Criminal MischiefEpisode 3: The Pike County Massacre — Judgment Day

After nearly a decade of investigation, courtroom battles, and shocking family betrayals, the Pike County Massacre finally reaches its conclusion.

In the final chapter of Carolyn Ossorio's exhaustive investigation into one of the most disturbing family murder conspiracies in American history, the Wagners begin turning on one another. Plea agreements are negotiated behind closed doors. Testimony once thought impossible becomes the prosecution's most devastating weapon. Parents testify against children. Sons testify against mothers. The carefully constructed image of an ordinary Ohio farming family collapses under the weight of its own lies.

Carolyn follows every major development—from the strategic deals that unraveled the Wagner family's defense, through the emotional courtroom testimony that revealed how eight members of the Rhoden family were systematically hunted and executed, to the convictions and sentences that finally brought a measure of justice to Pike County.

But this episode isn't simply about guilty verdicts.

It's about obsession disguised as love, control masquerading as family loyalty, and the devastating consequences of a belief that one family had the right to decide another family's future. Carolyn also explores the lingering questions that remain, the emotional scars carried by the survivors, and why the Pike County Massacre continues to haunt investigators, prosecutors, and the community that lived through one of the largest homicide investigations in Ohio history.

After weeks of exclusive interviews, meticulous reporting, and thousands of pages of court records, Criminal Mischief concludes its definitive examination of the Pike County Massacre.

Justice may have finally arrived—but some wounds never truly heal.

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