The Fairest Article That I've Read about the Ohio Mystery is from an Australian Newspaper

Somehow, that figures:

Ohio is famous as the birthplace of seven presidents and 24 astronauts. It’s home to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame, as well as two Major League Baseball teams, the Cleveland Indians and the Cincinnati Reds.

It also has one of the largest Appalachian communities in the country. The massacre has shined an unwelcome light on the poverty and social problems of the area, with out-of-state-reporters writing breathlessly of hillbillies, rednecks and moonshiners, of confederate flags and tin roofs, of trashy locals willing to spill the beans about the Rhodens in exchange for a pack of cigarettes.

Demolition derby, hunting, cockfighting and being stoned every day is a way of life. Most people own at least one dangerous breed of dog and several rusting, undriveable vehicles in their backyards.

The Rhodens may not have been the pillars of society in their community or their state, but none of them had prior convictions for anything drug-related, according to court records.

Of course, many of the U.S. reporters journalists are from NYC and they tend to indulge in easy stereotypes and simple narratives that reinforce the world-view of their friends and neighbors.  Ohio is a large state with a complex collation of social groups, which is one of the reasons it is so prized by political consultants, as it is a microcosm of the greater United States.  Making it look like one big set from "The Dukes of Hazzard" TV show is lazy and inaccurate.

I was born in Xenia, a mere 75 or so miles away from Piketon so, according to the New York Times, I'm a hillbilly.  Yee-haw.

By the way, among those 24 astronauts is John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth, and Neil Armstrong, the first man on the Moon.