Investigators have finished collecting evidence at the four homes in rural southern Ohio where eight family members were fatally shot, but the crime scenes remain under law enforcement custody, a spokeswoman with the attorney general's office said Sunday.
No one else has access to the properties where seven adults and teenage boy were found fatally shot Friday near Piketon, about 60 miles south of Columbus.
"We want to keep the scenes preserved in case we do need to go back in there and look at it again," said Jill Del Greco, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Mike DeWine. The homes will eventually be released back to the families, though authorities are waiting until at least all the autopsies have been completed, she said.
Investigators were still trying Sunday to find out who targeted the tight-knit family known in the area as hard workers, and why. Flags were flying at half-staff at the Piketon Government Center where authorities planned to give an update at an afternoon news conference.
Elsewhere in Piketon, some were on edge.
"I know a lot of people are just scared," said Maggie Owens, a cook at the town's Riverside Restaurant. "You don't hear about stuff like that around here."
Owens, 39, said in a phone interview Sunday that her son was friends with one of the victims, 16-year-old Christopher Rhoden Jr. Owens said she also knew 37-year-old Dana Rhoden, whom she described as a woman with "a heart of gold" who gave her clothes and money when her home burned down last year.
Kayla Hay said she got to know Dana Rhoden when they both worked as nurse's aides at a nursing home. "I've never heard her say anything about being frightened or concerned about anything bad happening," said Hay, who described Dana Rhoden as outgoing and friendly.
All of the victims were members of the Rhoden family. The others were identified as 40-year-old Christopher Rhoden Sr.; his son, Christopher; 44-year-old Kenneth Rhoden; 38-year-old Gary Rhoden; 20-year-old Clarence "Frankie" Rhoden; 20-year-old Hannah Gilley; and 19-year-old Hanna Rhoden.
It appeared some of the family members were killed as they slept, including Hanna Rhoden, who was in bed with her newborn baby nearby, authorities said. The baby was 4- or 5-days old, authorities said. The newborn, Hannah Gilley's 6-month-old baby and one other small child were not hurt.
Authorities said none of the injuries appeared self-inflicted. A search for the killer or killers continued Sunday, and investigators said they had interviewed more than 30 people.
Robin Waddell, who owns the Big Bear Lake Family Resort just south of Piketon, said Christopher Rhoden often did work for him as a carpenter and helped out with his excavation business. He said Rhoden was a nice guy whose kids sometimes visited him while he was working.
"It's a large family," Waddell said. "There's a lot of them and they've been in this community for generations. So this is affecting a lot of people."
Kendra Jordan, 20, said she often worked nights at a nursing home with Hanna Rhoden and described her as outgoing, funny and always smiling.
"If you were having a bad day, she'd be the first one to come up to you to question you about what was going on," Jordan said. "She was amazing."
Todd Beekman, who owns an outdoors shop a few miles from the crime scenes, said at least one customer came in to stock up on ammunition after hearing about the shootings. But Beekman and others hanging out there midday Saturday said they weren't concerned for their own safety because it's an area where residents know and look out for each other.
"The word spread pretty fast, as it does in any rural area," Beekman said. "Everybody's kind of their own brother's keeper down here."
Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich called the slayings "a horrible set of murders" in a CBS interview Saturday. He said he was confident the perpetrators would be found and "justice will be delivered to them."
The exact timing of the shootings remains unclear. Authorities got the first 911 call shortly before 8 a.m. Friday; the second came several hours later from another location.
Two of the crime scenes are within walking distance of each other along a sparsely populated, winding road that leads into wooded hills from a rural highway. The third residence is more than a mile away, and the fourth home is on a different road, at least a 10-minute drive away, said the investigation's leader, Benjamin Suver of the state Bureau of Criminal Investigations.
Authorities refused to discuss many details of the crime, including the search operations.
Officials said a Cincinnati-area businessman put up a $25,000 reward for information leading to the capture and conviction of the killer or killers.
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