Eight members of the Rhoden family were all killed execution style.
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Authorities were still trying Sunday to find out who targeted the seven adults and teenage boy and why. Some of the victims appeared to have been killed in their sleep, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said.
DeWine said this week that it appeared all of the eight were s in the head.
Kayla Hay said she got to know one of the victims, 37-year-old Dana Rhoden, when they both worked as nurse’s aides at a nursing home.
All eight autopsies have been completed, the Attorney General’s office said Monday.
Reader said he did not believe there was a safety issue for other residents. They ranged in age from 16 to 44. Oftentimes, the victim is put on his or her knees.
Authorities say they are pursuing the Facebook threat along with other leads.
DeWine has described the slayings as sophisticated, pre-planned operations.
He said 18 pieces of evidence had been sent to a state crime laboratory for analysis and that 50 to 60 people had been interviewed in the case, with more expected to be questioned.
(AP Photo/John Minchillo). Emergency vehicles park outside the perimeter of a crime scene, Friday, April 22, 2016, in Pike County, Ohio. Where are the children now?
It was not clear when the shootings took place. “It’s a large family”, Mr Waddell said.
Dana was divorced from Christopher Rhoden, Sr. had three children together, Hanna, Christopher, Jr. and Clarence “Frankie”. Brittany Pettit, 15, was a freshman classmate of Christopher Rhoden Jr., the youngest victim, since first grade. The suspects are probably armed and a danger to surviving family members, he added. “People will be looking over their shoulders awhile before they bring these guys to justice”.
No suspect or suspects have been apprehended. Investigators also said the killings were “planned and sophisticated”.
As the investigation into the killings of eight family members in rural OH entered its fifth day, more details slowly trickled out.
Twenty miles south of Piketon, Big Bear Lake Family Resort owner Robin Waddell has known the Rhoden family for decades, ever since Christopher Sr. started working at the resort – building decks or roofs, excavating, whatever needed done. Cages and equipment consistent with cockfighting were found at the home.
“There’s blood all over the house”, the woman told 911 operators.
She reported that no one else was in the home and broke into tears, according to the 911 recording.
The man was at a residence in the 700 block of West Fork Road. “And I looked up at him and he had a gunshot wound”, he said.
The news of the other deaths had already been reported by the time this death was discovered. Anyone with information on this case is asked to call toll free at 1-855-BCI-OHIO or the Pike County Sheriff’s Office at 740-947-2111.
DeWine cautioned it was too soon to determine if the marijuana grow operations and the murders were directly connected.
The community of Piketon has reacted with horror to the killings. The county is classified by the Appalachian Regional Commission as “distressed” and the unemployment rate is among the highest in the state, according to the county website.
A law enforcement source has confirmed that investigators found some 200 marijuana plants in the executed OH family’s indoor grow operation, CBS News senior investigative producer Pat Milton reports.
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“The one thing I saw were chickens out there”.
