SIDNEY — A request to provide security at the four sites where eight family members were murdered last week has been received by the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office.
The Buckeye Sheriff’s Association sent the request early Wednesday afternoon, said Shelby County Chief Deputy Jim Frye. The BSA is coordinating deputies to assist the Pike County Sheriff Charles Reader and his office.
“We’ll be sending both fulltime and reserve deputies to Pike County,” said Frye. “They have asked us to come April 28 to May 6 and help cover all three shifts of duty.”
Frye said the first email asked for several officers while a later email asked for eight officers. The local Sheriff’s Office is still lining up deputies to help.
“They want eight people per shift,” said Frye. “We’ll be providing security at the crime scenes. There have also been some threats made against family members.”
The Auglaize County Sheriff’s Office will also be sending deputies to Pike county. A time frame of when they will be needed has yet to be determined, said Lt. Steve Stienecker.
Deputies from Allen and Hardin counties have also sent deputies to assist at the crime scenes. Allen County sent a sergeant and two deputies on Saturday and will be sending two more on Thursday. Hardin County sent three deputies on Saturday and another five will go Thursday to help.
Ohio and Pike County authorities are leading the investigation, with help from some two dozen other agencies including other county sheriffs. The FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration are also offering assistance.
A woman who called 911 on Friday morning to report finding two of the bodies said that she saw “blood all over the house” and that the two looked like they had been badly beaten.
The victims are 40-year-old Christopher Rhoden Sr.; his ex-wife, 37-year-old Dana Rhoden; their three children, 16-year-old Christopher Rhoden Jr., 19-year-old Hanna Rhoden and 20-year-old Clarence “Frankie” Rhoden; Christopher Rhoden Sr.’s brother, 44-year-old Kenneth Rhoden; their cousin, 38-year-old Gary Rhoden, and 20-year-old Hannah Gilley, whose 6-month old son with Frankie was unharmed.
Two other children, Hanna Rhoden’s 4-day-old daughter and Frankie Rhoden’s 3-year-old son, also were unharmed.
Leonard Manley, father of Dana Rhoden, told The Cincinnati Enquirer that he first learned about the marijuana operations from news reports. Manley, 64, said he’s sure his daughter couldn’t have been involved in anything illegal.
“They are trying to drag my daughter through the mud, and I don’t appreciate that,” said Manley, whose three grandchildren — Dana’s children — were also among the dead.
Manley also found it suspicious that any assailants were able to get by his daughter’s two dogs.
“Whoever done it knows the family,” Manley said. “There were two dogs there that would eat you up.”
The Hamilton County coroner said the victims — three women, four men and a 16-year-old boy — had wounds to their heads, torso and other parts of the body. Dr. Lakshmi Sammarco said one victim had a single wound, one had two wounds, and the rest had three or more. The report didn’t specify which victim had which number of wounds. One victim was shot nine times.
Some victims showed “signs of soft tissue bruising,” her report stated. Sammarco’s office declined to discuss its findings, citing the ongoing investigation. Funeral arrangements for the victims hadn’t yet been announced.
Authorities haven’t suggested a motive or suspects. Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine has said there were marijuana-growing operations found at three of the four places where bodies were found inPike County, a rural Appalachian Mountain region roughly 80 miles east of Cincinnati and Hamilton County.
DeWine has called the slayings a carefully planned and “sophisticated operation” carried out against eight members of the Rhoden family by one or more killers.
DeWine said Tuesday that investigators have received more than 300 tips and are still serving search warrants. He said 79 pieces of evidence have been sent to a state crime lab for testing and analysis, including for DNA and fingerprints.
