Roderrick Justin "Rod" Ferrell (born March 28, 1980) is an American

murderer Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

and cult leader. He was a member of a loose-knit gang of teenagers from

Murray, Kentucky Murray is a home rule-class city in Calloway County, Kentucky, United States. It is the seat of Calloway County and the 19th-largest city in Kentucky. The city's population was 17,741 during the 2010 U.S. census, and its micropolitan area's po ...

, known as the "Vampire Clan". Ferrell claimed to be a 500-year-old vampire named Vesago, a character he created for himself after becoming obsessed with the role playing game '' Vampire: The Masquerade''. It was his mother, Sondra Gibson who first introduced this game to Rod. In 1998, Ferrell pleaded guilty to the double slaying of a couple from

Eustis, Florida Eustis is a city in Lake County, Florida, United States. The population was 23,189 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford Metropolitan Statistical Area. Eustis High School is the town's local public high scho ...

, becoming the youngest person in Florida on

Death Row Death row, also known as condemned row, is a place in a prison that houses inmates awaiting Capital punishment, execution after being convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of ...

at that time. Originally sentenced to death, Ferrell's penalty has since been reduced to life imprisonment.

The killings

On November 25, 1996, Naomi Ruth Queen and Richard Wendorf were found by their daughter Jennifer Wendorf, beaten to death in their Eustis home. While 49-year-old Richard Wendorf was asleep on his couch and Ruth was in the shower, Ferrell and accomplice Howard Scott Anderson had entered the home through the unlocked garage, picking up the murder weapon, a crowbar. Before Richard had even awakened, Ferrell beat him multiple times with it, fracturing both his

skull The skull is a bone protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of four types of bone i.e., cranial bones, facial bones, ear ossicles and hyoid bone. However two parts are more prominent: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, the ...

and

rib In vertebrate anatomy, ribs ( la, costae) are the long curved bones which form the rib cage, part of the axial skeleton. In most tetrapods, ribs surround the chest, enabling the lungs to expand and thus facilitate breathing by expanding the ches ...

s, almost instantly knocking him out, and killing him shortly thereafter. When Ruth had found Ferrell and Anderson in the home moments later, Ferrell bludgeoned her to death, bashing her head with the crowbar. He claimed in his confession, however, that in his original plan he was going to allow Naomi Ruth to live, but she first attacked him by lunging at him and throwing a very hot cup of coffee on him, which angered him and made him change his mind and so he killed her also. Richard had burn marks in the shape of a V. It was said that the V was Ferrell's symbol, which he accompanied with a dot for each person he considered to be in his vampire cult. The victims were the parents of Heather Wendorf, a long-time friend of Rod's whom he was helping to run away from a home that she described as "hell". Heather and the other girls that were with Ferrell and Anderson were not at the Wendorf home when the murders took place. Charity Keesee and her friend Dana Cooper had driven Heather to her boyfriend's apartment so Heather could say good-bye before leaving for New Orleans, leaving Roderrick and Scott outside the Wendorf home. After four days of driving through four states, the group was found in

Baton Rouge Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-sma ...

, Louisiana. It is believed that Ferrell liked a video arcade in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

, and they were headed there. One of the girls, Charity Keesee, placed a call to her grandmother in

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...

. The group needed money, and Charity thought her grandmother could help them. However, Keesee's grandmother informed the police about her whereabouts and helped them trick Ferrell, Wendorf, and the rest of the teens into going to a local

Howard Johnson's Howard Johnson's, or Howard Johnson by Wyndham, is an American hotel chain and former restaurant chain. Founded by Howard Deering Johnson in 1925 as a restaurant, it was the largest restaurant chain in the U.S. throughout the 1960s and 1970s, ...

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

, where they were arrested by waiting law enforcement. The four were held at a Baton Rouge jail for a week before being

extradited Extradition is an action wherein one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdict ...

back to Florida, where they were initially booked at the Lake County Jail. They were later moved to a juvenile facility in

Ocala Ocala ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Marion County within the northern region of Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city's population was 63,591, making it the 54th most populated city in Florida. Home to ...

Legal proceedings

On February 12, 1998, then-seventeen-year-old Ferrell pleaded guilty to the murders, claiming that the others traveling with him were innocent except Scott Anderson, who was simply an accessory. Ferrell pleaded guilty to two counts of

felony murder The rule of felony murder is a legal doctrine in some common law jurisdictions that broadens the crime of murder: when someone is killed (regardless of intent to kill) in the commission of a dangerous or enumerated crime (called a felony in s ...

. Ferrell's attorneys tried to argue that he was insane; he has been diagnosed with mental disorders including

schizotypal personality disorder Schizotypal personality disorder (STPD or SPD), also known as schizotypal disorder, is a mental and behavioral disorder. DSM classification describes the disorder specifically as a personality disorder characterized by thought disorder, parano ...

and

Asperger syndrome Asperger syndrome (AS), also known as Asperger's, is a former neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by significant difficulties in Interpersonal relationship, social interaction and nonverbal communication, along with restricted and re ...

. The University of Florida further attested that Rod could sometimes witness spiritual things, like angels and demons. Rod Ferrell 2022

Judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

Jerry T. Lockett sentenced Ferrell to death. Charity Keesee was convicted of two counts of

third-degree murder In the United States, the law for murder varies by jurisdiction. In many US jurisdictions there is a hierarchy of acts, known collectively as homicide, of which first-degree murder and felony murder are the most serious, followed by second-deg ...

, robbery with a gun or deadly weapon and burglary armed with a weapon or explosives. She was sentenced to 10.5 years in state prison. Dana Cooper was convicted of those charges as well, but was given a 17.5 year prison sentence. Anderson was convicted of the same charges as Ferrell and was sentenced to life in prison. For two years, Ferrell held the record as the youngest inmate on death row until November 2000, when the Florida Supreme Court reduced his sentence to life in prison. Because Florida had long abolished parole, the sentence is without it. Keesee was released from prison in March 2006 and Cooper was released from prison in October 2011. In January 2013, an appellate court dismissed attempts by Roderrick Ferrell and Howard Scott Anderson to get a new sentencing hearing. However, in December 2018, Howard Scott Anderson was resentenced by circuit judge Don Briggs to 40 years in prison. Anderson was given credit for the 22 years he has already served with him first being eligible for release in 2031. Ruth Wendorf's relatives attended Anderson's re-sentencing hearing and did not oppose his early release. Speaking with the Daily Commercial, they said they are more concerned about Ferrell who was scheduled to face his own re-sentencing hearing in July 2019. Ferrell's resentencing hearing was then moved to November 18 and then again to April 2020 and the sentencing judge upheld his life without parole sentence and deemed him irreparably corrupt. Anderson is currently incarcerated in the

Calhoun Correctional Institution The Calhoun Correctional Institution is a state prison for men located in Blountstown, Calhoun County, Florida, owned and operated by the Florida Department of Corrections The Florida Department of Corrections operates state prisons in the ...

while Ferrell is currently incarcerated in the

Northwest Florida Reception Center Annex Northwest Florida Reception Center is a state prison for men located in Chipley, Washington County, Florida Washington County is a county located in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Florida, in the Panhandle. As of the 2020 census ...

In the media

* 1998

Anglia Television ITV Anglia, previously known as Anglia Television, is the ITV franchise holder for the East of England. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional news bureaux in Cambridge and Northampton. ITV Anglia is owned and operated b ...

TV crime documentary "Kentucky Teenage Vampires" is about Ferrell and his clan * 2002 film ''

Vampire Clan A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mischief or deaths ...

'' is based on and named after Ferrell's cult * 2003

Legendary Shack Shakers The Legendary Shack Shakers (originally Those or Th' ) are an American rock band from Murray, Kentucky that was formed in 1995 by J.D. Wilkes. The original line-up formed the band out of a shared interest in rockabilly, blues and Western swi ...

song "Blood on the Bluegrass" is about Ferrell and his clan * 2020

The UnXplained ''The UnXplained'' is a television series on History that claims to "explore subjects that have mystified mankind for centuries". The show is hosted and executive produced by William Shatner. It premiered on July 19, 2019, and has aired for four s ...

with William Shatner is a documentary series which includes an episode about Ferrell in its first season

References

Sources

*
"Vampire cult town shrinks under national spotlight"
',

Lubbock Avalanche-Journal ''Lubbock Avalanche-Journal'' is a newspaper based in Lubbock, Texas, United States. It is owned by Gannett. History ''The Lubbock Avalanche'' was founded in 1900 by John James Dillard and Thad Tubbs. According to Dillard, the name "Avalanche" ...

/ Associated Press. December 2, 1996. * Hallifax, Jackie. "Death sentence for cult leader reduced", ''Sun Sentinel''. November 10, 2000. *
Florida v. Rod Ferrell - "The Vampire Cult Slaying Case"
',

Court TV Court TV is an American digital broadcast network and former cable television channel. It was originally launched in 1991 with a focus on crime-themed programs such as true crime documentary series, legal analysis talk shows, and live news cove ...

. June 22, 2001. * Jones, Aphrodite.
The Embrace: A True Vampire Story
'. June 1, 2000. . * Seigenthaler, John. ''MSNBC Investigates'', MSNBC. October 26, 2002.

provided by sacrosanctum.org

External links

*
Rod Ferrell's confession

Serial Killer Central

Inmate profile
on the

Florida Department of Corrections The Florida Department of Corrections operates state prisons in the U.S. state of Florida. It has its headquarters in Florida's capital of Tallahassee. The Florida Department of Corrections operates the third largest state prison system in the ...