An incident report released Wednesday paints a bloody scene at one trailer where deputies were called.
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Seven adults and a 16-year-old boy from the Rhoden family were found dead April 22 at four properties near Piketon, about 80 miles east of Cincinnati.
“They just kept coming, kept coming, and kept coming”, she recalled.
A funeral amid extra security was held Thursday in Kentucky for one of eight people shot dead in OH in what authorities describe as a cold-blooded massacre targeting a single family.
A coroner said seven members of the Rhoden family were shot multiple times, and one had nine gunshot wounds.
Authorities have said they are “exploring every angle” in the case, including whether the crimes are connected with the commercial marijuana growing operations found at three of the four Rhoden homes.
DeWine said Monday there was also possible evidence of cockfighting at one of the properties, but he didnt know if it was relevant to the investigation.
Investigators have interviewed between 50 and 60 people in hopes of finding leads, and a team of 38 people is combing wooded areas around the shooting scenes to ensure no evidence was missed, authorities said. Meanwhile, the hunt for whomever is responsible continued to expand, with more than 200 law enforcement officials involved.
Relatives of the victims said they were surprised by the marijuana. They were first called to 4077 Union Hill Road at 7:51 a.m., according to the report, but were flagged down at a neighboring residence by a person saying there were two bodies there. And some say the pot-growing was a case of courting trouble. The children were taken initially to a hospital; the two youngest subsequently were taken to Children and Protective Services, Leonard Manley has said.
But Angie Tolliver, a home health aide, said that whatever connection drugs may have had to the slayings, “Nobody deserves that”.
DeWine noted that the shootings were different from many multiple murders. He said people should not give money.
Neighbors used to leaving doors open are settling into a nervous new reality.
Roads in the area cut through slowly greening forests sprinkled with the white petals of early-blooming dogwood trees.
– “I want to stress this is a lengthy and ongoing investigation”, Reader said. A $10 fund-raising raffle for a local Masonic lodge offers a Bushmaster XM-15 semi-automatic rifle as first prize.
DeWine says authorities don’t want to reveal information or theories that could inform the killer or killers.
Anyone with information can contact 1-855-BCI-OHIO or the Pike County Sheriff’s office at 740-947-2111.
Dozens of officers from outside the county have come to town, helping the beleaguered sheriff’s office with patrol duties.
Family members “really want their privacy”. “There’s a lot of them and they’ve been in this community for generations”.
Hanna Rhoden was in bed with her newborn baby nearby, authorities said. She also found the bodies of Clarence “Frankie” Rhoden, 20, and his girlfriend, Hannah Gilley, also 20.
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Robin Waddell, who owns the Big Bear Lake Family Resort just south of Piketon, said Christopher Rhoden often did work for him as a carpenter and helped out with his excavation business.
