Florida police indicated that a teen boy was murdered after his father assaulted him with an angle grinder in a fit of rage.
After the death of Stephen Lee Rodda (16) in Lake Wales, Polk County, Florida, the local sheriff referred to his father, 37-year-old Stephen Thomas Rodda, as an evil man.
Reports show that while the teen’s grandma was in a rehabilitation center, he lived with his grandfather and helped out. The following week, he was scheduled to begin working at Burger King to put money toward purchasing a vehicle.
Thomas Rodda, the boy’s grandpa, told police that he had left the house to see his wife that morning, but when he came home at 11 a.m., he found the suspect standing outside.
Stephen Thomas Rodda allegedly informed him that he shouldn’t go into the house, according to the grandfather’s statement to police. Rodda said someone died because of his actions, and he should contact the authorities.
The grandfather ignored the comment because the suspect has a history of uttering bizarre comments due to past mental episodes and drug usage. However, Thomas Rodda was met with a gory murder scene and his grandson’s body in the kitchen.
According to the sheriff’s office, the victim had a deep cut to the bottom of his arm, cuts on his left ear and eyebrow, three deep cuts to the back of his head, and minor lacerations to his stomach.
Some of the victim’s teeth were found near the body. They discovered human hair in the left hand. The wall next to his torso and head had blood splatter. A portable angle grinder with a shattered saw blade lay close to the victim.
According to Sheriff Grady Judd of the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, the suspect was sought for a misdemeanor warrant in South Carolina at the time of his arrest. The suspect is also known to have regularly relocated around the United States and has a criminal history in several states.
Grady said that the man has done nothing but cause trouble for the general public.
Rodda has been denied bond.
