The sheriff said he has urged other surviving members of the Rhoden
family to arm themselves for protection, but "for other citizens of this
county, I don't believe there is an issue."
Slaying of 8 Ohio family members called 'sophisticated' execution(News United)
Eight family members found shot to death at four homes in rural Ohio were specifically targeted for execution in a pre-planned, "sophisticated operation," authorities said on Sunday as their investigation of the unsolved killings entered a third day.
Revealing
one possible clue in the case, officials said investigators had found
three marijuana cultivation sites at one of the homes, but they declined
to say whether the cannabis "grows" might be linked to the killings.
Pike County Sheriff Charles Reader
and Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said it was clear the victims,
ranging in age from 16 to 44, were deliberately singled out for attack,
most of them while they slept, rather than killed at random or in a
crime of passion.
In their latest briefing to
reporters, however, officials refused to comment on any possible motive
or say whether they had identified any suspects. While DeWine at times
used plural pronouns, he insisted investigators remained unsure whether
they were seeking one or more perpetrators.
"I don't know if it's a bad guy or bad guys - it could be one, two three, four,"
he said in a televised news conference. He said 18 pieces of evidence
had been sent to a state crime lab for analysis and that 50 to 60 people
had been interviewed in the case, with more expected to be questioned.
"This
was a pre-planned execution of eight individuals. It was a
sophisticated operation. And those who carried it out were trying to do
everything they could do to hinder the investigation and their
prosecution," DeWine said.
"We would anticipate that this could be a lengthy investigation," he added.
The
victims, all previously identified as members of the Rhoden family,
were found shot in the head in four separate homes on Friday in or near
Piketon, a town of some 2,000 people about 95 miles east of Cincinnati
in south-central Ohio.
The victims included a
mother who was slain in bed with her 4-day-old infant in her arms. That
baby and two other small children present during the killings - a
6-month-old and a 3-year-old - all survived, officials said.
The sheriff said he has urged other surviving members of the Rhoden family to arm themselves for protection, but "for other citizens of this county, I don't believe there is an issue."
Autopsies
were completed on seven victims by Sunday afternoon. The sheriff also
said he had sent additional investigators to scour the wooded areas
surrounding all four crime scenes in search of any additional evidence.
A
local restaurateur, Jeff Ruby, offered a $25,000 reward for any
information leading to arrest and conviction of those responsible.
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