Investigator in Pike County murders suspended

The Ohio Attorney General's Office suspended a state law enforcement supervisor connected with the 2016 Pike County murder investigation in August for creating what investigators called a “hostile” and “toxic” work environment, according to state documents released to WCPO. The Attorney General’s Office says it won’t affect the cases against the Wagner family members charged with killing eight members of the Rhoden family. But a local attorney told WCPO how it could. The Attorney General’s Office investigation found that Michael Trout, a supervisor with the Bureau of Criminal Investigations, acted “in a manner unbecoming” of an employee of the office, failed to act in a “professional and ethical manner” and also acted in “retaliation against another employee” for bringing the matter to the office’s attention.