Morbid - Episode 24: The Gainesville Ripper Has Spooky Droopy Eyes

Episode Date: October 24, 2018

The real psycho behind the classic slasher film Scream was much worse than fiction. He was a country singing, people murdering turd who held Gainesville, Florida hostage in 1990. Luckily, he is dead than dead now, so we can tell you all about it. Also, Sondra London, if you are reading this, you are garbage. Sources:  https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-1994-02-16-9402160281-story.html https://www.jacksonville.com/article/20150825/NEWS/801251820 https://www.gainesville.com/article/LK/20150822/News/604159871/GS See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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That's W-O-N-D-E-R-Y-P-O-D. Audible.com slash wonderypod or text wonderypod to 500-500 to try audible for free for 30 days. Angie's list is now Angie, and we've heard a lot of theories about why. I thought it was an eco-move. For your worst, guess paper. It was so you could say it faster. No way. It's to be more iconic.

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That's ANGI. Ordered download the app today. Do you guys have any idea why we just said that? Bet you don't. I know. Actually I bet most of you do. Cause you're all too kind to me. I was gonna say they probably do now. You know what we're talking about.

You already know. Because today we're gonna be a journey. This one. Isn't it always? It's a real journey. This one's a real journey. So we took you way down with the toy box killer. We brought you a little bit up with the sale of witch trials

because there's some whimsy in that. We're not gonna bring them all the way down to where the toy box was right. We're not gonna bring them back down to toy box, but we're gonna bring you back down. Okay. This one's, there's a couple of things in here that are pretty brutal.

How many people did he kill? So he was convicted of killing eight people while we're together, five of which he is most known for infamous for. That's like the five that we're gonna talk about all of them, but the five that were in Gainesville or what earned him the Gainesville ripper name. Where's Gainesville? Florida. I thought so. But we're gonna get into that. All that good stuff in a minute. Before we do anything we want to thank our new Patreon.

Who I like to call Patrons. Patrons? It's true she does call you Patrons. That is a thing. All my little Patrons. I don't even like Patrons. And actually this week we're going to be giving you guys a bonus episode. Bony, bony, so if you want to get in on this bonus action, hey oh, is it bonus action? Feel free to become a Patreon. If you're so inclined. Only if you're so inclined.

If you don't feel like it, we get it. We love you anyway. Don't worry about it. If you're declined, I've been there too. I'm there right now. If you are any other kind of client besides in, we still love you. Yeah.

So it's fine. One thing we will say is if you wanna get in on the bonus episode, you've got to be coming on Patreon. No. So come on Patreon. You know what I'm just saying? But we got a few new Patrons this week.

So without further ado. Tell me. The new members of the window-latching coven are Alexis. A Madonna. Another Madonna. I love our Madonna. I love our Madonna. Our Madonna Patrons are like some of my favorites.

The Patronist. And actually Alexis spells her name with a U instead of an I. And I think that's cool. Oh, that is cool. A-L-E-X-U-S. I like that. Yeah, I like that. Alexis, I like that.

So I prove with your name. The next one is Heather Libhart. I love you Heather. I like the name Heather It's a really good movie. Heather's that's what it makes me think of yeah and Heather do grow from the Real House vibes I didn't think of that, but I like it. I like where you go. I like to include bravo on this as much as we can fuck Yeah, thank you Heather So Heather we love you. Thank you so much and The next window-latching Kevin member is Catherine Zamorone Mm-hmm, and I think I said that right, but if I didn't Catherine tell me tellers

Especially with names because I feel you all yeah, cuz my name gets miss miss pronounced all day or day mine only gets misspelled That's true. And sometimes miss pronounced. I was just gonna say sometimes people say ashla. Well then we have one member of the jagged little bitches. Tell me. Eve McKenzie. Eve McKenzie. Thank you. Thank you. That's a spooky name. That's a great name. Eve. I love that name. Me too. Me too. A lot of good names this week. Yeah. I also really like the name Catherine. I don't remember if I said that. Well I like it too. Sometimes I think about naming a kid Catherine. I like that. You have a lot of good names this week. Yeah, I also really like the name Catherine. I don't remember if I said that. Well, I like it too.

Sometimes I think about naming a kid Catherine. I like that. You have a lot of names for your children. Well, I'm one a lot of children. Sometimes. After hanging out with mine? No, not really. That's gonna say.

I haven't scared you off of it yet. Thank you so much to Alexis Heather Catherine and Eve. You guys are the shit-talkie mushrooms. I'm my salad. So yeah, and so you guys are getting a bonus episode this week. We're not gonna tell you what it is yet. Do you even put shit-talkie mushrooms on a salad?

I don't know. I don't either. I think you can fry them up. Tss. I don't know why I got something there. I was like, I was like, I'm not gonna fry them all. So yeah, shit-talkie mushrooms. I don't know how we got something in there. I was like, frat, frat. So yeah, shiitake mushrooms.

I don't know how we got there, but we got there. Hey. So we went to the haunted house last weekend. I think we told you guys we were going to be leaving right after we were recording to go to a haunted house. And we went to Barrett's haunted mansion in Abington, Massachusetts. It was so much fun. It is so good. This is like a third year I think. Yeah, and it just keeps getting better and better. Yeah, it's

This time was it's one of those that you exactly it's like you never say you might be in a long line But you're gonna be entertained literally the entire time because I hate the ones that just put you in a line and nobody Like pops out or anything there and while you're in line they also play horror movies in one section yeah yeah like all these different clips of classic horror movies they make sure you are literally entertained from every angle and then they have I'm not sure what time it is but I think I think it's if it reaches midnight or something like I don't remember yeah I don't know what it is but they do this this thing called like Mayhem Hour and all the people. If there's a big long line, they come out and do,

they hang from the ceiling and shit. Yeah, it's like they play crazy heavy metal and they have all the characters just hanging around the screen for the shits out of you. They're like screaming and going crazy. Barrets and having to Massachusetts, if you're around this area, go check it out because it's really good.

A plus and we're going to another one at the end of this week and we'll tell you about that one. It's the number two scariest in the seaconc. Seaconc. So we'll check that one out. I also really want to see the new Halloween. I want to see it too but I hate going to the movies because it gives me anxiety It kind of gives me anxiety too. Yeah, I can't relax for some things like that I will I'll deal with it because I know to the movies ever

So I'll do it for the once in a lifetime things like seeing Halloween in the theater Well once in a lifetime things are like even scarier to me. I just go sit in luck's level Yeah, that way you're above it all isn't it? Exit right there. I feel like more... I feel safer up there. Okay. Right. You have a separate entrance and exit. And you're above everything. You can see everything that's going on in the theater. Yeah. I just don't like going to the movies anymore. I think I think we're ready to just jump into this. I waste any more time. I'm so excited.

So let's get into this madness, shall we? So like we said, we are going to be talking about a little dude that inspired a little movie. A little dude, you. A little dude, dude. A tard, if you will. On December 20th, 1996, Kevin Williamson and Wes Craven released a there soon to be classic,

Slash of Like, Scream in theaters. Ghostface, who's a killer in Scream in case you have not seen it, and that's not a spoiler because it's a ghostface. I almost just had to say that. I'm a killer. I can see it on your face. Ghostface was inspired by a real-life brutal serial killer who stopped, tortured, and murdered teens in a college town in Florida in 1990. Okay. So this

wasn't like, I mean, it's a long time ago, but like, it wasn't that bad. It wasn't like I was in the 90s. I feel like it's recent enough. Yeah. This man was Danny Rowling who became known as the Gainesville Ripper. For a little side note before we get into this, if you, I'm sure a lot of you have seen either scene screen or have at least seen the mask that goes face wears and scream, you know how the ghost face has these like droopy eyes, like spooky droopy eyes. Did Danny have those? Danny kind of has spooky droopy eyes and I wonder if they kind of like got inspired by that. Because I don't know when I see him I'm like you kind of have a weird spooky droopy eyes. And I feel like it's just like a kind of a thing that

you zero in on and I think it's weird that ghost face has spooky droopy eyes. I'm gonna need you to pause and show me his eyes. Oh. Oh. See he has spooky derby-s. He does have spooky derby-s. They like group on the outsides. Yeah. Danny Rolling was born in Shreveport, Louisiana,

on May 26th, 1954, to James and Claudia Rolling, and he had one brother, Kevin. Kevin. Just Kevin. Shockingly, he grew up in a shitty home environment. I thought you were gonna see he grew up in a shitty home environment. I thought you were gonna say he grew up in a nice home environment. No, it's crazy. It's never happened. This is not pattern at all.

His father was actually a shrewd port police officer. Was he a dick? Who regularly beat his wife and kids. Also, he informed Danny quite a bit that he was unwanted since birth. That sucks. Yeah, it's pretty awful. In one instance, just to point out, I mean, there's a couple of instances that I can point to to tell you how shitty this dude was. In one instance, Claudia was brought to the hospital because she claimed that James had tried to force her to cut herself with a razor blade. Jesus Christ.

Then one time his father brought home a puppy. No, no. And a trigger warning? Danny, trigger warning? Yeah, trigger warning. Yeah, I would say trigger warning. Danny was really excited, really close to the puppy. The father regularly beat the stug.

And then one time beat it so badly that it died in Danny's arms and he was five. So a five-year-old was holding this puppy and his father, his father was a literal piece of shit. No, that just made me want to cry. Yeah, I say that a lot. So that's how much of a shit he was? Like he was, I mean that's an awful home to grow up in. Who does not do a dog? And he's a police officer. How scary is that? I was gonna say that's 10 times scarier. That's even called so much power And he's a police officer. How scary is that? I was gonna say that's 10 times scarier. That's even called so much power and he's that psychotic. I mean, you have to be psychotic.

You have to be sociopathic and some kind of light to beat a puppy and kill it. Okay, I don't wanna talk about that anymore. So at 15 years old, Danny slit his wrists and wrote in his mother's lipstick on the bathroom mirror, I tried, I just can't make it. Jesus. Oh my god. He survived it. But at 15 years old, that's how far he was pushed by regular verbal, emotional, and physical abuse by his father. That's a diss mother apparently was not abusive

at all, but she was a victim of it. And obviously, he watched his dad abuse his mother too. Right. He dropped out of high school in 1971. Crazy enough, he couldn't finish high school. And he immediately enlisted in the Air Force, which I feel like is another pattern of this kind of thing. It's like a lot of them enter the military, right, like right out of high school, or at some point. And I think it's because they want control structure and

they want to hold that kind of power and authority because that's the main you know because they didn't have it. Yeah and they think they're going to get some kind of power out of this and they end up not getting that. Apparently he was graded all the intellectual parts. Mm-hmm. All his coursework and everything. He was like nailing it but he was also a huge heavy drinker and drug user, and he continued that. Oh no. And the other source, so it messed him up. A military psychologist diagnosed him with, I believe, borderline personality disorder.

Ooh. So he was discharged for his drug use, and apparently for stealing a bike. Like what? Like what did you need a bike for? So he ended up returning to Shreveport Louisiana which is where which he he just wanted to get out of Shreveport Louisiana and he ended up right back there yeah that's a bummer exactly but don't worry you won't feel bad for him for long oh I don't even right now and when he got back to Shreveport he began to attend the King's Temple United Pentecostal Church.

And it was there that he met a woman named O'Meather Helko. The fuck? Her name is O'Meather. Oh, mother? Kind of like O'Brien. Interesting. Yeah. She was a petite, dark-haired woman.

Okay. Which turns out to be his type. Later in life. Just to point that out. You're petite. Well, you don't have dark hair though. No, naturally it's darker. It's darkish, yeah, dark red.

That's not that dark. But he liked dark brown. I would say, like he was more of a brunette person. A lot of these dudes are into brunettes. I was gonna say Bundy was into brunettes. Bundy liked to brown him. The two married in 1974 and had a daughter Kylie a year later. Okay.

Kylie Jenner? That's exactly who it is. I knew it. See, we just connected this to present day. The lipstick palette. That's fucked, that I just said that connection by. I love it. Uh, their marriage only lasted three years, weirdly enough. Wow. That's way longer than I thought it. Their marriage only lasted three years, weirdly enough.

Wow. That's way longer than I thought it would. Yeah, he was not a good husband, he was alcoholic, and he couldn't keep a job. So rolling was really pissed. I would be too. Well, no, he was really pissed when O'Malley filed for divorce in 1977. Oh, I thought you just meant he was pissed at his life. He was really pissed. I was like, yeah, I get it.

Uh, you stole the bite. Weird enough, and this will come back later. He did mention later that his ex-wife looked a lot like one of his victims, Christa Hoyt. Oh, who ended up getting the most violent murder of the bunch. Uh, yeah, her murder is really brutal. Oh, that's fucked up. Yeah, that's more than you.

Is it weird that they just go and murder other people? And they, like, they don't murder the actual person who... Right. I mean, I'm not saying like go murder the actual person. I had a man who didn't, he had stayed married to his wife. He probably would. That she probably would have been the first victim. I think eventually she got away from him. Because a lot of these things, because... You get trapped. He probably would. He probably would. He probably would. He probably would. He probably would. He probably would.

He probably would. He probably would. He probably would. He probably would. He probably would. He probably would. He probably would. He probably would.

He probably would. He probably would. He probably would. He probably would. He probably would. He probably would. He probably would. He probably would.

He probably would. He probably would. He probably would. He probably would. He probably would. He probably would. He probably would. come a drifter. Nope. Well, you know, at some point we'll cover Henry Lee Lucas and Otis Toul and Drifter. They'll show you that drifter's is not a fuck out of school. He was a tool. Yeah, he was a tool. He started committing armed robberies in Alabama, Louisiana and Georgia. What could casual? Super casual. He was very into robbing supermarkets. That was his like, was he hungry? No, because he robbed them of money. Oh, yeah The police caught him as he left a Columbus, Georgia, Windixie supermarket with

956 stolen dollars. Yeah, we're seeing the movie Windixie. No, I have not Just saying what is that about a dog? I thought so. Yeah, it's not my kind of flick watch it the dog doesn't die I'm probably not gonna watch it fine So yeah, the police caught him as you left a Columbus, Georgia, Windixi He had only stolen $956 in cash and for that he was sentenced to six years in prison. Oh wow was it worth it? That's a long time While he was in prison. Yeah, prison doesn't teach you

anything good. He lifted weights, he boxed, he got like he started getting buffered. It makes, called him psycho. Sweet. Sickness, that's good. You ever seen double jeopardy? Yes. She gets really buffed in prison to get back at her ex-husband. I've seen that movie. Alright, you'll ever see Shawshank Redemption. You'll ever see the Green Mile? That's a great movie. I never watched it. You never watched the Green Mile? It's always on Bravo, but you said it's sad.

Well, yeah. Yeah, I don't want to. I just don't want to watch it right now. It has a good ending. Okay, that ends well. Anyway, we're going to be here all night. So after his release, he started hitchhiking across the country, you know,

just doing the drifter thing, robbing some more supermarkets, because that was a share. He kept robbing? Oh yeah, he went right back to robbing. Oh. In 1985, the year I was born. Oh.

Rolling held up another supermarket and was arrested. I guess. Wouldn't it be it? Yeah, he went to jail a few times. Get a fucking job, buddy. And his defense attorney was Arthur Carlyle and during a conversation with him, rolling was like, hey, instead of going to prison, why don't you just cut my hands off? So he really was psycho? And they were like, nah. They were like, yeah, this isn't like 1600 event. And so they were like, you know what?

Instead of doing that, how about you go to a Mississippi jail for four years for arm droppings? So that's what even. What? He was described as having, clearly having impulse control problems. He was also described as very emotionally immature. Clearly. Which makes sense considering how he grew up, and that he didn't think through the consequences

of his actions, obviously. So in 1988, he was paroled and he returned to a shrewd fort. So he kept going back there. So he kept going back there. So he kept going back there. So he kept going back there. And coming back, I don't know. Because part of the thing you'll see is he hated his father, but he

wanted his father to love him. Yeah, and he wanted to love his father and he loved his mother. Oh. Which is fucking bizarre when you can kind of be like, you know what he does this because his mom, usually it's the mom who's the thing that sets like Ed Kempton. That makes them mad. That's not women. But this one is like the father,

but he takes it out on women. It's interesting. So I guess it's always women that could have taken out on them no matter what. So yeah, he went back to Shreveport after being paroled. And on November 4th, 1989, he was fired from his job at a Ponceaux restaurant. Ponceaux, huh? When he was fired, he wasn't just like this sex. He lashed out, and

this happened to be the first night that he killed. Oh! Now, this murder, which is actually three murders in one night, a triple homicide, wasn't connected to him until like a year or so later. Damn! They didn't have surveillance? Well, no, he didn't murder the manager. Oh. Oh, you know. So Rowling had watched 24-year-old Julie Grissom as she worked at a

Dillard's department store in Treesports, South Park Mall. So he just got fired and then he was like, I'mma go to the mall. Well, no, he had been watching her for a while. Like he knew who she was. Oh so he was talking to her even before he got hired? He can't. Well he had just seen her. Okay. You know so he just like was interested. He followed her home from her job. Uh-huh. Broken to her home. Raped and murdered her. Oh my god.

Also murdered her father Tom Grissom. Oh wow. And also murdered her eight-year-old sunshine. Holy shit! All of them were stabbed to death. Now for no fucking reason. As would become his signature, rolling positioned Julie's body with her leg spread. Oh no. And a sexually explicit minute. And also carefully fanned her hair out on the bed. Hate that. Yep. She was discovered also with clear adhesive tape marks all over her, like restraints. And bite marks on her breasts. Now all of this is going to screw them back to this because it becomes kind of something

he's known for. It's only going to be a few months before he starts killing again in Gainesville. Damn. Now, that's portal. He started murdering again in Gainesville. He had an argument with his parents one night. He shot his father in the stomach. Oh my God. And in the head.

His father lived, but lost an ear and lost sight in one of his eyes. Well, he was a dick anyway. He was, but like, whoa. Yeah. Now, he also, one of the things that's weird about Danny Rowling is he, he was a dick anyway. He was, but like, whoa. Yeah. Now, he also, one of the things that's weird about Danny Rowling is he recorded himself on cassette tape a lot. Mm-hmm. Either just talking about things.

It was like a diary kind of thing. They just found a bunch of them or something. They did. He had them all on him instead. Did he have a creepy scream voice? No, he has a very hilarious, like, seven little bitchy voice, next to me. And he also sang a lot in wrote songs, and played music, and liked recite poetry and shit.

So, yeah, they're fucker. So he recorded these things, and during some of these recordings, he would talk about how he loved his father, but then he would also like curse his father, so he was very conflicted about clearly he wanted to love his father but it's almost like Edmund Kemper actually because he did want to love him. I know I come back to Edmund Kemper a lot but he's I swear he's like one of my favorites just because he and I say to him out right fascinating because he

is fascinating right in fact there was a special on him last night. Kemper on Kemper. I put it on the morbid Instagram. Kemper on Kemper on Oxygen. And they went into way more detail about it. And the way he talks about his mother, how he's like, I wanted to love her. And I wanted her acceptance.

And I wanted her approval. Then he did awful things to her. So it's the same kind of thing here. He wanted his father's love and approval, but he couldn't. But same thing, they were both like ship bags. They're both shitty to their kids. To their kids, exactly. Don't be shitty to your kids, man.

At this point, he left Treetport finally. After he shot his father, and he ended up taking a bus to Sarasota, and then finally ended up in Gainesville. And at this time, Gainesville was actually ranked as the 13th best place to live in the United States by Money magazine. Only for a minute! Only for a minute! So, apparently it was like this great college town, which is exactly what he was looking for.

When he got there, he rented a room at a hotel but also set up a weird campsite in the woods. You know, just close. And like mainly stayed there. So it's like, why did you buy it? It's weird. He seemed confused. And he set up this campsite in the woods near Archer Road with a tent and a mattress that he bought at the Gainesville Wal-Mart. In the Wal-Mart, while buying those supplies and the supplies to stock and murder people. Oh God. He saw his first two victims. Oh no. And my first two victims, I mean the first two that he was known to have committed. Sure. Now we know he did those other three, but these are technically the first two that people know of. They were two University of Florida,

so UF Freshman Girls. Sonja Larson, who was 18, and Christina Powell, who was 17. They were at Walmart buying things for their brand new apartment, because you know, like the semester had just begun. They were several aisles away from him, but he was just stalking them through the store. He was, while he's stalking them, he's holding the things he was going to use to murder the deer. Well, that's so fucked up. He had stolen a screwdriver, a roll of duct tape, and two pairs of gloves.

After shopping? Yeah. After shopping, he followed them to their Williamsburg Village apartment. He literally set up camp to watch them that night. So he followed them to their apartment, and then he watched through their window as they watched dishes. He was wearing a black outfit, a ski mask, and the gloves. He waited until 3 a.m. outside and then he prepped up to their second floor apartment. He used the screwdriver to pry open the door. Now officer Ray Barber was called to this first scene the next day and he was

called by the apartment complex's manager. Because Christina Powell's parents couldn't get their daughter to answer the door. And that was obviously a new role. And they were scared. So they asked for the police to be called. They were like, this is weird. Barber, Officer Ray Barber, said he initially wasn't super worried when he got this call

because he was like, these are young kids. It's their first time away from home. They party and then they forget to call their parents. Right. And then their parents get scared. Yeah. So he was like, but I'll certainly come and try to open the door and check on them. Right.

So her parents waited downstairs. The manager attempted to use a master key to enter the unit, but it wouldn't work weirdly enough. So far, probably to the screwdriver just like, fuck yeah. Yeah, maybe. So Barbara had to break a window and immediately a strong six smell came out of the so they had been chilling

there for a while no only overnight oh wow Florida so when I was two and he also one thing that I mean I don't trigger warning if you don't want to hear like a medical side of this then maybe skip forward because it's kind of gross But the strong six smell doesn't necessarily have to be decomposition. Oh If you nick the bowel that is a very tough odor Okay, it will emanate quite strongly like during an autopsy you make very Clear or not to nick the bowel because that smell is really gross. Don't hit the poop pipe kid. I don't know, have we mentioned that before in the movie?

Yeah, we did one time. Yeah, from the movie pathology, it's a really good movie. Because you really don't want to. Because not only does it smell really badly, it contaminates the entire thoracic cavity because whatever's in there is very unsavory. Anyway, yeah. So, yeah, he broke the window, he smelled something, he immediately was like, oh shit. They first found Sonia Larson. She was laying with her legs spread and arms

above her head. She was so badly mutilated that dental records had to be used to confirm her identity. Oh my god. Christina Powell was posed in front of the front door in a similar way. So anyone coming through the door would immediately see her. That was like the intention. Oh my god. Her breasts had been mutilated and her nipples were removed and were missing from the scene. Oh, what? That became a thing with him. Uh, both of the bodies had been washed with detergent. That's strange. He cleaned all the bodies. Oh, just because if there was anything of him left. It was like some weird attempt to get angry at forensic evidence. There was a third roommate named Elsa Strip. She happened to have not been home that night. Thank God God, Elsa. She arrived shortly after the bodies were discovered

and literally like collapse when she found out. So she was like- She was like- Well, she was also like, holy shit, I would have been in this house. Like, that would have been me. Oh my God, that's so fucked up. Crazy. I can't imagine what that feels like.

I hope I never find out. Uh, Barbara said his first thought was that this was absolutely the worst crime scene he had ever been to. As we said the night before, Rowling had watched these women and had broken into their home with a screwdriver in the early morning hours of Friday, August 24th. Powell, Christina Powell, was asleep on the downstairs couch. Stop sleeping on the couch, everybody.

Oh my god, don't sleep on the couch. It's by no means your fault, but just stop sleeping on the couch. It's just not a safe place to be. So unfortunately Powell was asleep on the downstairs couch. He apparently stood over her briefly but didn't wake her up immediately. So he went to the upstairs bedroom where Sonja Larson was asleep in her bed. He murdered Larson first. Before he murdered her, he taped her mouth shut with duct tape to stifle his screams and then he stabbed her to death. My God. The way he stabs all these women is he forces them to roll onto their stomach and then he stabs them in the back repeatedly.

That's like his thing. Which is so cowardly too, like you can't even want to look at them. It's so gross. She fought him, unfortunately it did not work. He then went back downstairs. He woke, powl up. He taped her mouth shut with duct tape, bound her wrists together behind her back, and then threatened her with a knife as he cut her clothes off of her. Like he terrorized his victims. That was like part of his thing. He liked to terrorize them. Jesus. He then forced Powell to perform oral sex on him. He raped her and after forcing her face down, he stabbed her in the back five times,

rolling then ate an apple in a banana from the refrigerator. Okay, fucking night stalker. Pose the bodies in sexually provocative positions and then left the apartment. So he's got like a little golden state killer and I'm too. That's what I meant to say. Night stalker did it too though. Yeah.

Like a banana or something. So we hear... The night stalker and the original night stalker. That's funny. Yeah, that's funny. Before the police were even done with this crime scene, they were called to another one. So you did the same day, like a day after,

like he was literally like the following day. Wow. Now this one is a doozy. What is it? So if it's that they don't have a like a rest period in between does that make them disorganized or not, not necessarily? Not necessarily.

Okay. They just say serial killer has a cooling off period because it can be confused with mass murderer or a serial killer. Okay. Which he isn't. He has a couple of days between these and he had already murdered that family months earlier, so he did have that cool enough period. He did have a cool enough period but yeah just not in between everyone yeah but same thing with like Ted Bundy he had the night stocker too like he went on you know a couple pages but so this one was 18 year old Christa Hoyt who looked like his ex

wife this is the one that they said he said looked like his ex wife she worked for the records department of the sheriff's office oh wow and on August 25th that's fucking said looked like his ex-wife. She worked for the records department of the Sheriff's Office. Oh wow. And on August 25th, she was- That's fucking balsy of him. Yeah, I don't even know if he knew that. But on August 25th, she was late for her shift. And a shift supervisor became worried

because he was like, this is not like her. Right. So this led him to ask deputies to check on her. One of the two deputies that was dispatched out to her home said she immediately knew something was very, very wrong, because Christa was known to be very reliable and wouldn't have missed work unless something absolutely stopped her from going to work. Oh God. So she already was like something bad.

That's like the worst feeling, I'm sure. Yeah. The male deputies that was with this other, because they sent two out. He said he knocked on the door. Couldn't get an answer. So he walked to the other side of the residence and noticed that a chain link fence on the edge of the property had been flattened down. Like somebody had walked over it. Right. So he was like, this is weird.

We had alarmed him. Then they saw that there was Venetian style blinds on the window. And one side of the Venetian style blinds was like raised a little so you can see in So he they bent down they peaked under to see if they could see anything and that's when they saw Christa on her bed Her naked body was found seated on the edge of her bed with her torso bent slightly at the waist Literally sitting up and she was headless. Oh my god! Yeah.

What if you were trafficked into a cult over shot nine times, or fell in love with a vampire, or went into a minor surgery and woke up one week later, paralyzed? What would you do? I'm Whit Missaldine, the creator of this is actually happening, a podcast from Wondry that brings you extraordinary true stories of life-changing events told by the people who lived them. From a young man that dunes his entire future with one choice, to a woman who survived a notorious serial killer, you'll hear their first-person account of how they overcame remarkable circumstances. Each episode is an exploration of the human spirit and personal discovery. These haunting accounts sound like Hollywood movies,

but I assure you this is actually happening. Followed this is actually happening wherever you get your podcasts, you can listen to ad-free on the Amazon Music or Wundery app. Hi, I'm Lindsay Graham, the host of Wundery's podcast American Scandal. We bring to life some of the biggest controversies in U.S. history, presidential lies, environmental disasters, corporate fraud. In our newest series, we look at the Kids for Cash Scandal, a story about corruption inside America's system of juvenile justice. In Northeastern Pennsylvania, residents had begun noticing an alarming trend. Children were being sent away to jail in high numbers, and often for committing only minor offenses. The FBI began looking at two local judges, and when the full

picture emerged, it made national headlines. The judges were earning a fortune, carrying out a brazen criminal scheme, one that would shatter the lives of countless children, and force a heated debate about punishment, an America's criminal justice system. Follow American scandal wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen ad-free on the Amazon music or Wonder App. So he posed her headless body, sitting on the end of her head. He'd be headed her.

Yup, and it gets worse. On the bed next to her, was her two nipples. Her head was propped up on a bookshelf that he had brought from another room. What the fuck? He turned this bookshelf and her head into the bedroom in a way that it would make it look like her headless body, like her head was looking at her headless body. Oh my god, that is so fucked up.

Yep. Her breasts had also been cut off and were wrapped up as if the killer plan to take them with him. And I just forgot them, like what? Oh, and the killer had also placed mirrors all around her body because it would make it more horrific and magnified the image. Like you saw 100 images of her just I don't even know how to respond to that. Yep. Who the fuck thinks like that? Your mind is a dark, dark, dark, dark, dark, dark crevice. It is

well, it's just I'm just I don't, I'm just, I don't know how, I mean, I don't know how you behead, beheading freaks me out. I don't know a lot of work to chop somebody's fucking head off. And what he ended up, he used a K bar knife, which is a military style knife. It's like a, I think like a foot long or something. It's like a small, like a machine.

Huge knife. And I, like beheading just freaks me out. I don't know if it's just because like a small, like a machete. Huge knife. And I, like, the heading just freaks me out. I don't know if it's just because like you're, you're humanities, like in your head a lot. Well, yeah. I don't want to go back to Kenbergen, but like he, I think he said something about that. But the person is the head.

Right, you know, that's why he took it off. So it's like, I don't, that just freaks me. I can't imagine walking into seeing a head. No. And a headless body. That would take some moment. What ended up happening was rolling head broken into her apartment the night before, prying open a sliding glass door with the knife he had in a screwdriver. So he used a lot of like

the like the wedge and rail. He had watched her from his weirdo campsite and had seen her towel off after a shower and he was like, yep, that's the one. So he was watching her like get out of the shower and stuff. He's disgusting pig. When he broke in that night, she wasn't home. So he waited in the living room for her to return. At 11 a.m., she entered the apartment and he surprised her from behind placing her in a chokehold. Oh my god She walked into her apartment. He just came out of nowhere and chokeholded her from the back After she had been subdued he taped her mouth shut with duct tape Bound her wrists together with duct tape and let her into the bedroom where he cut the clothes from her body Which was a thing he did and raped her or as rolling himself described it, quote, played with her.

Ew. He's disgusting. Um, as in the Powell murder, he forced her to face down and stab her in the back, which ruptured her heart. So, hopefully she would die a little faster. He then left and went back to his campsite. Like, he was like, okay, I'm done. Then he thought he left his wallet at the apartment

so he came back. And when he came back, he was like, huh. This is a boring crime scene, like what? And when he came back, he sliced her open from sternum to groin, because she was also gutted and decapitated the body and cut off the nipples. The cut from sternum to pubic bone was so clean according to authorities that no damage was found to internal organs from that slice. That is really hard to say.

I was going to say like, so what does that mean? Like even for a professional, it's just because you cut through the skin, you cut through the muscle, you know, fat, any fat that's on the body. And then there's like a thin lining that protects your organs. You have to carefully cut through that. If you puncture through that, you'll get a puncture, one of the organs. So he was just a locker. Was that just your locker? I don't, I think it was luck, but then again, he was also like a hunter, I think, as well. So maybe he was, he had that under his belt. I don't know. I just thought that was really crazy. I was like, whoa.

This also harkens back to the inspiration for scream. I know no one's nipples were specifically removed for that film or their head's taken off, but this inspiration kind of goes back to the like, gutting, the victims and staging them. When Casey Becker is killed initially in the... She's gutted, right? Yep, she's gutted. And in the infamous scene of the crew

like having lunch by the fountain in school the next day, Sidney asks, how do you gut someone? And Stu Marker replies, you take a knife and you slit them from growing to sternum. Oh, shit. Which is exactly what Rowling did. And Casey is also hung from a tree to shock the people unfortunately her parents who

Discover her and that's exactly what Rowling did to Christa And it's our furniture, but he he Dispoir her very shocking way and that was his his whole thing damn So it was clear to authorities now that these scenes were connected because I mean just the things that were out here. I mean there was the same posing, same methods. Underwear was stolen from each scene. The victims were all young women with shoulder-length brown hair.

Tape was used to restrain them and they had all been sexually assaulted. He also took body parts from both scenes. By now the murders had attracted a ton of media. Sure. Because this is like boom, boom, two days, co-eds in their house. Many students started taking a lot of precautions, which is good. They were changing their daily routines. They were sleeping together in groups.

And because it was happening so early in the fall semester Some students just withdrew their enrollment or transferred to other schools. I would 100% be like bye But I was gonna say if my kids were down there. I know I would not let me stay there. I would be on the first plane I'd be grabbing them being like you're going to a different school. Yeah, no fucking way. I don't care what needs to happen here I don't care if I get a refund you're going to another school So for the ones I I'm actually in a home school you would prefer college. Like you're never leaving the house again, actually.

So for the ones that did stay, they set up a 24 hour security at all the sorority houses on campus because I'm sure they started thinking like back to Ted Bundy. Right, that's nice. So all of a sudden that's got a pop in your head. It was Florida too.

So it's like, yeah, holy shit dude. Students started staying in packs of like 20 to a room with each of them taking shifts to stay up all night and like, oh my god, that's so fun. Luckily the campus, the people like the campus higher up seemed to handle it, right? The students were all informed that they would not be penalized

from missing classes or going home. That's good. They were gonna be, they even opened up the lounging common areas of student residence halls and used them as bedrooms for students who lived off campus and other apartments and didn't want to stay in their apartments. Wow. Good for them.

So that's kind of cool. A task force was immediately formed with members of the FBI Behavioral Science Unit, FBI profilers, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Agents, and the most expensive manhunt in Florida's history officially began. Police had evidence and were getting tips everywhere,

but DNA was not super wide spread used at that point, and they were kind of struggling to keep up with all the tips coming in. So the following day after this, on August 27, a first union bank was robbed at gunpoint. Later, a suspect who matched the description of the robbery suspect was seen with another man on the side of the highway, like near the woods. Uh-huh. Police tried to apprehend them, but one of the men ran into the woods. They chased him, and they

lost him, but found a campsite with a bag of cash that was covered in like the exploding dye that banks use. Oh right right. Stop this kind of shit. So they went back to the other man that didn't run and they were like who the fuck is that. He said his name was Michael J. Kennedy and it turns out this was Danny Rowling under an alias that he started using. So they were that close to catching him. Oh my god. So he was using the alias Michael J. Kennedy. That's how he was very specific. Round I know. Like the J. Yeah right. Just for fucking shits and giggles. That's him was James. Maybe it was maybe weird connection. So only two days after the discovery of Christa Hoyt, Rolling broke into an apartment by prying open the sliding glass door with the same tools he had used previously.

This put the apartment belong to 23-year-old Tracy Paul's and her roommate, Manny Tabota. Okay. I hope I'm not saying those names wrong. He was also 23. Rolling found Manny asleep in his bedroom. He was a big guy like six to two hundred pounds. Oh wow. And played football. He was a big dude. He was asleep in one of the bedrooms. So rolling just plunged to the huge knife into his abdomen while he was asleep. It went through his stomach and out his back. Oh my god. Yeah. Many woke up and fucking fought him. After he reminds me of scream when she's like my boyfriend plays football. He's big. Oh my god, maybe that's I wonder if that's what it is. Yeah.

Because she's like he's big. No, don't care. Yeah. Oh my god, maybe that's like a little call that it could be. I didn't even think of that. Oh, oh, oh, unfortunately after a huge struggle. In fact, rolling himself admitted later, that Manny almost got him. Like almost got the best of him. He eventually killed Manny by stabbing him 31 times. He had to stab him 31 times to get him off of him. After already stabbing him,

literally through his whole body. Yup. Wow. So hearing this craziness, crazy calls. Trissy ran out of the goddamn house. Well, she went down the hall to devote his bedroom because she was like, what's going on? And she saw Rowling.

So she ran back to her own bedroom and slammed the door shut and attempted to barricade herself in the room. Oh, poor thing. Rowling broke down the door. And when he did, she looked at him and said terrified you're the one aren't you? Oh my fucking god. And his response was yeah I'm the one. Do you

really think that happened? I don't know. Because that's not that cool. That's more just like terrifying. Yeah, I know that is terrifying. I mean I hope I don't even know what I hope happened but I mean you you would have to I would say something yeah no I know. I'm just wondering if he's being a dapper. Because if you're just happened, you see what just happened in the downstairs in the other bedroom, you're gonna be like, you're him. Like, where the one who did this, aren't you? Rolling then immediately attacked her.

He duct taped her mouth and wrists. He cut off her clothing and he raped her. Before turning her over and stabbing her three times in the back. He then cleaned her body with soap and water. So weird. Drag her into the hallway and posed her body in a sexually explicit manner, but left to bodas in the same position where he died.

Because he was like a guy, maybe. Yeah, well, he also rolled up a towel on their pulse, pulse his hips to kind of like make it more shocking and explicit, because it elevated her pelvic area. And when she was found, her hair was wet. Maybe from when he was cleaning her body. Now with the exception of Tabota, obviously all the victims wore petite Caucasian burnets

with brown eyes and brown hair. Many was not clearly not expected to be there by rolling. Right. And like the golden state killer, he was just a threat that needed to be neutralized before he could go after the woman, which is always the target. Mm-hmm. Like always. Rolling himself, again, said he only killed Mani to have his way with Paul's. Ew.

That's how he described it. Fuck him, dude. Now, this is one authority's fully realized they had a fucking serial killer on their hands. People were fucking freaking out. Although law enforcement initially didn't have a lot of leads, one name kept being brought up in all of the tips that they were receiving. Michael, Jane, 19 year old University of Florida freshman named Edward Lewis Humphrey. Oh, so not Michael Jackson and Eddie. Edward had a history of mental illness and bore numerous deep scars on his face from a car accident. Oh, so I think he, and you'll hear he had a lot of issues, but I think the scars kind of added to, you know, the visual that people

have of the serial killer, because you never picture Ted Bundy. Exactly. You know, like someone's scary looking. Like Freddie Cruder. Exactly. And he had lived in the apartments across from where Manny and Tracy had lived, but his lease had been terminated because he got into a lot of arguments with residents there. So he was kicked out of the apartments across the street from them. People said he was at that time, he was threatening people a lot, carrying knives, talking about Satan.

That's terrifying. Wearing a lot of camo, and he would spend a lot of time in the woods during the night. He would regularly talk about murder and shit, so people took notice and called. Did he ever kill anyone? I don't think he, no, he didn't.

Sure. But people called on him because obviously, they were like, they're gonna be- That's fucking alarming behavior. See something, say something. So police began surveillance on him on October 28th like maybe don't act like that if you're not a fucking murderer because then you're taking away exactly from the actual and they're catching up murderers so on October 30th the police were actually called to his grandmother's home his

mother had called them because she said Edward had assaulted his 79-year-old grandmother. Yeah, what a little asshole. He was questioned without a lawyer, president, and his grandmother dropped the assault charges. But despite all this, the assault charges were reinstated by police, and his bail was immediately set at $1 million. Holy shit. Yeah. They were like this. They tore up a guy I was saying. So his photo was shown repeatedly to media outlets. Was he super scary? Everyone was convinced. And the killing ended at this time too. So it totally seemed like it. Now, so then people started to relax. He didn't do it.

Well, yeah. And they found this out because they finally tested the DNA that they had gotten in one of the crime scenes. And it did not match him. Did he say like I didn't do that? Yeah, he was very, and what's sad is his grandmother came out a lot and was like he didn't do this. He didn't, and his brother came out and were like he didn't do this. And then his grandmother died of a heart attack right before he was cleared publicly. Oh, so she died like not ever seeing him clear of it. That's horrible. Yeah. But he was a little shit for assaulting her. She was a little shit for sure. But he was also,

I think he was also mentally ill. So it's okay. I mean, I don't know. Don't assault people, though. Yeah, don't assault people. Later on September 7th, 1990, Rowling was arrested in O'Cala, Florida on a burglary charge and in the course of that investigation Shit started coming in that was like wait. Oh, oh, this is Danny. Yeah, like this is our killer Yeah, his tools were matched to the marks left at the gamesville murder scenes They met and then they started matching the DNA like they just started everything was happening This is when the investigators did they had discovered the campsites Oh This is when the investigators did they had discovered the campsites and they found recordings of

rowing singing country songs that he had composed and those like audio diaries that... Oh god. And in the audio diaries he kind of like alluded to the crime, he didn't say it outright, but he was part of it. He alluded. Um, he was brought to trial by the alachua. I don't know if I'm saying that right. I don't know if that... County State right. I don't know what that means.

County State Attorney, Len Register, nearly four years after the murders. Wow, it took that long. Yeah. From Divi brought to trial, yeah. Oh, okay. He was arrested already, but he claimed his motive was to become a superstar, similar to Ted Bundy. So it was kind of like, in the end, they're like fame baby. Yeah, and in the end

he actually said that he killed people because he liked to kill people. Yeah, some people literally like to fucking kill people. That's why I did it. So February 15th, 1994, before his trial could go start, he unexpectedly pled guilty to all the charges. That's weird. Which were five counts of first degree murder, three counts of sexual battery, and three counts of armed burglary. The state attorney Rod Smith presented the penalty phase of the prosecution, and he was sentenced, and he ended up being sentenced to deaths on each count. Oh wow. He was sentenced on April 20th, 1994. He was diagnosed with anti-social personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, and parapheria,

which parapheria is like sexual fetishes that are like very abnormal. Oh, okay. Like the fact that they thought that he might have even like dabbled in necrophilia, like he might have raped some of these women after he had killed them, or while he was killing them, which is another,

really fucked up like parimordom kind of thing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. After he was arrested in Florida, police in Louisiana, alerted the authorities in Florida, that there was a triple homicide and sheriff port on November 4th, 1989, and they were like, hmm, there's a lot of similarities here, because it was 55 year old William Grissom, his 24 year old daughter Julie, and the eight year old son, Sean. And because Julie Grissom's body had

been mutilated, cleaned and posed, this is weird, and he was in this area at this point. He didn't initially confess to investigators about this. He was like, no, but I didn't do it. But he did write about the murders, and he used information that only the killer would know. But I think he did it under the guise of like- If I did it. Yeah, like kind of O.J. So I was just gonna say. Yeah.

Shreveport police obtained an open arrest warrant in 1994, but he was never extra-died to Louisiana to stand trial for these killings because they had already got him on the five counts. And I think probably the family of the Grissoms were like, you know what, he's already gonna die. I don't want to go through all this. To go through the whole thing. Yeah.

In prison, he was weird as fuck. He expressed... In the life he was weird as fuck. He expressed hatred for women and became a... which is like really? No way. He became upset when the other inmates watched Madonna music videos on MTV. He said Madonna was evil and that he wanted to cut her head off and place it on a bookshelf. I like cool we get it. I wonder if Madonna knows that. He also quoted scripture and attended

Bible study on the regular. You know like that doesn't correlate with murdering people. Not so much. Still. Not so much. Maybe find another activity. Not supposed to. He also claimed to a lot of his fellow inmates that the Gainesville victims were all killed because they were evil. Like, I was in the chair. And he also actively urged a fellow inmate to get married and stop living in sin with

his girlfriend. Because you're not living in sin. You're in jail. Well, it's just like that's a sin. Like, do not know that. It's just like raping and murdering. Murderers. So this is, now, if it sounds crazy right now,

shickets even crazy. No way. How? So we all know that some women like to get involved with dudes on death row. No, just fucking don't do that. If you're listening to this and you're thinking about it, get real. It's not a good idea. Get real.

And also, this one takes the cake, I think. Tell me. Because I know Ted Bundy had a wifey and like impregnated her and shit. And she's crazy. And she's crazy. And she's crazy. Did she have the baby? She did, yeah.

Fuck, I forgot about that. And she's crazy for sure. But at least she held on to the idea of the entire time that he was innocent. And then when she found out he really wasn't, she like, she was like, yeah, I got a good line. Which you're still, that's still crazy. But at least there was that also you have Ted Bunnies Baby yeah, no thanks. Yeah, I know I'm saying sorry to Ted Bunnies

I know a freelance journalist named Sandra London Be can carrying on a relationship with Danny. Well, he was behind her bars She actually started as a business relationship because she claims that Danny contacted her because she wrote about a lot of serial killers and a lot of you know inmates on death row and all that Like her whole claim is that she's like the guru of writing about this. Okay, Gail. We're there's some like really because I've never heard of your name She's the fucking girl whether she's she's not even as good as gay mothers. Oh, no, nobody is. But she, so he said that he would give her exclusive rights to his story.

So of course she was like, she was like, chaching, just kidding. You know, it's all carrying up. It's making sense. And then eventually, in her own, and the way she talks about it, which I'll try to, I'll try to put in a clip here, because her clips are fucking bonkers

She was saying she was living with a roommate at the time and she was like and I just kept talking Danny This and Danny that and finally one day I came home and my roommate was like you're in love with him Aren't you and I was like oh no and the way she says it is like this super like When you're 18 and you're like I have a crush and Danny that and then your roommates like you're in love with him aren't you? I'm really she was like 40 something but also well it hasn't nothing to do with me before well he was a fucking nerd or I'm saying because he was a fucking brutal nerd or a death rough no I know that's what you're saying. That makes a difference. No, no, but also like

why are you acting like that? But and that's and that's how she talks about him like very giddy and very but then she keeps changing her tune and she'll get very like business about him when in the right it's weird. In the right settings. Exactly. So she actually agreed to marry him in 1994. Should they became engaged? And she believed that he did this all, right? Well, that's the thing. In the beginning, so she spoke to a bunch of news outlets because, of course, she was a money-grubbing bitch, so she just wanted all this fucking fame about it. Yeah.

You don't see Ted Bundy's wife talking to... She didn't talk to anybody? Right, because she thought he was a thing probably loved to. I'm not saying it like I'm... but I'm like, she wasn't looking for attention at least right or at least not actively like that and this galady was like throw me in front of anything and I'll talk any camera and I'll talk about Danny rolling. Oh God. So she also fancies herself so she's a writer and she also dated Gerald John Schaeffer when

they were 16 years old. He's another serial killer. Oh wow. Obviously she didn't know when they were 16. She was just destined. But this is important because he was a killer who mutilated two teenage girls and decapitated them. Oh yeah. She's into that. Now this is important because she had read Anne Rule stranger beside me about how Anne Rule knew Ted Bundy and she was like I knew Ann Rool. Well, and she was like I can do that better because I dated him for like four minutes when we were

16 before he was human as cereal kill it like really. Right. No girl you're no Ann Rool. And she so she that's when she when she started talking to Gerald John Schaefer when he was on death row again. and she was like oh remember we dated when we were 16 let's write a book together. So they started writing this book but they did it under the thing of fiction. Like he was like sure I'll write it about it but I'm not gonna talk about what I really did I just want to talk fiction and I don't know if I'm gonna put a clip in of this because it's like kind of disturbing but he that there is a clip of him John Gerald John Schaefer reading a portion of what they wrote and when you hear

it it clearly sounds like what he actually did he wrote this okay and it's very detailed it's very disturbing and it's about killing a young girl in the woods which is basically what he did uh-huh and like the details are just really disturbing and you're like you're basically writing from memory. Like that's fucked up. Like I don't need to hear the details of your murders like that. But he ended up putting the kabosh on the whole thing

because I got in a big fight, and I don't know what happened. So she had already tried to do that. And now Danny Rowling is offering her the exclusive rights to his story. So she's going to latch onto that money train, of course. Luckily, she can't profit off of this because they're well, excuse me, luckily, he can't profit off of this because there's something called the Son of Sam Law, which is named after the Son of David Berkowitz, the son of Sam Keller, which we'll cover at some point.

And it's mainly after his arrest in August 1977, Berkowitz's. Right. Because it was such a crazy media circus of surrounding him, his whole thing, because he was such a weird case. Yeah. They were worried that he was going to try to, people were going to try to make a film, he was going to sell the rights to his story to someone. He didn't want to. He denied wanting this, but they immediately, the New York State legislature immediately passed a preemptive legal statute that said this also included Mark David Chapman who murdered John Lennon. Right. Couldn't profit

off of their story. So luckily this was in the works already, so he couldn't profit from it, but she was definitely trying to profit from it. The fact that even has to be a law is like so sad. Well, and what is supposed to happen is anytime a convicted killer on death row or something like that wants to write a book or something like that, because they have the profits are supposed to go to the victim's families. That's really- That's really- So that's what. That's good. Any profits. So that's what this should be about. Sandra London is a fucking asshole, and she was actually annoyed that that was part of it.

Like what? It's wrong with you. Like the way she talks about the victim's families is basically like they're annoying in money grubbing. Like okay, you know because they don't deserve money grubbing. Yeah, like you're disgusting. I'll put in a couple of clips of her and you'll all want to gouge your eyes out. And what's funny is she goes back and forth

between saying, no, no, he's innocent until proven guilty. And then the next interview, she does, she'll be like, you know, he went through a lot and he's not happy with the things he's done. And blah, blah, blah. It's like, but I thought he's innocent until proven guilty.

Like, do you believe he did it or do you believe he didn't right? She believed he did it She knew he did it. Yeah, she just didn't want to seem like a complete psycho, but too late Now like I said, she's a published author yikes, which gives me hope that my book will someday see the light of day sure it will Holy shit. This is some 50 shades of gray garbage In a book called knockin' on Joe, in which she talks about men on death row, she describes seeing Rollin' for the first time. Oh God. Are you ready?

Is this gonna be like some twilight 50-shade shit? Quote. His jawline. I approached my meeting with Danny thinking I was prepared for anything, but there was one thing I was not prepared for. I had no idea what a fine-looking man he is today. Instead of a broken and dejected loser I'd seen on TV, standing before my hungry eyes was one gorgeous hunk of man. I'm sorry folks, but it's the truth. My maximum man stands in a imposing 6'2 with muscles out to here. His color is bright, his youthful skin is glowing, his hazel eyes are clear, and so is his head. The news footage publicized the courtroom

image of him stumbling about awkwardly stupified by Thorazine and seeming lost in his own body. But now my dangerous pussycat strides across the floor with a languid power and instinctive grace that makes him me highly aware that I am a woman and this is a man. Okay two things. Get fucking real. I'm screaming and take a long fucking walk off a short fucking pier peer bitch. She's just a woman. Get real pussycat. He's just a man. Actually, he's not just a man.

He's a dangerous pussycat. What the fuck? I don't even know what to say. Oh, he's also a maximum man. Honestly, she's the worst. Like, what the fuck? Now, rolling himself wrote to the Washington Post about their relationship. So do they get married?

No. Okay. Uh, he's just as hyperbolic and ridiculous as she is. He said, quote, My relationship with Sandra runs as deep as the Amazon River. Like, die. And just as wild, exclamation point, he uses a lot of exclamation points. She is an extremely exciting woman.

My feelings for her, dot, dot, dot, are my feelings. Oh. Just the mention of her name sends my heart racing to her. She is without a doubt, dot, dot, dot, my soulmate. And I thank God above for sending her my way. We are desperately reaching for each other daily across miles of red tape cast before us by faceless foes. Da, da, da. We are denied even the simplest of human rights to just hold hands and speak to each other during a simple visit.

Oh, you know who else was denied the simplest of human rights? All the fucking people that you murdered for no reason. Right. Like, what? Are you kidding me? I'm supposed to feel bad because you can't play footsie with your crazy ass fucking writer bitch who just wants to get all your money. Are you kidding me?

Chopped somebody's head off. You literally... You killed an eight-year-old boy. You ripped people's nipples off. You put mirrors around dead body, dead mutilated bodies. You literally stabbed somebody through their whole body. 31 times. 31 times. You shot your own dad and you want me to feel bad for you? But you know what?

Because you just want to hold your hand up your fucking pussycat. He can't hold a fake girlfriend's hand. Thumbs the rules, hun. I mean, Ash. He's being denied the simplest of human rights. Oh my god. Like fuck you, dude. What the fuck is life?

This is kind of just a funny little thing. Rowling was apparently corresponding and writing with several other women. Of course. This pissed Sonia off royally. So, she called them all whores. Oh yeah, it's always the other bitch's fault. And they were like, and she also called them all debbys because there was one debbie who wrote to him. And so she was like, they're all debbys. She's a crazy bit. Shout out to our debb.. Now the ring she uses as an engagement ring was actually designed by Danny. Shut the fuck up. And she had to trade some of his artwork to a jeweler for him

to make it for. It was a diamond with four rubies around it. And she says this means something but she won't say what? Could it be four women and one man? Oh my god. Like how fucked up would that be? It's just weird. It's like five stones, one diamond, five root four rubies. Yeah, that's fucked up. Four women, one man. Maybe. Maybe he's just fucking with people to the end. Maybe he thinks it's wicked funny that she's in love with him and is gonna wear that. It gets a little more. Which is not funny. It gets a little more bizarre. How? It gets a little more. Which is not funny. It gets a little more bizarre. How?

How pussycat? So when he was sentenced to die on April 20th, 1994, he was told he could address the court, which they always are able to. Sure. And he chose not to address the families of the victims that he destroyed. Instead, he wanted to say something to Sandra.

So he stood and he sang a song for her. If I was the victim's family I would have been also convicted of murder. Would you like to say something? Because I would have murdered him. Yes, pause. I recalled a day, I first saw you, reached out to say I love you But it was hard to say I couldn't touch you So tell me baby

What were my words All my tears run again Just like rain Someone said to me You can't run from your shadow, you know, you want to be before shallow. Okay, excuse me, just run down, Mr. Rowling. She's Mr. Rowling, too. Follow, Mr. Rowling. Well, it would be my words, all my tears run together, baby. Just like, right?

Okay, you get one song it has a mistral. But we're not here so that you can address your plan with fear of possess. I don't even know what to say. Your tears are like rain. I just, it's like, it's funny because you're just like, what are you doing to have a horrible... That's what you think about it.

And you're like, these victims victims families are sitting in that room after dealing with this whole trial, waiting for him to be sentenced to death. And this jagweed stands there and serenades his shitty ass girlfriend who has already treated these victims families like shit. Well, and what purpose did that serve? Like, why was that allowed?

And you know what the purpose was? It was to fuck with the family's more. That's right. I don't understand why the judge allowed that. I would say no. Well, they are allowed to make a statement. Because. I'd be like, yeah, you can't do it in song four.

Because it's like first of them, right? I mean, it's, I know. I know. I can't make them. But in you heard, the judge tried to stop him. He tried to stop him several times. And then he was like, OK, like this is not what this is for. You were supposed to make a statement,

you're not supposed to sing. And he's like, this isn't so you can address your friend. You know, what a fucking loser. Yeah, so they're disgusting. Ew, that may be so angry. Yeah, so she's disgusting. He's disgusting. She's disgusting.

I literally want to punch her in the face. But so, Rawling was executed by lethal injection. Good. At Florida State Prison on October 25th, 2006, after the US Supreme Court rejected his last ditch appeal. I wonder what his last words were, I bet they were shitty. Well, actually.

Do you have them? Well, kind of. He you have them? I do. Well, kind of. He was pronounced dead at 6.13 pm, Eastern time. And his last meal, consisted of a lobster tail, served with drawn butter, butterfly shrimp with cocktail sauce, a baked potato with sour cream and butter, strawberry cheesecake, and sweet tea. That's a pretty fucking good last meal.

Yeah, for his last words. He's saying a gospel, him. Like, actually, if there is a hell, I hope you're in the hottest fucking part. Yeah, literally. Like, I hope BL's above is having his way with you. I don't even like what? Right before his execution in a written statement. He did confess to the murders of the Griss...gooseome family. Oh, that's good. So they were able to put that one finally to bed. Oh, I just got so fired up.

Well, and I'll bring you back down a little bit. On a much lighter note, the five students that were brutally murdered by this piece of fucking garbage, they've never been forgotten and actually are actively remembered in pretty awesome ways around Gainesville and the campus that they attended. That's good. So there's this like pretty grassy like well-maintained median on Southwest 34th Street in Gainesville around the campus and in that median there's like a big memorial to them. Good. There's a big wooden sign that says remember August 1990 with the right white rows on the front of it and That's standing in front of the median behind this sign on the median. There are five palm trees and each one is wrapped in a white ribbon

Always and has plaques containing one of the victims names on each one. I love that. There's also scholarships set up in each of their names Wow, I'm gonna start crying scholarships set up in each of their names. Wow. I'm going to start crying. There's another mural on the same street, like in the same area, that was painted on a huge wall along the sidewalk, and it was painted by Adam Bryn Tritt. It has a background of black paint

with remember painted in large red letters. Under that, it says 1990. And next to those words are the victim's names in white paint. The wall has a lot of changing art and graffiti so when he created that mural his intention was just like a temporary memorial to them because he was like it's gonna get painted over. He said quote, we thought it last maybe a week or two and he's now 51 and he said quote, things never last more than a week on that wall. But today and he said, quote, things never last more than a week on that wall. But today, 28 years later, the mural is still there. And it has a bronze plaque that's been installed now on the concrete beneath the mural,

with the names of the victims and the words you will never be forgotten. Oh my God. The community used to keep it well maintained, but now the University of Florida Inter fraternity council has maintained the mural since 2000 and they apply fresh cones of paint several times each semester Wow good for them. So and and they have memorials like they just had one on the 25th year of it with all the victim's families are like super close now They all spoke they all came out and said like we are okay like it's been hard, but we're all okay Don't worry about us. We're gonna be fine. And yeah, so I guess the the happy ending in that is that that makes me like they at least all the families were able to lean on each other and the community like really like

rallyed around them. So that's you know, and I think some of the like police in this whole thing were saying like the only good to come out of this was seeing even during the whole murder spree that he was like students took care of students like people were taking care of each other keeping people safe and wow that was a fucking doozy so yeah that is Danny rolling the Gainesville Ripper. I want to do something fluffy in No. F**k you. Why not a fluffy podcast? I know, but sometimes we call it morbid, but we do fluff. I'm going to have a hard attack on an episode one day. I mean, I won't, you know, we'll do, we'll do an even more unknown one. Okay.

This one's slightly known, so we'll pick one out of the depths. Okay. Sometimes those are worse. I know. You also, you love to horrifying me. Don't add to you. I do. 100%. That is what that is fully part of us. It's like what the podcast has become. The fun guy, I wanted to do this podcast just to horrifying. Well, you've been succeeding. I hope so glad. Yeah. You know, like stressed I am when I drive home. See, and I feel great. But yeah, so oh, and we're gonna do bonus episode this week. So we'll let you guys know when that's coming out. So yeah, be on the lookout for bonus episode. Subscribe, great review, because you guys are awesome, and we appreciate

your great reviews. We really, really do. I look at them all the time and they make me happy and sad. I'm happy. Follow us on Instagram at morbidpodcast, follow us on Twitter at A morbidpodcast, follow us on Facebook, morbid, colon, a true crime podcast, join the Facebook group. Because all of a sudden it's getting like big and people are actually talking and it's kind of fun So I'm gonna interact more in there. I swear. I just have to figure out how I don't have the Facebook I'm sorry, so I'm gonna try but I love watching like what people post so yeah Oh in a Vasco is

Giving us our final designs for our merch this week. Oh my god. So we're gonna get in that moving very shortly and I'm very excited. And follow Vasco on his Instagram. And follow Vasco, yeah. Of course I don't know. Is it at Vasco Vaz Art? Or is it just at Vasco Vaz? I honestly can't remember, but you know what?

I'll tag Vasco and once I, when I announce this on Instagram, the episode when it's done, I'll tag Vasco. Tag Vasco. And you guys need to follow him because he's awesome. So yeah, so we hope you keep listening. We hope you keep it, cry. He's the one. Light yourself on fire. Bye.

Bye. That's my song. So pretty. Hey, Prime Members! You can listen to Morvid, Early, and Add Free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen Add Free with Wondery Plus and Apple Podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey. slash survey.