From a teen vampire cult that killed one member’s parents to naked people who tell cops, “nothing to see here,” Frank Stanfield has seen it all in thirty years as a newspaper editor and reporter, mostly in Florida. Vampires, Gators, and Whackos: A Newspaperman’s Life recalls rustlers hiding ranchers’ bodies in a bottomless pit and a Jane Doe so mauled people believed it was a bear attack. It exposes cops who bungle murder cases and praises those who are heroes. There are tales of bears, sharks, snakes, alligators, and potbellied pigs. There is the teacher who was too pretty to go to jail despite having sex with a middle-school male student. Hurricanes lash out, tornadoes spin a blender of death, and sinkholes swallow homes, roads, and people. All of this takes place while newspapers—with their own zany characters—are fighting for their survival.

Vampires, Gators and Wackos: A Newspaperman's Life

Biographies & Memoirs

Stanfield, Frank

Professionals & Academics

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Dorothy Lewis sat in the back seat trying to comfort her young daughters while one of the carjackers cursed and shouted for them to be quiet. As she began to pray, one of the attackers sneered: "This ain't Jesus doing this, this is Satan doing this." The two teens lived up to the billing. Dorothy, a young widow, was raped, shot in the head three times, and left for dead, and the children murdered in a crime so senseless the killers couldn't even explain it. Dorothy once told her sister, "If anything happens to the girls you might as well lock me up. "Instead, she embarked on a long, remarkable recovery. She had only one question for God: "Why was I spared?" The answer is the thing that has kept her Unbroken. Today, she offers hope and comfort to anyone facing tragedy, or what seems like a hopeless situation, in the telling of this inspirational story.

Unbroken: The Dorothy Lewis Story

True Crime

Kingstone Media Group

Investigators and Central Florida residents were horrified when 16-year-old vampire cult leader Rod Ferrell was arrested and charged with bludgeoning a cult member's parents. When they realized the slain couple's 15-year-old daughter was missing, they feared she was a victim, too. Detectives and journalists swarming over three states soon uncovered a web of blood-drinking occult rituals, illicit sex, wildly dysfunctional families and spiritual warfare. Then, when police officers captured the teens, they discovered that the murdered couple's daughter was among them. But was she a victim or a participant? Ferrell faced the death penalty, sparking Constitutional battles over the ultimate punishment, juveniles in the court system, free press versus a defendant's right to a fair trial, and psychologists who worked to save him and prosecutors who wanted him dead. More than 20 years later, the battles continue with new court rulings. Is he a changed man deserving freedom? Or is he still gaming the system, as prosecutors and his victims' family members believe? Decide for yourself after reading COLD BLOODED by veteran newspaper reporter Frank Stanfield, who has covered the case from the beginning in November 1996, and sheds new light on one of the darkest killers in modern history.

COLD BLOODED: A True Crime Story of a Murderous Teenage Vampire Cult

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Psychology & Counseling

WildBlue Press

Teens savagely murder a couple in the name of their vampire cult.A sex-starved teacher cannot get enough of her young male student.The case of a missing child keeps cops awake at night for years after his confounding disappearance.During his decades-long crime coverage in Central Florida, journalist Frank Stanfield covered every atrocity that man or nature could unleash.Vampires, Gators, and Wackos: A Florida Newspaperman’s Life recounts some of the frequently craven, and at times downright stupid, crimes Stanfield covered during his time in the field. He somehow made it through without winding up more mental than the crackpots he tracked. However, his unvarnished, no-holds-barred account of news events reveals just how crazy making a case can be when you are dead set on nailing the truth.“Here’s a tip for young reporters: Don’t beat the cops to a homicide. Crowds at murder scenes are sometimes wildly angry, drunk, high, confused and looking at a face that is decidedly out of place in their neighborhood. In those days we wore nice clothes, even ties, if not jackets, to a crime scene. ‘Who are you?’ they asked, figuring I must be a cop, because surely, no sane person would show up unarmed in the middle of a melee.” - Frank Stanfield

VAMPIRES, GATORS, AND WACKOS: A Florida Newspaperman's Life

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Stanfield, Frank. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Stanfield, Frank

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Stanfield, Frank. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Vampires, Gators and Wackos: A Newspaperman's Life

Unbroken: The Dorothy Lewis Story

COLD BLOODED: A True Crime Story of a Murderous Teenage Vampire Cult

VAMPIRES, GATORS, AND WACKOS: A Florida Newspaperman's Life