Sorting out the top rumors about Pike County shootings

Authorities handling the aftermath of the Pike County mass murder have had little to say about the details of the carnage, which left eight family members dead last Friday. Without facts, rumors and theories swirl.

Reporters at Gannett Ohio have attempted to cut through this fog by exploring several rumors.

Here’s some we’ve checked out:

Rumor: Men who wrote Facebook threats must be responsible

What we found: In the weeks before the shootings, two men wrote threats on Facebook they’ve come to regret. Larry Jones said he had been involved in an altercation on Union Hill Road (where the slain Rhodens lived) and would have his family “clear out that whole neck of the woods” as a result. Another man, Rusty Mongold, said they would hurt Christopher Rhoden Sr., one of those killed in the mass murder.

After the shootings, Jones wrote on Facebook that he was one of the first to the police station once he learned of the killings and said he wasn’t being considered a suspect. He said: “Even though I had posted some stuff on here in the past doesn't mean I would ever even think about acting on it. Looking back I feel awful about what I posted in the first place.”

As for Mongold, he wrote on Facebook that he had voluntarily turned himself in and provided a DNA sample to police to help clear his name.

As for authorities, they aren't saying anything about their investigation.

Rumor: The family was killed over a demolition derby dispute

What we found: DailyMail.com, a tabloid website based in the United Kingdom, claimed the murders may have stemmed from a slain Rhoden family member’s involvement in demolition derbies. The closest real link to the derby and violence against the family dates back to a fight in May 2015. The fight involved Clarence “Frankie” Rhoden and Chris Rhoden Jr., both victims in last week's killings. They were pitted against Tommy Gorman and his family over some Facebook comments after a demolition derby.

The fight led to a felonious assault charge, later dropped, against Frankie Rhoden. The Enquirer's Keith BieryGolick tracked Gorman down: “Gorman, 43, lit a cigarette, his second in no more than 20 minutes, and shook his head. ‘No one deserves this’ … ‘No matter what they did,' he said, 'they didn't deserve this.’"

Rumor: A Mexican drug cartel carried out the execution-style hit

What we found: Yes, there have been Mexican cartels active in the area before, growing large crops of marijuana. But it’s unlikely a cartel committed the murders, said Sam Quinones, author of “‘Dreamland”, in which Quinones tracked the rise of opiates and Mexican-made and -produced heroin. Quinones is an expert in drug use in the area, which served as a centerpiece in his book. Cartel members would be very noticeable in overwhelmingly white Pike County, he said. Here’s what he told Gannett Ohio's Jona Ison: “Quinones said he would be ‘very amazed’ if a cartel is active in Pike County, but said it's more likely what officials found in the past were independent marijuana traffickers.”

Rumor: Kenneth Rhoden’s body was strewn with $1 bills

What's been said: DailyMail.com, the UK tabloid website, quoted a cousin of Kenneth Rhoden, a victim who was Christopher Rhoden Sr.'s brother, to say Kenneth Rhoden was discovered with dollar bills strewn around from his knees down, “which may have been a sinister message from his killer.” Asked about the claim in a Wednesday interview on 700WLW radio with Bill Cunningham, Attorney General Mike DeWine said he couldn’t confirm the report: “It does not sound correct to me, it does not sound correct to me, but I’m not going to get into knocking down every rumor because there’s no end to it.”