Free Republic

Sympathy and money for the Rhodens dried up as soon as it was revealed they were selling marijuana. Even worse, most have ignored victim Hannah Gilley and her own family. PIKETON, Ohio — A family murdered for no apparent reason evokes a lot of sympathy from a community. Unless that family was dealing drugs. Drugs are so prevalent in this rural swath of the country that highway signs provide drivers with a number to report impaired—not drunk—drivers. So less than a week after this community rallied to support the families of the eight people shot to death in their beds...

The youngest of the eight Ohio family members found slain in execution-style murders last week received a threat on Facebook before the mass killings, Ohio's attorney general said Monday. ADVERTISEMENT Christopher Rhoden Jr., a 16-year-old freshman at Piketon High School, was the subject of the threat, CBS News reported. "I'm aware of the Facebook threat," Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said. "Every piece of information is valuable and our investigators are certainly taking that into consideration." The threat is just one emerging piece of evidence in the investigation, which has also uncovered cockfighting chickens and a marijuana growing operation at...

PIKETON, Ohio (AP) — An out-of-breath caller who found two of the eight slain members of an Ohio family told a 911 dispatcher in a quavering voice that "there's blood all over the house." "I think my brother-in-law's dead," she said, her voice rising as she adds later that it looks like someone has "beat the crap out of them." "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. The calls were released a day after eight family members were found...