The Latest: Hopes for healing after funeral for 6 relatives

WEST PORTSMOUTH, Ohio – The Latest on the funeral for six of the eight people shot in massacre in rural Ohio (all times local):

3:10 p.m.

A victim’s advocate speaking for the surviving relatives of eight family members slain in southern Ohio says he hopes the healing can begin soon.

He called Tuesday’s funeral for six members of the Rhoden family extremely sombre.

The six were among eight people found dead April 22 at four properties near Piketon, about 80 miles east of Cincinnati. No arrests have been made.

Mourners at a hillside cemetery outside West Portsmouth crowded around three blue tents shielding the six caskets.

A few deputies stood in the background while people paid their finals respects.

The funeral was held Tuesday for Christopher Rhoden, his ex-wife, their three children and his brother. Services for a cousin and the fiancee of Christopher Rhoden’s son Frankie were held last week.

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2 p.m.

A funeral has been held for six family members who were found slain with two other relatives at their homes in southern Ohio.

Caskets were loaded onto six black hearses after Tuesday’s services at a West Portsmouth church. The hearses then led a procession of more than 150 vehicles to a nearby hillside cemetery.

Seven adults and a 16-year-old boy from the Rhoden family were found dead April 22 at four properties near Piketon. No arrests have been made.

Some mourners arrived at the church wearing bright orange T-shirts saying “Rhoden Proud, Rhoden Strong” on the front and “In Loving Memory” on the back with the victims’ names.

One car had “Fly High Rhodens” and the date they were found dead scrawled in the back windshield.

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11:30 a.m.

The minister of a church where the funeral of six family members is being held says the targeted slayings that killed them and two other relatives have rocked the entire southern Ohio community.

The Rev. Mark Seevers spoke Tuesday before funeral at Dry Run Church of Christ in West Portsmouth. He says the family requested the church space, and the church wanted to help.

A handful of Scioto (sy-OH’-tuh) County sheriff’s deputies was posted at the church driveway entrance and slightly down the road on either side as people started arriving for the service.

Seven adults and a 16-year-old boy from the Rhoden family were found dead April 22 at four properties near Piketon, about 80 miles east of Cincinnati. No arrests have been made.

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12:10 a.m.

Ohio’s attorney general says there will be “ample security” at the funeral for six of the eight people shot and killed in what authorities are calling a planned attack targeting one family.

Tuesday’s service at a West Portsmouth church is the last of three funerals for the victims.

Seven adults and a 16-year-old boy from the Rhoden family were found dead April 22 at four properties near Piketon, about 80 miles east of Cincinnati. Authorities say all eight were shot in the head, and some had other gunshot wounds and bruising. Three young children were unharmed.

Authorities haven’t determined who killed them or why. Attorney General Mike DeWine says investigators have conducted nearly 130 interviews and are reviewing about 450 tips and more than 100 pieces of evidence.

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