OHIO -- RHODEN FAMILY EXECUTIONS

[Blindgreed1]

Donald Stone ^ is the man who found his cousin, Kenneth Rhoden, dead in his camper.

Stone claims Kenneth had a pitbull who would have gone off on a stranger. The dog was unharmed.

Stone also says that about a thousand dollars was strewn around Kenneth's feet when he found his cousin's body.

According to Stone, Kenneth was paranoid about security and had installed a network of security cameras at his camper home, but the killer removed them.

Police haven't confirmed or denied Stone's claims, but they have said that the killer(s) planned carefully not to leave evidence behind.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...erers.html

My first thought was this: Weed growing, family executed... They owed the wrong person money. But if the above is true, this was personal.

[Cutz]

Donald Stone ^ is the man who found his cousin, Kenneth Rhoden, dead in his camper.

Stone claims Kenneth had a pitbull who would have gone off on a stranger. The dog was unharmed.

Stone also says that about a thousand dollars was strewn around Kenneth's feet when he found his cousin's body.

According to Stone, Kenneth was paranoid about security and had installed a network of security cameras at his camper home, but the killer removed them.

Police haven't confirmed or denied Stone's claims, but they have said that the killer(s) planned carefully not to leave evidence behind.

My first thought was this: Weed growing, family executed... They owed the wrong person money. But if the above is true, this was personal.

Not necessarily. If you owe a guy 500k and he puts a hit on you, the 1k you try to pay the hitman off with would get left at your feet as a message. The message is: once your name is in the book, you're done. It's too late to start paying back a debt.

What I wanna know is who the dude who said "We got you" was. Even Rusty seemed to be like.... "What does that mean?"

[Blindgreed1]

Donald Stone ^ is the man who found his cousin, Kenneth Rhoden, dead in his camper.

Stone claims Kenneth had a pitbull who would have gone off on a stranger. The dog was unharmed.

Stone also says that about a thousand dollars was strewn around Kenneth's feet when he found his cousin's body.

According to Stone, Kenneth was paranoid about security and had installed a network of security cameras at his camper home, but the killer removed them.

Police haven't confirmed or denied Stone's claims, but they have said that the killer(s) planned carefully not to leave evidence behind.

My first thought was this: Weed growing, family executed... They owed the wrong person money. But if the above is true, this was personal.

Not necessarily. If you owe a guy 500k and he puts a hit on you, the 1k you try to pay the hitman off with would get left at your feet as a message. The message is: once your name is in the book, you're done. It's too late to start paying back a debt.

What I wanna know is who the dude who said "We got you" was. Even Rusty seemed to be like.... "What does that mean?"

If this was a hit, why take out the whole family in 3 separate compounds? Or was it 4? Usually hits that send a message like that work best if there are people left who "get the message."

[Donovan]

I think the police and surviving family know exactly who did it but lack proof. This sounds more and more like a backwoods feud between rival families or factions. Calculated attack, overkill on a few of the victims, clear lack of robbery as a motive, the kind of fucked up sense of honor that makes the killers leave the babies.

The fact that cops told the remaining clan to go armed tells you everything. People in small hick communities know all each other's secrets, and whoever they had a beef with was probably well known.

[Blindgreed1]

I think the police and surviving family know exactly who did it but lack proof. This sounds more and more like a backwoods feud between rival families or factions. Calculated attack, overkill on a few of the victims, clear lack of robbery as a motive, the kind of fucked up sense of honor that makes the killers leave the babies.

The fact that cops told the remaining clan to go armed tells you everything. People in small hick communities know all each other's secrets, and whoever they had a beef with was probably well known.

[Duchess]

I have questions.

In the first 911 call, the girl says "someone beat the hell outta him", later in the same call she said "they beat the fuck outta him". So someone put a beatdown on him before he was shot, I don't think you can mistake a gun shot with a beatdown and maybe a shotgun blast isn't what I've been thinking it is, like I'd know

[HairOfTheDog]

What I wanna know is who the dude who said "We got you" was. Even Rusty seemed to be like.... "What does that mean?"

Rusty's Facebook page is still up. Lots of anger and angst. You can see who posted "we got you." I linked to that guy's page and there are a bunch of RIP and tribute images to the Rhoden family. I don't know if he was friend or foe to the family.
https://www.facebook.com/rusty.mongold.35

Larry Jones is a friend of Rusty's. He too posted what appeared to be a threat against the Rhoden family not long before the murders and is reportedly trying to clear himself with police. Jones posted about an altercation on Union Hill Road, where the family lived, and threatened to “clear out that whole neck of the woods.” http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national...-1.2617899

These guys don't seem sophisticated enough or close enough to the family to get around the dogs, dismantle/disable security systems, etc..., but we don't really know how it all went down and I can see why police would be all over their asses.

I would like to know if the bullets all came from the same gun and which victim was shot 9 times. But, I doubt LE will publicly release much info that only the killer(s) would know before they have a suspect or suspects in custody.

[Blindgreed1]

What I wanna know is who the dude who said "We got you" was. Even Rusty seemed to be like.... "What does that mean?"

Rusty's Facebook page is still up. Lots of anger and angst. You can see who posted "we got you." I linked to that guy's page and there are a bunch of RIP and tribute images to the Rhoden family. I don't know if he was friend or foe to the family.
https://www.facebook.com/rusty.mongold.35

Larry Jones is a friend of Rusty's. He too posted what appeared to be a threat against the Rhoden family not long before the murders and is reportedly trying to clear himself with police. Jones posted about an altercation on Union Hill Road, where the family lived, and threatened to “clear out that whole neck of the woods.” http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national...-1.2617899

These guys don't seem sophisticated enough or close enough to the family to get around the dogs, dismantle/disable security systems, etc..., but we don't really know how it all went down and I can see why police would be all over their asses.

I would like to know if the bullets all came from the same gun and which victim was shot 9 times. But, I doubt LE will publicly release much info that only the killer(s) would know before they have a suspect or suspects in custody.

`I remember when another poster was skeptical that a person committed a crime based on their lack of intelligence or sophistication. As I recall you adamantly disagreed with that column of thought.

[HairOfTheDog]

I remember when another poster was skeptical that a person committed a crime based on their lack of intelligence or sophistication. As I recall you adamantly disagreed with that column of thought.

Your recollection is rusty.

What I said in the Avery thread is that insisting suspects can't be guilty because they're not smart enough to commit a violent crime, leave evidence that clearly points to them, and then lie about it defies logic; many a violent criminal has done exactly that.

And, as I said in this thread, we don't know what went down with the Rhoden murders, so I wouldn't rule out Rusty and company at this time, no matter how they appear, and don't blame police for being all over them.

Anyway, while I wouldn't rule out anyone based on what we know now, I think it's safe to say it took a more sophisticated plan to kill 8 Rhoden family members at 4 locations (no matter who's behind it) than it did to lure and murder Teresa Halbach (no matter who's behind it).

[Duchess]

*speculates* The killer/s is someone who knew these people in more than a passing manner. He knew their homes inside & out. He knew their animals and knew about the security. He had a very good plan and has been successful with it so far.

[Blindgreed1]

I remember when another poster was skeptical that a person committed a crime based on their lack of intelligence or sophistication. As I recall you adamantly disagreed with that column of thought.

Your recollection is rusty.

What I said in the Avery thread is that insisting suspects can't be guilty because they're not smart enough to commit a violent crime, leave evidence that clearly points to them, and then lie about it defies logic; many a violent criminal has done exactly that.

And, as I said in this thread, we don't know what went down with the Rhoden murders, so I wouldn't rule out Rusty and company at this time, no matter how they appear, and don't blame police for being all over them.

Anyway, while I wouldn't rule out anyone based on what we know now, I think it's safe to say it took a more sophisticated plan to kill 8 Rhoden family members at 4 locations (no matter who's behind it) than it did to lure and murder Teresa Albach (no matter who's behind it).

You speculate.

[Cutz]

*speculates* The killer/s is someone who knew these people in more than a passing manner. He knew their homes inside & out. He knew their animals and knew about the security. He had a very good plan and has been successful with it so far.

I don't buy that whole "His pets knew the person." I have dogs. They wouldn't hurt anyone that brought them bacon.

Was I the only one who watched Dexter? You scope people out for a week or two before hand. You learn their routines and their patterns. You break into their house while they're not home and empty the ammo of their firearms. You regularly feed their dog bacon. Preparation can double for familiarity any day.

[HairOfTheDog]

^ I think a professional hit person or team is possible and could have pulled off the murders using Dexterish tactics.

The pitbulls were living at commercial marijuana grow sites where cockfight gambling may also have been going down though. My impression is that those dogs would have been trained and expected to respond negatively to any strangers, as one victim's father and one victim's cousin claimed.

But, again, we don't know how aggressive the dogs were or whether they were drugged or anything like that.

[Duchess]

we don't know how aggressive the dogs were or whether they were drugged or anything like that.

I'm interested in knowing that. I don't have much experience with guard dogs but the couple that I have known of were specifically trained not to accept food from anyone but their owner.

[HairOfTheDog]

we don't know how aggressive the dogs were or whether they were drugged or anything like that.

I'm interested in knowing that. I don't have much experience with guard dogs but the couple that I have known of were specifically trained not to accept food from anyone but their owner.

I'd like to know too.

Donald Stone said the paramedics told him to control his cousin's 'ferocious' pitbull when they arrived at the murder scene.

Dana Rhoden's father said he knows his daughter was killed by someone familiar because Dana's dogs would eat strangers up.

I got the impression that the dogs were trained and very aggressive towards strangers/intruders. But, it's possible the dogs were simply pets who weren't as aggressive as the family members perceived when approached by strangers with treats. Or, the dogs could have been drugged.

[Duchess]

It's always so hard waiting for information when I get interested in one of these crimes. Waiting Waiting Waiting.

I'm an asshole. I always think how hard can it be finding who killed people in hick, rural towns and then I begin to think it's because the local LEO's are incompetent. Logically, I know this is very complicated and I do believe people are working 'round the clock on it, using all their resources and then there's the asshole side of me...

[Donovan]

I think we get conditioned by television to think that all police departments have genius maverick detectives who make astounding guesses, last-minute saves and invariably solve every crime in 42 minutes minus commercials. The truth is somewhat more disappointing.

[HairOfTheDog]

It's always so hard waiting for information when I get interested in one of these crimes. Waiting Waiting Waiting.

I'm an asshole. I always think how hard can it be finding who killed people in hick, rural towns and then I begin to think it's because the local LEO's are incompetent. Logically, I know this is very complicated and I do believe people are working 'round the clock on it, using all their resources and then there's the asshole side of me...

It's difficult to be patient and sometimes local LE does suck. I really wanna know the order of the murders, how many guns were used, if robbery is suspected, how/if the dogs were trained to guard, who gains financially from the deaths....

I think this one would be extra challenging for any LE team because there are probably way more than the usual number of POIs for LE to check out.

Looking at interviews with locals and the Facebook pages for some of the names attached to the case, threats of violence don't seem rare in that neck of the woods. Some Rhoden family members were both givers and receivers of such threats and violence.

So, even if LE has strong circumstantial evidence to suspect someone(s), without a confession or physical evidence, they might have to hold details close to the vest and hold off filing charges until they pursue all possible leads and eliminate alternate suspects. Otherwise, they'd leave the door open for a good defense attorney to create reasonable doubt by implicating other people who had beefs with the family or any one of the family members -- could be a long list.

I don't yet have any strong suspicions about this one, personally. Everyone's speculation makes sense to me at this point -- could be someone very close to the family, could be a family feud inspired hit or a drug/professional hit, the motive could be personal or financial.... I hope LE has much more than they're letting on.

[HairOfTheDog]

This article gives some background on each of the victims and identifies the parents of the children who were spared.

http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/news...he-/nrD5P/

[Duchess]

This is Hannah. She was several months pregnant -

This was wrong, she wasn't pregnant. I know better than to start posting about this kind of thing in the first moments because many times the facts are wrong but I did it anyway. I was wrong.