Kathy E <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Hi all here is the original post I did on the vampire case, I found it
by accident while looking for a another post:
========
L&I Vampire Slaying case
To: Law <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
From: Kathy E <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: L&I Vampire Slaying case
Date: Thu, 12 Mar 1998 21:12:59 -0500
Organization: Law & Issues Mailing List
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kathy E <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
I think most of us remember when this case happened and watching
the
extradition proceedings for the various teens involved, here is a
complete summary of the case from beginning to end for you. Enjoy!
:)
=====================================================================
On February 12, 1998, seventeen-year-old Rod Ferrell pled guilty to
killing a Eustis, Florida couple with a crowbar. The leader of a
teenage
vampire cult, Ferrell was allegedly helped in the double slaying by
his
then-girlfriend, Charity Lynn Keesee, and two other members of the
cult.
The victims, Richard Wendorf and Naoma Queen, were the parents of
Heather Wendorf, a friend of Ferrell's, and were beaten to death in
their home on November 25, 1996.
The road to the murders began some three days earlier, on November
22.
Late that night or early in the morning of the 23rd, Ferrell --
along
with Keesee and the two cult members, Howard Scott Anderson and
Dana
Cooper -- left his hometown of Murray, Kentucky to drive down to
Eustis.
After the four arrived in Eustis, Ferrell, who had lived there for
several years before moving back to Murray to live with his mother,
tracked down Wendorf and told another acquaintance, Audrey Presson,
that
he was in town for unfinished business.
A Disturbing Upbringing
When Ferrell was born on March 28, 1980, his mother, Sondra Gibson
was
only 17 years old, and his father, Rick Ferrell, was also a teen.
The
two were married nine days after baby Rod was born, but split up
weeks
afterwards.
Rick Ferrell filed for a divorce and joined the military, while
Sondra
kept the child. Her parents also looked after Rod, who claimed
Sondra's
father -- his grandfather -- raped him when he was 5.
Rod also claimed that as a young child, he was exposed to occult
rituals
and human sacrifices, and was introduced to the "Dungeons &
Dragons"
role-playing game.
Sondra Gibson eventually remarried and moved frequently with Rod
before
leaving him in Murray, Kentucky and moving with her new husband to
Michigan. He allegedly told Rod that they were never coming back,
and
Gibson apparently became so upset that she divorced him and moved
back
to Murray to be with Rod. (Her second husband also allegedly
engaged in
satanic rituals.)
Around this time, Rod began to undergo some sort of transformation.
He
walked in cemeteries at night, cut himself so others could drink
his
blood, and told people he was a 500-year-old vampire named
"Vesago." His
school work slipped and he began flagrantly disobeying his schools'
policies, skipping class, smoking on campus and generally defying
teachers and school officials. He also indulged in playing
"Vampire: The
Masquerade," a realistic role-playing game in which players act out
vampiric scenarios in real-time.
His mother allowed him to stay out all night, use drugs, and skip
school, and he frequently spent time with a young man named Stephen
Murray, who brought the teenage Ferrell into the vampire world and
"crossed him over," turning him into a presumptive vampire and
giving
him his name.
By the spring of 1996, Rod was also talking long-distance to
Heather
Wendorf, who apparently told Rod that her parents were hurting her
and
that she wanted him to come get her, but that he would have to kill
them
to do so.
In September 1996, Murphy attacked Ferrell, who refused treatment
when
taken to a local hospital. Murphy was convicted for the attack.
Shortly
after, Sondra Gibson was charged with soliciting a minor --
Murphy's
14-year-old brother -- whom Gibson wrote love letters, imploring
him to
"cross her over" and have her as his vampire bride.
"Vesago" Attacks
On November 25, the day of the murders, Ferrell and his companions
were
stopped by law enforcement officers and questioned because their
vehicle
had a flat tire. The flat caused Ferrell to change his plans. He
told
Wendorf and another friend, Jeanine LeClaire, about this and
allegedly
discussed with the group a plan to kill Wendorf's parents and take
their
Ford Explorer to use as a getaway vehicle.
Ferrell and friends arrived near the Wendorf home and met Heather
Wendorf down the road from her house. He sent the three young women
--
Heather Wendorf, Cooper and Keesee -- to visit Heather's boyfriend
and
pick up LeClaire. Ferrell and Anderson stayed behind, armed with
clubs.
The two young men searched the outside of the Wendorf home, looking
for
some way to get inside. They entered through an unlocked door to
the
garage and searched the garage for better weapons. Ferrell finally
settled on a crowbar.
Ferrell and Anderson then went inside the house, yanked one phone
from
the wall, and came upon 49-year-old Richard Wendorf, asleep on the
couch. Ferrell beat him several times with the crowbar, fracturing
his
skull and giving him numerous chest wounds, including fractured
ribs.
As Richard Wendorf lay dying, Naoma Queen left a bathroom in the
house
and entered the kitchen, where she found Ferrell. Ferrell had blood
on
his clothes and the crowbar in his hands. Queen threw hot coffee on
him
and fought him, but Ferrell beat her down to the floor and bashed
her
head with the crowbar several times.
With Heather's parents dead, the two young men searched the house.
They
took a Discover card from Richard Wendorf's pocket and the keys to
the
Explorer, which they drove off in.
They soon met the girls, who were returning to the area near the
Wendorf
home in the Buick Skyhawk they had originally used to drive down
from
Kentucky. The group then used both vehicles to drive to nearby
Sanford,
where they dumped the Buick. They switched the license plates, so
that
the Explorer had the Buick's plates (and the Buick, now left
behind, had
the plates of the stolen Explorer).
The group of five -- Ferrell, Anderson, Keesee, Cooper and Heather
Wendorf -- drove west along Interstate 10 through Tallahassee and
towards New Orleans, presumably to meet famed vampire writer Anne
Rice.
They stopped in Crestview, Florida and bought gas and a knife using
Richard Wendorf's stolen Discover card.
One of the five made a call from Baton Rouge to Charity Keesee's
family,
and soon after, the five were caught. Ferrell was videotaped making
two
slightly different confessions, and four of the suspects -- the two
guys, Dana Cooper and Heather Wendorf -- were charged with murder.
Keesee was charged with being an accessory after the fact. A grand
jury
indicted Ferrell and Anderson on December 17, 1996 but refused to
indict
Heather Wendorf.
The Trial and Sentencing
The trial against Ferrell began on February 12, 1998. As the state
offered its opening arguments, Ferrell pled guilty to the four
charges
against him: armed burglary, armed robbery, and two counts of
first-degree murder. The jury empanelled for his trial was then
given
the task of determining if Ferrell should be given life in prison
or
death in Florida's electric chair.
Ferrell's lawyers argued that his young age should be a mitigating
factor in his sentence, as well as his emotional age, which a
psychiatrist placed at three years of age and his extreme emotional
and
mental disturbance.
On February 23, the jury voted unanimously to give Ferrell the
death
sentence. After additional testimony from both sides, Judge Jerry
Lockett accepted the jury recommendation four days later and
sentenced
Ferrell to the electric chair. He is now the youngest person in
Florida
to sit on death row.
After the sentencing, Judge Lockett also urged prosecutors to
charge
Heather Wendorf, pointing to unanswered questions about her
parents'
death and saying, "There is genuine evil in this world." Ferrell's
mother, Sondra Gibson, said she felt her son did not deserve the
death
penalty, but endorsed the judge's suggestion about Wendorf.
"There's one person walking around who's just as guilty as he is,"
she
said.
--
Kathy E
"I can only please one person a day, today is NOT your day, and tomorrow
isn't looking too good for you either"
http://members.delphi.com/kathylaw/ Law & Issues Mailing List
http://pw1.netcom.com/~kathye/rodeo.html - Cowboy Histories
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/2990/law.htm Crime photo's
Subscribe/Unsubscribe, email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
In the body of the message enter: subscribe/unsubscribe law-issues
