Rod Ferrell

Roderick Justin "Rod" Ferrell (born March 28, 1980) is an American murderer and cult leader. He was a member of a loose-knit gang of teenagers from Murray, Kentucky, 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, becoming the youngest person on death row in Florida at that time. Originally sentenced to death, Ferrell's penalty has since been reduced to life imprisonment. In 2023, he married Stephanie Ferrell.

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. It is believed that Ferrell liked a video arcade in New Orleans, so they were headed there. One of the girls, Charity Keesee, placed a call to her grandmother in South Dakota. 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 hotel, where they were arrested by waiting law enforcement. The four were held at a Baton Rouge jail for a week before being extradited back to Florida, where they were initially booked at the Lake County Jail. They were later moved to a juvenile facility in Ocala.

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.

His attorneys tried to argue that he was insane; he has been diagnosed with mental disorders including schizotypal personality disorder and Asperger syndrome. The University of Florida further attested that Rod sometimes witnessed spiritual things, such as angels and demons. 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, making him first eligible for release in 2031.

Ruth Wendorf's relatives attended Anderson's resentencing hearing and did not oppose his early release. Speaking with the Daily Commercial, they said they are more concerned about Ferrell, who was scheduled for his own resentencing hearing in July 2019. Ferrell's hearing was subsequently rescheduled for November 18 and then again to April 2020, when the sentencing judge upheld his life without parole sentence and deemed him irreparably corrupt.

Anderson is currently incarcerated in the Calhoun Correctional Institution while Ferrell is in the Northwest Florida Reception Center Annex.

Family life Rod Ferrell was born to teenage parents in Murray, Kentucky in 1980. Shortly after his birth, his father left to join the military. His mother, Sondra Gibson raised him, moving back and forth between Florida with Sondra's parents and Murray, Kentucky. Public housing is where they would stay when not living in Florida. According to court testimonies, Rod claims that he was raped at the age of 5 by his grandfather. While these claims are in court records, no official charges were ever given. According to the Sun-Sentinel, when living in Kentucky, Sondra would support her and her son by working as an exotic dancer. She would also occasionally dabble in sex work. In an interview with the Orlando Sentinel, Sondra Gibson said she had taken part in vampirism. A member of the Vampire Clan's 14-year-old brother received letters from Sondra saying she would be his bride for eternity as a part of a vampire family. Weeks after the original death sentence, Ferrell's case Judge would say, "I think you are a very disturbed man. I think your family failed you…". The judge also stated that he thinks that his mother should also be on trial for introducing him to vampirism.

Before the murders Leading up to before the murders, Rod Ferrell and his group of "vampire" clan members would meet at an abandoned cement structure pinned "Vampire Hotel". This building is located in the middle of the woods in an area called Land Between the Lakes. These meetings would often include things like drinking each other's blood as well as other death rituals. Although no crimes have been proven to take place here, it is the most likely place where the murders were plotted.

In the media

The 1998 Anglia Television TV crime documentary Kentucky Teenage Vampires is about Ferrell and his clan. The 2002 film Vampire Clan is based on and named after Ferrell's cult. The 2003 Legendary Shack Shakers song "Blood on the Bluegrass", from their album Cockadoodledon't, is about Ferrell. Season 4, episode 8 of the series Killer Kids (aired in 2015) includes a half-hour segment on Rod Ferrell and his vampire clan. The UnXplained is a documentary series hosted by William Shatner which includes an episode featuring Ferrell as episode 15 of its first season ("Vampires and Werewolves", aired April 18, 2020).