Heather Wendorf
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Heather Wendorf-Kelly (born Heather Wendorf in 1981) is an American citizen who earned wide media attention in the mid-1990s because of her participation in a teenage "vampire" cult and her parents' 1996 murders by members of the group. A grand jury refused to indict Wendorf for the slayings and she was formally cleared in January 1997.
Wendorf is the daughter of Richard and Naoma Ruth Queen, an upper-middle class couple from Eustis, Florida. As a teen, Wendorf became interested in vampires and vampirism. Her interest in vampirism was allegedly fueled by hate towards her parents, whose wealth had allowed her to grow up as a privileged society girl.
Wendorf met Rod Ferrell, whose passion for vampirism was similar, if not larger than Wendorf's. Ferrell was an expert player of a game called Vampire:The Masquerade and the leader of a group that included Wendorf, Dana Cooper, Scott Anderson and Sarah Remington, who used the aliases Charity Keesee and Shea Remington. Wendorf moved to Murray, Kentucky, joining the rest of the clan. Before their move to Kentucky, Wendorf dated Ferrell for two years; Ferrell is also alleged to have dated Remington.
The town had an arcade where Ferrell, Wendorf and their friends enjoyed playing "Vampire:The Masquerade". Over time, Wendorf began to dye her hair purple, wear black fishnet stockings and a dog chain around her neck. According to friends, Wendorf spoke about drinking blood, talking to spirits during rituals and being a demon in past lives.
On November 25, 1996, 49-year-old Richard Wendorf and his 54-year-old common law wife, Ruth, were beaten to death by Ferrell inside their home in Florida. Heather Wendorf was not present. The couple's 1994 Ford Explorer had disappeared from the crime scene, and the teenagers fled the scene. After four days of driving through four states, the group, along with the Ford Explorer, were found in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It is believed that Ferrell liked a video arcade in New Orleans and they were headed there.
Sarah Remington placed a call to her mother in South Dakota. The group needed money and Remington thought her mother could help them. But Remington's mother informed the police about her whereabouts, and, after negotiations, Ferrell, Wendorf and the rest of the kids agreed to be arrested at a local Howard Johnson's hotel. The four were held at a Baton Rouge jail for a period of a week, during which legal hurdles about state extradition laws had to be battled before they were flown back to Florida, where they were initially booked at Lake County jail. From there, they were moved to a juvenile facility in Ocala.
According to a December 17, 2006 article in the Orlando Sentinel, Ferrell pleaded guilty to murder and initially was sentenced to death. Because of his age, he later was given a life sentence. Anderson pleaded guilty to being a principal to first-degree murder and also received a life sentence. Cooper and Keesee were convicted of being principals to third-degree murder, armed burglary and principals to armed robbery.
Their case gained wide media attention. At the time, The Craft was a recent Hollywood hit which allowed many to gain insight on some occult practices, and gothic culture was enjoying a slow, but steady, revival. Vampirism has been viewed by many as part of occultism for years, and four American television networks announced plans to produce movies in 1997 inspired by the Ferrell-Wendorf clan's case.
ABC aired Twisted Desire in March 1997, with Melissa Joan Hart playing "Jennifer Stanton", a character based on Wendorf. By April, Fox had planned to release Running With the Devil: The True Story of the Kentucky Vampire Thrill Kill Cult, in which Wendorf would have been played by Christine Taylor. It was never produced. NBC produced Mother, May I Sleep With Danger?, where Tori Spelling played "Laurel" opposite Ivan Sergei. CBS had announced interest in producing a TV movie with either Heather Matarazzo, Drew Barrymore or Carla Gugino playing Wendorf or another character based on her, but it did not occur.
Now married to Dan Kelly, Wendorf lives in North Carolina where she attends art school and performs in community theater productions.
