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Ohio shootings: Marijuana growing operations discovered at crime scenes where Pike County family was murdered

Local authorities have not identified the gunman.

Justin Carissimo
New York
Sunday 24 April 2016 22:54 BST
The crime scene where several family members were killed in Pike County, Ohio.
The crime scene where several family members were killed in Pike County, Ohio. (John Minchillo/Associated Press)

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Marijuana growing operations were found at three of the four crime scenes where eight members of an Ohio family were murdered last week in a rural community of the state.

Ohio’s Attorney General Mike DeWine addressed the media on Sunday to provide an update on the tragedy in Pike County, where the victims were shot execution-style, most of them, while they slept.

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

He also said that authorities have received more than 100 tips and they are following up each and every one of them. Police have not found a clear motive nor have they identified a suspect, but they believe that more than one gunman was involved in the mass shooting.

Ohio Governor John Kasich said that he's recieved updates on the investigation as he campaigns out of state for the Republican presidential nomination.

Governor Kasich told CBS News that he is confident “justice will be delivered" to whomever committed the murders.

On Saturday, the victims 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.

Jeff Ruby, a Cincinnati-area businessman, is offering $25,000 reward for any information that leads to the killer or killers arrest.

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