Rural Ohio community rattled by killings of 8 family members

Rural Ohio community rattled by killings of 8 family members

Residents of the rural southern Ohio association of Piketon are ashamed by a attenuate above abomination that took the lives of eight associates of a tight-knit ancestors accepted in the breadth as harder workers.

Authorities were still aggravating Saturday to acquisition out who targeted the seven adults and boyish boy and why. Their bodies were begin Friday at four altered homes abreast Piketon, about 60 afar south of Columbus.

Kayla Hay said she got to apperceive one of the victims, 37-year-old Dana Rhoden, if they both formed as nurse's aides at a nursing home. Hay said she was abashed and afflicted if she heard Rhoden was a allotment of those killed.

"I've never heard her say annihilation about getting abashed or anxious about annihilation bad happening," said Hay, who declared Rhoden as approachable and friendly.

"She was consistently in a acceptable affection and was actual bright, both in her personality and her intelligence," Hay said.

All of the victims were associates of the Rhoden family. The others were articular as 40-year-old Christopher Rhoden Sr.; his 16-year-old son, Christopher Rhoden Jr.; 44-year-old Kenneth Rhoden; 38-year-old Gary Rhoden; 20-year-old Clarence "Frankie" Rhoden; 20-year-old Hannah Gilley; and 19-year-old Hanna Rhoden.

It appeared some of the ancestors associates were dead as they slept, including Hanna Rhoden, who was in bed with her bairn babyish nearby, authorities said. The babyish was 4- or 5-days old, authorities said. The infant, Hannah Gilley's 6-month-old baby, and one added baby adolescent were not hurt.

Authorities said none of the injuries appeared self-inflicted. A seek for the analgesic or killers connected Saturday, and board said they had interviewed added than 30 people.

Robin Waddell, who owns the Big Bear Lake Ancestors Resort just south of Piketon, said Christopher Rhoden generally did plan for him as a carpenter and helped out with his blasting business. He said Rhoden was a nice guy whose kids sometimes visited him while he was working.

"It's a ample family," Waddell said. "There's a lot of them and they've been in this association for generations. So this is affecting a lot of people."

Kendra Jordan, 20, said she generally formed nights at a nursing home with Hanna Rhoden and declared her as outgoing, funny and consistently smiling.

"If you were accepting a bad day, she'd be the aboriginal one to appear up to you to catechism you about what was traveling on," Jordan said. "She was amazing."

Todd Beekman, who owns an outdoors boutique a few afar from the abomination scenes, said at atomic one chump came in to banal up on armament afterwards audition about the shootings. But Beekman and others blind out there midday Saturday said they weren't anxious for their own assurance because it's an breadth breadth association apperceive and attending out for anniversary other.

"The chat advance appealing fast, as it does in any rural area," Beekman said. "Everybody's affectionate of their own brother's babysitter down here."

Phil Fulton, the pastor of Union Hill Abbey up the alley from breadth some of the victims were found, declared the Rhoden ancestors as close and hardworking. He said they were ahead allotment of his congregation, admitting not recently. He said a crisis ability aggregation was at the abbey to plan with the family.

"They're not accomplishing able-bodied with this bearings at all," Fulton said. "A adverse bearings like this ..."

The exact timing of the shootings charcoal unclear. Authorities got the aboriginal 911 alarm anon afore 8 a.m. Friday; the additional came several hours after from addition location.

Two of the abomination scenes are aural walking ambit of anniversary added forth a sparsely populated, ambagious alley that leads into abounding hills from a rural highway. The third abode is added than a mile away, and the fourth home is on a altered road, at atomic a 10-minute drive away, said the investigation's leader, Benjamin Suver of the accompaniment Bureau of Criminal Investigations.

Authorities banned to altercate abounding data of the crime, including the seek operations.

Officials said a Cincinnati-area agent put up a $25,000 accolade for advice arch to the abduction and confidence of the analgesic or killers.

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