Another group of characters in my novel Radu is a group of young vampire practitioners led by a young man named Joseph Karinski. Among the members of his group are Sierra Lawson, an aspiring artist and heavy metal singer; Milo Richmond, a drug addled slacker who spent the majority of his time in the novel working a fast food job as a terms of his probation for a drug offense; Sherry "Larceny" Adams, an S&M hooker, bald and with a devil's goatee and mustache tattoo; George "Rhino" Dodd, a borderline retarded would-be arena football nose-tackle; Spiral Lamont, Joseph's girlfriend; Raven Randall, the most alluring and yet the most vicious and blood-thirsty of the group; and finally, Debbie "Spanky" Leighton, the youngest at sixteen, and who presided over the brutally savage execution of her own parents along with the rest of the cult on the occasion of what was described as her "sweet sixteen party".
Some people might think that such characters as these are way over the top, even for a novel. Well, all right then, how about real life?
These are the true faces of some of the real-life members of the Murray Kentucky youths on whom my fictional cult is based.
They were led by the person shown here, whose name is Rod Ferrell, currently serving life without parole.
This girl, whose name is Heather Wendorf, is the real life inspiration for Debbie Leighton, although she was actually cleared of involvement with the death of her parents, which was said to have been perpetrated by Ferrel alone. Yet, he was assisted by various other members of the real-life cult in the top photo.
A bit of their history I now reproduce from this site
(Beginning of copy)
Accused with Ferrell and Ms. Wendorf of killing the Wendorfs are Dana Cooper, 19, of Murray, and Scott Anderson, 16, of Mayfield. Charity Keesee, 16, of Murray was charged with being an accessory to murder. Extradition proceedings in Baton Rouge are to begin Monday. Calloway County prosecutor David Harrington described Ms. Cooper as a "follower, someone who wanted to be liked. Probably easily manipulated." A young woman stopped in a grocery store who graduated from Calloway County High School with Ms. Cooper last year said the girl craved attention. "But this vampire stuff?" she asked, refusing to give her name. "There was nothing that suggested that. She was just strange."
Police say Rod Ferrell met the Wendorf's 15-year-old daughter, Heather, when he lived in Eustis with his father. Ferrell, 16, moved back to Murray last year to live with his mother.
(End of copy)
Also included in the article is a portion of a letter Rod Ferrel's mother wrote to a teenage lover, in which she tells him-
"I longed to be near you ... to become a Vampire, a part of the family immortal and truly yours forever," the letter reads. "You will then come for me and cross me over and I will be your bride for eternity and you my sire."
Sweet, huh? In addition to murdering Heather Wendorf's mother and father (Heather reputedly described her life with them as "hell") Ferrell beat them to death with a baseball bat.
While the gang lived in Murray, they were part of a local vampire role playing game, one of the game spots being that in the following picture.
Ferrel and his gang were as bloody and murderous a group of kids that ever coalesced into a group. Ferrell himself was accused of murdering two dogs in an animal shelter, one of them by ripping off it's front legs.
Just the kind of guy you would like to see impaled on a sharp stake, kid or not. At the very least, one hopes he will never be released from prison. Unfortunately, the others might qualify for parole at some date in the future.
I think the fate my fictional group suffered would be preferable.
