home. They just bought it. They just bought it. All the victims in this case reported to be asleep when they were gunned down dead, except for Christopher Sr., who was understood to have been awake.

There were bullets fired through his bedroom door, and he has defensive wounds on his arm and hand. To Nicole Parton, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. Nicole Parton, I understand that this place had multiple security cameras, yet they were all dismounted and taken by the killers. When cops got there, EMTs got there, all the security cameras were gone. That's what we're being told, Nancy. No security, no surveillance, nothing that they can look at to see who or how many people came in, when they came in, why they came in. But we are being told that even the mobile homes, the trailer homes themselves, were moved into warehouses so that the investigation could continue and they could comb through every ounce of evidence that was available. Joining me now, Dr. Michelle Dupree. Dr. Dupree, what can we learn from the positioning of the body

and the trajectory paths of the bullets? Nancy, we can tell where those people were when they were shot. The interesting thing is, is you mentioned an apparent defensive wound. So that does indicate that this person did try to fight back to some extent. The others apparently don't show that. They very well may have been asleep, which begs the question, why didn't someone else in the residence hear the gunshot wound? You know, I want to go now to Karen Starr, New York psychologist, joining us. I noticed that, for instance, with Christopher Roden Sr., he was shot twice in the head, a third time in the face.

And the autopsy report, which, by the way, is breaking now. The autopsy reports have just been released. The autopsy report says a muzzle stain was left on his head. That means that the shot was fired with the gun pressed up against his head. He wasn't the only one. So these were murders of an entire family. It's been two years. It's still unsolved.

A thousand tips, 500 interviews, processed over 100 pieces of evidence. Still, we don't know who did it. What does the point blank shootings mean to you as a psychologist? To me, it means that it's a personal vendetta, that whatever was going on there, each person, from what I could tell, was shot in the face, one was shot in the eye, somebody in the cheek. So you have to be very close, intimate to do that. And that's pure anger and revenge. I don't believe that these were strangers. These are people who are out to get this family, wanted to make a point, took away the security cameras, obviously knew this property, knew where they were,

and really were seeking revenge and vengeance. To Joe Scott Morgan, a death scene investigator, what does that mean when the autopsy says, quote, muzzle stain? Well, it means that the weapon, the tip of the muzzle, was close proximity to, to the skin. And I think that this is, is a salient point, Nancy. The reason is, is that Chris senior was shot, uh, was shot multiple times. He had defensive injuries. However, however, the other person that was in the trailer with him, uh, was Gary. Gary is the one that actually had the muzzle imprint on the side of his head. And I really wonder, Nancy, if Gary might not have been the target for this. It's very difficult.

It's very difficult to it's I'm not going to say that's rare, but it's it's difficult to have someone with a pressed and I don't know if this is pressed, but it's difficult to have someone with a pressed, and I don't know if this is pressed, but it's kind of implying that it might be a pressed gunshot wound to the side of the head. If they shot this guy as he was awake, that is the cousin, were they attempting to extract information from him? They've killed the older fellow in the trailer, and then they come after this guy. And considering that we do not know what exact position they were in, I'd like to know more information. Joe Scott Morgan, we know that the homes were actually moved. Much of the homes, the rooms were moved to gather evidence. How much evidence was lost by doing that?

You know, I think that things can rattle around a bit. You know, we've done this in the past where we have cases inside of vehicles where we have people shot in cars. We'll essentially flatbed the car into the crime lab. However, I think there's much more to be gained, much more to be gained by removing these trailers to a secured location where you can methodically take your time. The big tieback here, Nancy, the big tieback for me is hopefully keeping as many people away from these things and looking for trace elements such as touch DNA in all of these cases. I want to go back to Nicole Parton, Crime Online investigative reporter. Nicole, tell me what else you've learned about the crime scenes. It's just hard for me to believe an entire family in three separate properties can be broken in on, all of them murdered except the tiny children,

and the people, the killers, walk away scot-free. Well, we know that the crime scene was gruesome. We know that there were multiple gunshot wounds to each victim. Christopher Roden Sr., nine gunshot wounds. We know that these surviving children, five days old, six months old, and four years old, two of them sleeping between their parents, covered in blood, parents deceased, but the children survived with a four-year-old sleeping on the sofa, yet he was not wounded or injured. We know that it was calculated, it was vicious, and it was just downright evil.

We are talking about an entire family, the Roden family, wiped out in a rural area in Pike County. And then, interestingly, their next door neighbors pick up and move to Alaska right after being questioned. But take a listen to this. You came in like thieves in the night and took I've ever seen in my 20 plus years. We are getting closer. We will find you. The family and the victims will have justice one day. We are coming. The countdown is on. Big announcement on Monday, and we're all very excited about it.

I can't say much yet, but I will say, if you're a parent, you will not want to miss this. We are taking a big step forward in our mission to fight crime. If you want to be one of the first to find out the news, go to nancygrace.com now. Sign up for a free email newsletter. Repeat, free email newsletter at nancygrace.com. You will get this special announcement delivered straight into your mailbox. We're giving you something special in that email too as a thank you for supporting us

at crimestoriesandcrimeonline.com. Go to nancygrace.com and sign up. Doesn't cost you a thing. Believe you me, and you'll be the first to hear of our announcement. NancyGrace.com. Please go there now. I'll be looking forward to speaking to you. This was a pre-planned execution of eight individuals. It was a sophisticated operation. And those who carried it out were trying to do everything that they could do to hinder the investigation and their prosecution. And I just state that because, as the sheriff has indicated, we would anticipate that this could be a lengthy investigation. This is not your case where someone's got mad at somebody else. They've shot him. There's a witness, two witnesses. It is very, very, very different type case. You are hearing from Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine describing a horrific mass

murder. An entire family wiped out, but there is a fly in the ointment. Nicole Parton, this family had quite the business going on, didn't they? They did, that's correct. They were busy in the lumber business, busy building, doing things like that. And it's been told to us that they had ties to the Wagner family that have now moved on. What do you mean by ties? We're being told that Billy Wagner, the father, husband of the four family members that moved away to Alaska, was somewhat a business partner to Mr. Roden Sr. And that just before this crime took place, they had had a huge falling out to what extent we don't know,

but there had been some sort of disagreement within their business plans together. Bottom line, Justice Scott Morgan, author of Blood Beneath My Feet, Death Investigator, they ran a pot farm, a big pot farm. There's really, you know, no nice way to say it, Joe Scott. No, and hell followed with them. The scope of this thing is mind-blowing, Nancy. To be able to recreate this thing is going

to be very difficult, and here's what I believe. I truly believe that this is highly coordinated. I would not even be surprised if people were not brought in from the outside in order to facilitate something like this. Karen had talked just a moment ago about how personal these cases are. Also, there is an intimacy involved here. You had alluded to the fact that all of the surveillance equipment has been removed. And what's curious about this is that this would require an intimate knowledge of the property itself, the goings on, how everything, the day-to-day operations. And so I think there will be tiebacks to local people, obviously. And yeah, if they're in the

drug trade, Lord only knows how far the tentacles are the same extent. Nancy, this is Ashley. This is like a hit, right? All of the criteria, all of the elements, all of the pieces, it's so methodical in all of those specific steps. It's like someone there was aware of the surveillance and the house and the property, but all the other items are classic for a hit on this family. I think there's absolutely a hit, and what I don't understand is why now two years have passed and nobody seems to have a clue. I want to talk for a moment about the Wagner family. These are the neighbors, the next-door neighbors.

It's a very rural area that took off and moved to Alaska to the point where local law enforcement in Ohio, there in Pike County, sent out a notice. If anybody knows where the Wagners are, please tell us. We want to talk to them. A neighbor up in Alaska had stopped in on his brand new neighbors to say hello. He realized they were the Wagners, and he called the police when he found out about it. So I'm concerned as to why they are being questioned. To Karen Stark, New York psychologist, it could be any mixture of things when neighbors don't get along. But the fact that they just got up and left and moved and left

everything behind. And I mean, come on, you move from the lower 48 to Alaska. I mean, that clearly says I don't want to be found for whatever reason it might be. Maybe they were afraid that whoever killed the Roden family would come after them too. Or they were a part of what happened. And it's just so hard to believe that they would move all the way to Alaska and not think that that would look extremely suspicious. And from what I'm hearing, they feel like they're being hounded as a result of this. They were in a business together, and it was a business where you could attract a lot of nefarious characters. And because of the nature of the crime, Nancy, because it's so close up and personal and revengeful, you really wonder

how much they were involved in this and what could be done to get them to be investigated when they live in Alaska. You know, another issue is that we believe some of the gunshot wounds were inflicted post-mortem. Dr. Michelle Dupree, what does that mean? Nancy, again, that just points back to how personal this was. They were making a statement. They didn't just want to kill this family. They wanted to make a statement to anyone who found the bodies as well. That sends a message. You know, another issue to Ashley Wilcott, you know, they had a pit bull and another dog or two that didn't raise a paw during all this. What does that mean? I don't know. What does that mean? Did she know something? Was there some reason that she didn't say anything, didn't raise a paw? I don't know what does that mean did she know something was there some reason that that she didn't say anything didn't didn't raise a paw i it's it's i don't know it doesn't necessarily

make sense but again i think in terms of the the aspect of this crime that makes it sound like a hit they had a very clear plan as to who they were going to kill the patriarch was killed first by all accounts and they were going to do it in a specific order and i think they'd already predetermined who they were going to kill them who they weren't unless someone resisted or caused an issue or could identify. Well as horrific as these murders were of the Roden family professional assassins usually don't draw the line at children if they think there's a way they're going to be identified they'll go ahead and kill the children too. These three children were allowed to live. At first, the general speculation was the cartel was somehow involved,

the Mexican drug cartel in these murders, because who would have thunk it? But apparently El Chapo out of Mexico had strong connections to the Ohio drug trade. I'm not convinced this is a cartel move. What I do know, Joseph Scott Morgan, is that as someone intimately familiar with not one, not two, but three separate properties, rural properties, you've got to know how to get there, how to find the locations, how to get into the homes, how to remove the surveillance cameras, how to kill these family members without waking the others up, to know their habits, to know who lived where. I find that very telling, Joe Scott, but what?

Yes, it has a real intimacy to it, doesn't it, Nancy, that you would have this much familiarity to know these little details. This is another curious thing. You know, this county is located just north of the southernmost border of Ohio. It's in rural Appalachia. You know, weed pot up in that area has become the new moonshine. There are ATF agents that go through these areas and state law enforcement agents that go through these areas and state law enforcement agents that go through these areas, such as like down in the Daniel Boone National Forest that's just below this, where they have to look out for booby traps, all kinds of things that are planted on these pot fields that are down there. This is high dollar business.

These people are highly, they are very violent. There's a ton of money tied up in this. And, you know, a lot of it has to do with this is a way, you know, we're talking about how rural it is. This is a way that some of these people make money up there. This is their livelihood. And people take it very seriously. And boy, they really brought the wrath of God with them. They make money and a lot of it. But it seems to me whoever did this absolutely knows the family. And those were words also declared by Leonard Manley, who lost his daughter, Dana, and two grandchildren, Hannah, 19, Christopher, 16. The victims were ages 16 to 44. Eight people dead on an old dirt road in Piketon.

That's Pike County, Ohio. Two dogs were there that would chew you up, but they didn't raise a paw. Also, mercy was shown to the babies and the dogs. That indicates this was not a professional hit. How can an entire family be wiped out and still no arrests? Inside the same trailer, Gary Roden was shot three times in the head and face, including one shot that left a muzzle stamp on his temple, indicating a point-blank shot. Next door, a couple shot while in their bed with their weak old baby between them, another child on the floor. Frankie Roden was shot three times in the head and face. His girlfriend, Hannah Gilley, was shot five times in the head and face. His girlfriend, Hannah Gilley, was shot five times in the head and face.

One of the shots was through her eye. Both baby and the young child left unharmed. Just down the road, three more killed. Dana Roden, Chris Sr.'s ex-wife, she was shot five times across the forehead and in the temple, then up through the chin. Chris Roden Jr., he was 16, shot four times, including two through the top of his head. And his sister, Hannah, was shot twice in the head. And in a trailer a few miles away, Kenneth Roden, he was shot once through the right eye. Since the entire Roden family was asleep at the time of their execution, it seems to suggest hatred, varying amounts of hatred for each family member, as opposed to trying to subdue members of the family that were most likely to fight back, which is what you would expect at a mass killing. This takes a lot of thinking to Joe Scott Morgan, death investigator and author. You would have expected for some of the family members to be fighting back and to be shot during

the struggle. That did not happen. They were all in their beds. And these properties, it was a huge, sprawling hundreds of acres of farmland. These three properties were a couple of miles apart each. So someone had to know to go. You couldn't just look across the field and see the other home. They were miles apart. So someone had to have been surveilling or know the area intimately to know how to get to each of the three homes, Joe Scott Morgan. Yeah, you're absolutely right. Nancy, you and I both grew up in kind of rural areas, and the old saying, you can't see your hand in front of your face, it's so dark outside. You would have to have very specific knowledge of the area or sophisticated equipment like night vision goggles,

that sort of thing, in order to move around in the pitch black darkness. Remember what we said when we talked about how this apparently took place, this apparently took place between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m., if I'm getting my times right there. So we've got a four-hour window, you've got the cover of darkness that this is all occurring, this took planning, they're thinking about doing it, and then moving about, and then this brings us to the big issue, and got to tell you, I'm not a big, I'm not a big person when it comes to things like muzzle suppressors and all this sort of thing. However, I'm scratching my head. How did nobody react to this? They were all, many of them, not all, but many of them were found in their bed as if they had been sleeping. And I'm just, I'm baffled

by this. You can't ignore the marijuana trade. Okay people think it's innocent it's harmless it's not. It is not. There in that area of Ohio is extremely economically distressed. This is where the road murders took place. Many people in that region have relied on growing marijuana for years to support themselves. It is illegal there, but maybe that's why marijuana is such a huge, huge cash crop. Drugs are so prevalent there. The highway signs give numbers to report impaired, impaired drivers drivers not drunk drivers and the day of this massacre all along main street in piketon that's the county seat of pike county there were trucks and vendors it was the annual dogwood festival t-shirts uh candy, popcorn, corn dogs, elephant ears, selling things out of boxes, socks with marijuana leaf printed on them.

So that's the atmosphere in which the murders took place. Now, when I talk about a Dogwood Festival and the vendors and the street salesmen, there's something behind that. El Chapo. El Chapo, the drug lord and his Sinaloa cartel had infiltrated the area. It wasn't just your rural pot grower anymore, but the cartel was there. Nicole Parton joining me, Crime Online investigative reporter. Nicole, many people, including myself, believe this may have been a mass murderer made to look as if the cartel had done it. That's true, Nancy. to point out, going back to the Wagner family, that the son, Jake Wagner, had been a longtime boyfriend to Hannah Roden, one of those who were murdered in the home there. They actually shared a daughter together and had just finalized an agreement for a custody battle that had been

ensuing over their child. So there was a custody battle going on for the baby that is part Roden and part Wagner? Apparently they had just finalized the custody battle. The Roden family saying that it was tumultuous. The Wagner family saying that, oh no, it was an agreement that was settled peacefully. So we don't know all of the details, but we do know that the son, Jake Wagner, one of those who fled to Alaska, was actually the longtime boyfriend to Hannah Roden, who was murdered. Interesting. Now you got to wonder why two years have passed and nobody's been able to crack this case. Think about it. This is about 80 miles south of Columbus. People are afraid. You see eight people asleep in their beds, mass murdered. It looks like it may have been professionally done. There are no fingerprints. There's no

security camera footage because the killers had the wherewithal to remove all the surveillance video. No witnesses have come forward. If there is one, the neighbors took off to Alaska. So what do you expect to happen to Dr. Michelle Dupree, South Carolina medical examiner and author of a field guide to homicide investigation. So how often do murders remain unsolved because people are afraid to come forward? Well, Nancy, being afraid to come forward is very common. But typically there are things that we do find. We find physical evidence.

This case is so interesting because there isn't any. And another interesting part about this is when we look at this crime scene, it was well organized. That means that the perpetrator themselves was well organized. It was planned out. They were comfortable in their surroundings. You discussed how they knew where the security cameras were. This leaves a lot of thought in my mind anyway, that there was somebody very close to this family. They knew the ins and outs of this. It's not a wonder that it's not solved yet. Take a listen to our friend at WLWT News 5, Brian Hamrick. Eight people murdered inside four Pike County homes. The case was so shocking it made national headlines.

Tonight, the mystery of who's responsible grows even deeper with new details about the brutal nature of the murders. The coroner's preliminary report shows Christopher Roden Sr. was shot nine times, including five times in the face, three in the torso, and once in the arm. He appears to be the only one of eight with defensive wounds, indicating he may have been awake when the attack happened and was most likely the first one killed. If you have information related to these brutal murders leaving three children orphaned, please call Southern Ohio Crime Stoppers, 740-773-TIPS, 740-773-8477.

Anonymous tips are being taken at the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, 855-224-6446. 855-224-6446. There's a nearly $12,000 Crime Stoppers reward. Nancy Grace, Crime Stories, signing off. Goodbye, friends. This is an iHeart Podcast.