Ohio Family Killings: Marijuana Grow Operations Found at 3 of the 4 Crime Scenes

The victims were all members of the Rhoden family.

ByABC News
April 24, 2016, 7:59 PM

— -- Ohio's Attorney General says marijuana grow operations were found at three of the four places where eight relatives were shot dead in "execution type" killings.

Authorities did not provide further details.

Attorney General Mike DeWine told ABC News earlier that authorities still do not have a suspect description or motive in the Friday killings, saying the suspect or suspects took several steps to cover up their tracks and remove any possible evidence that would help police track them down.

He says authorities have received more than 100 tips so far and they are following up on all of them.

"These were pre-planned, pre-meditated execution-type killings," DeWine told ABC News today. "Four different homes. A case like this is going to take some time."

The victims were all members of the Rhoden family, officials said Saturday. They were identified 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.

Seven of the victims were found in three homes along the same road in Peebles, a small village about 70 miles east of Cincinnati. The eighth victim was found later than the others in nearby Piketon, officials said.

Some of the victims appeared to have been killed in their sleep and were found shot to death in their beds, DeWine said. One victim, who appeared to be a mother, was killed lying in bed with a 4-day-old baby, he said.

Three young children -- the 4-day-old baby, a 6-month-old baby and a 3-year-old -- were found unharmed at the various shooting locations, said Pike County Sheriff Charles Reader.

At a news conference this afternoon DeWine described the killings as "a sophisticated operation."

"They thought this thing through," DeWine said.

Cincinnati-area businessman Jeff Ruby has offered $25,000 for information that leads to the gunman's arrest, officials said Saturday.

Investigators also released 911 calls that recorded family members finding their relatives dead inside their homes.

One woman called 911, sounding frantic and out of breath, telling a dispatcher she had found blood throughout her brother-in-law's house.

"I think my brother-in-law's dead," she said. "There's blood all over the house."

She then said it looked like someone else was dead there, too, before weeping into the phone.

In another 911 call, a man said: "I just found my cousin with a gunshot wound."

"Is he alive?" the dispatcher asked.

"No, no," the caller said.

Sharon Fulton, the wife of a pastor at the Union Hill Church, said there was shock within the small community of Peebles, which had a population of 1,782 at the time of the 2010 census.

"When one hurts, we all hurt," she said.

ABC News' Alex Perez contributed to this report.

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