The Piketon Massacre

The most notorious mass murder in Ohio’s history happened on the night of April 21, 2016 in rural Pike County. Four crime scenes, thirty-two gunshot wounds, eight members of the Rhoden family left dead in their homes. Two years later a local family of four, the Wagners, are arrested and charged with the crimes. As the Wagners await four back-to-back capital murder trials, the KT Studios team revisits Pike County to examine: crime-scene forensics, upcoming legal proceedings, and the ties that bind the victims and the accused. As events unfold and new crimes are uncovered, what will it mean for all involved? What will it mean for Pike County?

Recent Episodes

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Recent Reviews

Jgreeke

Dragged out

This podcast should’ve been condensed to one season maximum. An insane amount of ads, more than any other podcast.
mmmsophisticatedmama

Mostly ads

4-5 minutes of ads at beginning, middle and end of each episode. Journalism not that great.
MerryMal

My Fav Podcast Of All Time

I can’t believe the bad reviews. This is the best podcast and some of the most responsible reporting I’ve heard in the TC podcast. I loved it.
ThatICUDNP

Too many ads

I wanted to listen to the story. But hearing about the “girlfriends” every 5 min is too much. I can’t do it.
Iknow nothin

Kudos

Yeah, the ads can be a bit annoying, but I know you gotta pay the bills. I like Courtney Armstrong’s style a lot! She delivers a serious story with an appropriately serious manner. She is not a drama queen. How refreshing.
worthy6

Good podcast too many ads

The podcast itself is really good, but once I get interested there is another set of ads. I have a subscription for iHeart True Crime Plus, and still this podcast is full of ads. I would love to be able to listen to it without the interruption of so many ads.
Curly locks,.,

Too many ads

Story is interesting and well written but half of each podcast is ads. I understand ads are necessary, but I follow many podcasts and this one is the worst for ads.
cgenavaro

Stop ruining good podcasts with so many ads!

I’ve only gotten through three episodes so far and it’s a struggle. It really doesn’t have anything to do with the content. I wish I could just listen to that but getting around all the ads is annoying me so much that I might not continue with this and might just try to find a totally different podcast about the subject. I do wanna say the person narrating, although articulate and easy to understand, has little to no emotion as she’s speaking and seems almost bored too.
Brittany 🪩

Entirely too many ads

4 minutes of ads every 10 minutes or less is extremely hard to listen to. Even after paying the subscriber fee, still the same amount of annoying, excessive ads. I want to listen but truly can’t stand to have to pick up my phone and fast forward through 4 minutes of ads. So aggravating.
Relentless0803

Ads and limitations

It’s a lot of ads and i gotvthe subscriber version and still couldn’t hear season 5 & 6 ill pass great content tho
mschilds

I pay for add free

Great content Except… Subscriber and still had to skip the 3-4 minute adds that ran at least twice every episode.
AvannaGirl

Too many ads

Too many ads, too much repeating, too many extraneous crimes. I wanted to hear about this crime but had to sometimes skip 2-3 episodes in a row to get back to the original story! Too drawn out, I finally ended up just searching for the story and reading the outcome and motives.
gahsjdi

Ads, ads, ads

15 minutes of repeating the previous show and 30 minutes of ads. Awful. Just tell the story.
Cdawg58

Ridiculous Amount of Ads

Team, come on. I can’t even enjoy this because of the absolutely astronomical amount of ad content. 4.5 minutes at the start of the show. 3.5 the next one. So many ads at the end. And for the love of god please stop the Jason Alexander show ad. I want to throw my phone across the room.
Johnny Wells

Too many ads!

The majority of the show is ads 👎
Fdyuecjtdxhts

So many ads

I was excited about the number of seasons (I love to binge listen) but I’m on season 1, episode…4? And I’m done. I can’t even remember what’s going on in the show because I’m constantly skipping through the ads or annoyed by their length when my hands aren’t free to skip them. This is actually the first podcast review I’ve ever written, but I am just that annoyed.
JennLinR

Could be great

It hurts me to say this because this podcast has so much potential to be great. The narrator has an amazing voice for storytelling. Other than the insane amount of ads (4-5 minutes in the beginning, middle and end of each episode), so much information is repeated across episodes within the same season. Recaps are understandable but hearing the exact same sentences I heard 3 episodes ago is a lot.
A. Tralle

The ads are too much

I had the subscriber edition and still had just as many ads. The content is compelling, I just wish there were better segways into the other cases and topics they talk about. I understand wanting to paint a picture of the community and the area, but it could be transitioned better. The episode is truly 1/3 ads. It’s 3-3.5 min of adds every 15 min or less.
TesseractTess83

Almost 50% ads

Like the content, but the ads are annoying!
AjBarger

Ads out of control

The podcast content is pretty good but the ad situation is really annoying. Also disliked the jumping around to other crimes amid the Piketon content. It makes it harder to follow that case.
Laasyeah

Too many effin ads

I honestly loved everything else about how the podcast was made EXCEPT THE SHEEE NUMBER OF ADS. You can’t listen to it when you’re doing something that fully occupies hands (doing dishes etc.) because you’ll hate that you can’t skip the ads. I hope they make another season during Billy’s trial.
JessMillsOhio

Too much advertising

Thank goodness for the skip forward feature. These episodes are about 20-30 minutes of well-reported content and 15-20 minutes of ads. I understand the importance of advertising, but this is too much.
Misfit3231974

*Commercials*

I love the podcast very informative. However I have NEVER listened to a podcast with so many commercials. I know commercials are part of it but this is excessive. I won’t be listening to anymore by this group because of it.
amm02020202

I have the subscriber edition, why am I hearing ads?!

There is a huge problem with this show. I have the subscriber edition but I’m still hearing ads. This doesn’t occur with other shows on the iheart True Crime channel. Please fix this issue!
M3gan Ann

Unnecessary information

The ads don’t bother me if you don’t want ads pay for the service 🤷🏻‍♀️ what bothered me is the unnecessary information. When listening to investigative journalism podcasts you don’t need 4 seasons repeating the same information OVER AND OVER. Tell the story, this is ongoing so yes cover the in between and the trial. I skipped so many seasons and episodes because of this.
Jessmkenny13

Ad nightmare

Each episode should be roughly 20 minutes due to an insane amount of ads they are over 40 minutes. I listen to lots of podcasts and this was by far the worst listen ever for ads
HappyHomeschoolingMama

Ads. Ugh.

I didn’t read the reviews before I began the podcast, I like to start each one with a clean slate. I came to leave a review today and what is see over and over is exactly what I encountered. The content is interesting, I like the host, but my goodness…SO MANY ADS. The first five minutes of every episode is ads, there are probably 2-3 ad breaks during the episode that are 3-4 minutes and then again at the end another 5 minutes. It really feels like half the episode is ads. It’s hard to endure. I’m one who likes to finish what she starts, so I guess I’m in for the long haul, but please cut back on the amount of ads in future episodes/shows.
QAMACM

Skip it!

Each episode is 40 minutes long but the first five minutes and the last five minutes are commercials and there’s two commercial breaks that are at least three minutes long. Add to that that most of the content of every episode is a recap of the previous episode or a preview of the next episode, it is maybe two minutes of actual new detail each time. It is horrendously drawn out. I listened to Idaho Massacre first, and I didn’t think that was so poorly done, and now I regret even starting this.
SkJinEastLA

Too many ads

I’m not able to really follow the commentary and trial because there are soooo many commercial breaks. It’s too bad because it seems the reporting is thorough but the constant break to ads makes this listen too disjointed and hard to follow. I say “skip it.”
Bicycle88

Hard to Follow

I’ve listened to dozens of true crime series, but I won’t be finishing this one. It has clunky storytelling and the most ridiculous amount of ads I’ve ever heard. The story is told too piece meal, and I’ve stopped caring about what happens next.
KimmiEslice

Getting greedy with ads

So the first two seasons, really good pretty informative, deep dive all of that kind of stuff not that many ads it seems but then season 3&4 holy moly!! Sooo many ads. Too many filler episodes on non related subject matter as well. Sorry but just put out the content without needing so much revenue.
Whit**

Wow so many ads!

I can’t focus on the actual podcast due to all the ad breaks!
yveselise

Agree with others

Great podcast, a comical amount of ads.
TinaKManning

Too many ads

The ads at the beginning and end are tolerable but I can’t with the interruptions. What would otherwise be an excellent podcast about a case that I am following is just too annoying to listen to.
NickGrafton

Not worth it

There are better podcasts that review a lengthy investigation like this in a season of 6 episodes. Each episode has lengthy ads and repeats the same info over and over. Give us updates in episodes. Don’t review the entire case all over again each episode with only 1 or 2 new nuggets of info. HUGE WASTE OF TIME
Beck E

So. Many. Ads.

Good, thorough content but if I couldn’t skip the ads, I would never listen. The first- and last- 4 or 5 minutes of every episode is ads, with one or two 2-3 minute ad breaks during the episode.
Aurea L.

Ugh…between the annoying tone of voice of the producer & the Ads…

I can’t. The ads were absolutely excessive & some pitch or dialect coaching for the producer would be helpful. The content was monotonous & overly indulgent. There had to be a way to get to point in a much more concise presentation. I will never listen to anything produced by these folks.
Grim23x

Ads even with subscription

Good show but still has 6+ minutes of ads every episode even with a paid subscription. Ending is unfulfilling. Needed at least 1 more episode to tie it all together
Klawbie

Great Pod, Too Many Ads

Love this podcast, but had to drop 1 star because there’s an ad break every 15 minutes. Literally. I had to skip 2 ad breaks during my 15-minute break at work this morning. Kind of ruined the whole break for me. Just wanted to vibe out for 15 minutes and listen to my murder podcast, but had to listen to Paris Hilton talking about her new single.
Bob-E-Jo

I want to listen to this so bad..

I think each episode might have 15 minutes of content. It has so many ads. I listen to a ton of podcasts. And many of them have commercials, but this is on another level. I am all for y’all making money. I get it. I understand it. This I cannot understand.. it is beyond. I want to listen to it, but by the time one ad break is over I’ve already forgotten what was said and by the time I mentally catch up there is another ad. Holy smokes!!! I wish I could do it!! 😢
Teon77

Understandable advertising

This was out of hand. More commercials then content. Absolutely ludicrous
Justmebel

Soooo many ads!!

Love the actual content; but the ads….ugh way too much!! Have to forward in the beginning, the middle, and 3 or more minutes at the end! Get they need the sponsors but really it’s overkill.
ErinnBogen

Ads!

I understand why podcasts need ads so it’s not the fact that they’re included. 6 minutes of skipping at the very beginning of the episode!? And 3 more ad breaks during the actual show? About 17 minutes worth per episode is excessive to me.
TheMoz1

It Doesn’t Get Much Worse

All in all, roughly two hours worth of information, broken down into several seasons of ads and sound effects. Don’t waste your time. There’s plenty other pods hosting this same story, with much less aggravation. Trash.
Sarahqlou

A great story ruined by ads

When you see the reviews “too many ads”, you’d think these would be edited. Nope. It’s a great story but I can’t get past the amount of ads in each episode. Can’t listen to it anymore. Enjoy your ad revenue.
Drenoanann

There’s a podcast hidden within all the ads!

If you skip past the first 5 minutes, skip through the 5 min ad breaks and skip past the final 6 minutes of ads… you’ll have about 11 minutes of podcast per episode!
Vladeckk2

Feels very padded

Lots of repeated sound bytes and retreading of previously covered ground. When that doesn’t fill enough time they vector off into unrelated crimes in the general area. Found myself skipping eps and reading the summary at the end.
Enteranotherandtetagain

Too many ads!

I understand that bills have to be paid, but holy commercials Batman! Way too many ads!
kedepe

People are crazy

Yeah, the ads are annoying. But they make this nifty little button that lets you skip past them. This podcast was really good and when I personally get too lazy to press the nifty button I just use this as my sleep podcast and go back to where I was before I fell asleep in the morning. Thank you for the information you gave and the efforts you went to in order to make this podcast happen.
Ada McK

More ads than content

First 5 minutes - all ads. Last 5 minutes - all ads. More ads throughout. It’s very disruptive and disturbs the storytelling flow. Regarding the events, the loss of cockfighters is not a loss.