A Jefferson Parish judge on Tuesday (Aug. 7) ruled there was probable cause to hold Shantel Parria Wagner on the charge of second-degree murder for the shooting death of her husband, Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office Sgt. Troy Smith. 
 
 Magistrate Commissioner Paul Schneider also reduced Wagner's bond from $500,000 - his customary starting point for second-degree murder bonds - to $300,000. 
 
 Schneider ordered that should Wagner make bond, she must be fitted with a GPS-enabled ankle monitor and confined to home at all times except for medical appointments. 
 
 The ruling marked the end of an unusually long, two-day hearing in commissioner's court during which Sheriff's Office investigators said the physical evidence doesn't support Wagner's various stories to investigators that her husband committed suicide by a gunshot to the head. Prosecutors also accused Wagner admitting guilt. 
 
 "There is one witness who said (Wagner) said she shot her husband," Assistant District Attorney Kellie Rish said. "She confessed to shooting her husband. I want to make sure the court is very clear about what that witness said." 
 
 But Wagner's defense attorneys, Leo Palazzo and Wiley Beevers, said Wagner has always been consistent in her statement that Smith shot himself. Smith was suffering from PTSD, was depressed, had financial and relationship troubles and had threatened to kill himself just the day before in a text message, according to Palazzo. 
 
 And defense attorneys point out that the Sheriff's Office admits Wagner's DNA was not found on the gun used in the shooting. 
 
 "How do you shoot somebody without touching the gun?" Beevers asked after the hearing. 
 
 Smith, 44, an instructor at the Sheriff's Office training academy and a former member of the New Orleans Police Department, died June 24, one week after Wagner called 911 to report that he tried to commit suicide inside their Waggaman home on Father's Day. 
 
 Sheriff's Office detectives arrested Wagner on July 11, noting that forensic evidence and interviews led authorities to determine that Smith's injury wasn't self-inflicted. 
 
 Dr. Dana Trosclair, the forensic pathologist who conducted Smith's autopsy, took the stand Tuesday. But Trosclair and coroner's office attorney Chuck Credo told the court she could not yet provide an official opinion on whether Smith's death was a homicide or a suicide because the final autopsy report was not complete, according to court records. Toxicology samples are still being tested. 
 
 Palazzo, who employed Wagner as a paralegal at his Gretna law firm, did have Trosclair identify the location of Smith's entry wound, the "parietal scalp, right above the right ear," she said. The exit wound was on the "vertex" or top of the scalp. 
 
 Trosclair described the trajectory as right to left, slightly front to back and upward. 
 
 Chief Deputy Tim Scanlan, commander of the Sheriff's Office Crime Lab, also took the stand Tuesday. He testified that his technicians are in the preliminary stages of reconstructing the shooting. 
 
 Beevers pressed Scanlan with questions about bullet trajectory and whether he could he sure a hole found in the ceiling of the couple's home was made by a projectile fired at the time of Smith's shooting. 
 
 Scanlan conceded that Wagner's DNA was not found on the gun recovered at the shooting scene. But he also testified that the totality of evidence is inconsistent with Smith shooting himself. 
 
 Palazzo passionately argued that the state did not prove probable cause to hold Wagner on a murder charge. None of the evidence presented during the hearing prove Wagner shot her husband, he said. 
 
 In the end, Schneider agreed with Rish that Wagner's multiple inconsistent statements and the alleged confession to a witness rises to the level of probable cause. 
 
 Although Schneider lowered Wagner's bond, Palazzo said the family will not be able to meet the $300,000 amount and called her prosecution political. 
 
 "It is an absolute tragedy," he said. ||||| Wife of slain JPSO deputy to remain in custody; bond reduced to $300K 
 
 A woman accused of killing her husband, a Jefferson Parish sheriff's deputy, will remain in custody unless she can post bond. 
 
 Shantel Wagner, the wife of slain Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office Sgt. Troy Smith, returned to court Tuesday for another hearing in her case. 
 
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 Wagner maintains her late husband committed suicide, but investigators accuse her of murder in the shooting reported in June on Father's Day. 
 
 Breaking: Bond for Shantel Wagner is $500k, Judge REDUCES it to $300k with home incarceration and GPS monitoring. @wdsu — Travers Mackel (@TraversWDSU) August 7, 2018 
 
 WDSU reporter Travers Mackel said a judge found probable cause to hold Wagner until she's indicted or on trial. She was arrested on a second-degree murder charge. 
 
 Wagner's lawyer was able to reduce Wagner's bond from $500,000 to $300,000. She will be ordered to home incarceration and GPS monitoring if she posts bond, Mackel tweeted. 
 
 Tuesday's developments come after several new details came to light Monday, during the first day of the hearing. For the first time since his death in June, what was heard on a 911 call was released this week. 
 
 "My husband just shot himself in the head," Wagner told a 911 dispatcher. 
 
 
 
 DA: Every single statement that Shantel Wagner has made does not conform with the physical evidence. @wdsu — Travers Mackel (@TraversWDSU) August 7, 2018 
 
 Wagner can be heard sobbing on the tape. 
 
 
 
 Leo Palazzo, Wagner's lawyer, said his client is not a killer. But investigators said that's not true. They said Monday that Wagner changed her story 16 times and even claim she told a witness that she shot Smith. 
 
 
 
 Wagner remains jailed, and if convicted, faces a mandatory life sentence. 
 
 
 
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 AlertMe ||||| The wife of a Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office deputy has been arrested and booked with second-degree murder in his death. 
 
 Shantel Wagner, 35, of Waggaman, is accused of killing Sgt. Troy Smith, an instructor and hostage negotiator with the department, according to the Sheriff's Office. 
 
 UPDATE: Wife's arrest supports friends' skepticism that Sgt. Troy Smith took his own life 
 
 
 
 Wagner called 911 on Father's Day, June 17, around 11:25 p.m. and reported Smith had tried to commit suicide in the bedroom of their Camellia Lane home, according to Lt. Jason Rivarde, spokesman for the department. 
 
 Smith remained hospitalized for about a week before succumbing to his injuries. He was 44 years old. 
 
 But detectives determined through forensic evidence and interviews that Smith's injury wasn't self-inflicted, Rivarde said. Jefferson Parish Coroner Dr. Gerry Cvitanovich declined to comment about the case on Wednesday. 
 
 Detectives obtained a warrant for Wagner's arrest and took her into custody around 1 a.m. Wednesday at a home in the 4900 block of Jean Lafitte Boulevard in Lafitte, Rivarde said. 
 
 Smith and Wagner married on Nov. 16, 2016, according to court records. 
 
 Smith joined the New Orleans Police Department in 1995 and worked as a bomb technician and a member of the SWAT team. Smith joined JPSO in November 2013 as an instructor at the department's training academy, according to Rivarde. 
 
 NOPD Capt. Michael Glasser said those within NOPD who worked with Smith were "devastated" to hear of the shooting and subsequent death a few weeks ago, when they were unaware of the circumstances. 
 
 "Now that (murder allegations have) become evident, we're even more devastated," added Glasser, the president of the Police Association of New Orleans. 
 
 Smith's NOPD colleagues were sorry to see him leave the department, Glasser said, but happy he returned to law enforcement in the neighboring agency. 
 
 "Troy was extremely competent and extremely well thought of," Glasser said. 
 
 Smith had also worked as a civilian contractor with the Department of Defense and was a 1st Lieutenant in the Mississippi State Guard. 
 
 He was a member of the guard's 3rd Brigade and served as the group's Operations Training Officer, according to Lt. Russ Jones, spokesman for the Mississippi State Guard. 
 
 Smith was named Non-Commissioned Officer of the Year in 2017 for both the Guard and the State Guard Association of the United States. 
 
 "We saw in Lt. Smith the same level of dedication and loyalty he displayed with his police work. He was a good soldier," Jones said in a statement released Wednesday. 
 
 Stay with NOLA.com for more on this story. 
 
 Emily Lane contributed to this story. ||||| Shantel Wagner tells the 911 dispatcher that her husband has shot himself. (Source: JPSO) 
 
 Following is a transcript of the 911 call made by Shantel Wagner the night her husband, JPSO Sgt. Troy Smith, died. 
 
 Wagner: He's a police officer sir. 
 
 Dispatcher: 12 chameleon (sp?) lane in Waggaman? 
 
 Wagner: Yes please send somebody now. 
 
 Wagner: No... no... 
 
 Dispatcher: Ma'am? ma'am? 
 
 Wagner: Yes sir? 
 
 Dispatcher: OK ma'am I need you to go up to him. I need you to tell me if he's still breathing. 
 
 Wagner: He's breathing but he's barely breathing sir. He's bleeding everywhere. 
 
 Dispatcher: Is he conscious? Is he able to say anything? 
 
 Wagner: No sir, he shot himself in the head. 
 
 Dispatcher: I'm going to stay on the line with you for a bit ma'am. I need you to tell me what your name is. 
 
 Wagner: My name is Shantel. And he is a police officer sir. 
 
 Dispatcher: He's a police officer? 
 
 Wagner: Yes. His name is Troy Smith. He's with JP. 
 
 Dispatcher: Where is the gun ma'am? 
 
 Wagner: The gun is on the bed. 
 
 Dispatcher: Your home is a house, not an apartment, correct? 
 
 Wagner: It's a house. The dispatchers, everybody out here knows where we live 
 
 Dispatcher: What agency is he with ma'am? 
 
 Wagner: He's with JP. 
 
 Dispatcher: With JP? 
 
 Wagner: Yes. JPSO. 
 
 Dispatcher: Which grouping ma'am? 
 
 Wagner: He's at the academy sir. 
 
 Dispatcher: Ma’am can I get your phone number? Ma'am is there anyone else in the house? 
 
 Wagner: No, please...(crying) 
 
 Dispatcher: Ma'am I've sent the police a while ago. They're on their way. 
 
 (Crying) 
 
 Dispatcher: Ma'am, ma'am is he still breathing? 
 
 Wagner: Yeah....(crying) 
 
 Dispatcher: He is? 
 
 Wagner: Yes. 
 
 Dispatcher: How's his breathing ma'am? 
 
 Wagner: He's breathing, but he's unconscious. 
 
 Dispatcher: But how is his breathing? Is it heavy, labored, low, shallow? 
 
 Wagner: Heavy and labored… No start breathing, please breathe. Please. Please. (crying) Please... I hear the ambulance or the cops or somebody. I just don't see them yet. 
 
 Dispatcher: OK, ma'am. Is the door unlocked? 
 
 Wagner: Yes it's open. Breathe. Breathe. (crying) Oh my God. …Alright I saw one unit pull up. I'm gonna go grab them. 
 
 Dispatcher: OK ma'am. Go speak with them. 
 
 Copyright 2018 WVUE. All rights reserved ||||| Four relatives were arrested in connection with the deaths of eight relatives (Photo: Provided) 
 
 "There was an obsession with control of the children," Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said at a Tuesday news conference announcing the long-awaited arrests in the massacre of an entire Pike County family. 
 
 Arrested and charged with murder and a slew of other charges were Angela Wagner, 48, her husband George "Billy" Wagner, 47, and their two sons, George Wagner IV, 27, and Edward "Jake" Wagner, 26. 
 
 Pike County Sheriff Charlie Reader talks about how the four members of the Wagner family were apprehended at a press conference in Waverly, Ohio, on Tuesday, November 13, 2018. (Photo: Robert McGraw/Gazette) 
 
 At the center of the case is Sophia Wagner, 4, the daughter of Jake Wagner and Hanna Rhoden. 
 
 Christopher Rhoden Sr., 40; his older brother, Kenneth Rhoden, 44; Christopher's former wife, Dana Manley Rhoden, 38; their three children, Clarence "Frankie" Rhoden, 20; Hanna Rhoden, 19, and Chris Rhoden, Jr., 16; and a cousin Gary Rhoden, 38, and Hannah Gilley, 20, were all killed in their homes April 22, 2016. Most were asleep while the Wagners allegedly executed a meticulously planned attack to wipe out the family, DeWine said Tuesday. 
 
 Two others have been arrested in connection with a cover-up of the crimes: Rita Newcomb and Fredericka Wagner, mothers of Angela Wagner and George "Billy" Wagner are accused of forging custody documents. 
 
 Pike County Sheriff Charlie Reader talks about how the four members of the Wagner family were apprehended at a press conference in Waverly, Ohio, on Tuesday, November 13, 2018. (Photo: Robert McGraw/Gazette) 
 
 Authorities said Billy Wagner was arrested in Fayette County, Kentucky. Angela Wagner was arrested at her home in Scioto County. Jake and George Wagner were arrested in Ross County. Fredricka was arrested at the family's Flying W farm in Lucasville, which had been previously raided. Rita Newcomb was arrested at her home in South Webster, Ohio. 
 
 "They did this quickly, coldly, calmly and very carefully – but not carefully enough," said. Pike County Sheriff Charles Reader. 
 
 Prosecutors allege Angela Wagner purchased several items in the months leading up to the deaths of the Rhoden family and Hannah Gilley. 
 
 "...specific shoes from Walmart, 'brass catcher(s),' items with which to build 'brass catchers,' ammunition, a magazine clip, a 'bug' detector, and or items with which to build a 'silencer(s),' and/or various other items in preparation for these crimes," the indictment states. 
 
 Brass catchers are used to collect discharged bullet casings. 
 
 Prosecutors also say members of the family forged custody documents in their efforts to keep Sophia Wagner. 
 
 The attorney for the Wagners, John Kearson Clark, in a statement said his clients were innocent and looked forward to their trials. Clark said the family hopes the true culprits were brought to justice. 
 
 "They are hopeful for a thorough vetting of the facts," Clark said. 
 
 Authorities have repeatedly said the killers worked to cover their tracks, adding complexity to what is the largest homicide investigation in Ohio history. DeWine reiterated that point Tuesday saying authorities estimate that they conducted tens of thousands of hours of investigative work, followed more than 1,100 tips from the public and conducted 550 interviews. 
 
 More: Pike County residents remain uneasy even after Tuesday's arrests and charges 
 
 More: Pike County: What we know about the arrests made in the Rhoden family massacre 
 
 More: Pike County: Custody battle plays role in Rhoden family massacre 
 
 Dismissed by DeWine and Reader was the theory that the slain Rhoden family members had a soured marijuana business relationship. 
 
 They also said they don't believe anyone else is involved. 
 
 The Wagners moved to Kenai, Alaska, from Adams County, Ohio, in June 2017, telling The Enquirer the speculation of their involvement in the Rhoden deaths drove them to move 4,107 miles. 
 
 “Really the point to moving up here was to basically get into a better environment so they wouldn’t talk about us. Sophia is getting older, so she wouldn’t hear it,” Jake Wagner told The Enquirer in July 2017, standing on the family’s front porch in Kenai. “And then it followed us here.” 
 
 DeWine said the family moved back to the area in the spring of 2018. 
 
 What's next? 
 
 While the trial is planned to be held in Pike County Common Pleas Court, Pike County Prosecutor Rob Junk did acknowledge the possibility of a defense attorney asking a judge to move the trial out of the county due to the publicity of the case. 
 
 Further complicating and delaying the case is the complexity of it being a capital punishment case, meaning the defense attorneys would need a special qualification to represent the Wagners. 
 
 There wasn't a schedule for arraignment for the family Tuesday evening, however each person charged was in custody at various jails in Ohio and Kentucky. 
 
 The Wagners are also facing a series of additional charges including: conspiracy, engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, tampering with evidence, unlawful possession of a dangerous ordinance, forgery, unauthorized use of property, interception of wire, oral, or electronic communications, obstructing justice, and aggravated burglary. 
 
 Reached for comment Tuesday afternoon, Leonard Manley, father of Dana Rhoden Manley, declined to comment on the Wagners' arrest. 
 
 Two other people were also arrested today in connection with the alleged cover-up of the #PikeCounty homicides. Anglea Wagner's mother, Rita Newcomb, and Billy Wagner's mother, Fredericka Wager. pic.twitter.com/WRuagVXMAB — Ohio AG Mike DeWine (@OhioAG) November 13, 2018 
 
 More: Pike County: Death in the foothills 
 
 More: Pike County: What we know about the arrests made in the Rhoden family massacre 
 
 More: Rhoden family massacre: Autopsy reports indicate one victim was awake when fatally shot 
 
 More: On the second anniversary of the Rhoden family massacre: 'I still got a lot of hate' 
 
 More: Pike County: Death in the foothills 
 
 Comprehensive coverage 
 
 ►: Pike County: Wagner family arrested in the Rhoden family massacre 
 
 ►: Rhoden family massacre: Autopsy reports indicate one victim was awake when fatally shot 
 
 ►: On the second anniversary of the Rhoden family massacre: 'I still got a lot of hate' 
 
 ►: 2 years since Pike County slayings, surviving child lives with fear. 'He's trapped by it' 
 
 ►: Warrant: Investigators put GPS tracker on truck of Rhoden victim's brother 
 
 ►: Rhoden family massacre: Wagner family tries to create new home in Alaska amid rumors 
 
 ►: Police spokesman wrongly says SWAT present at Pike County raid for 'suspects' 
 
 ►: Lawyer: Mike DeWine is harassing family in Rhoden case that moved to Alaska 
 
 ►: Pike County: Death in the foothills 
 
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– Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office Sgt. Troy Smith is dead. The question is whether it was by his own hand or his wife's. A judge on Tuesday determined there was sufficient probable cause to hold Smith's wife, Shantel Parria Wagner, in connection with his June 24 death. The timeline in the case begins one week prior, on Father's Day, when Wagner called 911 saying her husband had shot himself in the head. Wagner is at times crying and near-hysterical in audio of the call posted by Fox 8. The Times-Picayune reports Smith was hospitalized until his death the following week. Wagner's lawyer says Smith, 44, suffered from depression and PTSD, was dealing with financial strain, and texted a suicide threat the day before he was shot. But investigators say the evidence suggests the fatal gunshot wound Smith suffered wasn't self-inflicted. The autopsy report hasn't been finished, however, so the pathologist who handled the autopsy wouldn't deem it a homicide or suicide on the stand, though the Advocate reports she did say Smith exhibited no gunpowder burns or abrasions. The head of the Sheriff's Office Crime Lab testified the "totality of evidence," as the Times-Picayune puts it, isn't in line with a suicide—though he also acknowledged Wagner's DNA was not present on the gun found at the scene. But the judge said inconsistencies in Wagner's story—WDSU reports prosecutors say she altered her story 16 times—and a witness who alleges Wagner copped to the murder amounted to probable cause. Her bond has been set at $300,000.