Ohio sheriff warns relatives of massacred Rhoden family of eight to ‘be armed’ in case killers return

Eight members of the Rhoden clan of Peebles, near Piketon, Ohio, were found murdered execution-style at four different locations on Friday in what the Attoey General called a “pre-planned execution.”

Authorities have been scrambling to determine who targeted them and why. It emerged this moing that marijuana growing operations were found at three of the four scenes but it was unclear what role, if any, the illicit business had in the killings.

Police found seven bodies, each with a bullet to the head, in three separate homes. An eighth body was found later at a separate site. Several victims were apparently asleep in bed when they were killed.

The shooters appeared to have spared a four-day-old infant, who was found lying next to her dead mother, authorities said. Another baby aged six months and a three-year-old child also survived.

Mother-of-two Hannah Gilley, 20, was engaged to marry Frankie Rhoden. Both were shot dead, but their children spared.

The bloodshed may not be over, however, with Pike County Sheriff Charles Reader waing that the perpetrators may hunt down and kill other family members.

“I cautioned them that they were a target and I told them to be armed,” he told a press conference today.

The sheriff’s statement is extraordinary in that it appears to be an admission of police fears that further attacks may not be preventable.

“This was very methodical,” he said. “This was well planned. This was not something that just happened.”

Some relatives have posted tributes to the eight on Facebook while others have left messages assuring others they were “safe” and remaining vigilant.

Hanna Rhoden, 19 (left); Hanna with boyfriend Cory Holdren (right).Source:Supplied

Christopher Rhoden jnr, 16 (above) was murdered along with his father Christopher Rhoden Snr, 40.

Ohio Attoey General Mike DeWine described the killings as a “sophisticated and well thought-out operation” that will require a lengthy investigation.

“This is not your case where someone got mad at somebody else, they shot them, there’s a witness, two witnesses,” Mr DeWine said.

“It is a very, very, very different type of case. Those who carried it out were trying to do everything that they could do to hinder the investigation and their prosecution.”

No arrests have been made and officials refused to say whether they had any suspects or identified any possible motives.

Authorities revealed this moing that several marijuana-growing operations were found at the crime scenes but that it was unclear what link, if any, the drug’s cultivation had to the killings.

Responding to a reporter’s question, Sheriff Reader said the area had a “drug problem,” but stressed he had “never been involved with that family criminally and I’ve been in law enforcement for 20 years.”

Members of the family of the slain victims, meanwhile, have put forward the theory that jealousy or a dispute over a $3000 car driven by one of the victims could be behind the murders.

Investigators have interviewed between 50 and 60 people in hopes of finding leads, and a team of 38 people has been combing wooded areas around the shooting scenes to ensure no evidence was missed, authorities said.

Mr DeWine said the state’s crime lab was looking at 18 pieces of evidence from a DNA and ballistic standpoint, and five search warrants have been executed.

News of the potential motive came as authorities released the chilling 911 calls that reveal the frantic moments loved ones discovered the bodies

Seven post mortem examinations were carried out today and an eighth is set for tomorrow Mr DeWine said.

Police named the victims 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.

An aerial view of one of the Rhoden propertiesSource:AP

A Pike County police officer protects one of the crime scenes.Source:AP

The authorities were first alerted by an emergency call shortly before 8am on Friday reporting blood in a home with two possible victims.

Audio of the calls released by authorities yesterday appeared to indicate at least some of the victims had been badly beaten.

Cincinnati-area businessman Jeff Ruby has offered $25,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in the case.

Piketon locals have been holding garage and car sales to try and raise money to cover funeral costs.

The shootings have shaken residents of Pike County, an economically distressed region of around 28,000 people in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains that is home to an abandoned uranium plant.

Dana Rhoden, 37, was among the eight murdered.Source:Supplied

Ohio State Attoey General Mike DeWine addresses the media in a press conference in Piketown, Ohio. Picture: Sam Greene/The Cincinnati Enquirer via APSource:AP