Ohio

1st funeral held for victims of Ohio slayings that killed 8

Associated Press
Published | Updated

Visitors gather for the wake of Gary Rhoden at the Crockett L. Reed Funeral Home, Wednesday, April 27, 2016, in South Shore, Ky. Multiple people, including Rhoden, were found dead Friday at several properties near Piketon, Ohio. Investigators have interviewed more than 50 people in the case but have made no arrests. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) (The Associated Press)

Lisa Wallace, former sister-in-law of Gary Rhoden, speaks to the media outside of his wake at the Crockett L. Reed Funeral Home, Wednesday, April 27, 2016, in South Shore, Ky. Multiple people, including Rhoden, were found dead Friday at several properties near Piketon, Ohio. Investigators have interviewed more than 50 people in the case but have made no arrests. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) (The Associated Press)

Lisa Wallace, former sister-in-law of Gary Rhoden, speaks to the media outside of his wake at the Crockett L. Reed Funeral Home, Wednesday, April 27, 2016, in South Shore, Ky. Multiple people, including Rhoden, were found dead Friday at several properties near Piketon, Ohio. Investigators have interviewed more than 50 people in the case but have made no arrests. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) (The Associated Press)

Amid extra security, a funeral has been held for one of eight people shot in rural southern Ohio in what authorities describe as a cold-blooded massacre targeting one family.

The gathering Thursday in South Shore, Kentucky, for 38-year-old Gary Rhoden is the first of three planned funerals for the victims. A funeral home says the Greenup, Kentucky, man would be buried in South Shore, across the Ohio River from Portsmouth.

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.

The funeral for a 20-year-old mother who was killed is scheduled for Saturday. A service for the other six victims is planned for Tuesday at a church in West Portsmouth.