Abomination: Devil Worship and Deception in the West Memphis Three Murders (34 page)

The remains of Anya Gorokhova, Olga Pukhova, Varya Kuzmina and Andrei Sorokin, who went missing from their homes in June, were discovered last month.

The body of a small rodent crucified on an upside-down cross was also found.

After arresting eight people in connection with the murders, police realized all four victims had made phone calls to the flat of alleged gang leader Nikolai Ogolobyak, a former church choir boy.

Officers discovered the victims' body parts in a pit 250m from Ogolobyak's apartment block. One of those arrested is alleged to have told police: 'Satan will help me to avoid responsibility, I made lots of sacrifices to him.' Another, Alexander Voronovic, claimed the gang had previously dug up a grave and eaten the heart of the girl buried there.

One of the gang, when asked what made him do it, is claimed to have said:

I tried to turn to God, but it didn't bring me any money. I prayed to Satan, and things improved.
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Bestie Di Satana

Milan, Italy

In January, 1998, Chiara Marino and Fabio Tollis did not return home after a night of partying. They were ritually slaughtered by their friends: Andrea Volpe, Nicola Sapone and Mario Maccione, members of the metal band Beasts of Satan. All of five were obsessed with the occult and death metal. Originally, only Marino was to be killed on the night of the murder, but Tollis joined her in death for refusing to participate in her killing. After the killing, the murderers danced on the graves of their former friends, shouting “Now you are both zombies! Try to get out of this hole, if you dare!”

After they were reported missing, the authorities thought the missing couple had run away in love. An alleged member of the group told authorities that the Beasts of Satan followed orders from a more senior Devil worshipper known as the Antichrist.

A full six years passed before another murder. In January, 2004, Mariangela Pezzotta was shot and buried alive by Andrea Volpe, who decided to kill her for knowing too much about their Satanic cult. The cult members also were accused of driving another friend to commit suicide. Files on four other unsolved murders were reopened after the discovery of the Beasts of Satan murders. Of these unsolved deaths, one died of a drugs overdose. Another, whom investigators believe took part in the 1998 double-killing, was killed in a road accident. A third was found hanging from an electricity pylon. Yet another was found dead in a burnt-out car. A total of seven members would be convicted for involvement in the murders and cult activity.

Monster of Florence

Florence, Italy

Sixteen murders were carried out in the rolling hills of Tuscany, Italy between 1968 and 1985. All of the victims were couples. Many of the bodies had evidence of ritual killing---the removal of sexual organs. In a prosecutors statement, authorities believed the killings were part of a conspiracy, where a semi-literate farmer, Pietro Pacciani, and his associates carried out the crimes, but a “group of people who celebrated black masses and magical rites put the weapons into their hands.”
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Repeated investigations over decades uncovered occult links to the murders. The Satanic group allegedly responsible for the killings was The Order of the Red Rose, a medieval sect. Prosecutors claim that the group has ties to Italy’s elite. The “witch hunt” spanned two decades, with over 100,000 people investigated. Many individuals were accused without any evidence. Lives and reputations have been destroyed in the hunt for cult members.

The Vampire Clan

Murray, Kentucky

(1996)

left, with face upon holding cell glass

Roderick Ferrell and Heather Wendorf stood out in the rural community of Murray, Kentucky. Ferrell sported shoulder-length black hair, wore a black trench coat, and walked around the city with a wooden staff. Exposed to satanic worship at a young age by his relatives, Ferrell believed he was possessed and that he had no soul. Ferrell drank human blood and acted out the role of an undead immortal---he told people that he was a 500-year-old vampire named Vesago. Ferrell enjoyed intimidating others and believed that his vampire nature made him all-powerful.

Rod devised vampire rituals that attracted other youths into his coven. Often, he would move conversations toward his fascination with the occult:

In truth, his young friends were inspired by his teachings. They knew he had appropriated much of his philosophy from Aleister Crowley...
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According to friends, when Heather Wendorf started hanging around Rod’s vampire crowd, she went from an outgoing, pleasant teenager to a quiet introvert. "She started dying her hair - purple mostly - and wearing all-black clothes. Some people said she swore she was a vampire.''
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Wendorf often wore black fishnet stockings and a dog chain in addition to her colored hair.

In a March 11, 1996 letter, she wrote that she had two souls, one “nonresistant, passive, non-aggressive” and the other “is the essence of vengeance, hate and destruction. Purely chaos modeled into a hideous monster, writhing and tearing the inside of me to ribbons.” Continuing in the same letter, she wrote: “Blood would taste really good right about now. Or maybe ice cream. Hey! What am I saying? Blood is good all the time.”
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The Kentucky youths were members of the "The Vampire Clan,'' a group of about 30 that surfaced about two months ago during an investigation into a break-in at an animal shelter. Two puppies were mutilated and their body parts taken. Local police believed Farrell broke into the animal shelter. "They had stomped one of them to death and one of them, they pulled the legs off,'' said Sheriff Stan Scott of Calloway County, Ky., about 180 miles southwest of Louisville and 200 hundred mile north of West Memphis, Arkansas. Police later learned that members of the Vampire Clan drank the blood of the stolen puppies. "They just look like screwed-up kids. There's no shortage of those.'' said Baton Rouge Police Cpl. Don Kelly. The group congregated at an abandoned structure they called “Vampire Hotel,” located in a nearby recreation area--Land Between the Lakes.

On November 25, 1996, Roderick Ferrell, along with Dana Cooper, Charity Keesee, and Howard Scott Anderson, left Murray, Kentucky and drove to Ferrell’s old hometown of Eustis, Florida. Ferrell still had friends in Eustis, one of whom was Heather Wendorf. Heather had told Ferrell that her parents were abusing her and that she wished they were dead. Ferrell took Heather Wendorf to a secluded cemetery, where he sliced each of their arms. They then drank each other’s blood.
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Later that evening, Ferrell decided he wanted to rob the Wendorf parents of their car and leave town. Intending only to burglarize the home, Ferrell and Howard Anderson entered the Wendorf’s home through the unlocked garage, where Ferrell picked up a crowbar. Finding Richard Wendorf asleep on the couch, Ferrell clubbed him to death. After startling Mrs. Wendorf while she exited the shower, Ferrell stabbed her to death after she threw a cup of hot coffee on him. On Richard Wendorf's chest, Ferrell burned the shape of a V with some cigarettes. The V was Rod's symbol, which he accompanied with a dot for each person he considered to be in his vampire cult. After the murders, he and Anderson scoured the house for valuables. Then he and Anderson, with Cooper Keesee and Heather Wendorf, fled to New Orleans in the Wendorf’s Ford Explorer.

Arrested by the police shortly after their arrival in New Orleans, Ferrell was interrogated by the police. In his confession, however, he stated that in his original plan he was going to allow Naoma Ruth to live, but she attacked him first by lunging at him. Enraged, he changed his mind and killed her also. Also, Ferrell told police that he had not thought of killing either of the Wendorf’s ---he just decided to do it ten minutes prior to the murders. “I don’t kill anything that’s little. Now adults, that’s perfectly fine, 16 and up” he told detectives. He told detectives lurid tales of his upbringing: that he was part of a cult called the Black Mask and had seen human sacrifices in Murray, Kentucky. Rationalizing his actions, he told police “Killing is a way of life, animals do it, and that’s the way humans are, just the worst predators of all actually.”
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You have created rage within myself to very bitter points of hatred. My soulless remains now crave to destroy you in every way, to drink your kindred soul. You’ve given me reason, now I give you rebirth through the loss of your soul. Only through this new life that I give you, shall your crimes be washed away. But all of my hate, rage, and darkness cannot stop me from loving you.
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Heather Wendorf

Sixteen at the time of his arrest, Ferrell pled guilty to two counts of felony murder and was sentenced to death. As there is no diminished capacity law in Florida, the defense offered in pretrial motions the arguments to be advanced for mitigating the penalty phase. Among the points they raised were that Ferrell was mentally disturbed and had been allowed by his mother to participate in violent and self-destructive role-playing fantasy games, which impaired his judgment about what was real or normal.

Ferrell's mother, Sondra Gibson, was was no saint. She was charged with trying to coerce a 14-year-old boy into having sex with her and entering into a life of vampirism. Prosecutors say Ms. Gibson wrote letters to the boy, saying "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."
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Rodrick Ferrell lost touch with ordinary human life. He told police “I'm sorry, this is just like a big fucking joke. My life seems like a dream. My childhood was taken away at five, I don't know whether I'm asleep or dreaming anymore so whatever, for all I know I could wake up in five minutes.”
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Charity Keesee was convicted of two counts of third degree murder, robbery with a gun or deadly weapon and burglary armed with weapon or explosives. She was sentenced to 10 years in state prison. Dana Cooper was given a 17 year prison sentence. Anderson was convicted and was sentenced to life in prison.