Murder in the Graveyard: A Family Cult Tragedy

by Frank Stanfield

The 911 call was harrowing.

“I accidentally killed someone. Please!” the man said, his voice rising.

“Who?”

“My stepmom. My name is Ian Anselmo. Sue-Ellen Anselmo, she’s in the car with me. My dad is going to kill me. I guess I strangled her. I don’t remember doing it. I remember the argument.”

The call disintegrated quickly, with the 20-year-old howling and sobbing so pitifully that the dispatcher could not understand what he was saying, except that he was calling from a cemetery.

The graveyard had its own lurid past as the site of a murderous teen vampire cult initiation 20 years earlier, now it was a bloody crime scene, and would later become the site of the pregnant woman’s burial, more family violence, and the removal of her body.

The call was just the beginning. Investigators would discover a family cult stained with allegations of sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, brain-washing, and total patriarchal control.

It would end in an insanity defense, with Ian’s lawyer calling the family atmosphere “crazy,” and pitting psychiatrists and psychologists against each other, revealing questionable practices, motives and techniques by those experts.

Frank Stanfield, a 50-year newspaperman, covered the case from the beginning. It is one of the most twisted tales he has covered, including the vampire case, alligator attacks, murdered cops and countless “Florida man” stories.

Genres: Cults, History, Nonfiction, True Crime

305 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 23, 2025

About the author

Frank Stanfield has been a newspaper editor and reporter for 40 years, including the Orlando Sentinel, Ocala Star-Banner, and the Daily Commercial.

In that time, he has covered some of the most heinous and bizarre "Florida man" stories imaginable. Take the case of the murderous teen vampire cult, a Jane Doe so brutalized some initially thought she had been attacked by a bear, or cattle rustlers who dumped bodies in a "bottomless pit." Florida itself is a star, with its hurricanes, twisters, gators and sharks. See
https://wildbluepress.com/vampires-ga..., twisters, gators and sharks.

Or, a book on the vampires alone.
https://www.amazon.com/Cold-Blooded-M...

Reviews

[Valerity (Val) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This case was so fascinating to me, I read it in one night. It happened in Lake County, Florida. I’ve visited there and have relatives in that area. It’s written by the same author who brought us the case of the vampire killers in the same county. This book revolved around a family that has been described as cult-like in the father’s domination. The children were isolated and brainwashed, and the wife was strongly controlled as well. When the wife finally left, taking the younger children, she was killed days later by her stepson Ian. Many feel he was set on that path by the father’s influence. This is riveting true crime reading, with a case that’s new to me.

[Bookaholic__Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the case to be pretty fascinating but the way it's presented in this book was a bit all over the place. I wish it had been a bit more linear and a little less repetitive.

I will say that this book piqued my interest and I've been going down a bit of a rabbit hole looking things up online about the case. Cults have always fascinated me and honestly I have no doubts that this family was absolutely brainwashed by the father.

I received a copy in exchange for my honest review.

[Caitlin · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF. The writing was meh and got so repetitive. I feel like I got the whole story a third of the way through and dragging it out to 6 hours was cruel. I listened to the audiobook, and I did not care for the narrator. Awful inflections or lack of them, the audio felt cut and paste, and the audio track itself has blown sound. Save yourself the trouble.

[Becky Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Considering I live in Eustis and my mother in law is buried in that Cemetery… I didn’t know a lot about it. It was good.

[marilyne Williamson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most boring true crime book I've ever read. Nothing but transcripts of the trial.