The Feral Child Who Became Florida's Deadliest Serial Killer

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In 1952, nurses at a connected orphanage discovered a six-month-old baby in such horrific condition

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that most believed he was beyond saving. One nurse refused to give up on him. Her love and

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dedication should have been enough to heal the trauma, but sometimes even the most well-intentioned

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rescue can't rewrite a story that's already written in pain.

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The year was 1952, and connected in New York, when staff at a local orphanage opened their doors

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to find someone had left them a baby. Six months old, this wasn't unusual for the time.

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What was unusual was the condition this child was in. Paul Zininger was the fourth

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of five children born into the Zininger household. And like his siblings, he'd ended up in state care.

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But Paul's situation was different. This baby had been through something that left even

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experienced medical professionals shaken. When Paul arrived at the orphanage, he could barely speak.

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His developmental delays were severe. He'd created a survival mechanism that horrified the staff.

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A custom to long periods without food, he'd begun eating his own feces to survive.

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The doctors and nurses were unanimous in their assessment. This child needed specialized care

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that the average foster family could not provide. The medical team recommended Paul remain

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in institutional care indefinitely. They believed his trauma was too intensive. His needs were too

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complex for a traditional adoption. But one person refused to accept that recommendation.

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Norma Stano was a nurse, and she saw something in this malnourished, traumatized baby that others

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couldn't. Together with her husband Eugene, she spent six months fighting the system for the right

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to adopt Paul and raise him as their own child. The battle was fierce. Medical professionals

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argued against the placement concern that even Norma's nursing background wouldn't be sufficient

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for Paul's extensive needs. But the Stano is persisted, and eventually they won.

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Reluctantly, the orphanage staff placed Paul in Norma and Eugene's care. They changed his name

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to Gerald Stano, hoping to distance him from this traumatic past. Give him a fresh start with the

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loving family. By every measure that mattered, Norma and Eugene were exemplary parents. They provided

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Gerald with stability, consistent meals, medical care, and genuine affection. They created the kind of

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home environment that should have been transformative for a child who'd only known neglect and abuse.

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But Gerald's past had left marks that love alone couldn't erase. Despite his parents' effort,

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he continued struggling to catch up with his peers, developmentally and socially. At 10 years old,

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Gerald was still wetting the bed regularly. His classmates were merciless. Boys would physically

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assault him while girls would mock him in column names. Gerald later claimed this pattern of

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humiliation and rejection by women continued well into his adulthood, describing incidents where

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women would insult him, pull his hair, and even throw beer bottles at him. Academically,

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Gerald remained behind his age group. His grades never rose above seas and dees in most subjects.

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He showed aptitude in only two areas, music, and track and field. But even his success and track

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came with the troubling revelation. Eugene discovered that Gerald had been stealing money from his

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wallet repeatedly, using cash to bribe the other students to let him win races. This behavior

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revealed something concerning about Gerald's relationship with achievement and honesty. As Gerald

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entered adolescence, his behavioral problems intensified rather than improved. At 14, while still

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enduring bullying from classmates, he began expressing his frustrations in increasingly destructive ways.

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His first arrest came for setting off a false fire alarm. The second followed shortly after,

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when police caught him throwing rocks at passing cars from a highway bridge. These weren't what you

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would call typical teenage pranks. They demonstrated a concerning pattern of behavior that seemed to

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escalate with the incident. Gerald's academic struggles continued, and he didn't graduate high school

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until age 21. Through enormous connections, he secured a job at a local hospital, but his employment

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was short-lived. Colleges discovered he'd been stealing from them, and Gerald was terminated.

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Hoping a change of environment might help their son, the stannos relocated to Florida.

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Unfortunately, Gerald's pattern of job loss continued, whether due to theft, chronic tardiness,

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or other workplace issues, he couldn't maintain steady employment. Then, Gerald crossed line from

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which there is no return. He was caught sexually assaulting a mentally disabled young woman who lacked

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the capacity to consent. The situation became more complicated when the victim discovered she was

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pregnant. Once again, Norma and Eugene stepped in to help their son. They paid for the woman's

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medical expenses, including an abortion, effectively shielding Gerald from the full consequences of his

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actions. This intervention taught Gerald a lesson that would prove catastrophic, that his actions

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didn't necessarily have consequences, especially when his parents were willing to protect him from them.

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Years would pass before the full scope of what Gerald had learned from that lesson became clear,

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and spring 1980, a woman named Donna Hensley walked into a Florida police station, barely alive,

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and clearly traumatized. Donna worked as a sex worker, and she'd agreed to accompany a client to a

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hotel room about a week earlier, which should have been a straightforward transaction turned into a

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near-death experience. According to Donna's statement to police, an argument erupted over her

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services. When she attempted to leave, the man attacked her with brutal violence, stabbing her

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30 times before screaming an insult and fleeing the scene. Donna's survival was nothing short of

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miraculous. Despite her injuries, she managed to make her way to the authorities and provide them

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with crucial information. The attacker's license plate number, a description of his vehicle,

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and most importantly, his name, Gerald Stano. Police soon discovered that Gerald was well known

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among local sex workers, though none had previously reported him for violence or mistreatment.

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With Donna's evidence, however, authorities had enough to arrest Gerald for attempted murder.

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While he sat in jail awaiting trial, two college students made a grim discovery near Daytona Beach

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Boardwalk. They found the decomposing remains of 20-year-old Mary Carol Mayer, who had been stabbed

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multiple times in her back, legs, and chest. Given that police had a suspect in custody for a

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nearly identical stabbing attack on another woman, investigators approached Gerald about Mary's murder.

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Initially, of course, he denied involvement, admitting that he'd only seen Mary before.

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Then something broke inside Gerald. He confessed to killing Mary and provided investigators with

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detailed information about how he'd committed the murder. He even led them to where he left her body,

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confirming details that only the killer would know. Mary Mayer's murder confession opened the

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floodgates. Gerald admitted to killing woman after woman throughout Florida. Initially, he claimed

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his killing spree began in the 1970s when he was in his early 20s. Later, he revised this timeline

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and actually admitting that he started murdering women in the 1960s when he was 18 years old.

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Gerald's final confession count reached 41 murders. Investigators could definitively connect him

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with 23 of those cases, though they believed the actual number of his victims could be as high

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as 88 women. The scope of Gerald's crimes was staggering. One victim remained unidentified

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for 43 years until genetic genealogy revealed later her identity in 2024, demonstrating the lasting

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impact of his violence on families and communities. For six years following his initial confession,

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Gerald continued working with investigators, leading them across Florida to locations where he'd

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attacked and disposed of his victims. Detective Paul Crowe, who headed the investigation, observed Gerald's

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behavior throughout this process. According to Detective Crowe, Gerald showed emotion only once

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during their extensive travels to the crime scenes. This occurred when they visited the location of

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his final victim, where Gerald wept. However, Crowe believed Gerald's tears were for himself,

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mourning his lost freedom rather than expressing genuine remorse for his actions.

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At trial, Gerald was convicted of nine murders and received three death sentences. His case

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moved through the appeals process for years before reaching its conclusion in spring 1998,

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when he was scheduled for execution by electric chair. In his final moments, Gerald attempted to

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recant all his previous confessions. "I am innocent," he declared. "I am frightened. I was threatened,

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and I was held month after month without any real legal representation. I confessed to crimes I

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did not commit." He specifically blamed Detective Paul Crowe for coercing false confessions from him.

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However, many people, including family members of two victims who witnessed his execution,

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believed the state was executing the right man. Gerald Stanneau's case raises profound

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questions about the nature of trauma, intervention, and redemption. Here was a child who experienced

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unthinkable abuse, was rescued by loving parents, and received care that should have been transformative.

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Norma and Eugene Stanneau did everything society tells us should work. They provided stability,

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love, medical care, and endless second chances. They fought systems and spent their resources trying

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to help their son become a productive member of society. Yet their love and dedication couldn't

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overcome the damage that had been done in Gerald's first six months of life. Nor could it prevent him from

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learning that actions might not always have consequences if the right people were willing to

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shield them from it. Gerald's story doesn't diminish the importance of intervention and support

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for traumatized children. Instead, it illuminates the complex realities of severe early trauma and

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the limitations of even the most well-intentioned efforts to heal it. The women Gerald killed,

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deserved better than to become casualties in a story that began with one baby's abandonment in 1952.

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Their lives had value that extended far beyond their role in Gerald's narrative,

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and their families continued to live with the consequences of his choices decades later.

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Some stories don't have redemptive endings, no matter how much love and effort goes into trying

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to create them. Gerald Stanneau's life serves as both the testament to the resilience of the human

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spirit and people like Norma and Eugene, and a sobering reminder that some damage runs too deep

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for any intervention to fully repair.

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Thanks for listening to 10 Minute Murder, Bingeable True Crime Stories. My name is Joe.

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Hi, I'm the host, and I appreciate you listening today. If you are a new listener to the podcast,

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subscribe where you're listening right now. You can also go to 10minutemurder.com, catch up on

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everything there is to know about the podcast, and also send me an email if you'd like to.

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Speaking of, here is one of those emails. Subject, Dexter is back. Thoughts. Hey Joe,

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I know you've mentioned before that you're a fan of Dexter. Curious, what do you think of the new

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season? Does it live up to what you were hoping for, or do you wish they'd have left it alone?

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Laura in Phoenix. And Laura, I tell you, I'd like it. I like it a whole lot. And for a second,

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let's talk about the three new, so I can be specific here. The three new seasons of Dexter

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passed the Miami version of Dexter. You have one called, I think it's new blood. It takes place

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in Iron Lake, cold, snowy, you know the one I'm talking about. That one I thought was okay.

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I was really excited to have Dexter back, but the series was just kind of, it was all right.

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Then there's the one that rewinds, takes place in Miami when Dexter's college age,

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getting out of college and he becomes the serial killer that he is later on in life.

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Sort of his origin story and it's all new actors playing the characters. And that one is also okay

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to me. It's interesting to see all that stuff, but I think it could have been better. And now the new

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season, the newest series, I guess it's called Resurrection, takes place in New York, Dexter's back.

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I think it's fantastic. Even though it's not in Miami and I love the fact that it's set in Miami,

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that's a cool setting I think for that series. Even though it's in New York City, that same vibe

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is there, the whole Dexter vibe, that vibe was off I think before. And now it's back. It feels the same,

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it feels like the same Dexter. So that's a long way to answer your question. I do really like it.

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So Laura, thank you for your question. I know you didn't expect that lengthy answer, but I'm

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pretty excited about Dexter. All right, that's going to do it. That is your episode for today.

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Again, thank you so much for listening to 10 Minute Murder.

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See you next time.