WAVERLY, Ohio —Hanna May Rhoden, the mother of the toddler at the center of the killings of eight members of the Rhoden family in 2016, was not supposed to be at her mother's home that fateful night, her boyfriend testified Friday.
In a day filled with tearful testimony, Corey Holdren, 29, said he and Hanna May had been fishing and she went back to her mother's home at 3122 Union Hill Road to get her breast pump and planned to meet him later at his house. She told him she was tired and would see him the next day.
That day never came.
Instead, Hanna May Rhoden, her mother, her father, her two brothers, an uncle, a cousin and her brother's fiancee were all found shot to death in four separate locations the morning of April 22.
George Wagner IV, 30, is on trial in the slayings. He has pleaded not guilty. His mother, Angela Wagner; father, George "Billy" Wagner III; and younger brother, Jake Wagner, face the same 22 charges in Ohio's largest and most complex criminal investigation.
Holdren's testimony was a heartbreaking recounting of a young couple starting out their lives together in a day filled with family members describing how they found out about the killings, their relationship with the Wagners. Many also testified that Jake Wagner was "controlling" and "abusive" toward Hanna Rhoden during their five-year relationship. The Friday wrapped up the third week of testimony in the trial, which is expected to last up to eight weeks.
The day was also punctuated with numerous defense objections about hearsay testimony. Pike County Common Pleas Judge Randy Deering sustained the majority of those.
Holdren told jurors he and Hanna loved each other and he was working to renovate his boyhood home to make a place for the small family, which included her newborn daughter whom Holdren testified he was going to raise as his own even though he was not her biological father. Rhoden gave birth the Sunday before she was killed and Holdren said he was there, he named the girl, Kylie May and cut the umbilical cord.
"She was the best thing that ever happened to me,'' Holdren said of Rhoden. "We never fought. She helped me through everything. I've had issues you know ... like depression. But when I was with her I never had any of that. I was in a good mood. I was happy."
When the two met, Holdren said he was addicted to pain pills. Rhoden was with him the whole time he detoxified, he said.
"She laid, sat by side during the whole withdrawals and everything,'' he testified. "Nobody does that in less you love somebody. And she did."
Holdren said he meet Jake Wagner several times, including at the second birthday party for Hanna and Jake's daughter, at the hospital when she gave birth to Kylie and once when he showed up at Holdren's house.
At the birthday party, Holdren said he didn't stay long because he did not want to add any "drama."
"She told me before, like how he kept her in her room like for forever; like six months or something'' when the Wagner and Rhoden lived together. "Like (he) locked up or something. Like he was controlling, were very controlling"
Holdren said Wagner showed up at the hospital to introduce newborn Kyle to her older sister and to check the infant's toe for a Wagner family trait. Wagner previously has said he pulled off Kylie's sock to check for a hammer toe in an attempt to establish custody. He did not see that trait.
Holdren said he can't recall if he saw Wagner at the church where family assembled on April 22, 2016.
"I was in shock. I honestly didn't feel it was real,'' he said. "I just I felt like Hanna was going to come up and prank me. It still feels like that."
Also testifying Friday were her aunt, April Manley; her cousin, Kendra Rhoden; and good friend Chelsea Robinson. They each recounted conversations with Hanna Rhoden recounting an abusive and controlling relationship. Each said they did not like how Wagner treated her and she was fearful of him and the Wagner family.
April Manley, 47, testified she went with her husband, James Manley, after he discovered his sister, Dana Manley Rhoden, dead in her trailer. April Manley testified that she later traveled with Kylie, whom officials found alive and physically unharmed next to Hanna's body, to the hospital the morning of the homicides.
Jake Wagner showed up at the hospital asking about Kylie, Manley said.
"He was emotionless. There were no cries. He wasn't worried about nothing. It wasn't someone who just lost someone they claimed to love" she testified.
She said Wagner was there to "check on Kylie to see if he could take her."
Kendra Rhoden, 25, called her cousin, Hanna Rhoden, her best friend and the two were like sisters. The two were just a month apart in age.
Rhoden testified that Hanna let her listen to several phone calls with Jake, during which he admitted physically abusing her, including choking and pushing her.
She also testified that Jake called her when she was pregnant with Kylie and Jake insisted the fetus was his. Rhoden testified that both she and Hanna told him that was not true.
During one call, Jake Rhoden told her: "If he wanted to be Sophia's mother they had to do it as a unit and if she left him, she was leaving Sophia, too," Kendra Rhoden testified, adding that her cousin was fearful of Wagner when she left him.
She further said when Hanna Rhoden was pregnant with Kylie, Wagner called her and said that he did not want Sophia around Corey or "around those those things and that if she was, that Hanna was not going to be a part of (Sophia's) life and that he would take Sophia away."
Chelsea Robinson, 27, had a son with Clarence "Frankie" Rhoden and their then-toddler son, Brentley, was in his father's trailer the night of the killings.
Robinson said she and Frankie Rhoden dated on and off for five years and often hung out with Hanna Rhoden and Jake Wagner when they were a couple.
She testified that Wagner once threatened Hanna Rhoden: "If she tried to leave, he was going to chop her legs off so she could never leave the house."
Robinson said she remained in contact with Wagner after the homicides but Wagner severed the friendship after he accused her of "not having his back" on social media platforms and that was the reason he and his family had to move to Alaska in 2017.
She testified his "long" text message frightened her and she contacted BCI agents immediately.
Before witnesses took the stand, Deering said the trial was canceled Thursday because a juror was ill. Deering released the juror from service replacing her with the first alternate juror.
The trial resumes Monday at 9 a.m. when the defense is expected to cross examine Robinson.
Questions for students
Listening to emotional testimony is tough even for experienced reporters. I had a very hard time on Friday as I have interviewed everyone who testified. I often had to look down and not watch them as they wept on the stand. How might you keep your emotions in check when you are sitting in the courtroom?
Also hearing witnesses can be very difficult. On Friday, nearly every witness was soft spoken and there was construction outside the courthouse that made hearing difficult. Knowing that four of the five witnesses agreed to be recorded on video and audio, tell me what you might do to check your note to ensure that you captured their testimony correctly and your quotes are accurate. Please be specific.
What questions do you have for me?
What part of the trial do you still have questions about?
Listening to emotional testimony is tough even for experienced reporters. I had a very hard time on Friday as I have interviewed everyone who testified. I often had to look down and not watch them as they wept on the stand. How might you keep your emotions in check when you are sitting in the courtroom?
I think by having some sort of fidget or just some other small thing in the courtroom that I focus my attention to instead that can occupy my mind a bit if I'm having a hard time.
Also hearing witnesses can be very difficult. On Friday, nearly every witness was soft spoken and there was construction outside the courthouse that made hearing difficult. Knowing…
What questions do you have for me?
What do you do to keep your emotions in check? You said you did struggle with it, but does it ever become too much?
What part of the trial do you still have questions about?
I am curious what the general outlook of the trial is at this point. Only reading the occasional blog post it's a little hard to put everything together to get an update as to where everything stands, if anything incredibly surprising happened that I missed, etc. I think a shorter update post would be very helpful with this.
How might you keep your emotions in check when you are sitting in the courtroom?
I wear my emotions on my sleeve, if I am in a bad mood or if I'm just having a rough day, my face will let you know. I am also a very sympathetic person, so when people around me are sad or emotional, it can be very hard for me not to feel the same way. In a court setting, I would try to suppress my emotions by focusing on my reporting. I would do everything in my power to make sure I focus on the testimonies being told and try my best to not let it get to me. This would all be…
How might you keep your emotions in check when you are sitting in the courtroom?
I would focus on my notetaking and try to think about the objectivity/structure of my story. Emotion is obviously important in stories like these, but sometimes you need to pull back for a second. When I'm struggling to connect or get overwhelmed, I focus on whatever task I'm trying to accomplish, whether that's in school, reporting, or my actual job.
Questions: Have you ever had a time where you felt emotional during court? I know you have mentioned that there is other media reporters in the courtroom and there are some of them that goof off while there; have you seen them get emotional during the trial at all?