Lunch break in OH v. #GeorgeWagnerIV as Jake Wagner, who opted OUT, testifies against his brother. Jake is wearing a tan jail shirt marked INMATE on the back and blue plans. Shacked at wrists and ankles. @LawCrimeNetwork
Jake sits at the stand. Looks at his brother, GW4. I am sitting behind George so I can't tell whether George looked back or not. But, Jake has looked him several times. Sometimes George's head is down @LawCrimeNetwork
Angie Canepa asks him how long he's been incarcerated. He says nearly 4 years. He describes how the family intentionally burned down buildings at the Bethel Hill Rd. property where they'd lived for 20 years. @LawCrimeNetwork
When they bought the farm at Peterson Rd., they put it in George and Jake's name because their insurance history and credit was "clean." He said everyone at knew he Bethel Hill Rd. fires were set intentionally. Moved items out of the house and stored at Chris Rhoden Sr.'s
property and elsewhere. He said after the murders, he volunteered to intentionally wreck GW4's truck for the insurance $$$ b/c it was going to be too expensive to repair the engine. He said his uncle, Chris Newcomb, @LawCrimeNetwork
knew the wreck was going to happen. Chris N. had testified the wreck wasn't intentional "on my part." He said he nearly died during the wreck. Jake said he went to public school for a month otherwise was home-schooled @LawCrimeNetwork
Jake is asked if he loves his brother. He says yes. He said it's difficult for him to be here today when asked. When he said he loves GW4, he looks at him. He said he believes GW4 loves him. Would love nothing more than @LawCrimeNetwork
his brother, mom and dad to be able to go home. He said he was close to his mom, Angela, but closer to George. Closeish to his dad, Billy. He said he and GW4 would go hunting, fishing, ride ATV's. @LawCrimeNetwork
GW4 was more the avid hunter because it was "more of a science for him", food plots, migration, etc. He said they poached deer and did spotlighting, shining a light the eyes of deer to stun them and kill them. @LawCrimeNetwork
Family shopped mostly at Wal-Mart, Kroger, Bass Pro Shops and Cabella's. He would buy items at BassPro because he got points on his credit card. They helped each other pay off debts and he and GW4 shared a bank account @LawCrimeNetwork
Each member of he family could use the others' account even if they weren't a co-signer. They had family meetings where decisions were made, took votes in the kitchen. If it related to Jake, he had the final say. @LawCrimeNetwork
Jake said he,George and Billy stole things but they would do it in a way that it hurt someone as little as possible. They would steel from a truck transporting goods for a big company rather than an individual b/c items were insured and driver wouldn't be hurt @LawCrimeNetwork
They stole fuel, lumber, appliances, things to use on the farm. First met Hanna May at the 4-H barn of the Pike Co. Fair in 2013. Hanna asked him if he wanted to pet her bunny. It was black and white. @LawCrimeNetwork
Hanna was 13. Jake was 17. Jake asked her parents, Dana and Chris Sr. for permission to date her. Sophia was born on November 18, 2013 at 2:30 p.m., he said. @LawCrimeNetwork
Hanna May lived with them more after Sophia was born. He was asked about an incident where he choked Hanna May. He said he didn't choke her. She didn't want to do her chore of mowing the lawn. She stormed off and he held his arm on her collar bone. @LawCrimeNetwork
Jake says "She was lazy in her responsibilities." She was acting like my brother's ex-wife" (Tabitha). He said he held Hanna May with his arm on her collar bone until she calmed down. Said it lasted less than 5 minutes. @LawCrimeNetwork
Jake didn't want their relationship to end but it did in Feb. 2015. Hanna May started dating Charlie Gilley and later Corey Holdren. He said Sophia told him about them looking her in their bedroom with them for hours. @LawCrimeNetwork
He said Sophia told him that Corey locked her in a bedroom for hours and she screamed and no one rescued her. He said S screamed for him and he never came to "rescue" her." Sophia would cling to his leg and Dana said "She's just being a brat." @LawCrimeNetwork
Jake said there was a history of rape in his mother's family, Hanna May's family and Tabitha's. Jake said he was worried Sophia would be molested. He confronted Hanna May about it and he said she responded "if it happens we'll deal with it." @LawCrimeNetwork
Jake says he consulted a lawyer about a custody arrangements and wanting something drawn up but Hanna May was stalling and claimed she was consulting her dad's lawyer in Columbus. Jake didn't believe her. @LawCrimeNetwork
End of 2015, his mom made him aware of the convo between Hanna May and Tabi's mom where Hanna said she would only sign custody papers "over my dead body" according to Jake. @LawCrimeNetwork
Angela told him about this in private. He knew Angela was monitoring Tabi and her mom's Facebook accounts to see if Tabi was going to try to get custody of Bulvine. @LawCrimeNetwork
"I felt I had, I had decided I had no other choice but to kill Hanna," Jake said. However, Billy first made the suggestion and he said he would never do that b/c she was the mother of his child and stormed off. @LawCrimeNetwork
Billy said the only option would be to kill Hanna May or Sophia. That was January 2016. Jake said he was still hesitant but Hanna May saying "we'll deal with it" if S was molested was "my tipping point." @LawCrimeNetwork
JAKE
Jake said his suggestion was to kill Corey and Hanna May and make it look like a murder-suicide - as if Corey killed H and then took his own life. Billy said "if you kill Hanna you have to kill Chris Sr., Frankie and Kenneth" b/c "they'll come after you like @LawCrimeNetwork
a sniper on a hill. They'd have to kill HANNAH Hazel Gilley and Gary Rhoden, he said b/c they lived in the same houses as the others and they could have "witnesses, would be the proper word." @LawCrimeNetwork
Jake said Billy said he would take care of the timing and surrounding events of the homicide. Jake was supposed to get a vehicle and silencers. A vehicle not their own. @LawCrimeNetwork
Initially, Jake was going to use a Ruger 1022 and Billy would use a Baretta 92. But, in trial and error with the silencer, the Ruger 1022 was destroyed. The SKS belonged to George. @LawCrimeNetwork
Jake tried to make silencers out of two flashlights - an off-brand ordered off Amazon and then a Maglite. The off-brand flash lights aluminum was too thin. Jake believes they were blue. On Baretta, silencer malfunctioned in final stage of construction @LawCrimeNetwork
Tossed Maglite in the burn barrel and the other items thrown in a dumpster. (This is odd b/c Maglite found in cistern). Jake then decided to use Colt 1911.22 And Billy a 40 Glock. @LawCrimeNetwork
The Baretta was given back to Billy. Jake says he is not aware of grips purchased for the Baretta. Jake then decided to use standard oil filters to make silencers. Weld it to SKS and screws on with standard threading? @LawCrimeNetwork
Jake says he ordered drill bits, taps and dyes to help build a silencer. Also bought freeze plugs. These items purchased in March 2016. Bought a Chevy pick-up, late 90's and early 2000's for $1,500-$2K from Uncle Todd. @LawCrimeNetwork
The sale happened in the driveway of Peterson Rd. Uncle Todd, Uncle Gus, Jake and GW4 were all there for the transaction. 3 weeks before murders. @LawCrimeNetwork
Lunch break called after this. Jake looked over at George several times throughout testimony. He also asked Angie Canepa to repeat some question. He awkwardly fumbled around with a small bottle of water to get a sip while handcuffed. @LawCrimeNetwork
Also before the break, an exhibit was displayed showing the family's list of guns found on Jake's phone. He said it was last modified in May 2015. @LawCrimeNetwork
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