Father Kills 16-Year-Old Son With Power Tool In Lake Wales: Sheriff

LAKE WALES, FL — Sixteen-year-old "Stephen Lee Rodda wasn't just a great kid," said Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd. "He was an outstanding kid" who helped care for his grandparents.

The hardworking Frostproof High School student was killed by an angle grinder — a power tool that cuts and sands metal and masonry. His father has been arrested on murder charges.

An 11th-grader at Frostproof High School, Rodda was scheduled to begin working at Burger King this week, so he could earn enough money to buy a car. In the meantime, he was attending high school full time, studying to become an electrician, said Judd.

When Rodda's grandmother was injured and placed in a rehabilitation center, Stephen Rodda, who had been living with his mother in Lake Wales, volunteered to temporarily move in with his grandfather, Thomas Rodda, 65, to help out until his grandmother returned home.

"That's the kind of kid Stephen Rodda was," Judd said.

Thomas Rodda's son and Stephen Rodda's father, Stephen Thomas Rodda, 37, was basically out of the picture. Addicted to methamphetamine since high school, Stephen Thomas Rodda had spent years traveling around the country, living in Washington, D.C., Texas, Louisiana, South Carolina and Ohio, where he'd racked up a lengthy history of arrests, said Judd.

About a month ago, Stephen Thomas Rodda unexpectedly showed up on the doorstep of his father's mobile home on Old Bartow Road, seeking temporary refuge before resuming his vagrant lifestyle.

On Monday around 8 a.m., Thomas Rodda left the home to visit his wife in rehab.

"When he returned home about 11 o'clock, he was met outside by the suspect, Stephen Rodda," said Judd. He went out to meet his father before Thomas Rodda could enter the mobile home.

"And his quote was, 'I wouldn't go in there if I was you. I killed someone. You may need to call the police,'" said Judd. "Thomas Rodda told us that it was not uncommon for his son, Stephen Rodd, to talk bizzare" and have psychotic episodes, so Thomas Rodda ignored his son's warning and went inside.

There, he found his 16-year-old grandson dead near the kitchen table, killed by an angle grinder, a versatile power tool for metal and masonry work.

By the time sheriff's deputies arrived, Stephen Thomas Rodda has fled the scene.

"We caught him about a mile west of here on State Road 60," Judd said. "He was leaving the area. But our deputies found him quickly and took him into custody."

Judd said the teen's mother and grandparents are in "total shock."

"It breaks our heart. There aren't adequate words to explain how horrific this event is," Judd said. "He was just a stand-up, stellar young man. They're devastated; they're heartbroken; and they don't understand. These things are beyond explanation. This is not rational conduct. To have this worthless individual murder his son is inexplicable."

Judd said it's still early in the investigation, and detectives don't know if Stephen Thomas Rodda has spent time in mental hospitals under the Baker act or if he had any mental health evaluations.

"You think, well, he must have had a mental health issue. Of course, he did," Judd said. "People don't murder people unless they're nutso. That doesn't mean they're criminally insane. We don't know why he did what he did today other than he's a nasty, nasty, evil person. Was he on drugs today? We don't know. That's part of the investigation."

But if anyone deserves to be permanently taken off the streets, Judd said it's Stephen Thomas Rodda.

"This guy apparently has criminal histories all around the United States. Our prayers are with the family," Judd said. "The world lost a great young man."

Stephen Thomas Rodda was booked into the Polk County Jail and charged with first-degree murder.

Related: Mom Kills 2 Kids Before Fatally Shooting Herself: Polk County Sheriff