Date Unknown, before 3.21.1997 Jury clears teen in parents' slaying Associated Press TAVARES, Fla. -- Heather Wendorf, one of five teens in a so-called vampire cult accused in the slaying of her parents, was cleared yesterday of murder charges in their bludgeoning deaths. After the 15-year-old testified voluntarily for two hours, a grand jury found no probable cause she participated in the Nov. 25 murders of Richard and Naoma Ruth Wendorf. Heather, who had been held in a juvenile detention center on two counts of second-degree murder and one count of robbery, was released shortly after the decision. "I knew we had to take her testimony to the people who could make a difference," her attorney James Hope said. "For two months the whole world thought she was a murderer." It was an unusual and risky choice for Heather. In addressing the grand jury voluntarily, she waived any Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination. Whatever she said could have been used against her at trial. Mr. Hope said Heather had no idea her parents were bludgeoned to death until she was headed with the other teens to Baton Rouge, La., where they were arrested Nov. 28. State Attorney Brad King agreed with the grand jury's decision. "They did what was right," he said. "We spent a lot of time together going through the evidence." The grand jury cited recantations by two witnesses, inconsistencies in witness statements and the unreliability of witnesses. Mr. King said one of the witnesses gave perjured testimony to the grand jury and returned before the panel to admit it. Last month, the grand jury indicted Rod Ferrell, Scott Anderson and Charity Keesee, all 16, and Dana Cooper, 19, in the slayings. None of those defendants addressed the panel. Mr. Hope telephoned Heather with the grand jury's decision late yesterday afternoon. He said she would go into seclusion while she tried to rebuild her life with the help of a court-appointed guardian. "I don't know if she dropped the phone or what. She was near hysterical crying," he said. "It doesn't change the fact that she has been orphaned by the murders. But it certainly gives her some reprieve in the immediate sense." Heather's grand jury testimony is secret, but she told police from the time of her arrest in Baton Rouge that she had wanted to run away with Mr. Ferrell, a former classmate at Eustis High School who had moved to Kentucky with his family. © Copyright The Associated Press --------------------------------------------- 3.21.1997 Subj: `Vampire Clan' Teens in Court Date: 97-03-21 23:30:41 EST From: AOLNewsProfiles@aol.net .c The Associated Press By MIKE SCHNEIDER TAVARES, Fla. (AP) - Cigarette burns in the shape of a ``V'' were scorched onto the body of a man bludgeoned to death last fall by members of a teen-age ``vampire clan,'' police said. Details of the burns came out in an investigative report released before Friday's preliminary hearing on first-degree murder charges against Rod Ferrell, 16, leader of the so-called Vampire Clan, and Scott Anderson, 17, Dana L. Cooper, 19, and Charity Lynn Keesee. They're charged with the Nov. 25 killings of Richard and Ruth Wendorf of Eustis, in central Florida near Orlando. The Wendorf's daughter, Heather, Ferrell's ex-girlfriend, was cleared by a grand jury. Police said Ferrell and the others were attracted to vampires by a best-selling role-playing game. They also drank their own blood and that of mutilated animals, investigators said. Ferrell told friends in his home state of Kentucky that his sign was a ``V,'' with dots on each side that signified members of his clan. In a report, investigators sketched the pattern of the marks found on Wendorf's body, then connected the dots to form the letter `V,' with two pairs of dots on each side of the letter. ``The above would indicate what appears to be burn marks located on the person of Richard Wendorf. The `V' to indicate Ferrell and the outer marks to indicate his clan,'' the report said. John Goodman, a friend of Ferrell's in Murray, Ky., told police he had played role-playing games with Ferrell since the fourth grade. ``Goodman stated that for a couple of months prior to the homicides, Ferrell had become possessed with the idea of opening the Gates to Hell, which meant he would have to kill a large, large number of people in order to consume their souls,'' detectives reported. ``By doing this, Ferrell believe he would obtain super powers.'' Prosecutor Brad King said he wouldn't seek the death penalty against Cooper and Keessee. He does want capital punishment for Ferrell and Anderson, who allegedly did the bludgeoning. After defense attorneys requested separate trials, Circuit Judge Jerry T. Lockett tentatively scheduled trials for Ferrell, Anderson and Keesee in February 1998. Cooper has not waived her right to a speedy trial and could be judged as early as May. AP-NY-03-21-97 2327EST ----------------------------------------------------- 11.15.1997 Subj: `Vampire Cult' Mom Pleads Guilty Date: 97-11-15 23:30:16 EST From: AOL News BCC: LirielMc `Vampire Cult' Mom Pleads Guilty .c The Associated Press MURRAY, Ky. (AP) - The mother of a teen-ager who police say led a ``vampire cult'' linked to two deaths pleaded guilty on Friday to trying to entice a teen-age boy into sex as an initiation rite. Sondra Gibson, 35, was originally charged with solicitation to commit rape. She instead pleaded guilty to a felony charge of unlawful transaction with a minor. Defense attorney Steve West formally noted that Ms. Gibson was mentally ill when the crime was committed. Ms. Gibson is the mother of Rod Ferrell, awaiting trial in Tavares, Fla., on two counts of murder in the Nov. 25 beating deaths of Richard and Ruth Wendorf of Eustis. Police say he led a blood-drinking ``vampire'' group involved in the crime. Authorities said Ms. Gibson wrote to a 14-year-old boy, inviting sex. ``I longed to be near you ... to become a Vampire, a part of the family immortal and truly yours forever,'' the letter read. ``You will then come for me and cross me over and I will be your bride for eternity and you my sire.'' Gibson could have faced five years in prison, but Commonwealth's Attorney Mike Ward agreed to five years probation. Judge Dennis Foust will formally sentence Gibson on Jan. 9. Copyright 1997 The Associated Press. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11.22.1997 Subj: DIF: Mother of `vampire' leader pleads guilty (fwd) Date: 97-11-22 21:52:04 EST From: klaatu@earthops.org (klaatu) To: LirielMc@aol.com Here ya go. At last something of a closing note on this particular weirdness... - klaatu ______________ Subject: DIF: Mother of `vampire' leader pleads guilty (fwd) Sunday, November 16, 1997, in the Miami Herald Mother of `vampire' leader pleads guilty Seducing teen was initiation ritual MURRAY, Ky. -- (AP) -- The mother of the accused leader of a vampire clan charged with killing a Florida couple pleaded guilty to trying to entice a teenage boy into having sex as part of a vampire initiation ritual. Sondra Gibson, 35, pleaded guilty Friday to criminal attempt to first-degree unlawful transaction with a minor, a felony. Her attorney, Steve West, made a plea stipulation that Gibson was guilty of the crime but was mentally ill when it was committed. Gibson is the mother of Rod Ferrell, the teenager who allegedly led a blood-drinking ``vampire'' group. Ferrell is awaiting trial in Tavares, Fla., on two counts of murder in the beating deaths of a Florida couple last November. Ferrell, 16, Scott Anderson, 17, Dana L. Cooper, 19, and Charity Lynn Keesee, who also called herself Sarah Remington, are charged in the slayings of Richard and Ruth Wendorf. The Eustis couple were the parents of another clan member, Heather Wendorf. Gibson could have faced a prison sentence of up to five years, but Commonwealth's Attorney Mike Ward agreed to five years' probation in lieu of a three-year sentence. Calloway Circuit Judge Dennis Foust will formally sentence Gibson on Jan. 9. A grand jury had charged that Gibson tried to entice a 14-year-old boy into having sex as part of initiation as a vampire. Gibson sent the boy letters containing sexual references and comments on vampirism and immortality. Dr. Robert Sively testified about Gibson's competency to stand trial. Then Gibson decided to accept the plea bargain offered earlier by Ward. Sively testified that Gibson wanted to join a vampire cult like the one her son was in, and that the sex she attempted to have with a teenager was a ``rite of passage.'' Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Leah Cooper said the criminal intent on Gibson's part was present, even if she did not have sex with the boy. ------------------------------------------------------ 2.1.1998 Subj: Fwd: Vampire Cult Trial To Begin Monday Date: 98-02-02 04:29:56 EST From: Sanguinar1 To: LirielMc Hello, Here's an article that you might be intersted in including with the others... Sanguinarius ----------------- Forwarded Message: Subj: Vampire Cult Trial To Begin Monday Date: 98-02-01 16:49:04 EST From: AOL News Vampire Cult Trial To Begin Monday .c The Associated Press By MIKE SCHNEIDER TAVARES, Fla. (AP) - Animal torture and mutilations, teens drinking each other's blood, a girl's parents bludgeoned to death and a corpse marked with occult markings. Sounds like stock elements of a horror movie, but on Monday jury selection was set to begin in the trial of a teen-ager whose alleged vampire cult is accused of committing all of the above acts. Accused cult ringleader Rod Ferrell, 17, could face the death penalty if convicted of a charge of first degree murder. Ferrell is nervous, especially about whether it's possible to find jurors in this rural area who have not heard about the lurid case, says his lawyer William Lackay. ``I think it's going to be hard but not impossible,'' Lackay said of his chances for success. Important to the case is the testimony of Heather Wendorf, a 16-year-old cult devotee whose parents were beaten to death in their home in November 1996. That afternoon, Miss Wendorf and Ferrell - a friend who was the cult's ``sire'' - performed a blood drinking ritual in a cemetery to induct, or ``cross over,'' her as a fellow vampire, according to investigators. ``The person that gets crossed over is like subject to whatever the sire wants,'' Miss Wendorf said in a deposition. ``Like the sire is boss basically. They have authority over you.'' In the cemetery, investigators say, she and Ferrell talked about their plans to leave town. Ferrell allegedly discussed killing Miss Wendorf's parents, but she told him not to harm them, investigators allege. Ferrell, Miss Wendorf and others had plotted for seven months through letters and phone conversations to run away together. Considered misfits when they met at Eustis High School, the two found solace in each other's company. When Ferrell later moved to Kentucky, they stayed in touch. On the day they left town, they left behind the corpses of Richard Wendorf and Naoma Queen, prosecutors charge. The two were found bludgeoned at their home in Eustis, about 35 miles northwest of Orlando. Wendorf was beaten severely in the face; Queen was found face-down on a bloody kitchen floor. A ``v'' sign surrounded by circular marks was burned into Wendorf's body. Police said it was the sign of Ferrell's vampire clan and each circular mark represented a clan member. Only Ferrell is charged with the actual killing. Another teen, Howard Scott Anderson, 17, is accused of being a principal to murder by being at the house but doing nothing to stop the killings. He faces the death penalty despite the reduced charge. Charged with being accessories to murder are Kentucky teens Dana L. Cooper, 20, and Charity Keesee, 17. They do not face the death penalty. The two were not at the house at the time but later left town with the others in the Wendorfs' stolen car. All five were caught a few days later in Louisiana. Miss Wendorf was cleared by a grand jury. Although his lawyer says he's nervous, friends have described Ferrell as hostile and prone to animal torture. He may have had a troubled family life as well. His mother, Sondra Gibson, pleaded guilty in Kentucky last November to trying to entice a 14-year-old boy into having sex as part of a vampire initiation ritual. John Goodman, a Kentucky cult member who didn't travel with Ferrell to Florida, said his friend ``had become possessed with opening the Gates to Hell, which meant he would have to kill a large number of people in order to consume their souls. By doing this, Ferrell believed that he would obtain super powers.'' When questioned by investigators, Miss Wendorf said the only reason she went with the group was because she had no place to go and feared she would be blamed for the murders. She said she learned about the murders during the trip and was distraught at hearing her parents were dead. AP-NY-02-01-98 1646EST Copyright 1997 The Associated Press. --------------------------------------------------------- 2.2.1998 Subj: Vampire Trial Jury Selection Begins Date: 98-02-02 16:04:19 EST From: AOL News BCC: LirielMc Vampire Trial Jury Selection Begins .c The Associated Press By MIKE SCHNEIDER TAVARES, Fla. (AP) - The self-proclaimed leader of a vampire cult drew crayon pictures of gargoyles Monday as his lawyers asked prospective jurors at his murder trial whether they could sentence the 17-year-old to death. Rod Ferrell of Murray, Ky., is charged with bludgeoning to death Richard Wendorf and Naoma Queen, the parents of one of his cult followers. Wendorf was beaten in the face, and a ``V'' sign surrounded by circular marks was burned into his body. His wife was found face-down on a bloody kitchen floor at their home in Eustis, about 35 miles northwest of Orlando. ``Can you look at that man and recommend that the judge sentence him to death?'' prosecutor Brad King asked 50 prospective jurors. All but four replied that they could. The prosecutor also asked each of the mostly middle-aged potential jurors if they would have any difficulty sentencing to death a young man not legally an adult. Almost all said they could. ``If you do the crime, you should pay the penalty regardless of age,'' said one juror, a middle-aged woman. ``If you're acting like an adult, you should be treated like an adult.'' During the questioning, Ferrell drew Gothic images at the defense table with crayons provided by his lawyers. Dressed in a tie and a blue sweater, he looked up occasionally as jurors talked about the death penalty. The victims' daughter, Heather Wendorf, could play a key role in the trial. Miss Wendorf, who is not charged in the slayings, fled with Ferrell and three other members of his vampire clan after her parents were killed. That afternoon, Miss Wendorf and Ferrell performed a blood drinking ritual in a cemetery to induct her as a fellow vampire, according to investigators. Three other alleged cult members have also been charged in the 1996 slayings. They will be tried separately. AP-NY-02-02-98 1600EST Copyright 1997 The Associated Press. -------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo News, Florida Headlines, August 17, 1998 Cult Girl May Face New Grand Jury (Tavares, Fla.) -- Vampire cult girl Heather Wendorf may still face charges in the beating death of her parents. Lake County State Attorney Brad King says he may go back to the grand jury with evidence and testimony developed during interviews with four of the 17-year-old girl's friends... all of whom were convicted and one sentenced to death for the murder of the Eustis couple in 1996. The original grand jury declined to indict Wendorf... apparently believing she did not intend for her parents to be harmed. But the judge who sentenced cult leader Rob Ferrell to death also urged prosecutors to reconvene the grand jury. King says it may be difficult to get an indictment, despite the public's simplistic view of the crime. Lake County Sheriff George Knupp says if King won't go back to the grand jury, he'll ask state officials to appoint a special prosecutor. --------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo News, Florida Headlines, August 14 1998 Ex-Cult Girl: We Didn't Know (Mount Dora, Fla.) -- The prison sentences for two girls convicted of killing a Eustis couple after getting caught up in a vampire cult are NOT fair. That's the word from the daughter of the murdered couple, who was part of the cult herself. In an interview with the Orlando Sentinel, Heather Wendorf says none of the girls knew what was going to happen before her parents were attacked. The double murder case wrapped up yesterday when 17-year-old Charity Keesee was sentenced to ten and a half years in prison. Twenty-one-year-old Dana Cooper was slapped with a 17 year sentence last month. The leader of the vampire cult... Rod Ferrell... is on death row.