Mother and son “hit squad” sentenced over Piketon Massacre

Two more members of the Wagner family received lengthy prison sentences on Friday morning for their part in the 2016 Piketon Massacre.

On the night of April 21st, eight members of the same family were killed in four different homes. Two years later, a local family of four were arrested for the murders.

The executionist-style shootings became known as one of the most heinous crimes in Ohio’s modern history.

Forensic investigator Joseph Scott Morgan gives insight into the Piketon Massacre on this episode of Crime Insiders:

Judge Jonathan Hein sentenced Edward “Jake” Wagner to life in prison for the murder of five of the eight victims. Judge Hein also sentenced Jake’s mother, Angela Wagner, to 30 years for helping plan the shootings.

In June last year, George Wagner IV, Jake’s brother, was sentenced to eight consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole.

Forensic investigator Joseph Scott Morgan said the family put together their own “hit squad”.

“One family, four members of one family, took it upon themselves to eradicate the other family,” Scott Morgan said.

“They were separate from the rest of the community, essentially, they all went to church together, or at least the kids all went to school together. They would see each other at the farmer’s market,” he said.

Scott Morgan told Crime Insiders how investigators solved the case using blood patterns, footprints, CCTV, gunshot trajectories, and more. 

He explained how forensic evidence revealed Angela’s planning of the murders.

“She knew enough about what we did at scenes, […] she bought shoes for her husband and her sons to wear that were purposed to only be worn that night. So that they didn’t leave any footprints behind that could be traced by wear patterns,” he said. 

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