Ohio Massacre Victims Identified; 911 Calls Released

The seven victims were members of the Rhoden family

Ohio police released 911 calls that were placed from two of the four locations where eight family members were found dead on Friday.

"There's blood all over the house!" the first caller said in the call placed at 7:49 a.m. "I think my brother-in-law's dead."

"I think they're both dead," she said before breaking down into sobs, according to one of two 911 call recordings released Saturday by the state attorney general's office. 

Police still have no one in custody in the killings, which took place in Piketon, a small, rural town east of Cincinnati. 

Authorities identified the victims Saturday as Hannah Gilley, 20; Christopher Rhoden, Sr., 40; Christopher Rhoden, Jr., 16; Clarence "Frankie" Rhoden, 20; Dana Rhoden, 37; Gary Rhoden, 38; Hanna Rhoden, 19; and Kenneth Rhoden, 44. 

Some of the family members appeared to have been killed as they slept, including a mother in bed with her 4-day-old baby nearby, according to authorities. The newborn and two other small children were not hurt. None of the deaths appeared self-inflicted.

The victims' bodies are all at the Hamilton County coroner's office, where autopsies are expected to take the weekend to complete. 

Officials continued the scramble to determine who targeted that clan and why. Investigators said they interviewed more than 30 people, but made no arrests.

Attorney General Mike DeWine, in a Friday night news conference, would not say whether there was a "person of interest" in connection with the deaths, but did say many of those who were interviewed were in Chillicothe, NBC affiliate WLXT reported. He dismissed a report that the people authorities questioned included a person of interest.

DeWine said they expressed their deepest sympathy for the family, adding "this is just a horrible, horrible tragedy."

Officials urged surviving members of the Rhoden family to take precautions and offered help, and they recommended that area residents also be wary.

"There is a strong possibility that any individuals involved with this are armed and extremely dangerous," Reader warned.

Reader said Friday night that authorities had met with more than 100 relatives and friends of the Rhoden family at a church.

The Pike County Sheriff's Office and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation are investigating the slayings. Pike County asked for the bureau's help Friday morning.

The first three homes where bodies were found are within a couple miles on a sparsely populated stretch of road, while the eighth body, that of a man, was found in a house father away.

Authorities didn't release any information on what kind or how many weapons might have been used or whether anything was missing from the homes.

Goldie Hilderbran said she lives about a mile from where she has been told a shooting took place — news she received from a mail carrier who told her deputies had an area blocked off.

"She just told me she knew something really bad has happened," Hilderbran said.

Gov. John Kasich, campaigning in Connecticut for his Republican presidential bid, said his office was monitoring the situation in Pike County and the search for the killer or killers.

"But we'll find them, we'll catch them and they'll be brought to justice," he said.

Earlier Friday, Kasich tweeted that what happened in Peebles is "tragic beyond comprehension." 

The FBI in Cincinnati also said it was closely monitoring the situation and has offered assistance if needed.

Economically distressed Pike County, about 80 miles east of Cincinnati on the western edge of Appalachia, has about 28,000 people, more than a quarter of whom live in poverty. The area is home to a shuttered Cold War-era uranium plant that's still being cleaned up.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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