Family in Ohio massacre scoffs at sheriff's comments

WAVERLY, Ohio — Comments by an Ohio sheriff last week during a court hearing saying the children who survived a massacre in Pike County and their caregivers remain in "grave danger" have many family members upset, confused and even angry.

Some say they think the Pike County Sheriff Charles Reader, who is up for election in November, was grandstanding and overstating the nature of potential harm to three Rhoden family children, who survived the April 22 mass killing that left eight of their family members dead. There remain no known suspects nor arrests in the case that Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine has called the largest investigation in the state's history.

"Do I feel like they are in danger? No I don't,'' said the children's great-uncle Tony Rhoden. "Why would (the killers) come in a dwelling, after they took out everyone, and leave those children alive? Why would (the killers) risk coming back again?

"I don't buy into that."

Sheriff: At least 2 killers in Ohio mass shooting

Reader's comments came during an Aug. 4 juvenile court hearing to determine if court records and proceedings related to the custody of an infant and a toddler found alive lying next to their dead parents should be public.

Reader was the only witness to testify in the hearing, but his comments about the safety of the children and their caregivers came after he asked to address the court after he left the witness chair and was no longer under oath.

“As the sheriff of this county, I fear if information is released it would put the minor children or their caregivers in grave danger," he said. “I don’t want to receive another call about another homicide, a brutal homicide in my county or another county.

"I do not want to ever find victims 9, 10 and 11 and have them be those three minor children,” he told the court.

Reader declined to provide any specific information that led him to believe that the children remain in harm's way or if investigators have uncovered new information related to their safety.

Pike County Juvenile Court Judge Robert Rosenberger said that it appeared that the killer intentionally spared the children by not killing them that fateful morning.

Reader disagreed. He told the judge that if the children had not been found by relatives they may have died.

Reader did not return phone calls seeking further comment this week. Repeated calls to Pike County Children's Services have also never been returned about the case.

Dan Tierney, spokesman for the Ohio Attorney General's Office, said the office had no comment related to Reader's remarks or the court proceedings. DeWine has never discussed the surviving children.

Some family members scoff at Reader's assertions, saying if danger remains why hasn't the county, the sheriff's office or the attorney general's office checked on the other surviving child, Brentley Rhoden, 3, who is now living with his mother. Some say Reader's comments have put the larger community on edge — again.

Brentley Rhoden is the half-brother of Ruger. The toddler was found alive and unharmed in the living room of his father's trailer. Clarence "Frankie" Rhoden, 20, is the father of both Brentley and Ruger. He was found shot to death alongside his finance, Hannah Gilley, in their bed that morning. That couple's baby boy, Ruger, was found physically unharmed lying between them.

"Ask me how many calls I have gotten to check on Brentley,'' said Samantha Robinson, the toddler's grandmother. "Zero."

"I protect him,'' she said.

Killed in what authorities have called a methodically planned, targeted attack on the family were: Christopher Rhoden Sr., 40; his ex-wife Dana Rhoden, 37; their children Hanna Rhoden, 19, and Christopher Rhoden Jr., 16; Christopher Rhoden Sr.'s brother Kenneth Rhoden, 44; and a cousin, Gary Rhoden, 38. Clarence Rhoden was the oldest son of Christopher and Dana.

Kylie is the daughter of Hanna Rhoden. She was just five days old the day her family was slain.

Leonard Manley, Dana Rhoden's father, was more blunt:

"If those kids are in danger they would have killed them that night," Manley said. "Reader's coming up on election. I think it’s more about votes than anything."

Rosenberger opened last week's hearing to the public, but all others have been closed. All records are sealed, including the judge's gag order in the case, which some family members said has unduly hurt members of a family that has suffered deep loss.

The children remain in the care of foster parents. Most family members have not been allowed visitation with the children since they were placed in state care on April 22. They say they have been told that Rhoden family members remain under suspicion.

The gag order means those family members seeking custody, who have had visitation, can not talk to anyone about the children, including the babies’ great-grandmother, Geneva Rhoden.

"The judge doesn’t even understand the burden he’s done by doing that,'' Tony Rhoden said. "How has that baby grown? I can't tell you what color her eyes are. I have never seen her. A lot of us have never seen her."

Many in the large family feels intentionally cut out of the proceedings.

"There is already such burden out there on the family with such tragedy and they just placed more because we can’t talk about those children,'' Tony Rhoden said. "By putting a gag order on the case, you put a burden on the family for the fact is if, let's say for instance, my mom goes to my sister and says how are those children doing? How would you like to be that person to tell your mom: I can’t talk to you,'' he said.

"How would you like to be in those shoes?"

Follow Chris Graves on Twitter: @chrisgraves