This series contains adult language and descriptions of graphic violence throughout. Listener discretion is advised. Calorie Audio Welcome to the Pink Moon Murders, a production of I Heart Radio and Cavalry Audio. Episode five, A Pink Moon and Singing Insects. I keep wondering how the murders were carried out, including how the killer got past all the dogs. Solved that, and you might solve the crime. Tony Rowden had told me Chris's pitbull and boxer were so big ambitious that when Tony visited, he wouldn't leave his car until Chris came and calmed them. And Leonard said they would eat up even visitors they knew. Plus the coon hounds that slept outside had such keen senses they were prized for tracking down prey. I wish the investigators would release more details than the absolute minimum they've released so far, But Tony, Leonard, Manly, Hannah, Hazel Gillies, Mom, Brittany Pettitt, and all the other loved ones are more anxious than me, and so is Geneva Rodin, the matriarch of her clan. She lost two sons, three grandkids, and nephew a former daughter in law and assumed to be granddaughter in law, and she couldn't see your great grandkids who are in state custody. I feel so bad for all of them. We know full moon was shining on the night of April on to April. Specifically, it was a pink moon, the fourth full moon of the year. It's not named for the color of the moon, but for Flox subulata, a wild flower that's native to the eastern United States and Canada. It's also called moss flox and moss pink. Long ago indigenous people observed that it's beautiful, star shaped flower appears at that time of the year. I can't get over the impact of the full moon in the pitch blackness of a rural, wooded area without street lights. But did it push the killer over the edge to carry out the murders or did the extra illumination simply make his job easier Based on evidence collected at the crime scenes. Attorney General to Wine at an early press conference called this fashion cold blooded, calculated massacre, and Sheriff Reeder said this was very methodical, This was well planned. This This was not something that just happened. This was something that planned the family was targeted, most of them targeted while they were sleeping. Farmers pay close attention to nature for their crops and livestock, so if the killer was a farmer or just a calculated, methodical person, he probably considered the moon's phases. Like I said in an earlier episode, I doubt he carried a flashlight. But the word lunatic comes from the Latin word for moon, luna, and legends like people transforming into werewolves during full moons don't appear out of nowhere. There's plenty of anecdotal and even some scientific evidence that full moons affect people's brains. My uncle John was a pediatrician until he retired, and my mom was his office manager. She said they were always busy with her kids on days after full moons, so it is possible the full moon pushed the perpetrator into temporary insanity. I've also been thinking about another natural element, singing insects. My parents live in a Cincinnati suburb that's nine miles west of Union Hill Road, and their house is about the same distance from a forest as road, and homes about sixty ft with grass in the middle. On cool spring nights, with the windows open. When I visited, I'd hear insects when I lay down to sleep, and on hot summer nights with the windows closed and air conditioning running, I'd still hear them because they sang louder at that time of year. The insects created such a screeching cacophony that each time I visited, it took days before I could tune them out. So I'm wondering if the killer was able to sneak up to road and homes and unlocked the doors or climbed through the open windows without startling all those dogs, because as footsteps were muffled by singing insects. Remember there were no crunchy leaves or snow on the ground, but footsteps do make a little noise. Late one night, under a full moon, the Corn Moon, I drove by myself from my hotel in Waverley to Union Hill Road twenty miles away and recorded insects in front of Chris Rodin's vacant homestead of September one, with the moon partially obscured by clouds and rain occasionally drizzling down, I set my microphone on my car hood and press record. I wanted to learn more about the insect noise, so I checked with Dr Becca Brody, a professor of entomology at Ohio University. She listened to my recording and then wrote in an email, the loudest sound is a chorus of crickets overlapped by Katie DIDs. Katie DIDs are easy to identify because they sound like they're saying Katie did, and Katie didn't, Katie did, Katy didn't. I asked if a full moon effects insects, and she exclaimed that it would definitely increase insect activity. And then Dr Brodie surprised me. She wrote, quote was a year for periodical cicadas or seventeen year cicadas in Ohio. They spend seventeen years in the soil as larva baby cicadas and emerge in huge numbers once the soil warms. Their numbers peaked in June, but they would have been out there in April two. They make a very loud, shrill sound end quote. I looked on a scientific map that tracked the cicadas that year. They're called Brood five, and it does show them emerging in parts of Ohio and neighboring eastern states of West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia, and Maryland. But they pretty much stopped at the Soda River, which cuts down the middle of Pike County, and the Rodents lived about ten miles west of it. So it is possible cicadas added to the insect cacophony at roding homes on the night of the murders, but not likely. I didn't in here cicadas when Leonard was speaking with reporters at the Union Hill roadblock a couple of days afterward, and when I asked my buddy, the deputy, who spent two shifts on Union Hill Road, he didn't recall hearing or seeing them. But if you've experienced cicadas, you don't forget. You see them literally everywhere outdoors, and you can't avoid their deafening noise around the cock or crunchiness while walking on them. Their density can surpass one million cicadas acre. So insect noise with or without cicadas, did muffle the footsteps of the killer so he could get past the coonhounds. But those dogs might have been a non issue. Maybe they were sleeping in the middle of that night or howling so wildly under the full moon that the roadents ignored them. To get an authority's perspective, I spoke with Dr Paul Carr, a second generation veterinarian and Sciota and Pike Counties. Is it possible you think they could have been sleeping and just not heard someone walking up quietly? Absolutely not, No, they would. They would have been barking. They're crazy. They'd be you know, they don't sleep enough to like the dogs don't sleep, they just intermitting, you know you like cats, cast don't sleep, very very solemn, particularly coonhounds. They'd be up checking things out, one to see. Yeah, I've had I've had two dogs, and I know they wake up pretty easily, very easily. And but they we barked. Oh, they just be carrying on back. Doctor Carr said the dogs probably knew the killer and barked when he approached, but the rodents might have ignored. The barking is nothing new. However, the dogs didn't know the killer or killers, they would have barked louder and wilder than normal, attracting the rodents attention. Those animals would have known those people that came in there. They had to know. I mean when when when any time you go to a particularly in the morning like that, early in the morning, the middle of the night something, and I mean, you know, those hounds would have just been barking and all the time, but maybe no one cared. Maybe maybe the neighbors. And of course there was no neighbor. The houses just carry on all the time. So maybe instead of the killer sneaking up, he simply walked up. Regardless of how the killer got past the dogs, he did, and he committed the worst crime on sleeping people, some with babies nearby. It's hard to believe anyone deserved this, But even if someone did, at least from the killer's perspective, there's no chance all eight of them were deserving, or is there? And the killer has gotten away with it all this time. Five years have passed and no one has faced a criminal trial, No one has been brought to justice, and a killer might still be on the loose. Acts of mass violence might still be lurking inside someone in southern Appalachian, Ohio waiting to escape. April turned into May and then June, with Mother's Day and Father's Day passing painfully for survivors. Leonard visited his daughter's grave that year instead of her visiting him at home. Kendra badly missed her dad Kenneth, and her mother Geneva missed him too, But Kendra told a reporter, I can't ever lose hope on seeing the horrible, corrupted people who did this to my family be brought to justice. Charlie Gilly, who Hannah may Rode and dated briefly, didn't have custody of the daughter Kylie. On Father's Day, he told the Cincinnati Enquirer that he was spending four to five hours each evening at the side of his sister, Hannah Hazel. He was so sad over the loss of everyone that he couldn't sleep. At nights, he went to the small cemetery where his sister was buried to try to find peace. During these months, investigator's question many more people and analyzed many more pieces of evidence. By early July, they had received seven hundred tips from the public. Reports of search warrants being executed trickled out, but they were sealed from the public, so details were unknown. No lasting arrests had been made. Investigators were desperate for Leeds. Todd, the lifelong Pike County resident and former cop, told me he was sure someone in the community had information and was remaining silent. We were driving on a back road when he spoke. I think whoever hopes backs they needed ammend because this ship shape let all this happen, and you hold them back, I tell. On Saturday, July two, the Pike County Demolition Derby took place at the fairgrounds. Organizers sold bracelets it said remembering nine to six, which was Frankie Roden's Derby number. He chose that number because his son Brentley, was born on the twenty six day of the ninth month September, and attendees were encouraged to wear orange for the victims. Orange t shirts saying Rod and Proud, Rod and Strong on the front were worn by spectators and drivers alike, and on the back was written in loving memory, followed by the names of the eight victims. These included derby veteran Frankie and newcomer Little Chris, the sixteen year old who is going to make his debut there. The older generation of Rodan men had retired from the sport long ago. A manly from Dana's side of the family ran a car paint and orange and black with the words Rod and proud rod and strong and rest in peace, and a young man on the road and side welded his family's last name on the little Chris's car which he wanted to compete in. Kendra Roden, who was Kenneth's daughter and Hannah Ma's cousin and best friend, wrote on that car, Fly high, Babes. Kendrall later told a reporter derby is one of the things we all enjoy. She added, it's like Christmas and July. At the end of July began the hundred and seventh Annual Pike County Fair, also at the fair grounds. The wholesome family event awarded winners for baking the best apple pies and celebrated a girl being named Pike County Fair Queen. It featured lots of food, rides and games, as well as harness racing, horse mule and tractor pulls, dairy, cattle and hog shows, and a beefitting contest. There's a county fair that many outsiders would think was more Oklahoma than Ohio, and there was a demolition derby. It started at seven o'clock prime time on Saturday and Sunday evenings included where a smashing class Minis Street stock mad and mowers, and the bleachers were packed. Tributes to the rodents continued, the Pink Moon Murders will return after the break, and now back to the Pink Moon Murders. Over the next months, the investigation into the murders seemed to stall, as authorities released fewer and fewer details, and national and local reporters moved on to other news. Rodents, Manulies, and Gillies continued to grieve and want justice, but most residents of southern Ohio moved on with their lives. In August, officials in Kenton County, Kentucky, which is part of Greater Cincinnati, did announce a possible connection between an earlier double murder there and the road murders. A drug trafficker and his girlfriend were shot to death in their bed execution style, and kids at their home were not hurt, but that turned out to be a tragic coincidence. Also in August, during a court hearing regarding if custody records for babies found at road and murder scenes should become public, Sheriff Charlie Reader said the babies remained in grave danger, and so were the unnamed foster parents. Assigned by the state. I don't want to receive another call about another homicide, a brutal homicide in my county, he stated, I do not want to ever find victims nine, ten, and eleven and have them be those three minor children. It was unclear if police had received tips or found evidence suggesting those babies might be in harm's way, or if Sheriff Reader was purely used in his professional judgment. The judge at that hearing said it seemed the killer had deliberately not harmed the babies, but the sheriff didn't agree. He believed that if they had not been discovered that morning, if Bobby Joe Manley hadn't stopped by to feed the animals and found them, they might have died of starvation or something else. In other words, the cold hearted killer might have wanted them dead, but couldn't bring himself to murder young children, to shoot sleeping babies in the head. Yet, after that hearing, Tony Rowden said that he didn't believe the little ones were still in danger. He said that if the killer wanted them dead, they'd be dead already. Regardless, the killer one at risk a second attack, especially knowing so many people in rural Ohio slept with guns by their beds. Leonard Manly said the same. He posited the chaff Reader, who was up for reelection in a couple of months, was grandstanding, whether he was grand standing as a politician or being heroic as the county's top law enforcement officer. Sheriff. Reader repeated a few times at that hearing that those babies remained in grave danger. He also made a startling statement. He said that there was more than one killer the night of April to ap This was the most important development made public in the case. Most people believe that with the stealth and precision involved, there was only one killer. This blew my mind. Now I was wondering how to or more killers got past all those dogs and sneaked into all four homes. But the sheriff didn't provide details to the court that day, and he refused to clarify with members of the media. Months later, another case interested investigators. Josh Rowden, who was related to many of the murder victims, was charged with aggravated drug trafficking in Pike County. Josh had almost eight thousand dollars worth of illegal pills, some marijuana, eight thousand dollars in cash and nine guns. Could his alleged drug trafficking be connected to the commercial grow operation at his relatives homes, to a Mexican drug cartel, maybe even the Cineloo cartel. Josh had a drug history. In two thousand three, he pleaded guilty to drug possession, and in two thousand six he pleaded guilty to obsession of marijuana. But with this case, the charge was ultimately dismissed. He only had to pay court costs and later Josh's sister, Violet was found shot to death in a Pike County forest. The Sheriff's office asked Ohio's b c I to handle the investigation because of the mystery surrounding her death and certain similarities to the murders of her eight relatives. Eventually, the corner and b c I announced it was a suicide. Violet shot herself in the chest. She was another troubled person struggling with addiction and depression. Time kept passing slowly for the Rodent, Manily, and Gilly families. No big developments in the case were announced, so in March, Wilma, a sister of Chris and Kenneth, helped create reward posters that were hung around Pike County. The reward was ten thousand dollars for a tip leading to a conviction, and the poster showed the eight victims smiling during happy days. This case is so dark and mysterious, and the murders were so brutal, with multiple killers, that I've been thinking of the Clutters. In nineteen fifty nine, in rural Finney County, Kansas, the Clutter family, two parents and their teenage son and daughter, was shot to death at home in the middle of the night. Author Truman Capodi wrote a best selling book about the Clutter murders, titled In Cold Blood. It became a classic of American literature. But if you haven't read it, you might have seen the movies adapted from it. Kansas investigators eventually received a tip naming two men as the murderers and arrested them in a different state. It turned out the men were complete strangers to the Clutters. They had served time in prison where a fellow inmate, a former farm hand of the Clutters, told them the family's house had a safe with valuables, so could the bad guys and the road and murders be complete strangers too. In April seventeen, Attorney General Mike Dwine and Sheriff Charlie Reader held a press conference. Dwine reported they had received eight dight three tips, conducted four hundred and sixty five interviews, and served thirty eight sirch warrants, and carried out sixty cyber extractions. He also corrected himself from an early press conference when he said three of the four crime scenes had marijuana growing. The number was actually two at Chris's and Kenneth's residences, and DeWine stated he was deeply frustrated at this point. A reason for holding the press conference was to raise more awareness for the case and generate more tips. Although b c I is the lead investigative agency, the Pike County Sheriff's Office continues to this day to assist with manpower, which strains the resources of the small agency that still has to patrol four forty square miles with only thirteen deputies. Here, Sheriff Reader, I think about this every morning. That's the last thing I think about every night. I entered my office, the first thing I do is go to the computer and check our tip line to see if there's something new, something different, something that may give the investigators and the agents that little piece that we may be missing. I see the look of disappointment when I speak with the family and I look into their eyes and the grieving that they still have. He became emotional as he continued, There's babies that will grow up without their mothers, for their grandparents. Mm hmm. They've missed birthdays, anniversaries. I think about them on Thanksgiving and Christmas and what the family may be going through. Then the sheriff had a message directly for the killers. You came in like thieves in the night and took eight lives, some being children, in the most horrific way I've ever seen in my twenty plus years. M we are getting closer. We will find you, the family and the victims. We'll have justice. One day. We are coming. We will find you, we will arrest you, and you will be prosecuted. Sheriff Reader was a badass with compassion. A week later, the Attorney General's Office released a video of Geneva Rodin, a mother, grandmother, and great grandmother crying for more help from the public. It was picked up by several TV news stations and websites. I'd dislike to say, from my mother's heart, I hurt so bad inside from the day that that I helmed out. Hey like to say, if there's someone out there that knows anything about what happened, would they please please coming forward? The hurt don't do away from a mother. I think about a day and night was a lot of sleep Boward. It's still what your to go on, mom bang indeed, to please come forward. For the anniversary of the murders, Pastor Philip union Hell Church hosted a vigil that he opened with a prayer followed by the reading of the victim's names. Attendee slit candles. Among them were Rodents, Manulis and other left ones, including Kenneth's sex wife Stacy and Hannam Roden's last boyfriend, Corey Holdron, but also b c I agents Deputies Mike Dwine and Charlie Reader, the Attorney general in the sheriff both spoke. My granddaughter sang and very very somber. Uh service, but yet I felt a timely thing for the family and well well attended by family and friends and church and uh so we we've done everything we can to serve the or could to serve the family and reach out to them. The investigators might have also had an ulterior motive for attending. On that day, they placed a GPS tracking device on the truck of James Manley, the brother of Diana and Bobby Joe. He was the one who had discovered Dana's body. Six days later, James discovered the device and destroyed it. He was promptly charged with two felonies Tampa, ring with evidence and vandalism, marking the first criminal charges being filed in the road and murders case. He went to jail. This was a major surprise, another game changer. Possibly Rodent's Gillies and others in the community were shocked and confused, but Manlis were outraged. They claimed there was no way James was connected to the murders. James's dad, Leonard, said the charges were bullshit and police and prosecutors were showing their desperation. Every freaking day. Someone was tearing the scabs office. He told the media. It's one thing if you lose eight people and then they blame your boy for it. Leonard had a warning for investigators if they put a GPS tracker on his vehicle, you know that they put one on mine. I'm going to destroy you. Leonard said that before James's arrest, investigators had taken him from his job near Dayton, James worked as a freelance slumberjack for a polygraph test. I wonder how many lie detector tests James, Leonard, Bobby Joe, and other manlies had taken by now. Evidently James didn't do well on his According to a search warrant that Leonard later provided to members of the media, investigators were alleging that James's truck had been quote used in connection with an aggravated murder or by a person intending such a crime end of quote, but further details were unknown. Attorney General de Wine, through a spokesperson, said James was a quote witness end quote, who perhaps could give info about the murders. The spokesperson would not elaborate that allegation as all sorts of implications. I looked into court records and saw that James did have a criminal history in Pike County. He pleaded no contest in two thousand nine to menacing. He was sentenced to six months of standard probation and was required to refrain from all contact with Cindy Rooker and Cody Cox, whoever they are. The Sheriff's office returned to James a rifle that it had confiscated at the time. James was shackled while sitting quietly in court for his arraignment for the tampering and vandalism charges. During it, bail was set at an incredibly high eighty thou dollars, but after his wife paid ten percent in cash, he was released, and weeks later authorities dropped both charges. Maybe they didn't have enough evidence to convict him, although it seems they did. James wasn't speaking publicly, but his dad pretty much admitted both charges were valid. Maybe they just decided to focus on other issues, but they did reserve the right to recharge him. Leonard was beyond frustrated. He called police and prosecutors investigating the murders of his daughter, three grandchildren and other relatives dumb and said he was not optimistic they would find the killers. I'm to the point I don't need to give a blank to blank about any sad I mean, I watch TV and people go off the deep end, and I can see why the system sucks. More Pink Moon murders after from our sponsors. We now return to the Pink Moon murders. We don't know what James said during his polygraph tests, but I've often wondered if he suffered from post traumatic stress disorder after walking into his sister Dana's trailer that morning and seeing her shot to death and hearing a baby crying. Maybe he got nervous and misspoke, leading investigators not to believe him, or maybe he really was involved with the murders. Going into May, the police from Geneva, the sheriff, and the Attorney general reinvigorated the case. Dozens of more tips came in. Investigators searched to properties connected to the family of Jake Wagner, who was Hannah may Rodin's ex boyfriend and first baby dad, and the next day they searched a third property. Was this another game changer or another lead that would fizzle out? Investigators searched the house and land near the village of Peebles, Adams County, where Jake lived with his mom, dad, and brother. Investigators carried shovels, metal detectors, and plenty of weapons and body armor for any possible gunfight. Word spread, and soon news helicopters were flying overhead while reporters on the ground tried to figure out what was going on. Neither Sheriff Reader nor Attorney General the line would comment. No confidential sources came forward, and search warrants as well as court orders were sealed, but by the end of the day, witnesses saw Pike County deputies towed to four wheelers while other investigators carried evidence bags into b c I vans. The second property was a car lot in Peebles, with Sheriff Reader himself joining in on the search. Media eventually reported that Jake and his brother, who are diesel mechanics a case ginerally fixed vehicles for the owner, and that Jake, for an unknown reason, had dropped off to pickup trucks and three trailers. They were packed with personal items, including a rocking horse and a stuff bear, and Jake needed a place to sew them for a few days until he found a permanent place. After their search, investigators towed away a trailer and a third property was searched the following day is Flying w Farms owned by Fredericka and George Wagner Jr. In Pike County, and reporters quickly figured out they were Jake's grandparents, but no details of the search emerged. Fredericka and George owned almost eight acres on and around that farm, so members of the media didn't learn much about any evidence taken from the three properties, but one official did tell reporters that he thought Jake's family had recently sold their house near Peebles, and they checked property records to confirm that. That whole weekend, they tried getting into touch with the Wagner's task what was going on, but struck out, and Rhoden's Manily and Gillies said they didn't know anything locals heads were spending at this weekend. Of bombshell news developments and the lack of specifics, few details emerged over the next weeks and the Wagners remained in Communicado, but on June six, Attorney General de Wine and Sheriff Reader put out a joint news release they were taking the highly unusual step of asking the public for information regarding George Wagner the third nicknamed Billy, and his wife Angela, who were both forty six years old, as well as their sons Georgia fourth who was twenty five, and Edward nicknamed Jake, who is twenty four photos were provided Dwine and reader stated quote, investigators are interested in receiving information regarding any interaction, conversations, dealings, or transactions that the public may have had with these individuals, which could be personal, business or otherwise Specifically, information could include, but is not limited to, information regarding vehicles, firearms, and ammunition. The persons listed are formerly residents of Peterson Road in People's Ohio and are currently believed to be residing in Alaska. End of quote, Alaska. What is that all about? Another surprise? The news release ended with asking people to call in with confidential tips and reminding them they could receive the ten thousand dollar reward. Law enforcement officials released few details over the next months, even though southern Appalachian Ohioans were roiling with thoughtful speculation and absurd rumors. Meanwhile, the Wagoners established new lives in rural Alaska, and whatever secrets they might have had stayed with them. Yet they moved back to Ohio less than a year later, this time to South Webster, a village of eight hundred people in Sauda County, and then suddenly, on November eighteen, Billy Angela Georgia Fourth and Jake were arrested and each was charged with eight counts of aggravated murder with death penalty specifications. Billy's and Angela's moms were arrested too, Baby Sophia's great grandmothers. They were charged with accessory crimes. So, if these allegations are correct, why would one family want to wipe out another? What could possibly lead to such a horrific family feud? How could six members of one family work together to massacre eight members of another. The Pink Moon Murders as a Cavalry Audio production in association with I Heart Radio, Written and narrated by David Rettiman, Produced by Brandon Morgan of Cavalry Audio and Casey Whalen for Whaland Productions. Edited by Tim mulhern Executive produced by Dana Brunetti and Keegan Rosenberger.

This series contains adult language and descriptions of graphic violence throughout. Listener discretion is advised. Calorie Audio Welcome to the Pink Moon Murders, a production of I Heart Radio and Cavalry Audio. Episode five, A Pink Moon and Singing Insects. I keep wondering how the murders were carried out, including how the killer got past all the dogs. Solved that, and you might solve the crime. Tony Rowden had told me Chris's pitbull and boxer were so big ambitious that when Tony visited, he wouldn't leave his car until Chris came and calmed them. And Leonard said they would eat up even visitors they knew. Plus the coon hounds that slept outside had such keen senses they were prized for tracking down prey. I wish the investigators would release more details than the absolute minimum they've released so far, But Tony, Leonard, Manly, Hannah, Hazel Gillies, Mom, Brittany Pettitt, and all the other loved ones are more anxious than me, and so is Geneva Rodin, the matriarch of her clan. She lost two sons, three grandkids, and nephew a former daughter in law and assumed to be granddaughter in law, and she couldn't see your great grandkids who are in state custody. I feel so bad for all of them. We know full moon was shining on the night of April on to April. Specifically, it was a pink moon, the fourth full moon of the year. It's not named for the color of the moon, but for Flox subulata, a wild flower that's native to the eastern United States and Canada. It's also called moss flox and moss pink. Long ago indigenous people observed that it's beautiful, star shaped flower appears at that time of the year. I can't get over the impact of the full moon in the pitch blackness of a rural, wooded area without street lights. But did it push the killer over the edge to carry out the murders or did the extra illumination simply make his job easier Based on evidence collected at the crime scenes. Attorney General to Wine at an early press conference called this fashion cold blooded, calculated massacre, and Sheriff Reeder said this was very methodical, This was well planned. This This was not something that just happened. This was something that planned the family was targeted, most of them targeted while they were sleeping. Farmers pay close attention to nature for their crops and livestock, so if the killer was a farmer or just a calculated, methodical person, he probably considered the moon's phases. Like I said in an earlier episode, I doubt he carried a flashlight. But the word lunatic comes from the Latin word for moon, luna, and legends like people transforming into werewolves during full moons don't appear out of nowhere. There's plenty of anecdotal and even some scientific evidence that full moons affect people's brains. My uncle John was a pediatrician until he retired, and my mom was his office manager. She said they were always busy with her kids on days after full moons, so it is possible the full moon pushed the perpetrator into temporary insanity. I've also been thinking about another natural element, singing insects. My parents live in a Cincinnati suburb that's nine miles west of Union Hill Road, and their house is about the same distance from a forest as road, and homes about sixty ft with grass in the middle. On cool spring nights, with the windows open. When I visited, I'd hear insects when I lay down to sleep, and on hot summer nights with the windows closed and air conditioning running, I'd still hear them because they sang louder at that time of year. The insects created such a screeching cacophony that each time I visited, it took days before I could tune them out. So I'm wondering if the killer was able to sneak up to road and homes and unlocked the doors or climbed through the open windows without startling all those dogs, because as footsteps were muffled by singing insects. Remember there were no crunchy leaves or snow on the ground, but footsteps do make a little noise. Late one night, under a full moon, the Corn Moon, I drove by myself from my hotel in Waverley to Union Hill Road twenty miles away and recorded insects in front of Chris Rodin's vacant homestead of September one, with the moon partially obscured by clouds and rain occasionally drizzling down, I set my microphone on my car hood and press record. I wanted to learn more about the insect noise, so I checked with Dr Becca Brody, a professor of entomology at Ohio University. She listened to my recording and then wrote in an email, the loudest sound is a chorus of crickets overlapped by Katie DIDs. Katie DIDs are easy to identify because they sound like they're saying Katie did, and Katie didn't, Katie did, Katy didn't. I asked if a full moon effects insects, and she exclaimed that it would definitely increase insect activity. And then Dr Brodie surprised me. She wrote, quote was a year for periodical cicadas or seventeen year cicadas in Ohio. They spend seventeen years in the soil as larva baby cicadas and emerge in huge numbers once the soil warms. Their numbers peaked in June, but they would have been out there in April two. They make a very loud, shrill sound end quote. I looked on a scientific map that tracked the cicadas that year. They're called Brood five, and it does show them emerging in parts of Ohio and neighboring eastern states of West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia, and Maryland. But they pretty much stopped at the Soda River, which cuts down the middle of Pike County, and the Rodents lived about ten miles west of it. So it is possible cicadas added to the insect cacophony at roding homes on the night of the murders, but not likely. I didn't in here cicadas when Leonard was speaking with reporters at the Union Hill roadblock a couple of days afterward, and when I asked my buddy, the deputy, who spent two shifts on Union Hill Road, he didn't recall hearing or seeing them. But if you've experienced cicadas, you don't forget. You see them literally everywhere outdoors, and you can't avoid their deafening noise around the cock or crunchiness while walking on them. Their density can surpass one million cicadas acre. So insect noise with or without cicadas, did muffle the footsteps of the killer so he could get past the coonhounds. But those dogs might have been a non issue. Maybe they were sleeping in the middle of that night or howling so wildly under the full moon that the roadents ignored them. To get an authority's perspective, I spoke with Dr Paul Carr, a second generation veterinarian and Sciota and Pike Counties. Is it possible you think they could have been sleeping and just not heard someone walking up quietly? Absolutely not, No, they would. They would have been barking. They're crazy. They'd be you know, they don't sleep enough to like the dogs don't sleep, they just intermitting, you know you like cats, cast don't sleep, very very solemn, particularly coonhounds. They'd be up checking things out, one to see. Yeah, I've had I've had two dogs, and I know they wake up pretty easily, very easily. And but they we barked. Oh, they just be carrying on back. Doctor Carr said the dogs probably knew the killer and barked when he approached, but the rodents might have ignored. The barking is nothing new. However, the dogs didn't know the killer or killers, they would have barked louder and wilder than normal, attracting the rodents attention. Those animals would have known those people that came in there. They had to know. I mean when when when any time you go to a particularly in the morning like that, early in the morning, the middle of the night something, and I mean, you know, those hounds would have just been barking and all the time, but maybe no one cared. Maybe maybe the neighbors. And of course there was no neighbor. The houses just carry on all the time. So maybe instead of the killer sneaking up, he simply walked up. Regardless of how the killer got past the dogs, he did, and he committed the worst crime on sleeping people, some with babies nearby. It's hard to believe anyone deserved this, But even if someone did, at least from the killer's perspective, there's no chance all eight of them were deserving, or is there? And the killer has gotten away with it all this time. Five years have passed and no one has faced a criminal trial, No one has been brought to justice, and a killer might still be on the loose. Acts of mass violence might still be lurking inside someone in southern Appalachian, Ohio waiting to escape. April turned into May and then June, with Mother's Day and Father's Day passing painfully for survivors. Leonard visited his daughter's grave that year instead of her visiting him at home. Kendra badly missed her dad Kenneth, and her mother Geneva missed him too, But Kendra told a reporter, I can't ever lose hope on seeing the horrible, corrupted people who did this to my family be brought to justice. Charlie Gilly, who Hannah may Rode and dated briefly, didn't have custody of the daughter Kylie. On Father's Day, he told the Cincinnati Enquirer that he was spending four to five hours each evening at the side of his sister, Hannah Hazel. He was so sad over the loss of everyone that he couldn't sleep. At nights, he went to the small cemetery where his sister was buried to try to find peace. During these months, investigator's question many more people and analyzed many more pieces of evidence. By early July, they had received seven hundred tips from the public. Reports of search warrants being executed trickled out, but they were sealed from the public, so details were unknown. No lasting arrests had been made. Investigators were desperate for Leeds. Todd, the lifelong Pike County resident and former cop, told me he was sure someone in the community had information and was remaining silent. We were driving on a back road when he spoke. I think whoever hopes backs they needed ammend because this ship shape let all this happen, and you hold them back, I tell. On Saturday, July two, the Pike County Demolition Derby took place at the fairgrounds. Organizers sold bracelets it said remembering nine to six, which was Frankie Roden's Derby number. He chose that number because his son Brentley, was born on the twenty six day of the ninth month September, and attendees were encouraged to wear orange for the victims. Orange t shirts saying Rod and Proud, Rod and Strong on the front were worn by spectators and drivers alike, and on the back was written in loving memory, followed by the names of the eight victims. These included derby veteran Frankie and newcomer Little Chris, the sixteen year old who is going to make his debut there. The older generation of Rodan men had retired from the sport long ago. A manly from Dana's side of the family ran a car paint and orange and black with the words Rod and proud rod and strong and rest in peace, and a young man on the road and side welded his family's last name on the little Chris's car which he wanted to compete in. Kendra Roden, who was Kenneth's daughter and Hannah Ma's cousin and best friend, wrote on that car, Fly high, Babes. Kendrall later told a reporter derby is one of the things we all enjoy. She added, it's like Christmas and July. At the end of July began the hundred and seventh Annual Pike County Fair, also at the fair grounds. The wholesome family event awarded winners for baking the best apple pies and celebrated a girl being named Pike County Fair Queen. It featured lots of food, rides and games, as well as harness racing, horse mule and tractor pulls, dairy, cattle and hog shows, and a beefitting contest. There's a county fair that many outsiders would think was more Oklahoma than Ohio, and there was a demolition derby. It started at seven o'clock prime time on Saturday and Sunday evenings included where a smashing class Minis Street stock mad and mowers, and the bleachers were packed. Tributes to the rodents continued, the Pink Moon Murders will return after the break, and now back to the Pink Moon Murders. Over the next months, the investigation into the murders seemed to stall, as authorities released fewer and fewer details, and national and local reporters moved on to other news. Rodents, Manulies, and Gillies continued to grieve and want justice, but most residents of southern Ohio moved on with their lives. In August, officials in Kenton County, Kentucky, which is part of Greater Cincinnati, did announce a possible connection between an earlier double murder there and the road murders. A drug trafficker and his girlfriend were shot to death in their bed execution style, and kids at their home were not hurt, but that turned out to be a tragic coincidence. Also in August, during a court hearing regarding if custody records for babies found at road and murder scenes should become public, Sheriff Charlie Reader said the babies remained in grave danger, and so were the unnamed foster parents. Assigned by the state. I don't want to receive another call about another homicide, a brutal homicide in my county, he stated, I do not want to ever find victims nine, ten, and eleven and have them be those three minor children. It was unclear if police had received tips or found evidence suggesting those babies might be in harm's way, or if Sheriff Reader was purely used in his professional judgment. The judge at that hearing said it seemed the killer had deliberately not harmed the babies, but the sheriff didn't agree. He believed that if they had not been discovered that morning, if Bobby Joe Manley hadn't stopped by to feed the animals and found them, they might have died of starvation or something else. In other words, the cold hearted killer might have wanted them dead, but couldn't bring himself to murder young children, to shoot sleeping babies in the head. Yet, after that hearing, Tony Rowden said that he didn't believe the little ones were still in danger. He said that if the killer wanted them dead, they'd be dead already. Regardless, the killer one at risk a second attack, especially knowing so many people in rural Ohio slept with guns by their beds. Leonard Manly said the same. He posited the chaff Reader, who was up for reelection in a couple of months, was grandstanding, whether he was grand standing as a politician or being heroic as the county's top law enforcement officer. Sheriff. Reader repeated a few times at that hearing that those babies remained in grave danger. He also made a startling statement. He said that there was more than one killer the night of April to ap This was the most important development made public in the case. Most people believe that with the stealth and precision involved, there was only one killer. This blew my mind. Now I was wondering how to or more killers got past all those dogs and sneaked into all four homes. But the sheriff didn't provide details to the court that day, and he refused to clarify with members of the media. Months later, another case interested investigators. Josh Rowden, who was related to many of the murder victims, was charged with aggravated drug trafficking in Pike County. Josh had almost eight thousand dollars worth of illegal pills, some marijuana, eight thousand dollars in cash and nine guns. Could his alleged drug trafficking be connected to the commercial grow operation at his relatives homes, to a Mexican drug cartel, maybe even the Cineloo cartel. Josh had a drug history. In two thousand three, he pleaded guilty to drug possession, and in two thousand six he pleaded guilty to obsession of marijuana. But with this case, the charge was ultimately dismissed. He only had to pay court costs and later Josh's sister, Violet was found shot to death in a Pike County forest. The Sheriff's office asked Ohio's b c I to handle the investigation because of the mystery surrounding her death and certain similarities to the murders of her eight relatives. Eventually, the corner and b c I announced it was a suicide. Violet shot herself in the chest. She was another troubled person struggling with addiction and depression. Time kept passing slowly for the Rodent, Manily, and Gilly families. No big developments in the case were announced, so in March, Wilma, a sister of Chris and Kenneth, helped create reward posters that were hung around Pike County. The reward was ten thousand dollars for a tip leading to a conviction, and the poster showed the eight victims smiling during happy days. This case is so dark and mysterious, and the murders were so brutal, with multiple killers, that I've been thinking of the Clutters. In nineteen fifty nine, in rural Finney County, Kansas, the Clutter family, two parents and their teenage son and daughter, was shot to death at home in the middle of the night. Author Truman Capodi wrote a best selling book about the Clutter murders, titled In Cold Blood. It became a classic of American literature. But if you haven't read it, you might have seen the movies adapted from it. Kansas investigators eventually received a tip naming two men as the murderers and arrested them in a different state. It turned out the men were complete strangers to the Clutters. They had served time in prison where a fellow inmate, a former farm hand of the Clutters, told them the family's house had a safe with valuables, so could the bad guys and the road and murders be complete strangers too. In April seventeen, Attorney General Mike Dwine and Sheriff Charlie Reader held a press conference. Dwine reported they had received eight dight three tips, conducted four hundred and sixty five interviews, and served thirty eight sirch warrants, and carried out sixty cyber extractions. He also corrected himself from an early press conference when he said three of the four crime scenes had marijuana growing. The number was actually two at Chris's and Kenneth's residences, and DeWine stated he was deeply frustrated at this point. A reason for holding the press conference was to raise more awareness for the case and generate more tips. Although b c I is the lead investigative agency, the Pike County Sheriff's Office continues to this day to assist with manpower, which strains the resources of the small agency that still has to patrol four forty square miles with only thirteen deputies. Here, Sheriff Reader, I think about this every morning. That's the last thing I think about every night. I entered my office, the first thing I do is go to the computer and check our tip line to see if there's something new, something different, something that may give the investigators and the agents that little piece that we may be missing. I see the look of disappointment when I speak with the family and I look into their eyes and the grieving that they still have. He became emotional as he continued, There's babies that will grow up without their mothers, for their grandparents. Mm hmm. They've missed birthdays, anniversaries. I think about them on Thanksgiving and Christmas and what the family may be going through. Then the sheriff had a message directly for the killers. You came in like thieves in the night and took eight lives, some being children, in the most horrific way I've ever seen in my twenty plus years. M we are getting closer. We will find you, the family and the victims. We'll have justice. One day. We are coming. We will find you, we will arrest you, and you will be prosecuted. Sheriff Reader was a badass with compassion. A week later, the Attorney General's Office released a video of Geneva Rodin, a mother, grandmother, and great grandmother crying for more help from the public. It was picked up by several TV news stations and websites. I'd dislike to say, from my mother's heart, I hurt so bad inside from the day that that I helmed out. Hey like to say, if there's someone out there that knows anything about what happened, would they please please coming forward? The hurt don't do away from a mother. I think about a day and night was a lot of sleep Boward. It's still what your to go on, mom bang indeed, to please come forward. For the anniversary of the murders, Pastor Philip union Hell Church hosted a vigil that he opened with a prayer followed by the reading of the victim's names. Attendee slit candles. Among them were Rodents, Manulis and other left ones, including Kenneth's sex wife Stacy and Hannam Roden's last boyfriend, Corey Holdron, but also b c I agents Deputies Mike Dwine and Charlie Reader, the Attorney general in the sheriff both spoke. My granddaughter sang and very very somber. Uh service, but yet I felt a timely thing for the family and well well attended by family and friends and church and uh so we we've done everything we can to serve the or could to serve the family and reach out to them. The investigators might have also had an ulterior motive for attending. On that day, they placed a GPS tracking device on the truck of James Manley, the brother of Diana and Bobby Joe. He was the one who had discovered Dana's body. Six days later, James discovered the device and destroyed it. He was promptly charged with two felonies Tampa, ring with evidence and vandalism, marking the first criminal charges being filed in the road and murders case. He went to jail. This was a major surprise, another game changer. Possibly Rodent's Gillies and others in the community were shocked and confused, but Manlis were outraged. They claimed there was no way James was connected to the murders. James's dad, Leonard, said the charges were bullshit and police and prosecutors were showing their desperation. Every freaking day. Someone was tearing the scabs office. He told the media. It's one thing if you lose eight people and then they blame your boy for it. Leonard had a warning for investigators if they put a GPS tracker on his vehicle, you know that they put one on mine. I'm going to destroy you. Leonard said that before James's arrest, investigators had taken him from his job near Dayton, James worked as a freelance slumberjack for a polygraph test. I wonder how many lie detector tests James, Leonard, Bobby Joe, and other manlies had taken by now. Evidently James didn't do well on his According to a search warrant that Leonard later provided to members of the media, investigators were alleging that James's truck had been quote used in connection with an aggravated murder or by a person intending such a crime end of quote, but further details were unknown. Attorney General de Wine, through a spokesperson, said James was a quote witness end quote, who perhaps could give info about the murders. The spokesperson would not elaborate that allegation as all sorts of implications. I looked into court records and saw that James did have a criminal history in Pike County. He pleaded no contest in two thousand nine to menacing. He was sentenced to six months of standard probation and was required to refrain from all contact with Cindy Rooker and Cody Cox, whoever they are. The Sheriff's office returned to James a rifle that it had confiscated at the time. James was shackled while sitting quietly in court for his arraignment for the tampering and vandalism charges. During it, bail was set at an incredibly high eighty thou dollars, but after his wife paid ten percent in cash, he was released, and weeks later authorities dropped both charges. Maybe they didn't have enough evidence to convict him, although it seems they did. James wasn't speaking publicly, but his dad pretty much admitted both charges were valid. Maybe they just decided to focus on other issues, but they did reserve the right to recharge him. Leonard was beyond frustrated. He called police and prosecutors investigating the murders of his daughter, three grandchildren and other relatives dumb and said he was not optimistic they would find the killers. I'm to the point I don't need to give a blank to blank about any sad I mean, I watch TV and people go off the deep end, and I can see why the system sucks. More Pink Moon murders after from our sponsors. We now return to the Pink Moon murders. We don't know what James said during his polygraph tests, but I've often wondered if he suffered from post traumatic stress disorder after walking into his sister Dana's trailer that morning and seeing her shot to death and hearing a baby crying. Maybe he got nervous and misspoke, leading investigators not to believe him, or maybe he really was involved with the murders. Going into May, the police from Geneva, the sheriff, and the Attorney general reinvigorated the case. Dozens of more tips came in. Investigators searched to properties connected to the family of Jake Wagner, who was Hannah may Rodin's ex boyfriend and first baby dad, and the next day they searched a third property. Was this another game changer or another lead that would fizzle out? Investigators searched the house and land near the village of Peebles, Adams County, where Jake lived with his mom, dad, and brother. Investigators carried shovels, metal detectors, and plenty of weapons and body armor for any possible gunfight. Word spread, and soon news helicopters were flying overhead while reporters on the ground tried to figure out what was going on. Neither Sheriff Reader nor Attorney General the line would comment. No confidential sources came forward, and search warrants as well as court orders were sealed, but by the end of the day, witnesses saw Pike County deputies towed to four wheelers while other investigators carried evidence bags into b c I vans. The second property was a car lot in Peebles, with Sheriff Reader himself joining in on the search. Media eventually reported that Jake and his brother, who are diesel mechanics a case ginerally fixed vehicles for the owner, and that Jake, for an unknown reason, had dropped off to pickup trucks and three trailers. They were packed with personal items, including a rocking horse and a stuff bear, and Jake needed a place to sew them for a few days until he found a permanent place. After their search, investigators towed away a trailer and a third property was searched the following day is Flying w Farms owned by Fredericka and George Wagner Jr. In Pike County, and reporters quickly figured out they were Jake's grandparents, but no details of the search emerged. Fredericka and George owned almost eight acres on and around that farm, so members of the media didn't learn much about any evidence taken from the three properties, but one official did tell reporters that he thought Jake's family had recently sold their house near Peebles, and they checked property records to confirm that. That whole weekend, they tried getting into touch with the Wagner's task what was going on, but struck out, and Rhoden's Manily and Gillies said they didn't know anything locals heads were spending at this weekend. Of bombshell news developments and the lack of specifics, few details emerged over the next weeks and the Wagners remained in Communicado, but on June six, Attorney General de Wine and Sheriff Reader put out a joint news release they were taking the highly unusual step of asking the public for information regarding George Wagner the third nicknamed Billy, and his wife Angela, who were both forty six years old, as well as their sons Georgia fourth who was twenty five, and Edward nicknamed Jake, who is twenty four photos were provided Dwine and reader stated quote, investigators are interested in receiving information regarding any interaction, conversations, dealings, or transactions that the public may have had with these individuals, which could be personal, business or otherwise Specifically, information could include, but is not limited to, information regarding vehicles, firearms, and ammunition. The persons listed are formerly residents of Peterson Road in People's Ohio and are currently believed to be residing in Alaska. End of quote, Alaska. What is that all about? Another surprise? The news release ended with asking people to call in with confidential tips and reminding them they could receive the ten thousand dollar reward. Law enforcement officials released few details over the next months, even though southern Appalachian Ohioans were roiling with thoughtful speculation and absurd rumors. Meanwhile, the Wagoners established new lives in rural Alaska, and whatever secrets they might have had stayed with them. Yet they moved back to Ohio less than a year later, this time to South Webster, a village of eight hundred people in Sauda County, and then suddenly, on November eighteen, Billy Angela Georgia Fourth and Jake were arrested and each was charged with eight counts of aggravated murder with death penalty specifications. Billy's and Angela's moms were arrested too, Baby Sophia's great grandmothers. They were charged with accessory crimes. So, if these allegations are correct, why would one family want to wipe out another? What could possibly lead to such a horrific family feud? How could six members of one family work together to massacre eight members of another. The Pink Moon Murders as a Cavalry Audio production in association with I Heart Radio, Written and narrated by David Rettiman, Produced by Brandon Morgan of Cavalry Audio and Casey Whalen for Whaland Productions. Edited by Tim mulhern Executive produced by Dana Brunetti and Keegan Rosenberger.