Officials Hold News Conference on Ohio Murders
MIKE DEWINE, OHIO ATTORNEY GENERAL: Personnel involved in this investigation. Five search warrants have been executed, four crime scenes have been worked. As the sheriff just told you, some additional searching is being done. Let me mention for a moment the crime scene. Those crime scenes we told you were finished being worked early in the morning yesterday, but they are still being maintained and secured by the sheriff. This is at our request. And we believe that because of the seriousness of the case that this should happen so that we could preserve that crime scene if we need to go back and take a second look or if we need to go back looking for specific information. Eighteen pieces of evidence are now at the state crime lab at BCI. Those are being looked at by our DNA people as well as looked at for other -- other purposes. Let me make a kind of a statement about the nature of this case. This was a preplanned execution of eight individuals. It was a sophisticated operation. And those who carried it out were trying to do everything that they could do to hinder the investigation and their prosecution. And I just state that because, as the sheriff has indicated, we would anticipate that this could be a lengthy investigation. This is not your case where someone got mad at somebody else, they shot them, there's a witness, two witnesses. It is very, very, very different type case. So let me also say that while we will continue to provide you with information in regard to what we are doing, as I just did with the tips and the interviews and the 18 pieces of evidence. What we are not going to be able to do is to provide you results. That may frustrate you, may frustrate members of the public. But our goal, we have to keep our eye on the goal. And the goal is to do everything within our power in this investigation to find these people or this person who has done this. We will not be telegraphing or telling the bad guys everything that we know. So we will continue to have briefings. We will continue to have information going out, but as the sheriff indicated, I think this could very well be a lengthy investigation. This is not, while we use many of the tools that you see on TV, and we have great ability today, with tools that we did not have 10 years ago or 20 years ago or 30 years ago, a lot of what is going on here is just basic old-fashioned police work. I would also mention that we would ask for anyone who has information about this to contact us. Jeff Ruby has grace enough -- Mr. Ruby has been gracious enough to offer $25,000 reward. I would again emphasize that. That money will be made available for someone who does bring us the key information that leads to convictions in this case. More than happy to respond to any questions.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Mr. DeWine, were any drugs found at the crime scene?</s>DEWINE: I'm not going to comment on that.</s>DEWINE: I'm sorry?</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You said that guy. How many killers do you believe there are?</s>DEWINE: I don't know if it's a bad guy or bad guys. It could be one, two, three, four -- I don't think we know at this point.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How many guns were used in these murders, sir?</s>DEWINE: I'm not going to talk about that.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What 18 pieces of evidence you have?</s>DEWINE: OK, we're not going to talk -- let me just do this again. And I know you all have to do your job and I think you boys found me to be pretty accessible. I do not intend to give out one piece of information that in any way will endanger the prosecution of this case or in any way will slow down what our job is, the job that the sheriff and I are sworn to do which is to protect the people of the state of Ohio. It is in the interest of the people of the state of Ohio that we find this murder error these murders as quick as we can. So much as I would like to be able to answer every question you have, and much as the sheriff would as well, we're simply not going to do it.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Were the Rhodens involved in illicit or illegal activity?</s>DEWINE: I'm not going to comment on that.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Is there any threat to public safety? Can you make a statement to the community at --</s>DEWINE: Well, I think the sheriff has said it very well. And I'll let him get in here and say it again. But there's only been one family that's been targeted. We've already expressed to that family, many members of that family our concern. And the sheriff -- I'm going to let the sheriff talk about that from maybe a security point of view and a public safety point of view.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Was the family all shot with the same caliber?</s>DEWINE: Let's let him finish that.</s>SHERIFF CHARLES READER, PIKE COUNTY: As far as public safety concern and the citizens of Pike County, I've spoke with the family. It's very evident that they were a target of this horrible crime. Me and the attorney general spoke with them. I cautioned them that they were a target and I told them to be armed. For the other citizens of this county, I don't believe that there is an issue. I've taken the precautionary measures to contact the other sheriffs. In the past days, we've had over 100 persons in this area including extra deputy sheriffs, investigators, state patrol, patrolling the roadways in that area, out of county people patrolling county lines. We are very accessible. Anything out of the ordinary needs to be reported to local law enforcement so we can check it. I can tell you, if you are fearful, arm yourself. If you feel that you need to protect yourself or family, do so. And contact the local law enforcement to come and respond to it. I cannot guarantee myself we have almost 30,000 citizens in Pike County covering 797 road miles and 444 square miles. I took an oath to serve and protect my county and I will do so to the best of my ability. But I cannot promise any one of those 30,000 that I can be there to stop anything. We will be available. Anything suspicious report and I will make sure that someone, including myself is accessible to be there.</s>DEWINE: We had a question here.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: All the same caliber --</s>DEWINE: I'm not going to comment on that.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Has this investigation expanded beyond Ohio?</s>DEWINE: OK. We got one here then we'll go back there.</s>DEWINE: No. We don't know whether it was one or more people who were involved in this.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What did they do</s>DEWINE: I'm sorry?</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What did they do --</s>READER: This was very methodical. This was well-planned. This was not something that just happened. This was something that planned. A family was targeted. Most of them targeted while they were sleeping.</s>DEWINE: Let me just say, if I said it -- said it incorrectly, I want to correct myself if I said that. Because it was well-planned out, because it was premeditated, because they calculated this, what they were going to do, obviously anybody who is planning something will do everything in their power to make it difficult for those investigators to find the information. What I did not say or did not mean to say, may have said it, is that they've hindered the investigation. I did not mean to say that. What I meant is, anybody who plans this out, clearly it's not like the person who does it spur of the moment, who comes up and shoot someone. They thought this thing through whoever did it. And they executed it, it was well-planned out and thought out what they were going to do.</s>READER: The other thing I would like to say is in the end of this, we have to provide this to a prosecutor. So this person or persons can be prosecuted. We will not have a second chance. We have to do it once and we have to do it right. We have to be methodical. We have to be vigilant. We have to work around the clock and we have to get the things that we need. So in the end, the prosecution has what they need to do their job as well.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Has this investigation taken you beyond Ohio, neighboring states perhaps?</s>DEWINE: No comment on that.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Is it still correct to say that you do not have any suspects at this point?</s>DEWINE: No comment. I would not read anything into that.</s>DEWINE: No comment.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Are the surviving family members getting extra protection?</s>READER: I have spoke with the Rhoden family. We are very accessible to them. I am not going to go into detail what we are doing and what we are not doing with that family. Anything that they need will be provided by my staff or someone they reach out to.</s>READER: I got no comment on that.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: No, you said you got</s>DEWINE: No comment.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We talked to a pastor, pastor of some of the victims as well as the best friends of the Rhodens, Dana Rhoden specifically. The speculation is that they were stalked. Does that speak to this being preplanned? The methodical nature of this? Is that -- were they stalked?</s>DEWINE: I won't comment about the word stalking. It clearly was planned and executed.</s>READER: And the person that you spoke with is not part of this investigation.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Is there any useful CCTV?</s>DEWINE: I'm sorry.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Have you found any useful film --</s>DEWINE: No comment.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You said four crime scenes, five search warrants executed. Can you comment on where that fifth search warrant was executed?</s>READER: Not at this moment. Those search warrants will eventually be filed. OK. And once they are filed they'd be available.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Filed with federally or county?</s>DEWINE: It will be with county.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Why be so tight-lipped about the investigation if there's people wanting to help out?</s>DEWINE: We want people to help out. We again say to the public, there's somebody out there who knows information. Even if you think it may not be that helpful, but it might be helpful. We ask them to come forward. We preserve the secrecy of their comments to us, information to us. We will run down everything they give us. So again, we are pleasing today to the public and also mentioning the fact there's a $25,000 reward for people who give us information that leads to a conviction.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Sheriff, is there a drug problem in this area?</s>READER: There's a drug problem in most areas around here and I would say there's a drug problem here.</s>DEWINE: There's a drug problem throughout the state of Ohio.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: In your searches of the crime scene, have you found evidence of marijuana grow operations?</s>READER: I'm not going to comment on that.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: We saw a lot of</s>READER: Ma'am, again, I have got a team of 38 people going to every crime scene and they're scouting the woods looking for evidence that may be in those parts of the crime scenes. If they locate those, they will mark them, contact an agent, an investigator. Working together, they'll go and they'll collect that evidence and do with it what we need to.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Are you looking for a specific type of weapon?</s>READER: I'm not going to comment on that.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Sir, because the people need to be armed especially -- you said that you would recommend people to be armed, do you mean literally guns or just a broad sense of protection?</s>READER: I'm talking in the broad sense of protection. OK. There's two different people. We have a county with citizens that are concerned because we have a family that was targeted and lost eight family members. I've specifically told the Rhoden family that I would be armed. And I would use what extent they have to, to protect their selves and their family. And if anyone, any citizen in this county feel that they are in jeopardy of serious physical harm or death, then they can take those same measures.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What about the surviving victims? The 4-day- old baby, the 6-month-old, the 3-year-old. Where are they right now?</s>READER: I will not comment on that.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Can we get the genders of those three children?</s>READER: Excuse me?</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The genders of those three children?</s>DEWINE: I don't know if that's been released or not?</s>READER: I won't comment at this time.</s>READER: In the future, when we find that out, I'll provide it.</s>DEWINE: Yes. We can provide that.</s>READER: What? Absolutely not. Not at this time.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Know when those will be completed?</s>DEWINE: No. It's my understanding that seven have already been completed. The eighth will be completed tomorrow.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How about ballistics reports or anything like that?</s>DEWINE: That's in our BCI crime lab. We're looking at pieces of evidence from a DNA point of view and a ballistics point of view. We're going to be able to tell you the process. We're going to be able to tell you what we're doing. We're not going to be able to tell you the results. I know that's frustrating. I get it.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Was law enforcement familiar with the Rhoden family prior to this event?</s>READER: Yes. We have a small county. We're familiar with most people.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: In terms of a criminal sense or that you just --</s>READER: I won't comment on that. I have never been involved with that family in a criminal nature and I've been in law enforcement locally for 20 years.</s>DEWINE: I continue to brief the governor. The governor has expressed a real interest in this. Has called me. I initially called him. He continues to call me and I continue to give him a briefing.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Have you been able to identify which was the main target of the eight people</s>DEWINE: Look. Look.</s>READER: All eight people that were murdered.</s>DEWINE: Yes. They were all murdered. They were all murdered execution style. So they went after all of them.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Is there any sort of funding -- setting up an account or anything</s>READER: That I'm unaware of.</s>DEWINE: Yes. We have a victim program in the attorney general's office that we administer. We are reaching out to the families of the victims to make them aware of whatever possibility there is to access money in the future. It basically has to be unreimbursed. So it would be expenses that were not reimbursed by insurance or something else. The other thing that we do, we had, as the sheriff did and the county did, people at the church who are victim rights advocates who are used to dealing with people who are grieving and who are members of the families of victims. And that will continue as long as family members want any of that.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The pain is evident in this community, speaking to the local residents. Can you talk a little bit, expand about the emotional aspect for you as investigators, the emotion here felt in this community or the ruthless nature of these killings?</s>READER: I'm a member of that community. It is very emotional to find out that eight people of your community were murdered, OK? And that emotion is widespread throughout this county. All I can do is ensure that we're working around the clock, that we're working in conjunction with multiple agencies so that we can search and find who is responsible for this.</s>DEWINE: Let me just mention from a personal point of view. I've been in Pike County many, many, many times over the last few decades. This is a wonderful county with wonderful people. Beautiful place to raise a family. So I -- my heart just goes out to the family members, but also to the whole community. This is something that very few people fortunately ever have to experience in a small county like this to have eight of their fellow citizens murdered in a calculated manner. It is just -- it is just horrible. So my commitment to the people of Pike County is that from the attorney general's point of view and BCI point of view, nothing is more important that's going on in the state. We will continue to have dozens and dozens of people here. We will be with this investigation and with the sheriff until we find out who did this. Thank you all very much.</s>READER: Thank you.</s>DEWINE: I'm sorry.</s>PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Pamela Brown in for Poppy Harlow. You see there, officials wrapping up a press conference there in Piketon, Ohio, talking about this investigation and the manhunt for suspects after eight members of one family were killed at four separate crime scenes. Many of these family members killed in their sleep. The attorney general calling this a preplanned execution. CNN's Nick Valencia has been following the investigation from Ohio. Also with us CNN law enforcement analyst Tom Fuentes. Tom, first to you. There's still a lot of unanswered questions in the wake of this press but what struck out to me is they repeatedly said this was preplanned, well-planned, methodical killings. What would lead investigators to believe that and where do they go from here?</s>TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: I think, Pamela, they would go to that conclusion based on the four separate locations and just the methodical nature of how these were carried out. You know, as the sheriff mentioned, it's not like someone went to commit a murder at a particular location and others were there so he or she shot the rest of them just to kill the witnesses. And this was four separate locations. And that methodically kill people in their sleep with the exception of the three younger members of the family. I think just the sheer methodical nature of it is what's leading them to believe that it was well planned and preplanned.</s>BROWN: So we heard the sheriff come out again and say we believe this particular family was targeted. He couldn't rule out any other safety concerns for members of the public, but he made it clear we believe this family was targeted. How might that help investigators sort of hone in on who was responsible for this?</s>FUENTES: Well, I think if they take out the random nature of it and look at why would somebody target that family, that investigation will include every member that's deceased in the family, but every extended member of the family because it could be a message to somebody else if there was a drug deal or a fraud case or some other activity, some reason that there's a vendetta. The vendetta may not even been against any of these individuals, it may have been against someone else and they were threatened with we're going to kill your whole family if you don't do whatever it is they wanted them to do. So that's probably why. The fact that there's four separate crime scenes, it's not like everybody in the neighborhood was randomly killed and so you have multiple families. You know, and I think that's why. This family had members that were spread out at four locations. And whoever killed them went to those locations. They're going to have to wait until they get the -- all of the bullets recovered from all of the bodies and try and determine how many different guns were used, how many at each location to see how many shooters they may have had among other things. What caliber of weapons, what they'll be looking for, then try to trace weapons like that. Also the crime scene forensic investigation will be to try to find DNA that doesn't belong to the family members because skin particles, hair follicles from the shooter or shooters would have fallen off also at the scene. So they're going to have to do DNA analysis on every member of the family, anybody they can find that have been in those homes for, you know, weeks and months and then see if they can find DNA that doesn't match any of those to see if it could possibly be matched to a future suspect. So there's just so many angles of this. And again the complete background on every member of the deceased family and as well as the extended family members to see what activities they've been involved in, were they being threatened. This will include phone records, computer searches, you know, an extensive, extensive investigation because of the number of people involved.</s>BROWN: And that investigation very much under way. Very much under way right now. We know 18 pieces of evidence have been taken to a lab. That DNA -- looking for DNA to see, as you point out, Tom Fuentes, if it might belong to someone else. Not the family members. I want to bring in Nick Valencia who was there at that press conference. He's been covering that story. Did we learn anything new, Nick?</s>NICK VALENCIA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Pamela, we just got new information -- Pamela, we just got new information in the matter of the last seconds. Actually the local sheriff coming out just after that press conference ended, addressing some information that was reported by a local affiliate here. He confirmed that three separate marijuana grow operations were found at three of the different crime scenes. Four crime scenes together. Whether or not this makes it drug related or not, he wouldn't commit to saying that. But again this new information coming in the last couple seconds here, that three different grow operations were found on that property. It's about a 30-mile wide property. A completely rural area that you heard in the press conference, the road leading into that -- into that residence, into those residences, is still blocked off. So we haven't been able to go there. But there's been intense speculation over the course of the last couple of days here among the community that this may have been drug related simply by the ruthless nature of this. You have eight members of one family executed. The most ruthless of course being that mother with her 4-day-old baby sleeping next to her, shot and killed while she was sleeping next to that baby. Now perhaps fueling further speculation we understand that these grow operations, these pot grow operations being found on that -- in that area where these shootings took place. We did hear from a local law enforcement source and again at that press conference as well that police were familiar with the Rhoden family. Whether it was a criminal familiarity or with something else, that led us to dig into court records and find -- in Pike County court records that Dana Rhoden, one of the victims, had several criminal arrests. Domestic violence arrest, resisting arrest. Other minor violations like traffic violations. There was another brother of the family who's not listed among those victims who had several drug violations and drug arrests. Now authorities are not saying the motive. They're not saying whether or not they have a suspect or suspects. Simply saying that they've interviewed more than 50 people over the course of the last couple of days and that those interviews are ongoing. They talk about collecting 18 crucial pieces of evidence, some of that being tested by local DNA officials, looking into that. But you heard there, Pamela, they were very tightlipped. We asked them some very pointed, direct questions and they were unwilling to respond. The sheriff, though, did say that there was a drug problem in this area and that's what we've been hearing from locals. Big heroin, big methamphetamine problem here in Pike County -- Pamela.</s>BROWN: And obviously the community still on edge as these killer or killers are still on the loose. The sheriff made it clear this family was targeted. What are authorities doing for the surviving family members? I imagine this is -- not only are they grieving the loss of their loved ones, but this is so frightening for them.</s>VALENCIA: Well, they've asked them to take added precaution to arm themselves. That's the language we heard from the local sheriff here. This is a county that believes very strongly in the Second Amendment. We talked a lot to locals here. They have conceal and carry permits. In fact we're at a local restaurant earlier where folks, who were not part of the Rhoden family were saying that they were arming themselves as well. Others, however, not as concerned because we hear that detailed information that this was a sophisticated operation, a preplanned execution that was methodical. And those who were involved were singling out this family. We spoke to the best friend of Dana Rhoden earlier this morning. She said that they -- that she believes that this family was stalked. Dana Rhoden leaving work at about 11:00 p.m. on Thursday night. The shooting happened at about 7:30 a.m. on Friday morning. Anyway that's when the first 911 call came in. So the pastor for some of the victims of the family also told us that. In a very emotional interview that we had with him yesterday saying that he believes that this family was stalked. Now investigators would not go so far as to say that they belief the family was stalked. But, I mean, putting the pieces together here, Pamela, they were saying that this family has been singled out. As far as a concern of public safety to this area, it really is, they were very concerned about the extended relatives, the cousins, the friends and family of the Rhoden family because they were singled out by this killer or killers.</s>BROWN: And I want to bring this sound from the Ohio attorney general talking about these three marijuana grow operations you discussed, Nick. Let's take a listen to that.</s>DEWINE: Let me go ahead and I think it's OK for us to confirm that we did find marijuana in three locations.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Near the crime scenes or at the crime scenes?</s>DEWINE: At the crime scenes.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Like bags of marijuana?</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Grow operation?</s>DEWINE: Grow operation. Thank you all very much.</s>BROWN: So, Tom Fuentes, what might that mean in this investigation?</s>FUENTES: Well, again, if they were in some type of criminal conspiracy, they might have competitors, they might have people that they're working with, their colleagues, they could have double-crossed someone or someone double-crossed them. There's all kinds of possibilities if that's what's involved here. But, you know, we'd have to learn more about this growing activity, how big of an operation was it, how much money we they earning from it. Was it just for personal friends and family consumption? You know, the sheriff didn't go into enough detail to describe whether this was a big criminal venture in the state of Ohio or not. That'll be something we'll have to learn in the future.</s>BROWN: Right. For now it's all speculation. Really quickly, Nick, you had mentioned that some people who knew the family believed that they were stalked. Is there any other indication before these deaths that they told family members, friends that they were afraid for their lives, that they believed they were being stalked or was it just that -- just the timing that one of them got off work at 11:00 p.m. and the killings happened after that? Nick Valencia? OK. I think we lost Nick. By thank you so much, Tom Fuentes, for bringing your analysis. Nick Valencia there bringing us the very latest from Piketon, Ohio. Of course we will continue to monitor this story --</s>BROWN: Go ahead. Tom Fuentes, you wanted to add something?</s>FUENTES: The term stalk, you know, that often implies a stranger stalking someone or a relationship situation. I think you might have a better term of saying surveilled if a person wanted to kill him, wait until he goes home, and then follow him home to make sure that happens. That would be more of a surveillance operation than stalking might not be the exact term to use for that.</s>BROWN: Right. But I think also beyond that, you know, I'd be curious to know if there were any indications that this family, you know, believed they were being followed or that they were -- someone was threatening them for whatever reason. I think that obviously would be a key part of this investigation whether you call it surveillance --</s>FUENTES: Huge, yes.</s>BROWN: Or stalking. Yes. All right. Tom Fuentes, thank you so much. I really appreciate you coming on and bringing your law enforcement analysis. We appreciate it. We'll check back in with you. And coming up right here in the NEWSROOM, you're looking live right here just about at Paisley Park. A very special guest joins me live. Rock idol Gene Simmons of KISS pays tribute to Prince. I'll get his thoughts on Prince's legacy, his favorite performances and what he thinks should happen to all his unreleased music. Stay with us. We'll be back.