WAVERLY, Ohio — The last defendant awaiting trial in the 2016 Pike County massacre will be tried in Seneca County, in northwest Ohio, under a court entry filed Tuesday.
Visiting Judge Jonathan Hein selected Seneca County for the trial of George “Billy” Wagner III, citing in part its demographics, heritage, and remoteness as comparable to Pike County, according to the Oct. 13 entry in Pike County Common Pleas Court. Seneca County is about an hour south of Toledo and roughly three hours from Pike County.
Wagner won a change of venue in November 2024 after his lawyers argued that publicity surrounding the case would prevent a fair trial in Pike County. His trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 11, 2027.
Defense attorney Mark Collins welcomed Tuesday’s ruling, saying in a statement that changing venue is the only way to protect his client’s right to a fair trial and that the defense looks forward to the start of trial on Jan. 11. Special Prosecutor Angela Canepa did not immediately comment on the decision.
Wagner faces eight counts of aggravated murder and 14 related charges in the April 2016 shooting deaths of seven members of the Rhoden family and one future family member. He has pleaded not guilty and has been jailed since his November 2018 arrest, held first in Butler County and, since September 2024, in Pickaway County.
Prosecutors say the killings grew out of a child-custody dispute involving both families. Wagner’s wife and younger son admitted their roles in the killings in 2021, and his older son was convicted in 2022.
