Eighth Pike County shooting victim not forgotten

Area on edge as Hannah Gilley’s family prepares to bury her.

Hannah Gilley will not be forgotten, Pike County residents say, amid all the grief and terror that has gripped this area since what has come to be called the Rhoden family slayings.

Friday afternoon, people at the Pike County Fairgrounds prepared for a prayer vigil and fundraiser for the eight who were slain one week ago. Meanwhile in Otway, a Scioto County village near Piketon, a funeral director prepared for Gilley’s burial.

Gilley will be buried Saturday afternoon in a ceremony separate from that of most members of the Rhoden family, including Frankie Rhoden, her fiance and the father of her child. Seven Rhodens and Gilley were shot to death in four separate crime scenes April 22.

But while the Rhoden name has made headlines, Botkin Hornback Funeral Home director Paul Hornback knows the Gilleys have suffered, too.

“It’s certainly a tremendous tragedy for our whole area,” Hornback said. “I don’t want the Gilley family to be lost in all the shuffle either, because they’ve certainly suffered a tremendous loss as well.”

Members of the Gilley family have been mostly quiet about Hannah Gilley’s death.

Gilley’s great-uncle, Loyd Gilley, 78, of Otway, recalled when she would get on and off the school bus on Hackworth Hill Road. There, five Gilley families keep their homes. Down the road is the cemetery where she will be laid to rest.

“She was a beautiful young girl,” he said. “She was raised about a mile up the road from me.”

Loyd Gilley said the family had no other information about the case. They only know what they’ve heard on the news.

His brother, Donald Ray Gilley, is Hannah Gilley’s grandfather. Loyd Gilley said his brother was “in such a state,” and said his sister-in-law was beyond words.

“They just don’t like to talk about it,” he said.

Loyd Gilley said he never got to see Hannah and her 6-month-old son, Ruger Rhoden, together, and he called on authorities to catch the killers.

“I think it’s terrible,” he said. “I think they ought to be caught. Somebody ought to have to pay for that.”

Elsewhere in Otway, a small community along Scioto Brush Creek, tension was apparent on the faces of the residents.

There’s the apprehension and fear that comes with knowing that the person or persons who killed eight neighbors are still on the loose.

Waiting in a pickup truck at a gas station, Justin Schaffer, 34, said residents there have been unnerved enough about that they’re taking steps to protect themselves.

“They ain’t taking it very good, and everybody is scared and stuff,” he said.

“And here, everybody is armed,” Schaffer said. “Ain’t gonna be no talking if anybody is in the house.”

Back in Piketon, at the village’s public library, a representative from the Scioto Paint Valley Mental Health Center was on hand to assist grieving residents.

“People are shocked,” said Tracy Pederson, a counselor from the mental health center. “People are scared, afraid. I grew up in Pike County, so something of this caliber in Pike County is really devastating for people here.”

To remember the victims, about 100 community members attended a prayer vigil Friday night at the Pike County Fairgrounds. Most wore orange T-shirts and carried orange balloons.

Stephanie Brownfield, 37, and Heather Romine, 28, set up a selection of cookies and other baked good for sale at the event.

Dana Rhoden, one of the eight slain, trained Romine for her work as a nursing assistant at the Pleasant Hill Nursing Home. Only a month ago, Rhoden dropped by to visit Romine at her workplace to drop off a donation to assist Romine’s grandfather, whose house had burned down.

“She was very kind, giving and bubbly,” Romine said. “People might think we’re a bunch of rednecks down here, but when it counts, we come together.”

Brownfield went to high school with Rhoden, and her son knew Chris Rhoden Jr., who also died in the slayings. She remembers Chris as a fun-loving youngster with a sense of humor.

“He put a smile on everybody’s face,” she said.

Lawrence Budd contributed to this report.

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