Hide Article Text (OCR)
BY MIKE SCHNEIDERAssociated Press WriterTAVARES, Fla. (AP) — As a jury began listening to evidence Thursday on whether vampire cult leader Hod Ferrell should live or die, a prosecutor told jurors the murders Ferrell committed were “heinous, atrocious and cruel.”His defense attorneys, who are trying to keep the teen-ager from the electric chair, told jurors deciding Ferrell’s sentence the vampire leader was abused as a child, took drugs, had a personality disorder and was abandoned by his father.Ferrell, 17, of Murray, Ky., interrupted the beginning of his trial last week to plead guilty to bludgeoning to death Richard Wendorf and Naoma Queen Nov. 25 1996 in their Eustis home, about 35 miles northwest of Orlando.The couple, who were the parents of one of his cult members, were beaten with a crowbar and the letter “V” surrounded by circular marks was burned into Wendorf s“His glasses were bashed up ... and his face looked like hamburger,” Lake County Sheriff’s Deputy Jeff Taylor, the first law enforcement officer to arrive at the murder scene, told jurors Thursday. “She had what appeared to be a large hole in the back of her head and a large pool of blood under her head.”Ferrell pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder, armed robbery and armed burglary. The jury can only sentence him to life in prison without parole or death.Prosecutors will be able to present much of the evidence they had planned to use during the first part of the trial during the sentencing phase, which is expected to last about a week. The evidence includes DNA samples of Ferrell found on Ms. Queen and gruesome photos of the murder scene.Jurors were shown autopsy photos of the bludgeoned couple. Wendorf’s twin brother, Bill Wendorf, and hi^yife, Gloria, bowed their heads and wept when photosnf Hia mnfilQtoH hnHioc wpnMappH nn acourtroom easel.Dr. Laura Hair, a medical examiner, told jurors that Wendorf had 22 wounds to his head. She said blows from the crowbar fractured Wendorf’s skull and entered his brain.Ms. Queen apparently struggled with Ferrell before she was killed and scratched his face, prosecutor Brad King said. The skin samples that were found under her fingernails and will be introduced as DNA evidence.“They were cold, calculated, premeditated murders,” prosecutor Brad King said.Ferrell killed the couple to help their daughter, Heather Wendorf, run away from home, and beforehand told two friends that “something big” was going to happen, King said.Miss Wendorf fled with Ferrell and three other cult members to Louisiana after the killings. Miss Wendorf was cleared of anycharges by a grand jury last year.Howard Scott Anderson, 17, of Mayfield, Kv and Dana L. CooDer. 20. and CharitvKeesee, 17, both of Murray, Ky., are charged with being principals to murder. They are to be tried later in the year.Audrey Presson, a former high school friend of Ferrell’s, said the teen-ager changed when he moved to Kentucky from Florida about a year before the murders. She said they both grew interested in vampirism, although she eventually abandoned all interest in it.She said after he moved to Kentucky, he began to wear black clothes and had scars on his arms from cuts that were attributed to ritual blood-sucking.Defense attorney William Lackay said that jurors should not recommend death for Ferrell because of his young age. Lackay also said jurors would learn about Ferrell’s involvement with vampirism and occult role-playing games. Members of Ferrell’s vampire cult would suck each other’s blood during ritual ceremonies.“What happened to Rod is his little fantasy mismatched with reality,” Lackaysaid.
Newspaper Details
Corbin Times Tribune
Corbin, Kentucky, US
Fri, Feb 13, 1998
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Los A.
CA, USA 11 Feb 2020
Other Publications Near Corbin, Kentucky
Corbin Times
Corbin Sunday Times
Corbin Daily Tribune
Corbin Times Tribune
