(CNN) An Ohio family carefully studied the habits of members of another family -- their routines, the layouts of their homes and where they slept -- as they planned a deadly massacre that stunned a rural town, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

The eight victims -- who ranged in age from 16 to 44 -- were found shot to death at four crime scenes in and around the small town of Piketon on April 22, 2016. At one scene, police found a 4-day-old baby next to his slain mother. That child, along with a 6-month-old and a 3-year-old, survived.

The suspects "spent months planning the crime," Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said. But they made mistakes, DeWine said.

More than two years later, authorities arrested four members of the Wagner family Tuesday in connection with killing the members of the Rhoden family. Two grandmothers of the Wagner family were also charged in an alleged cover-up of the crime, DeWine said.

He declined to identify a motive but said custody of a child "plays a role in this case."

Read More</s>PIKE COUNTY, Ohio -- Four family members have been arrested in the 2016 murders of eight people in a rural community of southern Ohio, according to WJW.

George "Billy" Wagner III, 47; Angela Wagner, 48; George Wagner IV, 27; and Edward "Jake" Wagner, 26, were arrested Tuesday and "are charged with planning and carrying out" the killings of eight members of the Rhoden family, Ohio State Attorney General Mike DeWine's office said in a news release.

The Wagners are from South Webster, about a 30-mile drive southeast of Piketon, the community in and around where the killings happened. Although the Wagners had since moved to Alaska, authorities said they arrested three in Ohio and one, "Billy" Wagner, in Lexington, Kentucky.

Seven adults and a teenage boy from the Rhoden family were found shot to death on April 22, 2016.

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine spoke about the arrests during a news conference Tuesday evening. He gave few details about the motive, saying only that it was believed to be linked to the custody of a child, according to the Associated Press. He called the case bizarre, adding that it centered around "obsession with the custody and control of children."

Edward "Jake" Wagner and one of the victims, his former girlfriend Hannah Rhoden, 19, shared custody of their daughter, authorities said.

The eight victims -- who ranged in age from 16 to 44 -- were found shot to death at four crime scenes.

DeWine said they now believe the suspects spent months studying their victims' schedules and the physical layouts of the Rhoden family homes.

Authorities in the past suspected multiple attackers who were familiar with the victims' homes and the surrounding area about 70 miles south of Columbus.

DeWine's office has said one of the victims, Christopher Rhoden Sr., had "a large-scale marijuana growing operation," leading some to speculate the killings were drug-related or even connected to Mexican drug cartels. Marijuana grow operations are not uncommon in that part of the state, however, authorities said.

Those who died included Kenneth Rhoden, 44; his brother Christopher Rhoden Sr., 40; and Christopher's ex-wife Dana Rhoden, 37. Also killed were three of the Rhodens' children, Clarence "Frankie" Rhoden, 20, Christopher Rhoden Jr., 16, and Hanna May Rhoden, 19. Other victims were Hannah Gilley, 20, who was engaged to Clarence "Frankie" Rhoden, and Gary Rhoden, 38, a cousin.

Authorities said the arrests were the culmination of more than 130 interviews and 550 tips in a case that at least 20 law enforcement agencies worked on.

Piketon is a town of about 2,000 residents, 90 miles east of Cincinnati.</s>Years after eight family members were slaughtered in their southern Ohio homes, multiple arrests have been made in connection to the gruesome killings.

On Tuesday, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, Pike County Sheriff Charles Reader and Pike County Prosecutor Rob Junk announced that four people — a husband, wife, and their two adult sons — were taken into custody for their alleged roles with the murders.

“We promised the victims’ families that the day would come when this case would be solved, and today is that day,” DeWine said in a statement. “The indictments allege that these suspects developed a calculated plan to execute the victims in the middle of the night and then carefully cover their tracks. Their alleged plan was sophisticated, but not sophisticated enough for our team of investigators and prosecutors.”

On April 22, 2016, seven adults and one teenage boy — all members of the Rhoden family — were fatally shot in four separate properties in rural Piketon, Ohio. Three of those properties contained marijuana-growing operations, and at the time, DeWine described the killings as a “preplanned execution” and a “sophisticated operation.”
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The victims were shot execution-style and all but one had been shot multiple times and showed signs of bruising, the Hamilton County Coroner said in a report previously obtained by PEOPLE.

The murders became the largest and most complex homicide investigation in the state’s history, remaining unsolved until Tuesday when George “Billy” Wagner III, 47, Angela Wagner, 48, George Wagner IV, 27, and Edward “Jake” Wagner, 26, of South Webster were all taken into custody.

RELATED: Little Boy Who Survived 2016 Massacre That Killed 8 Relatives Still Has Nightmares: ‘Fear Has Him’

The Wagners have each been charged with eight counts of aggravated murder — one count for each victim who was murdered — with death penalty specifications, according to the news release. They also face a total of nine other charges including conspiracy, engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, unlawful possession of a dangerous ordinance, and aggravated burglary.

In addition, Edward “Jake” Wagner was charged with unlawful sexual conduct with a minor. According to the news release, Jake allegedly had sex with Hanna May Rhoden when she was 15 and he was 20. The two conceived a child together, a daughter, who was staying with the Wagners on the night of the murders.

Angela Wagner’s mother, Rita Newcomb, and Billy Wagner’s mother, Fredericka Wagner, were also arrested on Tuesday. Both face felony charges for obstructing justice and perjury for allegedly misleading investigators over the course of the investigation.

Officials explained that the Wagners were indicted this week by a Pike County grand jury, less than a week after Ohio authorities found a homemade firearm suppressor that the suspects allegedly built and used in the murders.

“This, along with a great deal of other investigative findings, led us to these indictments and arrests today,” DeWine explained. “The Wagners were friends with the Rhodens and had been for years. They knew the layouts of the Rhodens’ homes, and they knew the victims’ routines. It is our belief that the suspects used this knowledge to meticulously plan these horrendous, cold-blooded murders.”

RELATED VIDEO: The Story Behind the Story: Eight Members of the Same Family Murdered in Ohio

Despite the long road it took to get here, both Sheriff Reader and Prosecutor Junk echoed DeWine’s earlier comments and said they were determined to stick to their word, solve the case and serve justice for the victims and their loved ones.

“I made a promise to the victims’ families and to the people of Pike County that we would solve this, no matter how long it took,” Reader said. “It’s been tough to be patient at times, but we kept our eye on the goal – justice for the victims.”

Junk added, “We have never stopped working to find the people responsible for these savage crimes, and our sympathies continue to be with the victims’ families. There is still a lot of hard work ahead of us, but we will continue to fight to hold these alleged killers accountable.”</s>Four members of a family have been arrested in connection with the brutal, execution-style murders of seven adults and one teen at a home in Ohio in 2016, the state’s attorney general announced Tuesday.

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said the suspects, a husband, wife, and their two adult sons, were arrested in connection with the Rhoden family murders.

“Following an extensive investigation by my office’s #OhioBCI and the #PikeCounty Sheriff’s Office, we have arrested four people accused of the murders of eight people in Pike County on April 22, 2016,” DeWine said on Twitter.

The Ohio A.G. release identified the suspects as George “Billy” Wagner III, Angela Wagner, and sons George Wagner IV and Edward “Jake” Wagner.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.</s>An Ohio family carefully studied the habits of members of another family -- learning their routines, the layouts of their homes, and where they slept -- before planning a deadly massacre that stunned a rural town, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

The eight victims -- who ranged in age from 16 to 44 -- were found shot to death at four crime scenes in and around the small town of Piketon on April 22, 2016. At one crime scene, police found a 4-day-old baby lying next to his slain mother. That child, along with a 6-month-old and a 3-year-old, survived the killings.

The suspects "spent months planning the crime," Ohio State Attorney General Mike DeWine said. But they made mistakes, DeWine said.

More than two years later, authorities arrested four members of the Wagner family on Tuesday in connection with killing the members of the Rhoden family. Two grandmothers of the Wagner family were also charged in the alleged cover-up of the crime, DeWine said.

He declined to identify a motive, but said custody of a child "plays a role in this case."

"We believe that the Wagners conspired together to develop an elaborate plan to kill the eight victims under the cover of darkness and then carefully cover up their tracks," DeWine said. "The killers knew the territory and meticulously planned these murders."

George "Billy" Wagner III, 47; his wife Angela Wagner, 48; and their sons, George Wagner IV, 27; and Edward "Jake" Wagner, 26, were indicted on Monday by a Pike County grand jury on several offenses, including eight counts each of aggravated murder with death penalty specifications.

Authorities: One suspect had fathered a child with victims

Edward "Jake" Wagner was also charged with unlawful sexual conduct with a minor for having sexual contact with one victim, Hanna May Rhoden when she was 15 years old and he was 20 years old, prosecutors said.

He is the father of Hanna May Rhoden's older daughter, who was staying with the Wagners on the night of the killings, prosecutors said.

The Wagners are also accused of forging custody documents, prosecutors said.

"There certainly was obsession with custody, obsession with control of children," DeWine said.

The Wagners are from South Webster, about a 30-mile drive southeast of Piketon, the community in and around where the killings happened.

Angela Wagner's mother, Rita Newcomb, 65, of South Webster, Ohio, and Wagner's mother-in-law, Fredericka Wagner, 76, of Lucasville, also face felony charges of obstructing justice and perjury for allegedly misleading investigators, prosecutors said.

The six are in custody in Ohio and Kentucky, authorities said.

In addition to Hanna May Rhoden, 19, those who died included Kenneth Rhoden, 44; his brother Christopher Rhoden Sr., 40; and Christopher's ex-wife Dana Rhoden, 37. Also killed were three of the Rhodens' children, Clarence "Frankie" Rhoden, 20, and Christopher Rhoden Jr., 16. Other victims were Hannah Gilley, 20, who was engaged to Clarence "Frankie" Rhoden, and Gary Rhoden, 38, a cousin.

Piketon is a town of about 2,000 residents, about 80 miles east of Cincinnati.

There were no witnesses to the shooting but the suspects left traces, authorities said.

"They left a trail: The parts to build a silencer, the forged documents, the cameras, cell phones -- all that they tampered with, and the lies," Pike County Sheriff Charles S. Reader told reporters.

At request of prosecutors, a judge formed an investigative grand jury in July to meet regularly to examine evidence collected and gather additional evidence, according to DeWine. Investigators discovered a key piece of evidence on October 30, the attorney general said.

Since 2016, investigators conducted more than 500 interviews and followed more than 1,100 leads during the investigation, which took them to 10 states, including Alaska. The Wagners lived in Alaska before recently moving back to Pike County, the attorney general said.

The Wagners had been "the prime suspects for some time," DeWine said, though he declined to say when the family was identified as suspects.

"We promised that the day would come when arrests would be made in the Pike County massacres," said DeWine, who won the governor's race last week. "Today is that day."</s>Six family members are under arrest in connection to the murder of another family. Eight members of the Rhoden family were killed in their home in 2016. Four members of the Wagner family are charged with aggravated murder, and two others are accused of helping cover it up. Investigators say the family conspired to kill the Rhoden family over the custody of a young child.</s>Investigators in Ohio revealed Tuesday that the brutal murders of eight family members in Pike County two years ago might be linked to a custody dispute between the now-deceased family and another family, four of whom were indicted by a grand jury on Monday.

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said at a news conference that while a motive in the Rhoden family murders isn’t fully clear, an indictment suggests that an "obsession with custody" of a young child played a role in the slayings.

DeWine — he said the case is "the most bizarre story I have ever seen in being involved in law enforcement" — announced earlier Tuesday that George "Billy" Wagner III, Angela Wagner and sons George Wagner IV and Edward "Jake" Wagner were arrested in the “Pike County massacres.”

Edward was once the boyfriend of one of the victims, 19-year-old Hanna Rhoden. The two shared custody of their daughter at the time of the killings.

The four suspects are believed to have thoroughly planned out the murders. DeWine alleged that the Wagners “conspired together to kill eight victims under the cover of darkness, and then covered their tracks.”

The victims were identified as 40-year-old Christopher Rhoden; his ex-wife, 37-year-old Dana Rhoden; their three children, 20-year-old Clarence "Frankie" Rhoden, 16-year-old Christopher Jr., and 19-year-old Hanna; Frankie Rhoden's fiancée, 20-year-old Hannah Gilley; Christopher Rhoden Sr.'s brother, 44-year-old Kenneth Rhoden; and a cousin, 38-year-old Gary Rhoden. Hanna Rhoden's days-old baby girl, another baby and a young child were unharmed.

The Wagners allegedly spent months planning the murders, studying the Rhoden family’s habits and the layouts of their homes, DeWine said. He said the four suspects then tampered with evidence such as the victims’ cellphones and surveillance cameras on their properties to cover-up the slayings.

They knew the territory in Piketon, roughly 70 miles south of Columbus, and “meticulously planned these horrendous murders,” the attorney general told reporters Tuesday afternoon.

It appeared some of them were killed as they slept, including Hanna Rhoden, who was in bed with her newborn nearby, authorities said. The child, Hannah Gilley's 6-month-old baby and another small child weren't hurt.

A coroner said all but one of the victims were shot more than once, including two people shot five times and one shot nine times. Some also had bruising, consistent with the first 911 caller's description of two victims appearing to have been beaten. The coroner's report didn't specify which victims had which wounds.

Two other people – Billy Wagner’s mother, Fredericka, and Angela Wagner’s mother, Rita Newcomb – were also arrested in connection with the case on allegations they aided in the cover-up and misled investigating authorities. DeWine said there is "absolutely no evidence" that anyone else was involved.

The four murder suspects were each charged with eight counts of aggravated murder – one count for each person killed – each with death penalty specifications.

The Wagner family was also charged with conspiracy, engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, tampering with evidence, aggravated burglary, and forgery for allegedly forging child custody documents, among others.

FLASHBACK: TIPS SOUGHT ON 4 PEOPLE, INCLUDING VICTIM'S EX, IN RHODEN FAMILY KILLINGS

Their lawyer, John Clark, said the Wagner family — who lived in Peebles in southern Ohio at the time of the killings but later moved to Alaska — look forward to their day in court so they can clear their names and await the day "when the true culprits will be discovered and brought to justice for this terrible tragedy."

Since April 2016, investigators from more than 20 law enforcement agencies scrambled to determine who targeted the Rhoden family and why. They conducted over 130 interviews and processed over 100 pieces of evidence and 550 tips.

Authorities said marijuana growing operations were found at three of the four crime scenes. That's not uncommon in this corner of Appalachia but stoked rumors that the slayings were related to drugs, one of many theories on possible motives that percolated in public locally.

Fox News’ Travis Fedschun and Ryan Gaydos and The Associated Press contributed to this report.</s>Attorney general says suspects could face death penalty if convicted in 2016 slayings of 8 family members in rural Ohio

WAVERLY, Ohio (AP) — Attorney general says suspects could face death penalty if convicted in 2016 slayings of 8 family members in rural Ohio.</s>LANCASTER – Lancaster Police are searching for two suspects involved in an October 13th burglary in the 100 block of E. King Street who were caught on surveillance cameras. The suspects made entry through a rear window to an apartment on an upper floor. The suspects took household items and electronics. They exited through the front door and out onto E. King Street. Pictures of the suspects can be seen below. Anyone with information on the case or who knows the identity of the suspects is asked to contact Lancaster Police Detective Hickey at 717-735-3344 or Lancaster Crime Stoppers toll free at 1-800-322-1913. Callers may remain anonymous and do not have to give their names.</s>Kogi State Police Command said it had arrested two robbery suspects in Ganaja area of Lokoja, the state capital.

The command’s spokesman, DSP William Aya,who confirmed the arrest, said in Lokoja on Wednesday that the suspects were arrested during a robbery operation.

Aya said that the police received a tip off from people who sighted the suspects while robbing their victims at gun point.

“Acting on this information, operatives attached to Federal Anti-Robbery Squad (FSARS) in Kogi State led by its Commander, DSP Babagana Bukar, promptly swung into action and arrested the duo while other members escaped,” Aya said in a statement.

The police spokesman said that the suspects had confessed to the crime.

He said that one locally made pistol, one live cartridge and one red unregistered Motobi Motorcycle were among the items recovered from them.

The police spokesman said that efforts are ongoing to arrest other fleeing members of gang.
Four suspects have been arrested for the murders of eight members of a family in 2016. Police believe custody of a child plays a role in this case. One of the suspects has a child with one of the victims.