Pike County murder trial: Victim's brother testifies about the day of the murders 

The media when this happened insinuated that this family was poor, backwoods, uneducated, trashy and whatever else but they seem to me to have been a loving normal family like millions of other families and not trashy at all. That man is a very humble hard working man who has been married 26 years. Dana’s place was neat and tidy. Screw the media, they lie.

This is so sad. This man reminds me of my own brother. Man of few words but I can still see his pain in his face. Bless him .

I just want to give this man a hug. I am in tears. I cant imagine. Then imagine being in his shoes now, knowing this is something u have to get up in front of the whole world and do, testify for the sake of ur sister and her FAMILY, but who would want to? i know i wouldnt want to, while facing one of the ones responsible. U can see him carrying the pain, fighting the tears back. You also can tell, he is being completely honest. This has been such a long time coming, I hope the family can find some sort of closure if there is any.

What a horrific scene to encounter, you’d never be able to get that out of your mind. This poor Family seeing your loved ones murdered. It’s unbelievable what evil has been done there. Justice needs to happen for all the deceased victims & those that survived 🙏 I hope the survivor’s get counselling, & support

You can see the pain in his eyes. This is one of the moving testimonies ive seen.

Mr. Manley sorry for your loss and what your family had to endure. Praying you get through this difficult time.

I'm from Sydney, Australia and I could hear and understand him just fine. My heart goes out to him and his kin. This must be gut wrenching having to retell this in public and have to be in the same room as that POS.

This man is barely holding it together, the pain is so raw. It is gut wrenching his having to tell what he saw in detail, in front of the person who is believed to have created the horrific scene. God bless him and his family.

It's a miracle he is still alive...I'm glad he is...I'm very sorry for the ones who lost their lives..💔

Sounds like they were a close fun family. Having get togethers and sticking close together. How arrogant of that other family to think they could of got away with it. Killed a woman with newborn? Killing people in their sleep.. Disgusting

I understand now, why the first couple of witnesses opted out of video and audio while testifying!!! What a horrible experience, he saw the first crime scene and he hurried to his other relatives house to tell them what happened and he finds out that they're all dead too!!! Just unbelievable, ALL OF it!!!

This is so hard to watch. The surviving family members were treated like s***. This crime affected the whole area Adams County, Pike County and Scioto County. I still shed a tear when I go over the hill on 32. I have renamed it Angel Hill. May they all rest in peace.

This witness is very consistent with state and defence. He keeps his answers to the point. What a horrific scene for him to lay his eyes upon.

The attorney doesn't know what to do with a witness who only answers the questions without expounding with unnecessary information. Great witness!

This is so ridiculous. Those killers should of all faced the death penalty, not of been allowed to cut deals, what a bunch of effing cowards, Killing people as they slept. I hope the killers reap what they sowed on that April morning. Prayers for this man and his family.

To take innocents like this is beyond evil.

This man is crossing his arms. That’s a way of comforting oneself when anxious. He probably has PTSD. Poor man.

He seems like a good guy sorry for your loss

🥺 I cannot imagine how one could fully recover from something like this

So it seems the defense is trying to say that there was someone in the murdered family growing weed. That is NO REASON to murder and wipe out over half of someone's family.

This is such a sad thing to happen. The people who did this are pure evil and all need to be put to death.

I hope this trial goes quickly so this poor family can grieve in peace and are not subject to a retrial ( due to prosecution or appeals) This has to be shredding them to relive this horror.

Someone needs to step up and help this family with grief, trauma and hurt. One just doesn't get over this. All my family died from different things like Cancer and Strokes etc but to have known or seen them murdered is unspeakable

What an evil family...all over the custody of a child who has no parents now.

I have 5 sons and this hardworking family reminds me of just how precious our loved ones are! My heart goes out to this family and how heartbreaking and gut wrenching! 🕊🕊🙏🏽🕊🕊

I'm sure it's taking all he has not to jump over and clock wagner...

May God bring peace upon this poor man and his family. My heart hurts to hear the utter pain in his voice. My gosh how can anyone take precious life from another in this way it's so sad.

I just love this young man and respect him so much for being through so much tragedy.

What strikes me the most about the Roden family -- more than their socioeconomic status, their appearance, their manner of speaking, their employment status, ANYTHING - is that THEY LOVED ONE ANOTHER. No amount of money or status or education or material success can trump that. God bless every surviving member of the Roden blood line. God is watching over them and justice will come for them.

This guy is probably a down to earth, salt of the earth kind of guy. Probably doesn't drink or smoke just busts out a hard day's work everyday. He seems like a humble guy who never deserved to have to deal with this tragedy. I hope he gets a lot of counseling to help him pick up and keep moving on.

Such a pure man you can tell

In the very beginning the investigators treated this guy and his other sister Bobby Jo as suspects. Had them take lie detector tests, put the gps tracker on his vehicle, interrogated them. He destroyed the gps tracker so they charged him and set his bond at $80,000!!!! Asked both of them “how much were you paid by someone to kill all these people?” So I sure as sh!t hope that they are able to at the very least, get their bond money back! So sad. Have to discover dead bodies and then be treated as the suspect! I can’t imagine the anger he has towards the law enforcement there💔

They asked so many questions that have nothing to do with what happened. They have all this money but can’t have a good mic. All that to agitate him in the beginning and he still stood tall. Get to the point. They dragged this out smh.

My heart goes out to him and his family. 💫💘💫💘

This is beyond heartbreaking 💔 I can’t even imagine. These men today are good ole country boys. I live close & know a lot of people like this. They don’t cry. They are ruff, tuff, strong but this is some that can bring anyone to this would bring anyone to their knees. I am going on a limb & going to say if they left them Wagners out. Just take them to the door of the jail. Release them & nature would take its course. I can bet these people would take care of justice. My heart is hurting for him so much… 💔💔💔💔

It's so heartbreaking!!! These people were of small means!!! ALL of them lived and worked so closely with one another!!! This had to be just unimaginable, that 8 family members were murdered over the custody of a child!!!

my heart breaks for you sir...you are deeply inbedded in my prayers

May GOD bless this man and his family. May Jesus Christ the Comforter and Healer bring them all peace and healing from this devastating time of their lives.

This poor man will never be the same again. Having your whole family slaughtered is unforgettable and unforgivable. I pray they eventually have some sort of peace knowing justice is being served! May these people rot in hell for what they have done. All the loss for custody and yet all they did was take the child's entire family from her and scar her before her life even starts. Made it that much harder for her to have that love from family. They destroyed her shot at a normal upbringing.

Angie Chaney, It does sound like they were a tight family, I can’t begin to imagine what they have had to go through, and still are going through. Unlike the family of murdering, evil cowards who are now turning on each other to save their own butt’s. I hope that each and every one of them receive the harshest sentence/punishment the jury can hand down. My heart breaks for the victims of this senseless crime. God bless and keep this family in your loving arms. 💔🙏🏻

Damn this man is hurting and doesn't know how to communicate his pain. This is so tragic............

Clearly traumatized. I hope he received counseling for this! Poor family. Condolences 🥺

My deepest condolences to this man and all of the family members who had to endure this awful tragedy. What a horrific crime committed by evil people. I hope these remaining relatives are able to get counseling and help as they continue to struggle with this trauma. My heart breaks for them…The victims and those remaining family members.

Not one person said, "hey, this is a really bad idea. Let's not do this !!! Worst case, the kids wind up with NOBODY to love and protect them". Nobody took any of this into consideration???

Fighting chickens are pretty recognisable! Sure are! Bless his heart ❤️ I couldn’t imagine what he was thinking or feeling when he realised his Sister was dead😢 🙏💜🙏💜🙏. The cops thought he had killed them and the others and tried to pin it on him too! Lucky for him, he had a solid alibi during the times of the murders!

For people wondering why he didn’t get the baby, he I am sure was in shock, and couldn’t imagine the level of fear and sadness he was going threw that morning

Mr. Manley, I am so sorry for your loss 💔💔💔

These 4 people threw there lives away...all over a custody situation that could have been worked out in a Court room...What does one say to that little girl that 6 people were killed and 4 other people went to prison for life..over getting custody of her when she was a small child...How does anyone bring this conversation up?

This is the saddest thing I have listened too in a very long time... I just wanna give him a hug🥺 I really hope he can move on from this and it doesn't haunt him for the rest of his life.

I thought it was disrespectful of the defense to use his naturally soft tone as a way to attack him.

This poor guy. I can hear him just fine. I'm so sorry for your losses.

Oh ,what an ordeal for this dear man,he is reliving it all over again! Dear lord please help him through this sad sad time ,him and his whole family! Myself and my family came through a terrible terrible ordeal Years ago,but nothing as horrific as this . Stay strong my good man,your family needs yo more than everX x x love from Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

So sorry for this horrific tragedy to this family over child custody just unbelievable

Oh I hope that United States of America, takes this Ohio state cops, sheriffs, and teach them what it is actually done in criminal profiling. You do not a rest people that called 911 and didn’t touch anything or move anything. I am so appalled to hear this crazy behavior!

I still can't believe what these monsters did! Incomprehensible

This poor guy. He saw such awful things. I hope he gets some therapy. That has to have been so traumatic.

I just seen this video, no nothing about this case but I know this, my heart goes out to this witness, you can hear the pain in his voice and at one point he teared up. Prayer said for this family.

They have a crappy mic for the witness stand yet I can hear someone writing on another mic.

This is heart-wrenching.. you can see the pain in this man’s whole demeanour. Prayers 🙏 😞

It breaks my heart to see how difficult it was for Dana’s brother to testify Such a soft spoken man. I can not imagine the pain he felt when he realized his sister was dead. This is such a tragedy.

This is heart breaking. I have no words😢

The victims' families are hurting so badly. They conduct themselves with such dignity. This trial must be heart wrenching to them. Unspeakable tragedy.

Amazing strength this young man has! 🕊🙏🏽🕊😢

I’m shocked and saddened to come across this video. The Mother & Father have/ had a farm where they professionally breed dogs and horses. We purchased our beautiful and smart American Mastiff from them. The Mother, Father and their 2 daughters were some of the kindest people I’ve ever met. Prayers for the family’s.

22:30 is when he lost it. hurts to see someone so strong and quiet break. so sorry for your loss.

May The Lord comfort this family, whats left of them. I cannot imagine. I come from a huge, closely bonded Appalachian family, many of whom live very close together like this family. My Pappaw was a logger, like Mr. Manley. We aren't perfect and never will be. No different than anyone else. But we love one another and look after one another. We stick together and have each other's backs, like family is supposed to do. I cannot imagine the horrible pain and suffering this family has endured and are still enduring. Many people forget that little Chris was just a child. People say "they spared the kids." No they didn't spare all of the children. He was still a minor child. That alone is enough for the Wagnors to deserve death. Leaving those babies unattended because youve killed their parents, with no way to know when they'd be found. Pure evil. They're completely unremorseful. I say put them all to death and be done with it.

red wing send this man and his family a lifetime supply of your boots. heartbreaking

I can’t imagine what this man has gone through

This poor man didn't deserve for this to happen to his life.

My heart is breaking for this young man. To have to go thru again what he saw, I want to hug him like I would my own grown child.

This prosecutor is so slow and asks the same questions over & over even when his answers were perfectly clear the first and second time. This trial could go on for years with the Queen of Uhm leading the questioning!

This is so horrendous and so very very sad. May all the victims RIP. Condolences to all the victims families. I pray that the surviving babies in this tragedy are able to go on to live happy lives despite what has been done to their families.

I hope the Wagner family’s considerable assets were sold to pay for 8 funerals first, not attorney fees! Also, I’d love to know that their insurance provided something to the surviving family members. What a an awful, ugly mess! 😢

May they all REST IN PEACE...🙏... Prayers and Condolences to all who know and love them, and mourn their passing...💝🌷🙏🌷💝

This is horrible this poor man.I pray the family finds peace He reminds me of my brothers god bless him.

Oh gosh how terribly sad 😔 how horrific for this beautiful sweet man to have to live with these memories 💔 😢 God bless him and his family. My prayers are with them 🙏 I'm so sorry for his loss. God help us all. I'm from Cincinnati ohio.. I remember when this happened.. it made me physically ill.. I was so heartbroken 💔

He does not look old enough to have been married 26 years and to have children in their 20's. Wow. He looks much younger than his age

Does anyone know if these so called cops are suppose to testify as to why they arrested family members that called 911??

They probably should’ve also arrested and handcuffed, the 911 operator that actually took the phone call. I think they should be done the same way. Note to self never drive around or through Ohio. good thing these cops, don’t work in a real area of crime and Murder. I am sure the real cops around the world, are embarrassed to even say that you were a part of the United States and your police logic system. If I was them I would file a Lawsuit, this people were in shock and wanted someone to help them and they arrested the family for caring and a checking in on one Another… well I guess if you’re a criminal though it’s probably the smartest thing for you to pack your stuff and go move to Ohio because clearly this police department , is there a Dummies book for Cops. I can’t believe they did this to these men, how Dare you!!!!

red wing send this man and his family a lifetime supply of your boots. heartbreaking

I’m so glad his family is ok they wasn’t harmed

He looks a little nervous. Poor guy. Very smart to not touch anything cause he knew who did the crime.

I wish the women asking the questions would stop saying "And" all the time. It is driving me nuts.

So sad...they were all just a family, living close to each other, working with each other and living life as best they could. All this was taken away for a foolish reason. Their whole world was up-ended in one horrible night.

My heart goes out to James. The emotions made me tear up. I hope this guy finds peace

All very sad. God bless the good people affected by the evil people. God will look after the souls of those people that were murdered. I am amazed that courtrooms do not have technology that can amplify a whisper into a boom.

Feel bad for Mr James Manley. He seemed uncomfortable. I felt it was strange that as familiar as the prosecutor should be with the case and the main players she would seem to struggle with his Appalachian dialect. I could hear and understand him quite well and I’m just from coastal NC. Also isn’t this the same James Manley who found a tracker under his pickup truck (placed by law enforcement) and removed it and trashed it?? And didn’t they charge him?? Anybody on here remember???

Terrible crime. Heartbreaking. What is wrong with our country. So many hurt by these horrific murders.

I would love to know how many people called 911 and reported they could not contact their loved ones. & went to check on them. They ran out and called 911, than didn’t touch anything or move it, but Cops arrested the people that dialed 911 and kept clear of a crime scene for the police sake!!! And these Cops, sheriffs than Arrested them and put in hand cuffs!!!! What is wrong with the police force there???? I’m sorry but I don’t get this at all.

My heart breaks for this family,what a horrendous scene they had to witness,I pray for peace for them!

Upsetting how he was treated by the legal authorities when his sister and niece and other relatives were murdered. At one point the authorities apparently put a gps tracker on his truck. He removed it (he didn't know who had placed it). The authorities then charged him for removing it, but apparently (thought better of it) have Since dropped those charges.

I don't mean financially. He seems like very decent human being. My heart goes out for him.

Omg he is breaking my heart. Crying for this man. So sad that people do this.

The " plea " deal should have only been offered to avoid a death sentence only if they plead guilty to murder in the 1st degree," so as not to put this family through an agonizing trial. My sincere condolences 😥 to all family and friends of this horrific tragedy. Also I might add is the family should have had a "say" in wether to approve such a such a deal. May God speed peace 🕊️ and comfort for your loss.

This lawyer needs to get her examination in stride this is long drawn out and uncalled for

This is so sad to watch my stomach is literally in knots. That’s gotta be so hard to go through. I really really give my prayers and condolences to their family.

That was a sad and scary time and I believe the dad pass away and they had either a cousin shot themselves I can't believe this happens to this family like what was the Wagners thinking man like u take out ur kids whole family because u was so controlling that taken Hannah kids away was the only way u could get back at her and there no way u thought u would get away with this and now them kids have no family on either side just blows my mind and I couldn't imagine the nightmares these folks have I wish u all well and I hope this we'll be over soon I mean the trail and have to relive this horrible thing that happened to you all I know it will never be over but I have thought about u guys from the moment this happens it not very far from my mind and I hope that there can be some peace that these sob are goings to die in prison

I feel so bad for James.

I feel for the family of this murder

The comments on this thread are so reassuringly compassionate. It's good to see that we are unified in our sympathies for this man, the murder victims and their extended family. ❤✝