WARNING: This story includes depictions of explicit violence and sexually explicit content that may be considered profane, vulgar or offensive to some readers. Reader discretion is advised.

PITTSFIELD, Ill. — “Make yourself a bowl of dog food. You’ll eat him up like an obedient bitch.”

Assistant District Attorney Leecia Carnes didn’t mince words with the first sentence of her opening statement to a jury of eight women and four men Tuesday afternoon during the second day of Austin Rodhouse’s trial in Pike County Circuit Court in before Judge Charles HW Burch.

She repeated the words Rodhouse sent to his wife, referred to in court documents as “CC,” on May 4, 2024. She then said that after CC did as she was told and was on hands and knees in the kitchen, Rodhouse entered. and kicked her in the stomach, rupturing her spleen.

“This particular argument between Austin and (CC) began in the late hours of May 3rd,” Carnes said. “He was mad at (CC) because she didn’t do the diary he asked her to do.”

When Austin returned home later that day, he found CC passed out on the floor. He took her to a hospital in Louisiana, Mo. CC was eventually released, but a few days later, when she complained of abdominal pain, she was taken to Blessing Hospital in Quincy for surgery.

Carnes addressed the jury for nearly an hour, providing gruesome, graphic and disturbing details about the lives of Austin and CC Rodhouse and their two sons in Pleasant Hill.

Defense attorney Casey Schnack’s opening statement lasted just 14 minutes. She said what she expects to happen in the next few days is that the state will “throw mud at the wall and hope something sticks.”

“They’re hoping you hear enough bad things that you decide somebody should be guilty of something, because it all sounds so bad and so awful,” Schnack said. “That’s not your job and that’s not what you’re asked to do.”

Rodhouse was charged with aggravated domestic assault when he was arrested on May 8. The Illinois State Police Criminal Investigation Division launched an investigation after being notified that Rodhouse’s wife was at Blessing Hospital in Quincy. Ultimately, Rodhouse was charged with 48 counts of domestic violence and sex crimes.

However, Carnes and Pike County State’s Attorney Walker Filbert on Monday filed a motion for nolle prosequi — an official record of the prosecutor saying he is unwilling to prosecute a case — for 29 of those crimes. They didn’t want to try Rodhouse on all 48 counts because of issues with a speedy trial.

Rodhouse is now accused of:

• 3 counts of aggravated domestic battery, a class 2 felony punishable by three to seven years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.
• 1 count of criminal sexual assault involving force, a Class 1 felony punishable by four to 15 years in prison.
• 4 counts of felony predatory sexual assault of a child, a Class X felony punishable by six to 60 years.
• 3 counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault, a Class X felony punishable by six to 30 years in prison.
• 2 counts of child pornography, a Class X felony punishable by six to 30 years in prison.
• 3 counts of indecent solicitation of an adult, a class 2 felony punishable by three to seven years in prison.
• 3 counts of aggravated battery on a child, a class 3 felony punishable by two to five years in prison.

Schnack told the jury that CC, the “star witness for the state,” is an admitted child predator, an admitted child abuser and an admitted liar.

“That’s what the state wants you to rely on to take away Austin’s constitutional presumption of innocence,” Schnack said.

She said much of the evidence in the trial will center around the concept of free will.

“I believe the evidence will show that (CC) entered into a relationship with Austin of her own free will, that she consented to the relationship with Austin of her own free will, that she remained in the relationship of her own free will, and while that relationship was- it might not have been traditional, and while it might not have been a relationship that some of us in this room agreed with, it was theirs to cultivate and that’s how they lived,” Schnack said.

“You’re going to hear about things that (CC) consented to, that (CC) had free will over. You will hear that (CC) consented to things like hitting, whipping and acts that could have caused her bruising and bleeding. From Miss Carnes’s perspective, all of this was submitted (CC), was put (CC), was forced (CC). That’s simply not the case, ladies and gentlemen.”

Carnes’ opening statement was a litany of acts Austin allegedly forced on CC since they met on a dating app when she was 22, living in Columbus, Ohio, and Austin was working on a pipeline an hour away from Columbus. Among the things the jury learned were:

• Austin once painted CC’s body blue, put her in a tub of green food coloring, and told her he was “done with your bullshit. I will defeat the ego and get rid of you. From now on, I’m taking away all your independence. You can’t live like that without obeying.”
• Austin had sex with CC hours after she was released from the hospital on May 4, telling her that having sex was “good for blood pressure.”
• CC’s body was covered in marks, scars and tattoos — such as “Owned by Rodhouse” on her neck, “Austin” on her forehead and others near her genitalia — when she was examined by Blessing Hospital staff on May 7.
• Austin demanded that CC be naked from the waist down while in the house, and she had to ask permission to wear underwear.
• Austin forced CC to take nude photos of herself daily and send them to her. If he wasn’t home and asked her to have sex on herself, she was expected to make a video and send it.
• Austin forced her to pierce her vagina, and from those piercings, CC hung small weights because “he wants to stretch her labia,” Carnes said.
• Austin forced CC to have vaginal and oral sex with their children, ages 3 and 4. These acts were also recorded on video. If CC refused, Austin gave him punishments such as tattoos, beatings and whippings.
• Austin forced CC to try inserting large objects into her rectum. If she failed, he would try to force them into himself, often causing bleeding and tears.
• Austin gave CC “alcohol enemas”. Bags filled with alcohol were inserted into his rectum, resulting in rapid and intense intoxication.
• Austin used a grappling hook to shock CC and their sons.
• Austin hit CC in the head with a wooden thumper that truckers use to check tire pressure.
• Austin used a vise to break CC’s finger.
• Austin told CC multiple times that he was going to kill her.

Carnes also told the jury about several women with whom Austin had sexual relations and often involved CC in “threesomes” with those women. “He wanted them to be ‘his wives,'” Carnes said.

Rodhouse pleaded not guilty to all charges.