Jury convicts man in killings of 8 from another Ohio family

By JOHN SEEWER and KANTELE FRANKO
Associated Press

Jurors have convicted a man in the killings of eight people from another Ohio family after weighing his denials and other testimony against the word of witnesses including his brother and mother, who previously pleaded guilty for their roles. Thirty-one-year-old George Wagner IV was found guilty Wednesday of all 22 counts he faced in southern Ohio’s Pike County, including eight counts of aggravated murder in the 2016 shootings of seven adults and a teenager from the Rhoden family. Wagner sat motionless as the verdicts were read, closing his eyes or looking down. Prosecutors say the slayings, which initially spurred speculation about drug cartel involvement, stemmed from a dispute over custody of Wagner’s niece. His father awaits trial in the killings.