Killings of Richard Wendorf and Naomi Ruth Queen (Rod Ferrell "Vampire Clan" Murders)

On November 25, 1996, Richard Wendorf, 49, and Naomi Ruth Queen were found beaten to death in their home in Eustis, Florida, by their daughter, Jennifer Wendorf. According to Wikipedia's account of the case, Rod Ferrell and Howard Scott Anderson entered the home through an unlocked garage and used a crowbar found there as the murder weapon. Richard Wendorf was asleep on a couch and was beaten first, sustaining a fractured skull and ribs; Naomi Ruth Queen, who was showering, encountered the two after and was also killed with the crowbar. Ferrell stated in his confession that he had not originally intended to kill Queen but changed his mind after she confronted him and threw hot coffee on him. Richard Wendorf's body reportedly bore burn marks in the shape of a "V," described as a symbol associated with Ferrell.

The victims were the parents of Heather Wendorf, a friend of Ferrell's whom he was reportedly helping leave home. Heather and two other young women associated with the group, Charity Keesee and Dana Cooper, were not present at the house during the killings; they had driven Heather to say goodbye to her boyfriend before the group planned to leave for New Orleans. Following the killings, the group traveled through four states and were located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, after Charity Keesee contacted her grandmother for money; the grandmother alerted law enforcement, who arrested the group at a hotel. They were held in a Baton Rouge jail before extradition to Florida.

On February 12, 1998, Ferrell, then 17, pleaded guilty to two counts of felony murder, asserting that only Anderson among his co-travelers had been involved, and characterizing him as an accessory. Ferrell's defense raised claims of mental illness, including diagnoses of schizotypal personality disorder and Asperger syndrome. Judge Jerry T. Lockett sentenced Ferrell to death, making him — at the time — the youngest person on Florida's death row. Charity Keesee was convicted of third-degree murder, armed robbery, and armed burglary, and sentenced to 10.5 years; Dana Cooper received the same convictions with a 17.5-year sentence. Anderson was convicted on the same charges as Ferrell and sentenced to life in prison.

In November 2000, the Florida Supreme Court reduced Ferrell's death sentence to life imprisonment. Keesee was released in March 2006 and Cooper in October 2011. An appellate court in January 2013 denied Ferrell and Anderson's bids for new sentencing hearings, but in December 2018 Anderson was resentenced to 40 years, with credit for time served, making him eligible for release in 2031. Ferrell's resentencing hearing, after several delays, concluded in April 2020 when the judge upheld his sentence of life without parole, describing him as irreparably corrupt. As of the available reporting, Anderson is held at Calhoun Correctional Institution and Ferrell at the Northwest Florida Reception Center Annex.