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A family murdered for no apparent reason evokes a lot of sympathy from a community. Unless that family was dealing drugs. Drugs are so prevalent in this rural swath of the country that highway signs provide drivers with a number to report impaired—not drunk—drivers. So less than a week after this community rallied to support the families of the eight people shot to death in their beds by an unknown killer or killers on Friday, much of that support began to dry up on Sunday evening when the state’s attorney general revealed that the Rhoden family appeared to have been selling large quantities of marijuana.
Hannah Gilley, 20, was the only person murdered in what appears to be a planned execution on Friday in Piketon, Ohio who was not a member of the Rhoden family. Friends of the Gilley family are holding two fundraisers on Saturday to help with funeral costs.
Since then, donations to help cover the tremendous cost of burying so many people have all but stopped, according to Rev. Phil Fulton. “Why not give to give someone a decent burial?” Fulton wondered aloud to reporters. “Don’t they deserve that?” The cold-blooded massacre shocked Cincinnati restaurateur Jeff Ruby enough on Saturday that he offered a $25,000 reward for anyone who gave police information that led to solving the crime. On Thursday, Ruby rescinded the offer due to “recent complex criminal developments,” he tweeted.
Riley Pritchard and her brother, Landon, sit in front of an abandoned elementary school in Piketon, Ohio. Pritchard attended high school with Hannah Gilley, one of eight victims of an apparent planned execution.
All that small-town goodwill for the Rhodens sure didn’t last very long, but for the family of Hannah Gilley, who was engaged to Frankie Rhoden and was also murdered, Piketon’s goodwill never started. “It’s all Rhodens, Rhodens, Rhodens, and everybody seems to forget about Hannah,” Patty Hammond, owner of the town’s only bar, told The Daily Beast on Wednesday night. Hammond will host a fundraiser on Saturday for Hannah—a poker run since it’s motorcycle season as well as a party at the tavern with enough bands and booze to draw in riders from across Pike and Adams counties. Hannah’s aunt and uncle have also been working on behalf of her grief-stricken parents to organize fundraisers to help with funeral costs.
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If someone killed the CEO of Marlboro would you say the same thing?Pot heads had it coming.
The victims, all members of the Rhoden family ranging in age from 16 to 44, were executed on April 22 in a planned, "sophisticated operation," officials said. Federal and state officials found three marijuana cultivation sites at one of the homes, but have declined to say whether they are linked to the deaths. David Dickerson from the Pike County prosecutor's office told reporters after the church service on Tuesday that it was standing-room only in the church for the nearly 40-minute service for the six victims.
Dickerson said the family was "beyond devastated" and that multiple teams of crisis counselors had been helping the family. "It has been a very hard 11 days," he said. A lengthy procession that included six black hearses then took the victims to Scioto Burial Park in McDermott, Ohio. Officials have declined to reveal details of the investigation to avoid tipping off suspects. They have sent more than 100 items to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation's crime lab for DNA, ballistics and fingerprint analysis.
Members of the Ohio Crisis Response Team assist a mourner after the funeral for six members of the Rhoden family, who were shot to death in rural Pike County on April 22, at Dry Run Church of Christ in West Portsmouth, Ohio
The Ohio Attorney General's office declined to comment further on Tuesday. Investigators have said they are not assuming the killings in Pike County, about 95 miles (150 km) east of Cincinnati, were committed by one person. Local media have quoted unidentified law enforcement officials as saying many theories are being considered, including a family feud or even the involvement of Mexican drug cartels. Many of the victims were shot in the head as they slept, authorities said. Three children were found alive.
Six family members, including Christopher Rhoden Sr, 40; his ex-wife Dana Rhoden, 37; their three children Clarence "Frankie" Rhoden, 20, Hanna Rhoden, 19, and Christopher Rhoden Jr., 16; as well as Christopher Sr's brother, Kenneth Rhoden, 44, were buried on Tuesday in West Portsmouth, Ohio. The first of the funerals was held last Thursday in northern Kentucky for Gary Rhoden, 38, and Hannah Gilley, 20, Clarence Rhoden's girlfriend and mother of a 6-month-old boy who survived, was buried last Saturday in Waverly, Ohio.
Six funerals held after Ohio family massacre
Are you kidding? Tobacco kills millions, so yes. The worst part is that smokers start when the are children. Children are easily manipulated. The tobacco companies rely on our children to be morons.If someone killed the CEO of Marlboro would you say the same thing?Pot heads had it coming.
THE DISCOVERY
At 7:49 a.m. on April 22, a breathless woman calls 911 saying two people appear dead in a home: "There's blood all over the house." Minutes later, a sheriff's deputy requests "multiple ambulances due to multiple people down at multiple residences." Seven bodies are discovered in three houses. At 1:26 p.m., another 911 call comes in with the report of an eighth body: "All that stuff that's on the news. I just found my cousin with a gunshot wound."
THE VICTIMS
Members of the Rhoden family found shot to death: 40-year-old Christopher Rhoden; his ex-wife, 37-year-old Dana Rhoden; their three children, 20-year-old Clarence "Frankie" Rhoden, 16-year-old Christopher Jr., and 19-year-old Hanna; Frankie Rhoden's fiancée, 20-year-old Hannah Gilley; Christopher Rhoden Sr.'s brother, 44-year-old Kenneth Rhoden; and 38-year-old Gary Rhoden, a cousin. Hanna Rhoden's 4-day-old baby girl was found unharmed beside her; another baby and a young child were also unharmed.
THE SHOOTINGS
The Hamilton County coroner says one victim was shot once, with others sustaining multiple gunshot wounds, including two victims shot five times and one victim shot nine times. The report didn't specify which victim had which number of wounds. The coroner's office says some victims showed signs of soft tissue bruising, consistent with the first 911 caller's description of the victims having been beaten. A sheriff's department report says a large amount of blood was found in the living room of the house where the first two victims were found; their bodies were located in a back bedroom.
THE INVESTIGATION
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine has assigned multiple officers with the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation to work alongside the Pike County Sheriff's Office. The Pike County prosecutor, the Hamilton County coroner and more than 20 other sheriff's offices and Piketon police are assisting. The FBI and the DEA are providing some assistance on an as-needed basis.
THEORIES