Mind of a Serial Killer - SERIAL KILLER: The Scream Killer Pt. 2

Episode Date: October 23, 2025

Five students were brutally murdered. Their killer wanted fame...and he got it. In Part 2, Killer Minds unpacks Danny Rolling’s disturbing mental state, the forensic evidence that sealed his fate, and the trial that turned a killer into a twisted horror icon. Killer Minds is a Crime House Original Podcast, powered by PAVE Studios. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. For ad-free listening and early access to episodes, subscribe to Crime House+ on Apple Podcasts. Don’t miss out on all things Killer Minds! Instagram: @Crimehouse TikTok: @Crimehouse Facebook: @crimehousestudios X: @crimehousemedia YouTube: @crimehousestudios To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Crime House has the perfect new show for spooky season, Twisted Tales, hosted by Heidi Wong. Each episode of Twisted Tales is perfect for late-night scares and daytime frights, revealing the disturbing real-life events that inspired the world's most terrifying blockbusters, and the ones too twisted to make it to screen. Twisted Tales is a crimehouse original, powered by Pave Studios. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. new episodes out every Monday. This is Crime House.

We all have different sides to ourselves. Think of a pop star's stage personality versus who they are day-to-day, or how you might act more confident at work and more relaxed with friends. Danny Rowling's alter ego was much more extreme. He referred to his dark side as Gemini. And unlike a stage name, Gemini wasn't an act. He was a monster. In 1990, that monster entered the town of Gainesville, Florida.

Weielding a knife, he claimed five victims and unleashed terror on a college town. The human mind is powerful. It shapes how we think, feel, love, and hate. But sometimes it drives people to commit the unthinkable. This is Killer Minds, a crime house original. I'm Vanessa Richardson. And I'm Dr. Tristan Engels.

Every Monday and Thursday, we uncover the darkest minds in history, analyzing what makes a killer. Crime House is made possible by you. Please rate, review, and follow Killer Minds. To enhance your listening experience with ad-free early access to each two-part series and bonus content, subscribe to Crime House Plus on Apple Podcasts. Before we get started, be advised this episode contains descriptions of sexual violence, murder, and dismemberment.

Listener discretion is advised. Today we conclude our deep dive on Danny Rowling, aka the Gainesville Ripper. Danny's tormented childhood planted demons inside him that couldn't be tamed, and once he got his first taste for blood, Danny went on a terrifying murder spree. His crimes inspired one of the most gruesome horror movies of all time, scream. As Vanessa goes to the story, I'll be talking about things like the tipping point when Danny's alter ego took full control. If Danny truly believed a demon possessed him

or if something else was going on under the surface and what his erratic behavior leading up to his arrest says about who he really was. And as always, we'll be asking the question, what makes a killer? In 1989, 35-year-old Danny Rowling murdered 24-year-old Julie Grissom, as well as Julie's father and nephew at their home in Shreveport, Louisiana. Police obtained Danny's blood and saliva samples at the scene, but since his DNA

wasn't in their system, these clues didn't identify him as the suspect. However, authorities soon made another crucial discovery from the blood sample. They learned that the killer was a type B secretor, which is a trait found in less than 10% of the U.S. population. This meant that most likely they wouldn't need a database hit to catch their killer if they found the same blood at another crime scene. Unfortunately, it also meant he'd have to strike again before they could catch him. Meanwhile, Danny continued living at home with his parents just half a mile from the crime scene. He was still using drugs and abusing alcohol, but for the next six months,

he carried on like nothing was wrong. Eventually, though, he couldn't ignore what was brewing inside him. Danny believed that three demons possessed him and forced him to commit crimes. He referred to the most powerful demon as Gemini, in reference to the Exorcist movies. It was a symbol of how deadly and powerful Danny's inner demons were. But he still seemed to hang on to a shred of his non-violent personality. And one day, when that personality came through, he confessed to his mother-climate Claudia about Gemini and the things he wanted Danny to do.

Claudia was disturbed, but she didn't know how to help him, so he tried to open up to someone a second time. One night, Danny was hanging out with two of his friends from his days in the Pentecostal church, a woman named Cindy Jarasich and her husband. That evening, Danny told Cindy's husband that he liked to stick knives in people. It's hard to say for sure why Danny started leaking his violent fantasies to people in his inner orbit, but there are a few explanations that come to mind. Firstly, Danny has severe attachment and abandonment wounds. Individuals with these deficits tend to test their attachments with the people closest to them. Saying something extreme could allow him to see if they will reject him, protect him, or enable him,

especially when it comes to Claudia. Danny could also be seeking validation or containment by telling Claudia and his friends all about this. Or he could be trying to reduce internal shame. There's also the possibility, especially since there are sadistic traits in Danny, that he is doing this to provoke shock and to control others emotionally for his own gratification. So whatever the true reason or reasons, these disclosures are often deliberate and meaningful. What can we sort of glean from the fact that Danny was aware enough of his alter egos to tell people about them. For starters, this pattern makes true dissociative identity disorder, formerly known as multiple personality disorder, less likely. Classic DID is marked by distinct identity states

with recurrent amnesia. People often lose time or cannot account for actions taken by other identities, and many are not fully aware of their altars. By contrast, someone who can reliably name their altars, describes them coherently and retains memory of them, is more indicative of externalizing and projecting as a defensive strategy. So given Danny's history of these very same patterns that I outlined in episode one beginning in his childhood, it's more likely than not that this is a defensive fragmentation. By naming, quote, altars, he can distance himself from responsibility, reduce shame and guilt, and experience violent impulses as if they belong to someone else, which makes those impulses easier for him to act on. And the fact that his altars are named after

or referred to as demons is significant in light of what we also discussed in episode one, when Danny turned to religion. Faith gave him a socially validated identity, someone who wasn't devalued but rather chosen, maybe special, or even possessed. And with that identity, likely came a culturally sanctioned explanation for his inner turmoil, and that was demons. That doesn't mean that religion caused his fragmentation, it's most likely the trauma that did that. Instead, what I mean is that his religious framework may have offered a convenient way to externalize blame onto demons so that he can separate himself from many feelings of shame or guilt. We don't know how Danny's friends reacted, but it seems like this was the last time they ever spoke to him. By now, Danny had

made two attempts to reveal his inner demons, but in his eyes, no one cared. It seems to Seems like Danny interpreted that as a reason to let the demons take over, because on May 18th, 1990, Gemini came out in full force. That night, Danny was doing some chores around the house. Both of his parents were home, and by that point his brother Kevin had moved out. Something came over Danny, and he decided to intentionally get under James's skin by putting his foot on the furniture with his shoes on. He knew James hated this, and that was the point. Danny looked at his father and said, quote, What are you going to do about it?

Just as Danny predicted, James exploded. He grabbed his gun and chased Danny outside. James fired three shots at his son and each one missed. After that, James went back inside and told Claudia to call the police. While she dialed, Danny stormed back in. He and James began scuffling and Claudia ran into another room. Danny somehow got the gun from his father and shot him in the head and the stomach. James was badly injured, but he was still alive.

Danny dropped the gun and fled. James survived, and Danny was charged with attempted murder. The police put out a warrant for his arrest. They had no idea he was right under their noses. For the next month, Danny camped out in the woods and robbed homes and grocery stores for money, food, supplies, and weapons. It seems like he was in Treveport the entire time. But it's not clear whether police ever suspected that he was the robber.

Somehow, Danny continued to stay off the radar, and eventually he found the golden ticket to his freedom. While robbing a house one day, Danny found the idea of a man around his age, who happened to look a lot like him. The name on the ID was Michael Kennedy Jr. Danny used the ID to buy a bus ticket to Sarasota, Florida. In July of 1990, about two months after the incident with James,

he headed to the Sunshine State. Once there, he bought a gun. At some point, he also stocked up on more drugs and booze. The timing here is very significant. Danny's first murders and his violent confrontation with his father were a psychological turning point. Before this, much of his violence lived in his fantasy where Gemini was powerful in his imagination,

but the real Danny was still in conflict with himself. Once he actually killed, and once he finally turned his rage directly on his father, that fragmentation seemingly resolved. He is no longer resisting his violent fantasies or the fantasy role of Gemini. He's embracing that side of him entirely, and he's now mobilizing and becoming more organized.

He's also building a new identity, literally, by stealing Michael's ID. This is classic of offenders who are in transition and starting to escalate. He's discarding the remnants of his old life and stepping fully into his violent side. Danny wasn't just being controlled by Gemini. He was also fixated on another evil force. Ted Bundy, the prolific serial killer from the 1970s who targeted female college students. Danny didn't view Ted Bundy as a vicious killer.

He viewed him as a famous icon, and he wanted to achieve. the same level of fame. So in August 1990, he hitchhiked to Gainesville, home of the University of Florida. The new school year was just starting, and the city was full of young women. It was Danny's perfect hunting ground. Shortly after he arrived in town, Danny bought a tent, screwdriver, a pair of gloves, duct tape, and a knife. Then he set up a campsite in the woods, just a few hundred yards from some off-campus apartments. From there, he could see the residents, but they couldn't see him. On August 24th, two freshman students caught Danny's eye.

They were both brunette with fair skin, just like Danny's mother, Claudia. 18-year-old Sonia Larson and 17-year-old Christina Powell had no idea a monster was after them. The pair met when they were matched as roommates. That day, they both arrived at their new apartment, excited to start life as Florida Gators, but they would never make it to their first day of class. Around 3 a.m., Danny lingered outside their apartment, peering in. He approached the back door and pried it open with a screwdriver. Once inside, he found Christina asleep on the couch.

For a moment, he stood there watching her. Then he went upstairs to Sonia's room. Sonia was also asleep when Danny pulled duct tape across her mouth and around her wrists. He sexually assaulted her, then stabbed her multiple times. Afterward, Danny went back downstairs where Christina was still asleep, and he carried out the same routine on her. Both girls were dead. But Danny didn't flee the scene.

Just like he'd done to his first victim, Julie Grissom back in Shreveport, he posed both of their bodies in a sexual. suggestive way. So the fact that Danny chose victims who resembled his mother is very significant. It's a continuation of his displaced anger that we talked about in episode one. Danny carried deep resentment toward his mother, Claudia. That anger never got resolved. So later, when he attacked women, he often chose those who looked like her.

We see this pattern across his life. His ex-wife resembled his mother. His first assault victim did, too, and now his homicide victims. By targeting women who reminded him of his mother, he was replaying his childhood trauma, but this time he wasn't the powerless little boy anymore. He was the one with the power over life and death. The posing of the bodies as another layer. This act wasn't just about killing.

It was about humiliating, degrading, and symbolically punishing women who represented his mother. These crimes were deeply personal, and they were shaped by Danny's unresolved anger and his distorted need for control. Do you think he was trying to scare his mom? or was he possibly considering killing her but couldn't do it so instead moved on to proxies? I don't think it was simply about scaring her, but was likely testing her attachment, which reveals just how central she was in his inner world and what a big motivator she was for his rage. Claudia represented both comfort and betrayal, so sharing Gemini with her could have also been his way of saying, this is the monster that you helped create. Could he have been considering killing her? Possibly. The idea

isn't far-fetched given just how much rage he carried toward her. But for many offenders like Danny, killing the actual parent can feel impossible to do because that bond, however unhealthy it is, is too strong. In fact, statistically, many serial offenders do not target people they personally know. Take Ted Bundy, for example. He resented his mother, and he never harmed her for similar reasons. He also never harmed his long-term girlfriend because she served a purpose. She was part of his mask of sanity, helping to curate a normal and stable facade to the world. He wasn't going to jeopardize that as long as it was useful, and it was for him until she turned him in, of course. And we did episodes on Ted Bundy, if you haven't listened, so you should

tune into those. Danny's behavior following the murders gave no indication of what was going through his mind. First, he cleaned up as best he could and took a shower. Then he took a nap in Christina's bed. Danny was so nonchalant, he didn't wake up until sunrise. At that point, he slipped out of the apartment and returned to his campsite completely undetected. Whatever the reason for his calm demeanor, he overlooked some crucial details that he'd left behind. Danny had orchestrated his own undoing, and he didn't even know it. But for the moment, he was ready to seek out his next victim. Early in the morning on August 24th, 1990, 36-year-old Danny Rowling murdered Sonia Larson and Christina Powell,

two freshman students at the University of Florida. The following night, a group of other freshmen went to Sonia and Christina's apartment to see if they wanted to hang out. When the girls didn't answer, their friends left a note on their door and left. Meanwhile, Danny was on the hunt for his next victim. He crawled out of his campsite and headed to an apartment where he'd spotted another young woman he liked. Just like Sonia and Christina, she resembled his mother as well. 18-year-old Krista Hoyt was also a freshman. She worked part-time at the local sheriff's office.

That night, Krista was out with a friend. While she was away, Danny broke into her apartment by prying open her sliding glass door with his screwdriver. Then he hid behind a bookcase and waited for her to return. Around 10 p.m., Krista walked in, and Danny attacked her. He tackled her, then duct taped her mouth and wrists. Then he sexually assaulted her and stabbed her with the same knife he used to kill Sonia and Christina. But then Danny took things a step further and decapitated Krista. And he still wasn't done.

He continued to pose her like he'd done with his other victims. This time, he arranged her head so that it faced her body. Clinically, escalation like this is significant and often reflects a deepening compulsion. It shows that he has a very strong need for control, domination, and sadistic gratification. For Danny, the act of decapitation could have been a way to amplify the humiliation and dehumanization of his victim. Now, when we think about how this might tie back to Claudia, Danny's mother, there's an important psychological thread here. Again, he carried tremendous resentment toward her for what he saw as her failure to protect him from his abusive father. So, decapitation could be, at least for him, a symbolic way of silencing or erasing the maternal figure, taking away her voice, her face, and her identity.

Danny did one more unusual thing that night. After cleaning up as best he could, he took a bloodied sheet with him back to his encampment. It's not clear whether he wanted it as a trophy or he was trying to get rid of evidence. Either way, he clearly felt confident in his ability to get away with murder because he quickly began scoping out the apartment complex in search of another victim. But by the following day, Danny had to retreat back to his campsite and hide out because police were swarming the area. On August 26th, Christina's parents hadn't heard from her, which was unusual, so they called the police and requested a welfare check.

Soon, officers stumbled upon the horrifying scene. The apartment was quickly cordoned off as a crime scene. Authorities spotted the primarks on the sliding door, which looked to them like it had been done with a screwdriver. And while they didn't find any fingerprints, they did collect bodily fluids, including blood and semen. Other students gathered outside the apartment as news of Christina and Sonia's deaths made its way around the complex. Throughout the day, students began purchasing mace and guns and put extra locks on their door. Some student housing sites also hired extra security guards. But this did little to dissuade Danny.

Where others saw tragedy and fear, he saw rising fame. He wasted no time before he struck again. On the night of August 27th, he set his sights on 23-year-old Tracy Paulus. Danny lurked outside Tracy's apartment for a while, watching her undress. Then he spotted someone else, Tracy's longtime friend and roommate, 23-year-old Manuel Mani Toboda. Danny knew that to get to Tracy, he'd have to go through Mani. He waited until all the lights were off in the apartment before he broke in. Once he did, Manny tried to fight him off, but Danny pulled out his knife and stabbed Manny repeatedly, killing him.

Meanwhile, Tracy heard the commotion. She ran to the bathroom and locked the door, but soon Danny figured out where she was and kicked the door down. Then he carried out all the same gruesome acts as before. Except, just as Danny went to pose Tracy's body, he noticed something strange happen. Gemini was leaving him. He no longer heard his voice or felt his control. It was like Danny was suddenly awake. He supposedly didn't remember what he'd just done, but he could clearly see it.

So let's talk about some potential reasons for why he felt Gemini leaving him. I mean, first off, there's something called psychological fatigue. Sustaining that level of dissociation and control can only last for so long before the mind forces a break. Another is an increased awareness or even conscience. Seeing Tracy survive or noticing something unexpected may have triggered his own moral or emotional response, even if it was a very weak one. It could also have been a moment of cognitive dissonance. The gap between what he believed Gemini could do and the reality of what he had just done

may have hit him in that moment. Even for someone as calloused and antisocialist, Danny, that brief confrontation with the reality of his action shows that deep down the human mind can still register the enormity of certain acts, even if it doesn't prevent them from doing them. And lastly, it is possible that Danny's brief clarity had a physiological component. He had a long history of substance abuse or dependency, and alcohol and drugs can both numb emotions, induce psychosis and impaired judgment and reasoning, as well as dull self-awareness.

So if the effects were wearing off in that moment, it could have allowed him to suddenly process reality more clearly. That doesn't excuse his actions of it. of course, but it helps explain why someone who seemed entirely dissociated with his own violence might briefly perceive it with shock or horror. Danny was completely blindsided and in shock. He frantically tried to clean up but gave up before running out of the apartment. On his way back to his tent, he jumped into a nearby swimming pool to rinse the blood off.

Then he buried the knife and gloves in a barn and returned to his tent. There, Danny tried to regroup. That's when he realized he was running out of food and drugs. He decided to get his hands on some cash before worrying about his deeper issues. Rather than rob someone's home or a grocery store, Danny decided to rob a bank this time. He slipped on a brown ski mask, grabbed his gun, and stormed into a bank just a half mile from Krista's apartment. The teller calmly told Danny that she would fill a duffel bag with cash. Little did he know, she also slipped in a dye pack that was designed to explode, rendering all the bills useless.

After Danny ran off with the bag, the teller called the police. Around the same time, the sheriff's office was dealing with another issue. Krista Hoyt, Danny's third university victim, had failed to show up for her shift there. Officers were immediately concerned, especially since Krista matched the victim profile they had established. She was young, lived in the same apartment complex, and had fair skin and brunette hair. Officers rushed to Krista's apartment and realized their worst fear had come true. The killer had struck again. Krista's apartment became yet another crime scene, where authorities, reporters, and members of the public gathered.

Around 1 a.m., Danny walked past the commotion. He was most likely on his way back from buying food or drugs. an officer spotted him, then watched as Danny stalked into the woods. The officer thought he seemed suspicious and followed him. At some point, Danny noticed that he was being followed, and he took off running. But he was near enough to his tent at the time for the officer to find it and everything that was inside. Danny abandoning his campsite was likely done out of survival instinct.

Even someone as callous and antisocial as Danny, can recognize immediate danger and act accordingly to preserve themselves. Self-preservation is something that we see in almost all offenders. He may have experienced a moment of panic or even disorientation. By this point, he'd been living on the run under extreme stress and managing substance use, all of which can impair judgment. So abandoning the campsite could have been a split-second decision to avoid confrontation. I also think he had to have known on some level that if he didn't run, he would ultimately have been apprehended. And once they searched his campsite and found the evidence like the bloody blanket he took, that this would be his last free moment. So this

indicates to me that his ability to weigh cost benefit is grossly intact because it suggests, at least in this moment, he likely knew right from wrong. Danny most likely believed that the items at his campsite would connect him to the murders. First, the officers found the bag full of dyed bills. Then, as they looked closer, they spotted a screwdriver. The same tool authorities believed was used to break into each victim's home. They also found bloody sheets and a collection of cassette tapes. Detectives were starting to believe they'd found the man responsible for the murders. They quickly sent off the screwdriver for analysis, but when the results came back, they said it wasn't the same type used for the crimes. From there, detectives assumed the bloody

sheets and cassette tapes were unrelated to the killings. So they bagged them and logged them as evidence under, quote, unknown robbery suspect. Now, investigators were desperate for leads. Shortly after Krista's body was found, a tip came in, pointing them toward a 20-year-old University of Florida student named Edward Humphrey. Edward had a history of mental health problems and erratic behavior. As far as police were concerned, he fit the profile. They began surveilling him, and almost immediately they caught Edward assaulting his grandmother. They arrested him and began looking into his potential involvement with the killings. Meanwhile, the real killer was getting out of Dodge.

Danny had stolen a car and began making his way to Tampa, but his erratic, fearful state of mind was getting the best of him. and without Gemini there to guide him, he was about to make a huge mistake. Every day, something remarkable happened in history, and on History Daily, they tell the fascinating stories of what happened on that day. New episodes drop every weekday, each one under 20 minutes. That means you can start and finish a show anytime you need a quick hit of history. The stories cover it all. Famous battles, fashion firsts, medicine, science, technology, religion, politics, sports, everything that made us who we are today. And here's the best part. Even if you think you know what happened on a certain day, you'll likely be surprised by the hidden details and

amazing facts you've never heard before, because at the heart of every episode is a simple truth. History is human. History daily goes beyond names and dates to uncover the overlooked and forgotten human stories behind the events that shaped our world. Discover the past in a whole new way. Listen to History Daily wherever you listen to podcasts. By September 1, 1990, the city of Gainesville, Florida, was reeling from the murders of five University of Florida students. While police chased down Leeds, 36-year-old Danny Rowling had already vanished.

He'd made it all the way to Tampa, Florida. and wasted no time slipping back into his old routine, breaking into homes and businesses and stealing what he needed to get by. On September 8th, Danny carried out an armed robbery at a grocery store. However, he didn't notice that one of the employees was on the phone with 911. By the time Danny made it back to his stolen vehicle, police were already pulling into the parking lot. Danny floored it, but before he knew it, there were multiple squad cars

tailing him. Plus, up ahead, other officers were laying down spike strips. Danny eventually hit them and crashed his car. But he still wasn't ready to give up. Danny bolted from the wreckage and ran into a nearby loan office. So at this point, we see a shift in Danny's mental state. What we're seeing is a combination of panic, impulsivity, and raw survival instinct. He's not carefully planning. He's reacting to immediate threats to his escape. And this kind of behavior suggests that without the defense that Gemini provided him, Danny is exposed to the full weight of his fear, stress, and guilt, even if he doesn't fully process it consciously. It also highlights, though, how reliant he became on that fantasy persona to regulate his emotions and control his

impulses. Without it, his actions are chaotic, desperate, and far less controlled them before. And without that coping mechanism, Danny was left fully exposed to fear and stress, which made his behavior chaotic and desperate. Do you think that Danny's fully aware of everything he's done at this point? At this point, Danny does likely understand more clearly what he's done. He may still not have fully processed it emotionally, or maybe he lacks the capacity to. But when he had used Gemini as a defense, he mentally framed the violence as belonging to that persona, which allowed him to act without confronting the full reality of his actions.

Now that Gemini is, quote, gone, Danny is seeing the consequence. of his crimes in real time, connecting to himself. And I don't believe he experienced any kind of memory loss. He seems to remember everything. But the psychological externalization he engaged in that made the acts feel separate from him is gone for whatever reason. And that can be overwhelming. And it helps explain why his behavior, again, became chaotic and desperate. Danny may have thought he could get away.

But inside the loan office, he reached a dead end. There was nowhere for him to run anymore. and soon officers had him surrounded. Danny was arrested. At his arraignment, he admitted to two recent robberies in Florida, and he was placed behind bars, but he still wasn't a suspect in the Gainesville murders. Back in Gainesville, officers had no idea

that the man they were looking for was already in custody, and soon they had no one on their list of suspects. Edward Humphrey's DNA didn't match the semen samples from the crime scenes, Plus, Florida authorities isolated blood samples from various scenes and believed that the killer was a type B secretor. They knew this was an extremely rare trait, and Edward didn't have it. With no other leads and desperate for answers, authorities formed a 60-person task force in their hunt for the man the media had dubbed the Gainesville Ripper. The task force included members of the FBI, which meant Florida investigators, now had access to national databases.

They combed through records in search of murders that were similar to the ones at the University of Florida. And by November of 1990, one case caught the attention of Detective Don Maines, an investigator with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Detective Mainz came across records for the 1984 Grissom family murders in Shreveport, Louisiana. The victims had suffered multiple stab wounds,

just like the Gainesville victims. Not only that, but Shreveport authorities believed their suspect was a type B secretor. The way Mains saw it, there was a high likelihood that Gainesville and Shreveport authorities were looking for the same guy. That same month, the task force opened up a tip line, which they heavily advertised all across Florida. Pretty soon, a woman who was passing through the state caught wind, and when she heard certain details of the killings, she got a bad feeling. She called the tip line and said her name was Cindy. She said there was a man she knew from back home in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Cindy used to go to church with him. His name was Danny Rowling, and he once told her that he enjoyed stabbing people. Cindy's tip changed everything, especially since once authorities began tracking down Danny, they quickly located him in a Florida jail awaiting trial for robbery. Since their new suspect was already in custody, investigators had time to revisit the evidence they had once collected from a campsite near the crime scenes. First, they had the screwdriver re-analyzed.

This time, the lab realized they'd made a mistake. It was a match for the one used to break into the victim's apartments, but perhaps most chilling was a plastic bag full of cassette tapes. Detectives popped one into a tape player, and soon their jaws hit the floor. A man sang about being a drifter, loner, and going insane. His lyrics explained brutal stabbings in detail, and even described targeting young women. Finally, the man sang a song about his father.

He described how much his father had hurt him and eventually pushed him over the edge. Given the content of these songs, this could have started as an avenue for Danny to engage and fantasy rehearsal, which in the context of criminology, is a cognitive process in which an offender repeatedly imagines or mentally practices committing their violence. Most serial offenders do this in some form or another, and when it comes to writing or lyrics, we can learn a lot, including possible motive, planning, escalation, and thought process. It's certainly not a smoking gun of evidence, but it can be corroborative for investigations. So why did Danny do this? Now, I've highlighted throughout both episodes that Danny has a pattern of externalizing blame, displacing his anger,

and fragmenting his identity to avoid distressing or uncomfortable feelings of vulnerability or shame. And these songs seem to be another form of that as well. Not only is it an outlet for expressing his violent fantasies in what he might have felt was a socially acceptable way, but it also allowed him to frame this internally as fiction or creativity, which would ultimately allow him to continue to separate himself from his actions or his fantasies. For example, lyrics about going insane likely were his way of removing agency or responsibility. Blaming his father is a grievance justification. He's converting his very real victimhood from his childhood into moral exemption for violence. Other likely reasons he did this are for emotional regulation, as this can be

a cathartic process for anyone, but also it can be for sadistic gratification. He can listen to these songs at any time and instantly relive these moments. So they could be a form of trophies in a sense as well. Do you think these cassette tapes also might reveal that Danny knew what he was doing all along? Is it, you think he just made up Gemini and the other demons as an excuse to kill? So obviously I can't be 100% certain because I've never evaluated him. Based on what we cover, this is educational only. It's more likely than not that he intentionally created and named these altars so that he could distance himself from response. and reduce any unbearable shame. In practice, that does several things at once. It makes violent impulses feel like someone else's. It legitimizes those impulses inside a cultural frame. And in this case, it's the demons in church language. It softens guilt so he can rehearse and plan. And it tests who will believe or protect him. It also gives him an identity that draws social support while deflecting accountability. Again, it seems more like a defensive strategy. His chronic use of immature defense.

since childhood without developing any healthy coping makes this explanation far more likely. For now, investigators were less concerned about Danny's motive and more concerned about connecting him to the murders. In the fall of 1991, members of the task force visited Danny in jail. They didn't press him on his involvement with the crimes. Instead, they told him they were looking into a series of robberies that had taken place. The robberies were real, but the investigators knew Danny wasn't involved with them, and they figured he would want to clear his name in order to avoid harsher punishment. So they told him he could submit a DNA sample so they could find out for sure.

Lying like this was a bit of a legal gray area, but it worked. Danny gave them a sample. And when the results came back, they showed that Danny's DNA was a definitive match for the samples found at both the Shreveport and Gainesville murder scenes. But things got a a little more complicated from there. By the time investigators returned to question Danny about the murders, he'd been put on heavy antipsychotic medication after he claimed demons were visiting him in his cell. So that doesn't surprise me. Even if I am skeptical, he's experiencing primary psychosis, in correctional settings, any reported hallucinations, even if they are incongruent with their presentation, are often treated quickly with antipsychotics, especially

in their pretrial stages. They have court hearings. clinicians tend to err on the side of caution to ensure safety, not just in the air institution, but for transfer to court and while in court as well. So at that point, detectives asked him point blank if he was the killer, and Danny admitted that he was. He admitted to everything. But considering all the medication he was on, his confession wasn't exactly reliable. To make matters worse, officers reportedly never gave him the option to have a lawyer present. So investigators had to keep building their case. At the time, DNA testing was still in its early stages, and multiple samples were usually

needed to hold up in court. Over the next six months, investigators obtained multiple warrants to collect more samples from Danny. They were careful to get his consent each time, so that his defense couldn't claim later on that they tricked him. Finally, on May 31st, 1991, the task force publicly named Danny Rowling as the top suspect in the Gainesville student murders. While all of this was unfolding, Danny was sentenced to life in prison for his recent robbery. Prosecutors in that case had pushed for the maximum sentence to ensure he remained behind bars, while prosecutors in the murder trial built their case against him.

Then in June of 1992, prosecutors officially charged 38 years. year old Danny Rowling on five counts of first-degree murder for what happened to Sonia Larson, Christina Powell, Krista Hoyt, Tracy Paulus, and Mani Taboda. Authorities decided there was no need to pursue charges in the Shreveport murders because the evidence in Gainesville was overwhelming. Plus, they didn't want to hold up that case. Over the next three years, Danny claimed that Gemini sometimes returned. He said the demon didn't stay long, but his presence caused him to try and take his own life several times. When Danny was at his lowest, something unexpected happened. In 1992, after almost two years

behind bars, Danny began corresponding with true crime author Sondra London. She approached him about writing a book, and as they started working on it together, the relationship turned romantic. Eventually, they got engaged. By the time pre-trial he, he was a little. By the time pre-trial hearings began, Danny was so taken with Sandra that he openly serenaded her in the courtroom. There's a lot here to cover. So let's start with Danny. First, jailhouse romances are not uncommon, and this is quite typical of that, only it's more performative. This suggests that Danny was still seeking public attention in loyalty. This attention served as social reward and secondary gain. He got companionship, emotional containment, and a platform to

shape his story. Serenading in court was impression management. It humanized him to an audience, provoked shock and distracted from accountability. But also, for Danny, his attachment wounds prime him for transference onto any woman who shows him care, and that was likely exacerbated by his current environment where care and nurturance were entirely lacking. Sondra could have easily been a substitute caregiver or savior, which would lead to idealization like this. He needs her. Conversely, individuals who are romantically attracted to people who commit serious crimes, which is something known as Hybristophilia, which might be the case here, it might not, are often individuals who have a rescue or savior complex of their own, are seeking attention

themselves and have low self-esteem. They tend to be attracted to the platform that relationship can provide and the control that they have over their sense of security in their relationship. Both sides are likely seeking notoriety and have dependency or boundary deficits that fuel these relationships. And these types of romances are highly conditional, and they're rarely built on genuine trust, mutual respect, or secure attachment. Danny Rowling's new romance wasn't the only shocking thing about his case. In February of 1994, just before jury selection was set to begin, he surprised everyone, including his own, when he entered a guilty plea. Danny claimed he wanted to spare the victim's families from having to sit through every gruesome detail of the murders. And when asked why he committed the

murders in the first place, all he said was that he wanted to be like Ted Bundy. The judge accepted his plea, but that didn't mean Danny's case was over. A jury still had to decide whether he would live out his life in prison or die for his crimes. A big part of that decision came down to Danny's state of mind and whether he was truly psychotic. Some medical experts argued that Gemini was just a psychological defense mechanism rooted in Danny's abusive childhood. But on April 20, 1994, that wasn't enough to stop the court from handing down five death sentences, one for each victim. Danny spent the next 12 years on death row in Florida. He filed multiple appeals, but they were all denied. Finally, on October 25, 2006, Danny Rowling was

executed. Two years later, all of the evidence in Danny's case was destroyed. It was a symbolic act meant to erase what was left of him and give the victim's families another degree of closure. But even without the physical reminders, the horror he inflicted still lingers. To this day, loved ones struggle to make sense of what happened and live with questions that will never be answered. Danny's crimes don't just haunt Gainesville. They've also made a mark on pop culture. His killing spree inspired the movie series Scream, a reminder of the mark the violence left behind. Danny Rowling may be gone, but the terror he unleashed and the lives he took will never be forgotten. Thanks so much for listening.

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Killer Minds is hosted by me, Vanessa Richardson, and Dr. Tristan Engels. and is a crime house original powered by Pave Studios. This episode was brought to life by the Killer Minds team. Max Cuddler, Ron Shapiro, Alex Benadon, Lori Marinelli, Natalie Pertzowski, Sarah Camp, Markey Lee, Sarah Tardiff, and Carrie Murphy. Thank you for listening. Twisted Tales with Heidi Wong is perfect for spooky season. dive into the real events behind the world's most terrifying blockbusters and beyond.

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