Oct. 10, 2024

How A Man Became A Monster: The Gainesville Ripper

Show Notes
Transcript

How A Man Became A Monster: The Gainesville Ripper

In this episode, we dive into the twisted life of Daniel Rolling, the Gainesville Ripper. What started with a troubled childhood marked by abuse at the hands of his father spiraled into one of the most chilling killing sprees in modern history. From his brutal upbringing in Shreveport to his monstrous crimes in Gainesville, we explore how a man became a monster, tearing through the lives of innocent victims and leaving a town gripped in terror. Let’s unpack the psychological and social factors that paved the way for a serial killer. Grab your favorite blanket, check the locks on your doors, and settle in for a story that will have you second-guessing every bump in the night.

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Imagine growing up in a house where love is a

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word that's as foreign as a summer snowfall, where your

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father's idea of affection is a glare that could chill

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your bones, and the only thing you can rely on

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is his fist. Now, imagine what happens when that house

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of horrors becomes the breeding ground for something much darker.

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What kind of man does that create? This is the

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story of Daniel Rolling, a boy raised on cruelty and

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control who eventually transformed from a tormented child into one

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of the most feared serial killers in American history. What

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was it that turned him from the bullied to the butcher?

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And just how far does one man go to make

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the world feel his pain. Today, we're peeling back the

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layers of Daniel Rolling's twisted life, tracing every step from

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Shreveport to Gainesville to see how a father's rage gave

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rise to a serial killer's wrath. Stick around, because this

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story goes from deeply unsettling to downright horrifying in the

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blink of an eye. Daniel Rowling had a childhood unlike most.

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His father, James Harold Rolling, was a Korean War veteran

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turned Shreveport police officer. In nineteen fifty three, he married

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Daniel's mother, Claudia, when she was only nineteen years old,

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and it was only two weeks into the marriage that

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James would turn on her. It started when Claudia found

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out that she was pregnant. What is normally a joyous

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and happy occasion first went sour then turned violent when

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James revealed his true colors. He blamed and resented Claudia

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for the pregnancy and claimed that she had forced a

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child on him when he did not want a child

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helpless and not want to be a single mother. In

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the nineteen fifties, Claudia brought her son Danny into the world,

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hoping that James would eventually come around. He didn't. In fact,

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he would often beat both Claudia and Danny as punishment

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for the situation that they were in and didn't take much.

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All either of them had to do was breathing away

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that annoyed James, and that would set him off. If

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he didn't turn outright violence, he would become verbally abusive

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and remind Danny that he had been a mistake and

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he was not wanted. The abuse continued when Claudia gave

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birth to a second son, Kevin, and only seemed to

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escalate from there. Claudia was once hospitalized after an incident

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in which she claimed James had forced her to cut

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herself with a razor blade. She tried to leave him

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several times throughout the course of their marriage, but always

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found herself coming back, Especially because her two sons were

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still living in James's household, The boys themselves were experiencing

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their own version of James's abuse. They weren't allowed to

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have birthdays or celebrate holidays. When Danny became especially close

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to the family dog, James would then direct his anger

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towards the dog. Instead, he beat the dog so brutally

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and so often that it ended up dying in Danny's arms.

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There was never a kind word or any encouragement from

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their father. Instead, James used his position on the Shreveport

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police to terrorize his own children. Danny was once pinned

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to the ground and handcuffed by his own father. He

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was then taken away into custody by James's fellow police officers.

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Danny's only crime that day was that he embarrassed his father.

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It's perhaps no surprise that the abuse at home then

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started to affect Danny's behavior. When he was a teenager,

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Danny was caught spying on women as they were getting dressed.

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He was also arrested several times for committing robberies. Claudia

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claimed that during this time in Danny's life, tried to

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seek psychological care and counsel for her son, but that

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was stopped by James. James didn't believe that there was

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anything wrong with Danny, that all of his wayward behavior

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was simply a phase that his son would eventually grow

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out of. That was until Danny realized that he was

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old enough and big enough to fight back when his

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father abused him. In May of nineteen ninety, after a

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serious argument, Danny showed his father the man that he

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had become and his hands was a gun, and he

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shot James several times in the stomach and the face.

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James survived the shooting, but he was left with permanent

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damage and the loss of the use of one of

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his eyes and ears. Danny was then thrown out of

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the house, but by then there was no writing the

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trajectory that his life was now on. By day, he

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struggled to keep down a job and function in normal society.

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By night. He had taken his stalking and spying of

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neighborhood women to the extreme. It started early in the

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morning of August twenty fourth, nineteen ninety, when Danny broke

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into an apartment in Gainesville. Living in it were two

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university students, eighteen year old Sonya Larson and seventeen year

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old Christina Powell. He found Christina first, She was actually

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asleep on the sofa downstairs. Danny stood over her for

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a while before deciding on his next move. He then

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slipped upstairs and found Sonia asleep on her bed. He

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first taped her mouth shut so that she couldn't cry

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out for help, and then he began stabbing her. Sonia

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woke up during the attack and did her best to

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fight back, but she had already been fatally wounded by

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the time she realized what was happening. Danny then moved

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on to his next victim. He went back downstairs to

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Christina on the sofa in the living room and made

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his next move just like he did with Sonia. He

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started by taping Christina's mouth shut. He then tied her

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wrists together by behind her back and made it impossible

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for her to escape. With his knife, he cut off

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her clothes and then had his way with her. When

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he was finished, he ordered the terrified young woman to

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lie face down on the floor, but no matter how

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compliant she was, he had no intentions of sparing her.

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Danny then stabbed Christina five times in the back, killing her.

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Still unsatisfied with his work, Danny then went back upstairs

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to Sonia and her remains. He raped her body before

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arranging her and Christina in suggestive poses to add to

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the shock of whoever would discover the scene. He then

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took a shower and then left. The very next day,

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he struck again. This time he broke into the apartment

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of eighteen year old student Christa Hoyt. Using a screwdriver.

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Danny forced the sliding door of her house open and

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began to search the property. Christa wasn't home, but instead

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of calling it day and leaving, Danny chose to lie

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in wait. Christa came back at around eleven, only to

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find herself locked in a choke hold. Danny strangled and

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man handled Christa until he had her under control. He

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taped her mouth shut, bound her wrists, and then forced

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her into the bedroom. There, he cut off her clothes

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from her body and sexually assaulted her. Once he had

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his fill, he continued to follow his emerging em O.

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He ordered Christa to lie face down on the bed,

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and then he stabbed her in the back. Once she

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was dead, he turned her back around and sliced her

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body open to leave an extra gruesome surprise for whoever

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would find her. He then washed and cleaned himself before leaving.

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By then, Danny was homeless and actually living on a

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camp site near by. It was only when he made

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it back to his ramshackle tent that he realized that

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he was missing his wallet. He thought that he may

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have left it at Christa's home and that it was

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a damning piece of evidence that would lead the investigator's

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right to him, so he returned to the scene of

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Christina's assault and murder. But once Danny found himself there,

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he also found that he couldn't resist the temptation to

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humiliate her further. He decapitated her remains. He positioned what

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was left of her body sitting on the edge of

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the bed, and placed her head on a shelf so

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that it was facing her body. All of this, he

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later claimed, was done with the intention of further shocking

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whoever would find Christa. In only two days, Danny managed

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to terrify the entire town. Students began dropping out of

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the university, and those who remained took extra steps to

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protect themselves. They traveled in groups, slept together in the

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same rooms, and made changes to their daily routines to

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make themselves harder to track. But despite all of these efforts,

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Danny would find his next victim only two days later.

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On August twenty seventh, nineteen ninety, Danny broke into another apartment.

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He forced open the sliding door with his screwdriver and

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found twenty three year old Manny to Buddha. Unlike Danny's

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other victims, Mannie was not a woman with a petite

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figure and brown hair and eyes. Mannie was none of

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those things, but his roommates, twenty three year old Tracy

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Paullus was. Danny first slipped into Manny's bedroom and began

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stabbing him. Manny woke up during the attack and managed

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to fight back for a while before succumbing to his injuries.

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Danny was then free to move on to Tracy. She

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had heard the fight break out between Manny and Danny

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and was actually standing in the hallway trying to figure

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out what was going on when she spotted Danny. Terrified,

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Tracy then sprinted back to her room and tried to

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barricade herself in. By then, Danny was able to turn

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all of his attention on to Tracy, and he managed

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to break his way into her bedroom before she was

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done barricading herself in and calling for help. He started

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with her mouth and wrists before cutting off all of

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her clothes with his knife. He then raped her before

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forcing her to lie on her front so that he

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could stab her in the back. He positioned Tracy in

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a suggestive pose, but left Manny in the position that

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he'd died in. Law enforcement all over the state were

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on the hunt to find the perpetrator behind these brutal killings,

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and despite the time they would waste wrongly accusing multiple men,

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they would get their first real break in November of

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that year. Authorities in Shreveport had noticed striking similarities between

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the murders in Gainesville and an unsolved triple homicide that

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involved fifty five year old Tom Grissom, his daughter Julie,

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and his grandson Sean. Julie's remains had been mutilated and posed,

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suggesting that the culprit could be the same man that

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the Gainesville police were after. It was shortly after that

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that a woman from Shreveport named Cindy called in to

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leave a tip. In this tip, she claimed that a

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man she knew called Danny Rowling could potentially be involved

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in the murders. Both she and her husband knew Danny

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from church, and after Danny had made some offhand comments

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about women and how much he enjoyed stabbing people, they

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felt like they needed to say something. The investigators took

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this tip seriously, and they didn't have to look far

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to find Danny. He was actually in custody after being

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arrested for a robbery, and blood tests revealed that he

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had the same type of blood as the killer had

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left behind at the scenes. Back then, typing was as

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far as DNA evidence could take us, but that was

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all the investigators needed. Danny confessed to not only the

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killings in Gainesville, but to the triple homicide in Shreveport, iiO.

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He was sentenced to death and his execution was carried

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out in the Florida State Prison in two thousand and six.

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That is ten minute murder for today brief and binge

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able true crime. I'm Joe. That's my name. I am

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the host of this podcast, and thank you for taking

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the time to listen. If you're a new listener, first

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of all, welcome. Don't know how you found me, but

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I'm super pumped that you did. Make sure you hit

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subscribe wherever you're listening right now and wherever you may

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listen in the future. Subscribe to ten Minute Murder there

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as well social media. You can check it out links

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from the show notes of this episode or go to

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ten minute Murder dot com. Links are there too, and

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also at ten minute murder dot com there's a blog

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that you can look at which is essentially just these episodes,

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but it's in text format. You can read it if

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you would rather read the podcast, I don't know why

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you would. You could read it and listen to it

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at the same time. I've done that before. That's not

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weird at all. Don't let anyone tell you that it's weird,

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because it's not weird. I hope anyway, you can contact

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me there, Joe at ten minute Murder dot com, and

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people like to email me questions from time to time,

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and one of those questions happens to be. What do

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you think about during the time when you're not working

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on the podcast. What's something that just goes through your mind?

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Is it? Is it true crime related? That's a question,

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not that exactly obviously, I'm paraphrasing here. I get it

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pretty often. And let me tell you a couple of

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different thoughts I was having today, for example, if you

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want an example, during a time when I was not

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thinking about true crime or about this podcast, I was wondering,

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you remember defragging hard drives? Remember when that was a thing?

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What do we do now? We don't defrag hard drives anymore?

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Do we have I been neglecting my hard drive? I

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don't know. That used to be a big deal. Now

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it's not. Also, fire drills. When I was in elementary school,

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we had fire drills so often that I was sure

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when I became a grown up, a grown up Joe,

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I was going to have a monthly four alarm fire

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situation happening. I was training for. This was my purpose. No,

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why were we having all those fire drills. That was

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a lot of fire drills, And at the time I

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was a little skeptical. I was like, I think they're

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just doing these all the time just to kind of

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keep us in line, tell us what to do. So

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that's a little peek into the mind of me when

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I'm not thinking about true crime or this podcast. And

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that was just today. All right, that is going to

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do it. That is your episode for today. Thank you

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so much for listening to ten minute Murder

How A Man Became A Monster: The Gainesville Ripper

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