Timesuck with Dan Cummins - 413 - The Gainesville Ripper

Starting point is 00:00:00 What would you do if overnight, your peaceful town was turned into the setting of a real-life horror movie? For many of us who have loved watching slasher flicks over the years, it's pretty easy for us to picture how a town might respond to a series of vicious murders. We might think of the atmosphere of fear, the heightened police presence, residents buying up an arsenal of weapons. We might think of journalists reporting from the scene of the crime, or the sheriff or mayor trying to quell a panic with reports that they were honing in on a suspect. For most of us this all

Starting point is 00:00:27 thankfully exists in the realm of fantasy. We have these images in our head mostly because we've seen movies where this stuff happens. On top of all the true crime podcasts and documentaries we've consumed or images like this or at least referred to. Luckily when the movie or podcast or docu-series ends we get to go back to our comparatively humdrum, safe, normal lives. But what if it wasn't a movie? And what if it didn't end?

Starting point is 00:00:51 For many residents of Gainesville, Florida in the late summer of 1990, this was exactly what happened. The first sign that something was off wasn't even violent. It was the fact that Christina Powell, the youngest of seven and last to leave home, hadn't called her parents after moving into her new apartment near the University of Florida. Maybe her parents thought she was just busy. Maybe as so many college kids do, she was behaving a little less than responsibly, excited to begin a new adventure of adulthood in a new city.

Starting point is 00:01:17 Maybe she was taking in Gainesville's beaches or partying with her neighbors. But then a day passed, and she still hadn't called. And then she didn't meet her sister, who had come by to bring her some furniture. Now it was seeming like something was definitely wrong. Moments before police entered the apartment she shared with a young woman named Sonia Larson, they might have thought that she had packed a bag and decided to go for an impromptu weekend trip. Or that she was having problems with her family that she just wasn't sharing or was avoiding

Starting point is 00:01:42 them. Maybe they thought she'd be there confused wondering why the police were in her home and later she and her parents and her sister would all have a good laugh about it. Remember that time when? But that wasn't the case. Instead police walked into an especially disturbing bloodbath. Christina Powell was not only dead she had been grotesquely degraded and put on display. Whoever had killed her wanted to shock and terrify whoever found her remains. And that's exactly what happened. Her dead body was found on the couch, sexually assaulted, mutilated, disturbingly posed.

Starting point is 00:02:13 Upstairs the remains of her murdered roommate, Sonja Larsson, found in much the same condition. Both of their injuries revealed that the two young women had tried to fight back. But they'd been overpowered by a sexual sadist who'd slipped inside their home in the night like a monster from a horror movie and then disappeared. It was a shocking scene for a small college city, reminiscent to me of the four recent co-ed murders down the road in Moscow, Idaho in November of 2022. And then the residents of the college town of Gainesville were shocked further when the

Starting point is 00:02:43 next body was discovered, and it was clear that a savage serial killer was in the area and still on the loose. The Gainesville Ripper today on another What Makes These Monsters Tick? How Does One Get That Sick? True Crime Serial Killing Edition of Time Suck. This is Michael McDonald and you're listening to Time Suck. Ah! You're listening to Time Suck. Well, happy Monday and welcome or welcome back to the Cult of the Curious. Glad to have you here, Meat Sack. Dan Cummins, the suck master, guy who can grow a mustache

Starting point is 00:03:24 like Saddam Hussein But guy who doesn't have his strong Chad like jawline damn you weak jeans Guy in a current streak of 47 years two months in one day of not being tortured in Iraq hoping to keep you hoping to keep it going and you are listening to time suck and This is the last episode that we will be filming for YouTube, but don't panic still here We're still gonna be on YouTube but dropping the video at least for the foreseeable future and why well Because I'm just too handsome and it's not fair to the rest of the internet Real now it's because I want to start beating off while I record these episodes relaxes me

Starting point is 00:03:58 But I don't want to get arrested for doing so For real for real now. We've tried video out here at Bad Magic here in Time Suck in particular for what five six years now. While a small portion of the audience listens on YouTube, I don't think many watch the full episodes. It's not a visually appealing show. Never has been, never will be. Just me staring straight ahead looking at my notes and that's it. And I've long felt that recording a solo storytelling based podcast or videos is just not ideal. You don't feel the same level of comfort you do and it's audio only. You're not thinking about your posture, your facial expressions, your hair, what you're wearing, etc.

Starting point is 00:04:33 You're more relaxed, easier to focus on just telling the stories. Also, we got some new equipment and it sounds a lot better in my opinion. Way richer and more like I sound in real life. And finally, while we could add video to this new system, we would need a new in-house producer to do that. Because Logan Keith moving back to Indiana for family reasons. So this is the last episode he'll be producing in the studio. Going forward, I'll be recording these episodes myself,

Starting point is 00:04:57 sending them over to Logan through the airwaves for a little razzle dazzle to be added and uploaded. Or if he gets sick, you know, with this new new system I have the peace of mind of being able to know that I can upload the episodes myself. So in the interest of making the show better for the 98% of you who listen as opposed to watch, in the interest of continuing to work with Logan, who we'd have to replace if we continued with an in-house system, we're gonna go to audio only like many other similar shows. When I started Time Suck I felt pressure to add the video

Starting point is 00:05:26 because that's what so many other podcasts hosted by stand-up comics were doing. But their podcasts so different than this one. They're, you know, conversational, guest-based, shows built for social media clips. They're not long-form storytelling based. Most other long-form storytelling based podcasts don't do video. Like the huge True Crime podcast, My Favorite Murder, Morbid, Small Town Murder. You know Jimmy Wissman over at Small Town Murder, one of the people who actually helped convince me to make this switch. He felt just makes for a

Starting point is 00:05:57 better show, you're more relaxed, less shit to worry about. So I hope you understand we will still again release these episodes on YouTube if you want to listen but with a thumbnail for the image and on socials I'll still be posting images if you just kind of like, you know curious how I look When you when you're listening to the show, but I really think that when you hear the new episodes, you'll agree They sound better. I hope this improves the show I think it will for the overwhelming majority of listeners like 98% Hail Nimrod and thank you in advance

Starting point is 00:06:24 Also real quick watch my buddy Chad Daniels new special on Netflix, Empty Nestor. It's fantastic, so is he, and I'm super happy for him. And now here we go. Danny Rowling, a name you probably don't know unless you're obsessed with serial killers or you lived in or near Gainesville in the early 1990s. I had never heard of Danny Rowling

Starting point is 00:06:44 or of the Gainesville Ripper until just recently. Or if I did, I forgot about him nearly immediately after hearing about him, which is odd because his crimes are certainly memorable. Rowling wanted to do more than rape and kill. He wanted to create his very own house of horror for the police to stumble across and be haunted by. He wanted investigators to see the victims,

Starting point is 00:07:03 not as they died, but as he left them. Legs splayed, their nude bloody pubic areas prominently displayed, their eyes wide open as if they themselves couldn't believe that they had met such a grisly end. His crime scenes left clues to the chillingly casual way he hung around the homes of his victims after he killed them. Take a shower, eat some takeout, play a little music on the stereo as you cleaned up some evidence listen a little George Michael Anyone walking into one of these scenes I had to wonder what kind of monster could do this The seeds of who Danny would become were planted long before the terrifying events of August 1990 Abused by his father neglected by a suicidal mother lost and adrift in the world Danny first started looking in other people's windows

Starting point is 00:07:44 Because he wanted to escape for a bit to create a fantasy that he had a different family, a family that was kind to him and also because he wanted to beat off to, you know, women he found attractive, let's be honest. But then this fantasy of his had become dark and twisted and eventually would devolve into madness and horror and claim the lives of eight innocent people at the very least. All right. So in terms of structure today, pretty straightforward episode. We'll first learn a little bit about Gainesville.

Starting point is 00:08:18 I think I mumbled about five words together. We'll learn a little bit about Gainesville. Uh, Florida before getting to know and eventually despise Danny Rowling in today's Time Suck Timeline. A walk you through his terrible childhood, his dad was a real piece of shit that would push him towards the acts he'd eventually commit that would leave a city of young people reeling, wondering if they would be next. In response to his most publicized crimes, Gainesville residents, many of them college students, bought guns and bolt locks and for the women they changed their hair color away from the brunette that the Gainesville ripper seemed to prefer.

Starting point is 00:08:50 They slept together, moved together, checked in on one another, always hoping that they wouldn't be the ones to star in his latest MacCaubley-staged crime scene. For a few weeks, Danny seemed to move through the Florida night like a boogeyman, and to a population that remembered Ted Bundy's murders in Florida just a decade before, before seemed like the ghost of Bundy was coming back to haunt him. But Danny was no boogeyman. He was confused, abused, mentally ill, drifter who had fantasies of being born into another life. Instead of taming those fantasies, instead of putting in the work to build the life he wanted for himself, he allowed his fantasies to twist, darken, and consume him. And consume the lives again of eight other people. But before we dive into how Danny Rollins became a monster, we're gonna learn a

Starting point is 00:09:27 little about Gainesville, Florida, setting for the majority of today's murders. We've been there before. You might remember Gainesville from the Aaron Hernandez episode. Gainesville is where Hernandez would play for the University of Florida Gators beginning in 2007, guessing he heard about these murders while he was there since they occurred just seven years prior to his arrival. We talked about how the University of Florida was the epicenter of life in the city of Gainesville and if you were a football player you were basically a celebrity. Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County Florida and the most popular city in North Central

Starting point is 00:09:59 Florida numbering 145,212 in 2022. Back in 1990, it was a lot smaller, just a little over half its current size with 84,770 people. Crazy how much it grew in 32 years. While Spanish colonists began cattle ranching in the area in the 18th century before Spain ceded Florida to the U.S. in 1821, local indigenous people had been living in the area since around 10,000 BCE at least. Gainesville would not be established until 1854, named after Edmund P. Gaines, a career U.S. Army officer who served for nearly 50 years. Did was a veteran of the War of 1812, the Seminole Wars, the Black Hawk War, and the Mexican-American War.

Starting point is 00:10:41 He commanded the troops to successfully repel the British in one of the last battles of the War of 1812, the Siege of Fort Erie, and for his valor he was awarded a Congressional Gold Medal. The city of Gainesville would be named in his honor and incorporated formally in 1869, then properly charted as a city in 1907. One year before the University of the State of Florida had been moved from Lake City to Gainesville, and in 1909 the name would be simplified to what it is today. The University of Florida. Today UF is massive. Fourth biggest public university in the country. Has a student population of over 55,000. Roughly 35,000 those students are undergrads. So the campus is basically its own city. Along with its robust academic programs, 123 master's degree programs, 76 doctoral degrees, and over 150 research centers, and its wildly popular and successful athletic department,

Starting point is 00:11:34 Gators have won 35 national team championships and are one of just two division one FBS universities to win multiple national championships in each of the two most popular NCAA sports, which is football and men's basketball. Many are drawn to the university because of the area's stunning natural landscape as well. The tree canopy is both dense and species-rich, including broadleaf evergreens, conifers, deciduous species.

Starting point is 00:12:01 Urban tree canopy covers a full 47% of the city's land area, most of its streets and providing some much needed relief from the hot sun. And it is fucking hot. Humid as shit in Gainesville. During the hot season from roughly May 15th to September 30th, the city's climate is similar to the rest of the state with frequent afternoon thunderstorms, high humidity, real high. Average temperatures in Fahrenheit range from the low 70s at night to around 91 degrees during the day, but it can get as hot as 104 degrees, which is gonna feel way hotter since it is one of the top 10 worst cities for humidity in the entire country with 89% average annual relative humidity. It frequently hits a high of 93 or 94 in the summer and at 94 degrees if you also have 89% humidity It feels like 140. That's wild

Starting point is 00:12:49 It's according to the heat index calculator. I found online that said heat stroke is imminent at that temperature I don't think I could do it. I think it's too much for me. But you know, a lot of people seem to handle it just fine Winters are pretty mild with Gainesville experiencing an average of only 15 nights with the temperature dropped to the point of freezing or slightly below. Overall, it's a beautiful city. If you don't mind the punishing humidity of the hottest summer months. With the low cost of living, large number of inexpensive restaurants. Thank you college kids. And plenty for a young person to do on a Saturday night. Speaking of college kids, Gainesville known amongst some herb lovers for the Gainesville green. Speaking of college kids, Gainesville is known amongst some herb lovers for the Gainesville green.

Starting point is 00:13:31 Particularly potent strain weed with neon line green buds. A sativa dominant hybrid made from a cross between Colombian gold and Maui Waui. I never smoked it but it sounds pretty solid. All in all for many, Gainesville is a little slice of paradise. Indeed, on August 20th, 1990, the small city was ranked as the 13th best place to live in the U.S. by Money Magazine, which is quite an honor. Sadly, by the end of the following week, no one wanted to move there. American papers had renamed the town Grizzly Gainesville after the mutilated bodies of five young students were discovered in their apartments. Hundreds of students now fled the city and many would never return. Thousands of others barricaded themselves in rooms with friends so they wouldn't have to sleep alone, not knowing if or when the killer would strike next.

Starting point is 00:14:11 And now with our stage set, let's meet this son of a bitch, the Gainesville Ripper in today's-sucked timeline. Born in the middle of the night, May 26, 1954 in Shreveport, Louisiana. Danny Rowling's arrival was not a happy occasion. His father, James Harold Rowling, Danny Rowling's middle name would also be Harold, a Korean war veteran in the US Navy and Shreveport police officer had not wanted a kid. When his 19 year old wife Claudia, a homemaker, revealed to him that she was pregnant just two weeks after their wedding, he was pissed. And being the classy gentleman and strong patriarchy was, he would take his anger

Starting point is 00:15:01 out on Claudia during her pregnancy, including choking her, shoving her down a flight of stairs at the family home, White House on a corner lot at 6314 West Canal Boulevard. He didn't want a baby. He only wanted a fun bike ride. Can't a man just ride a fucking bike for fun and not get stuck with a baby? Claudia's difficult pregnancy ended with Danny being pulled out of the birth canal with some forceps that would leave marks on his head that would still be visible nearly a year later. Now dad's more pissed. God damn it. He really didn't want a fucking ugly baby.

Starting point is 00:15:31 Why did Danny fight so hard to stay inside mama's front butt? It was James Harreld's front butt and it was like Danny was trying to take it from him. Then just a few months after Danny's birth, Claudia became pregnant again. Jimmy Harry apparently hated condoms and pulled out more than he hated having kids. And Danny's younger brother, Kevin Rowling, no word on the shape of his head, will be born August 15, 1955. Claudia not treated much better during that pregnancy either, because James is a real piece of shit.

Starting point is 00:15:58 When the physical and emotional torment would become too much, Claudia would take the kids, leave her husband, which she did multiple times, sometimes for weeks. But terrified of James and also in love with him, she would always end up coming back. She did file for separation when the boys were toddlers, but she couldn't bring herself to go through with the divorce. Instead, she moved back in with James and as it usually does, the abuse continued. By the time Danny was five, Claudia had become so depressed with the state of her life that she seriously contemplated suicide, excuse me, by shooting herself. And almost did. She pointed the gun away the last second and the bullet missed. She still pulled the trigger, hit the floor and didn't go through her brain.

Starting point is 00:16:35 Not long after that, Danny fell off the back of the doorstep, hit his head on the concrete stairs below, and that fall would leave a nasty dent in his forehead. His noggin has not fared well the first five years of his life has it Head wounds and serial killers so often go hand-in-hand Yet he did pretty well in school his first few years maybe because it was better than home, but third grade was tough He failed it thanks to absences due to bouts with the mumps measles Croup or crop I think is called called sometimes, tonsillitis, all which left him thin as a skeleton. Being held back was not good for his self-esteem which was already low and his grades plummeted to D's and F's. School

Starting point is 00:17:12 counselors attributed his poor performance to what they called an inferiority complex. Kid was struggling then things got worse. When Danny was nine a cousin visiting from out of town sexually molested him. Daniel later insisted it only happened once. He won't ever share any real details. Growing up, he had no one to talk to about it. And the kid who already doesn't feel good about himself now feels even worse. Soon after this, his family stops going to the Sunset Acres Church of God, leaving Danny

Starting point is 00:17:38 adrift and without a community outside his family. Leaving his mom with less people to see, worry about the abuse she is still suffering. Then when he's 11 Danny walks in on his parents having a heated argument. His mom, Claudia, ends up locking herself in the bathroom, nearly slits her wrists with the razor before James manages to yank it out of her hand. James was in charge. Claudia wasn't allowed to hurt herself. That was James's job. Danny's mom and brother felt like prisoners of James. This feeling was reinforced by James's rules. Neither of the boys were allowed to ever have any friends over or to sit on the home's only couch where only James was allowed to relax.

Starting point is 00:18:16 What a fucking dick. All these episodes in and I still shake my head at these clowns, right? Like if you're some dude who rules your home with his iron fist, how small is your dick? Like just how pathetic are you? Just a sad bully, a loser, too insecure and selfish to share your home with your own family instead of punishing them for you know, uh Why are you like, why are you punishing them for you know, you brought them into your sad little world? I hope if you randomly happen to be listening for some reason and you're somebody like this That you're stricken by some flesh-eating bacteria and they end up having to amputate all your limbs like at the hips and shoulders Good luck bullying anyone now have fun feeling helpless

Starting point is 00:18:54 Oh, and I hope you eat your dick and balls too, so you can't even experience the temporary escape and joy of an orgasm Yeah, I'm benchful James went out of his way to create a tense, nervous, fear-based atmosphere in his home. At dinner, no one could talk unless James asked them a question. James regularly beat his boys with the belt, beating them harder if they cried. I don't know what the parental lesson is there, right? What, the boys who acknowledge physical pain are fucking babies or something? James would beat his boys for real stupid shit like breathing in a way that annoyed him.

Starting point is 00:19:23 This guy was such a dirtbag and I mean I've wanted to beat my kids for breathing in annoying ways. Definitely for slurping their drinks, chewing with their mouths open, but I keep those hateful thoughts inside my head like a responsible maniac. Once James came home when Danny was about 12 he kicked the family dog so hard the dog died a couple days later. One source says the dog died in Danny's arms. He loved it and his dad killed it. His dad also constantly reminded him that he wasn't wanted. Bojangles now also wants him to end up with no arms legs digger balls and in that state Bojangles would like to

Starting point is 00:19:55 use him in a game of fetch. Right how fun. I huck his torso out across the yard. Bojangles runs out, grabs him, you know, drags him back with his teeth. Sounds fun. The indignities extended outside of the home too. The day before Danny started school as a seventh grader at Oak Terrace Junior High, his dad decided he needed a haircut. It sounds like he just did this to humiliate him. Right? This is a big moment in the kid's childhood. I remember how nervous both my kids were to enter junior high.

Starting point is 00:20:17 Right? Are they going to fit in with the kids that, you know, don't already know, like them? Stupid haircut would just be cruel in a situation like this. It'd be social suicide. Ignoring his sons pleading to stop, James shaved his head nearly bare and Danny was viciously mocked and teased by the other kids at school who taunted him calling him various names. It was a humiliation he would never forget. Also when he was 14, James wearing his Shreveport police uniform beat the shit out of Danny in the front yard kicking

Starting point is 00:20:44 and hitting him until he fell down. How great that that guy's a cop, huh? Or was. Yeah, that's the kind of cop we need. This guy's like a bad dude in a movie. You just keep hoping we'll suddenly get hit by a car or shot or something. Neighbors would remember seeing a lot of scenes like Danny getting beaten to the ground in his yard over the course of Danny's childhood at least three times. James would handcuff Danny and then whip him with a rope. Neighbors would have called the police but you know James was the police. At Woodlawn High School in Shreveport, Danny at least enjoyed his history class getting lost in other people's stories like we do here. He had fun playing in the school band. Also found a less healthy form of escapism. In early high school a friend of his, James Anderson, introduced him to something that

Starting point is 00:21:25 would change him forever and definitely not for the better. One summer night, this James snuck over to Danny's house, told him he wanted to show him something. Curious, Danny snuck out, followed him as Anderson jumped over the fence into a neighbor's backyard. Anderson told him to take a little peek in that window there. Danny did, and he froze. The girl next door, who was an attractive cheerleader at their high school

Starting point is 00:21:46 was stepping out of the shower and drying herself off with a lavender towel. Mesmerized. This was like the first nude woman Danny had ever seen. He instantly became addicted to this experience. Nobody did. You're supposed to feel creepy about it. Not want to do it anymore. Right? One time at 14 or 15. Okay, you're curious. I get it. As I've said in previous episodes, I did that. that but you keep doing it. Well now you're a bona fide pervert beating off in the bushes And while that might be normal if you live in say florence italy Call back to two weeks to two weeks ago if you're confused, uh, not normal over here in the states It's a good way to start sliding down into sex offender status Jerk off at home in your bed on the toilet or in shower, thinking about what your classmates look like like a normal teen.

Starting point is 00:22:26 Peeping windows now became something Danny felt compelled to do over and over again. He continued to do this for the rest of his free life. But soon, not even the pleasure of looking in windows and spotting some boob could distract him from the constant sadness and terror of his home life. During a period of depression when he was 15, Danny attempted suicide, slit in his wrists. I tried. He wrote on the bathroom mirror with his mom's lipstick, I just can't make it. Not long after this attempt, Danny dropped out of high school following his sophomore year and then enlisted in the Air Force in June of 1971 as a 17-year-old. Anything to fucking get away from Pops. After completing basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, he served

Starting point is 00:23:05 as a security police officer for the Strategic Air Command at Homestead Air Force Base in Florida. That's cool. I'm sure the people never abused this position to jerk off outside of anyone's windows. Not even one time. He served on active duty for a total of 19 months, ultimately achieving the rank of Airman First Class, but he also repeatedly received disciplinary punishments for offenses ranging from failure to obey orders, using marijuana, theft, and coming into the flowerpots outside of Donna Bradley's bedroom window, also coming directly onto the sliding glass door that let out Sarah Bushel's back porch. Or maybe he just got in trouble for the first three things.

Starting point is 00:23:40 Also began to drink a little too much, next year. He received a general discharge For the recurring behavioral problems and quote an underlying immature personality. Sorry son. You're just You're just too much of a dipshit for the Air Force. Best luck Follows discharge Danny returned to the family home. I'm sure his dad never teased him about his discharge or anything Not even one time trying to find meaning in his life He sought out spiritual guidance now by becoming active in the United Pentecostal Church of Shreveport. He was baptized and where he would attend services not once, not twice, not three times, but five times a week. That feels like a red flag. You know that someone's really internally struggling and I'd say the same thing if somebody started seeing a therapist five times a week.

Starting point is 00:24:20 Or started going to AA meetings five times a week. I mean do what you need to do. Keep your demons at bay. But clearly to me this is a you know shows that he is very mentally fragile. He's not in great mental space right now. He joined the church choir, drove the church bus for the disabled, dressed as the Easter bunny to amuse kids on Easter. Maybe even stopped jerking off outside of windows for a little bit. Or at the very least now when he jerked off outside of windows he had the decency to hold a Bible in his free hand, wear a nice long-sleeve button-up shirt, comb his hair, hard side part, lots of jail.

Starting point is 00:24:49 So he looked like a respectable, God-fearing young man who just needed to release some demons from Beelzebub's wizard staff so he could have his thoughts be holy again. He also developed a romantic relationship with a young woman from church, Omatha Ann Halko whose mama died in a train wreck when she was five. Some sources list her name as Omather, most Omatha. I've never heard of either first names. Danny genuinely thought God had sent her to him as an answer to his prayers. Finally, he could look at a naked woman who would also touch his dick and stuff, just like he'd been praying about. They married six months after they met, September 7th, 1974. Within a year, Amatha, yeah, again, have not heard that name before, gave birth to a daughter

Starting point is 00:25:32 named Mothra, and they appeared to be a happy family. I wish her name was Mothra. Amatha and Mothra. That'd be awesome. Her name was Kylie. Kylie, Danielle, Rowling. Danny changed after the birth of their daughter, to drugs peeping in some windows. Later blamed his behavior on his wife's frigid attitude towards sex. Why couldn't she

Starting point is 00:25:52 pretend she was you know that she didn't realize someone else was around and like just stripping stuff while he quietly jerked off in the shadows? Oh no, she had to be approved. Actually their marital troubles probably had a lot more to do with Danny's dad James than her frigidness Did I mention that they're living with Danny's folks still? Yeah, they are Allegedly during their marriage James is fucking insane James would come into Danny and Almatha's bedroom like in them in the middle of the night while they're asleep and He would jerk the covers off his own grown son while his son slept naked in bed Then hold a knife to his throat in front of his wife

Starting point is 00:26:29 Wish I had more details about that like what he what he say when he did that just I just wanted to remind you Danny She'll never safe in this house not ever Sleep tight then just like walks out fucking goes back to bed Is this something that he discussed over breakfast next morning? What the fuck was that knife shit about last night dad? Clearly his home life is just fucking bonkers 1976 when he's 22 Danny abruptly leaves a Martha and Kelly for nearly a month No one knows where he goes when he returns he offers no explanation Other than telling a Martha that he'd been to Florida Okay

Starting point is 00:27:02 Another time police officers came to the house told her that Danny had been caught peeping in some women's windows at tracks. Eventually she decided to confront him about this and he punched her in the face. Left with a black eye. Right? Dad taught him well how to have a healthy relationship. Another time he pointed a shotgun at her. Threatened to kill her. Less than a year after the month long disappearance and the shotgun incident and the beating, Amotha has had enough Thank God and she leaves him in 1977 and she takes Mothra with her. I mean Kylie. Hail Mothra. I mean Amotha Although the relationship had always been rocky Danny was devastated by the separation now plagued by more feelings of insecurity and adequacy

Starting point is 00:27:41 abandonment now And before moving further and hearing about Danny's first sexual crime, let's take the first of two mid-show sponsor breaks. Thanks for listening to those ads. If you don't want to hear any more, get the entire catalog ad free and more by signing up to be a Spacestr on Patreon for five bucks a month. And now let's head to 1979 when Danny Rawling takes a turn for the worse. In 1979, 25 year old Danny now takes out his pain and anger over his recent divorce on a brunette college girl

Starting point is 00:28:11 living a few blocks from his house in Shreveport. His wife had just served him with divorce papers and in a blind rage, Danny broke into the young woman's house and rapes her. A woman who looked a lot like his wife. I'm gonna assume he had been peeping on her for quite some time. He'll confess to this crime years later,

Starting point is 00:28:26 but for now he gets away with it. Then in May of 1979, he robs a 7-Eleven near his home. When the frightened clerk handed him the $11 in the cash register, he stared incredulously at the small amount of money, then handed it back, saying it wasn't worth keeping. Although later named as a suspect for the crime, he's never charged.

Starting point is 00:28:44 Helped that he wore a ski mask, didn't leave any fingerprints, he was a ghost in the night. Next night, he robs Charlie's Lounge, a small bar. After donning brown gloves and a blue ski mask, Donnie strode into the busy bar in Shreveport shortly before midnight and shockingly pulled this robbery off.

Starting point is 00:28:59 He left a few minutes later with the bar's cash box. Now, Danny started to feel like an outlaw, a heroic figure on the run like Clint Eastwood's character in his favorite movie, the outlaw Josie Wales. I don't remember Josie being a creepy peeper in that movie but okay. Wearing a brown sack over his head he robbed Eleanor liquor in Shreveport May 15th, walked out with approximately 200 bucks. Ten days later May 25th he tries to do this again. This time he strolls into a Winn-Dixie grocery store in Montgomery, Alabama, wearing a brown

Starting point is 00:29:27 ski mask, jeans, carrying a Smith & Wesson revolver in his hand. He orders the cashiers to fill the bag with money and then flees on foot and makes off with about $800. Week later, he has the same shit at another Winn-Dixie in Columbus, Georgia now. This time he gets $956, biggest payday to date. He flees on foot into the nearby woods, but this time three police officers find him hiding in some bushes just 30 minutes after the robbery. He surrenders without resisting, confesses at the police station that the gun he had

Starting point is 00:29:55 was his dad's service revolver. For the Columbus robbery, he'll get six years in the Muskogee County Jail. While there, he'll plead guilty to the Montgomery Wind Dixie robbery, and in August of 1979, he'll be transferred to the Montgomery Wind Dixie robbery, and in August of 1979, he'll be transferred to the Georgia State Prison, where he didn't plan on staying for long. Two months later, while clearing stumps as part of a work detail, Denny asked permission to take a shit in the woods,

Starting point is 00:30:16 as one does. The guard allowed it, and once Denny had found his shit in the spot, well, he ran. But he didn't run very fast. The guards caught up to him before he made it to Interstate 75. One of them fired a warning shot into the air and he stopped. And then he was quickly escorted back to prison. Now authorities wonder what exactly kind of person they have on their hands. In 1980, Larry Ingram, a psychiatrist at Bryce State Hospital in

Starting point is 00:30:39 Tuscaloosa, Alabama, diagnosis Danny Rawling with a personality disorder, unclear from sources which one, an anti-social trend and a tendency to blame others for his problems. Shortly after this diagnosis, Danny tries to run again and is punished. A guard with a black belt in Taekwondo kicks him in the nuts, hard, hard enough to bust one of his testicles. This will be an injury that will plague him with ball pain for the rest of his life. When he later returns to to Bush Beaton, it feels good and it hurts. Despite two escape attempts, Danny gets an early release from Georgia in 1982 and then luckily he's transferred right back to Alabama where he'll serve two more years at the St. Clair County Jail where

Starting point is 00:31:22 this runner will gain special privileges to move around the grounds as a jail trustee. Want to guess how that went? In July of 82 Danny tries to escape again. Does so this time while taking out the trash and he actually pulls it off this time. But luckily the police capture him two days later in the small city of Nacatash, Louisiana. Oldest permanent settlement in the Louisiana Purchase by the way. And now he'll serve the remainder of a sentence doing hard labor at Stanton Correctional Facility back in Alabama. And he finishes the sentence in June of 1985. He has just turned 31. First time he's been truly free in six years.

Starting point is 00:31:55 And what is the first thing he does? Well, he hitchhikes through Mississippi and then steals the gun of the guy who picked him up. Not quite reformed, but you knew that. Then just a few weeks later, July 22nd, he uses a stolen gun to rob a Kroger grocery store in Clinton, Mississippi. Wearing a black ski mask and gloves, he walked through the store's shopping cart door at 10 10 p.m. and bellowed, this is a hold-up! He then approached the closest Kroger cashier, James Lansdale. A lot of fucking Jameses in the suck. And told him to put the money in the bag.

Starting point is 00:32:29 Like he was reading off of a script. He's the outlaw, Josie Wales. You know? And now go inside your house. Open up your curtains so he can watch you take off your clothes. Well, Lansdale initially laughed off this command. He thought some of his friends were playing a joke on him. He thought Danny was just kidding by the way he was acting. Danny, not kidding.

Starting point is 00:32:44 He now points his gun at the cashier, just kidding by the way he was acting. Danny, not kidding. He now points his gun at the cashier, repeats, put the money in the bag, now. Lansdale empties out his till to the tune of almost 300 bucks. And with that, Danny runs out the store, across the parking lot, starts looking for a car to steal. He is an outlaw. Meanwhile, someone in the store had already called the police.

Starting point is 00:33:00 And since this is a small city, Clinton only had 16 or 17,000 people this time. Police not that far away. About five hours later, Danny's arrested at 3.38 a.m. the next morning when Clinton police catch him driving a tan 1984 Ford LTD that had been reported stolen by its owner less than an hour earlier. Danny had broken into the home of a man named Neil Prime, had snatched the keys off the kitchen table.

Starting point is 00:33:20 And when he was pulled over, the officer told him to put his hands on the police car, called for backup. The four officers now spotted a ski mask on the passenger seat. They asked Danny why he had a ski mask and he replied, I'll tell you what you want to know. Again, kind of like he's reading off a script. After being locked up for six years, he had lasted a whole month before getting arrested again. Danny now tells the officers that he had just stolen the vehicle and that he had committed armed robbery at the Kroger grocery store the previous evening. Then he led the officers to he had just stolen the vehicle and that he had committed armed robbery at the Kroger grocery store the previous evening.

Starting point is 00:33:46 Then he led the officers to a wooded area where he showed them his stashed gun, the money, and some other personal belongings. I will say at least this guy, once he's caught, he doesn't try to hide what he's done like most of the other guys do. He's pretty quick to telling himself. Maybe he still at this point, you know, has a conscience. When asked why he did it, Danny said simply, I hadn't eaten in two days. I was hungry. There you go. The trial for the Kroger robbery would begin March 20th, 1986. And during the trial, Danny will start to deteriorate a bit mentally.

Starting point is 00:34:15 And you know what? I can't blame him. He just got out of prison. Now he's going back to prison. He's made an absolute mess out of his life. He dropped out of high school, didn't get his GED, got kicked out of the Air Force, wife left him, has a daughter, Lil Mothra. He never sees, he has no relationship with at this point. It would be weird if he was doing well. Well, he appears before the judge with his eyebrows shaved off.

Starting point is 00:34:34 And then he asks the judge to please cut off his hands so he can't commit more robberies. And the judge, he declines. He declines that request. He pleads guilty to Grand Larsney for the Kroger robbery and is sentenced to four more years in prison. Now at the Hines County Detention Center, a clerk there will call Denny's father to see if he wants to help his son out, maybe add some funds for smokes and snacks to his account.

Starting point is 00:34:55 And he gets an earful of expletives in return before James told him to never contact him again and hung up. That tracks. Denny's not shocked by this, and you won't be shocked by his next move. April 14th, 1986, just weeks after being sentenced, Danny yet again escapes prison by swimming across Snake Creek and fucking gets away. Again, for an idiot, remarkably good at escaping, but also pretty bad when it comes to getting caught. Or I guess in a way he's really good at getting caught. Six days after escaping, some deputies question him when they see him just walking along I-10 in El Paso, Texas.

Starting point is 00:35:29 And after first identifying himself as Jesse Mitchell, the event she was like, I'm just kidding, I'm playing. It's Danny Rowling. It's the outlaw Danny Rowling. Unsurprisingly, he's arrested, extradited back to Mississippi. Now he's sent to Parchman Prison, aka the Mississippi State Penitentiary, one of the most violent prisons in all of America has been for decades and decades. There he began his sentence in unit 27. Then in October, he would petition for a transfer to another unit because he was scared he's being threatened by their inmates for being a police officer's son. Dad's still making his life harder. As a result, he's moved to unit 24 and then a few months later

Starting point is 00:36:02 he's transferred to one of the worst cells at the end of the oldest part of the prison. There, Danny will find a hellhole of bitter cold, roaches, rats, and raw sewage. When it rains too hard, it's fucking cell will be flooded with raw sewage. The prison had long held prisoners in some of the most inhumane conditions of any prison in the states. I could do a whole episode just about this prison. Lots of lawsuits constantly, people fucking dying in this place all the time. Danny would endure terrible conditions for eight months, remaining there through the summer of 1987, locked in his cell 24 hours a day except for occasional showers.

Starting point is 00:36:34 His only company, he will later say, were three spiders lurking in their webs in his cell. But then one day, I love that he shared this, one day he said in a fit of rage, He killed two the spiders and that fucking cracked me up so hard when I first came across that I Just love that he didn't kill all of them I love that he left one spider alive, right? The good one the one who didn't give me any fucking trouble The one who wouldn't judge him when he complained about his dad or talked about the good times He's had jerking off outside of windows the one who showed just a little bit of sympathy Thank you when he complained about how much his fucked up balls still hurt.

Starting point is 00:37:07 1988, he'll make parole. No word on whether or not he took a spider buddy out with him. July 29th, he's a free man. He'd spent almost exactly three years behind bars since his arrest. He'd been incarcerated for the last nine years outside of just a month and change in between the last time he was released and getting arrested again. Now this sad sack moves back in with his parents in Shreveport. Home sweet home. Just a few weeks later the 34 year old meets 55 year old Lillian Bunny Mills when Danny's dad James invites Bunny to their house for dinner. Oh fuck yeah. Bunny. According to her obituary she died in 2020 at the age of 87. It was quite the lady. She was

Starting point is 00:37:45 a performer, comedian, musician, songwriter, music producer. And when she and Danny met, she had just released a hot little track called Country from the Heart. You want to hear some of it? You fucking know you do. She was actually pretty good. Just make my music country the kind I love to sing. Tune up all your instruments, we'll make the rafters ring. I'm loving what I'm doing and I'm proud to be a part of true country music, cause this girl's really country from the heart. Woohoo! Yippee-ee-yay!

Starting point is 00:38:25 So that's it. That's who Danny meets. I couldn't find any of her comedy clips, unfortunately. Immediately upon meeting Bunny, Danny remarks how beautiful she is. And you know what? She was beautiful. He tells her that her beauty has stopped his heart. And that line works on Bunny.

Starting point is 00:38:40 They start seeing each other frequently. Their friendship soon blooms into a romantic relationship by November. And now Danny will take out years of sexual frustration out upon Bunny's beaver. Just fucking punish it! He'll really put that last good ball to work. Actually Bunny will later say that she just had plain old sex. About once a week. She said that he never asked her or forced her to do anything that she was uncomfortable

Starting point is 00:39:02 with. He was a gentleman with Bunny when he was trying to knock Bunny's back out. They'll date on and off for three years. Meanwhile, Danny will land various jobs at the Western Sizzler restaurant, Walmart, Circle K, not staying at any of them more than a month or two. Probably had a bunch of dicks for bosses who didn't understand his need to whack off while staring at some customers or something. Think how he had Bonnie to console him. I have to wonder, did she write her song

Starting point is 00:39:27 Dark Moon about her boyfriend? Hmm. But they don't realize That love will sometimes bring a dark moon Ya-hoo! Ya-hoo! Oh, I- Uh, June of 1989. Danny will land another job. At Pancho's Mexican Buffet in Shreveport, where he'll meet a young woman named Diane Mays. He was immediately attracted to her.

Starting point is 00:39:55 But she rebuffed him, saying she wasn't ready to start dating again after divorcing her ex-husband. What about- What about Bunny?! What the fuck, dude?! Uh, November 4th, 1989, something terrible happens. Danny gets fired from Poncho's over some bullshit. And all he did was not come into work for three days in a row when he was scheduled to work. They had a huge overreaction.

Starting point is 00:40:15 What, you can't fire for that? Are you fucking kidding? He'll claim that someone else had changed the schedule, wouldn't listen when his coworker said otherwise. Furious, he made a big scene, rightfully threatened his manager's lives, which for some reason didn't lead to him getting his job back.

Starting point is 00:40:28 For real now though, something terrible did happen. The reason he missed work. Two days later, November 6th, 1989, little eight-year-old Sean Grissom wouldn't show up to school at Turner Elementary. Nobody could reach his grandpa, William Grissom, excuse me, Grissom, a gregarious 55-year-old man known to Tom who was friends,

Starting point is 00:40:46 family members became concerned now. Tom had picked up his grandson on the Saturday, November 4th for a barbecue. While Papa Tom grilled, Sean watched TV in the den excited about spending the weekend with his grandpa and his aunt Julie as part of an eighth birthday celebration. But then nobody heard from them for two days. Sean's mom called the police that Monday morning after her repeated phone calls to the Grissom house went unanswered. Police then contacted neighbors to request that they check to see if the house is locked.

Starting point is 00:41:11 At the behest of Shreveport police, shortly before 8.45 a.m., a friend and neighbor, Bob Coyles, walks to Tom Grissom's brown brick three-bedroom house at 2011 Beth Lane to make sure everything is okay. When he arrived at the front door, the house was eerily quiet. Coyles walked to the side of the house, cracked the laundry room door open, then froze in horror. He was staring at a body, sprawled on the floor in blood-soaked clothes. He slammed the door shut, sprinted home to call the police. After the police arrived, they confirmed the horrible news. It was Tom Grissom's body in the laundry room. He had suffered multiple stab wounds to his chest, and he wasn't the only victim.

Starting point is 00:41:48 Venturing further into the house, they found young Sean Grissom's dead body lying face down in the family room near his Nintendo video game and Halloween candy. The young boy had been killed by a single stab wound that passed to his back, exited out of his chest, and then in the bedroom, police discovered why the attacker had entered the home and started killing. They found the dead body of 24-year-old Julie Grissom, Sean's aunt, lying on her back nude with multiple bite marks covering her breasts. Julie had been repeatedly slashed and stabbed in the back. And that wasn't all. Her body had been posed on the bed in a sexually suggestive manner. The killer had spread her legs apart wide, moved her arms so they stretched upward, arranged her long hair so it fanned out around her head. Shreveport police had no suspects. The attack seemed completely random.

Starting point is 00:42:27 Danny, meanwhile, didn't seem too shook up by what he'd done. He's still dating Bunny. Of course he is. He is Bunny's medicine man. I think I'm healing again. Yeah. I mean, I got a heart condition. What? You're my medicine man. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Bunny. She convinced Truman Cooley, an electrician friend of hers, to hire Danny in March of 1990. He'd worked there for a whole three weeks before being laid off. This one wasn't actually his fault. He was just laid off due to a lack of customers. Around this time he started opening up to Bunny more with his emotions.

Starting point is 00:43:18 He would tell her about his dad's abuse, how he constantly felt condemned and criticized by his dad, how much Danny loved James, but never felt like he could please him I mean, this is terribly sad Lillian convinced him to see a psychiatrist even drove him to the Shreveport mental health clinic But Danny resented being analyzed by a psychiatrist there ended his first session early stormed out never returned Yeah, maybe he didn't want to share all the stuff affecting his mental health You know like the raping and the raping and killing a woman and her dad and nephew. Meanwhile, March 8, 1990, Shreveport police effectively acknowledged that the Grissa Murders investigation had reached a dead end. The only detective still

Starting point is 00:43:55 working on it full-time was removed and reassigned to other cases. Not sure if Danny figured that out or not. April 27, 1990, Danny gets into a pretty crazy accident. He's on his way home from Superior Bar and Grill in the middle of an active tornado warning and his car began to hydroplane at the same time as a powerful gust of wind hit it and it propelled the car over 12 feet up into the air, smashed against the top of a telephone pole. He was ejected from the car and he would pass out after hitting his head and unfortunately survive.

Starting point is 00:44:23 Then his near-death experience seemingly leads him to reflect on his life and he would pass out after hitting his head and unfortunately survive. Then his near death experience seemingly leads him to reflect on his life and he wishes he'd made different choices like peep on women more. After recovering from this car accident, making up for lost time, he resumes peeping into windows at night, just like he did as a teen. But now he decides to up the ante and also break into houses. And then his behavior escalates again. In Bouger City, Louisiana, or Bouger, excuse. In Bouger City, Louisiana, or Bouger, excuse me, Bouger City, Louisiana, which is just on the other side of the

Starting point is 00:44:48 Red River from Shreveport, he breaks into a trailer with the woman and baby inside armed with a knife, mask, and duct tape. That is fucking terrifying. As he tries to subdue the woman, she grabs the knife blade. As the blade cuts her hand, she manages to slip away from it, run out the door screaming. Yes, she did just leave the baby in the trailer, but she's now able to scream for help and he does run off. So she made the best call in a bad situation. On Shreveport, he sexually assaults a woman, steals a 38 revolver from her.

Starting point is 00:45:15 Also rapes a 17 year old after taping her hands together and taping her eyes shut with duct tape. Then on May 18th, 1990, Danny commits another assault. This is what I actually approve of. He's still living at home. And on this Friday afternoon, he walks into his kitchen, puts his foot on a bench to tie his shoe. When his dad, James, sees him, he yells him, get your foot off the bench.

Starting point is 00:45:36 For the first time in his life, Danny, perhaps high in a month of predatory assaults, stands up to him. He looks at his dad, he smirked, and he says, I got my foot on the old bench. Excuse me. I got my foot on the bench old man. What are you gonna do about it? How much do you think that shocked his dad? Well, Papa James was shocked. All of a sudden, he didn't care for this. He said, I'll tell you what I'm gonna do about it. And then he walked off towards the back of the house and then moments later returned to the kitchen with a gun in his hand. Yeah, that sounds about right. Danny,

Starting point is 00:46:01 he's a week away now from turning 36 years old and he runs for it. James, who's 58, runs after him. This is such a dysfunctional family. He soon fires three warning shots into the air before storming back into his house, he bolts the door locked behind him. But then soon Danny shocks his dad again. He fucking kicks down the door, storms on in,

Starting point is 00:46:20 seeing that his dad is still holding that gun, he crouches down by a table and screams, "'You wanna shoot somebody? "'You wanna kill somebody? Kill me! But don't hurt my mom! James now fires two more shots. No, not warning shots this time.

Starting point is 00:46:31 This motherfucker's crazy. He misses, and then Danny fires three shots of his own from a.38 pistol he had retrieved from a tool shed outside. And two of his shots do not miss. He shoots his dad in the stomach with one shot, and then shoots him again right between the eyes. James collapses down onto the kitchen floor, cursing his dad, then he kicks him and flees from the house. Around 10pm that night, Steve Claussen and his wife Louisa Biedenharn are relaxing in the upstairs bedroom of their Shreveport home. Steve was

Starting point is 00:46:58 sitting next to the fireplace on a couch watching TV while Louisa is lying near him in bed just like they did almost every night. And then from behind Steve hears Louisa gasp. Steve turns to see what she's seeing a man standing in the double door entry to their bedroom dressed in camouflage pants, army boots, shirt and a bandana wrapped around his head. And he tells the couple you really need to get security lighting. And now they realize they know this guy. They'd met Danny several weeks earlier when they went out for dinner at the Superior Grill in Shreveport. They'd been waiting in the lounge area for a table, talking about putting in some security lighting

Starting point is 00:47:29 around their 30 acre property. When he turned around from where he was sitting and said, excuse me, I couldn't help but overhear your conversation. And I happened to be in the electrical business. Could I come out sometime, make a bid on the job? They talked with him about 30 minutes, agreed that he could come over the following week. But then just a few nights later, he showed up unexpectedly. He was drunk

Starting point is 00:47:48 and rambling about how he'd spent time in jail, how they'd been nicer to him than anyone he'd ever known, even his own family. I mean, they were friendly with him, but you know, they weren't like friends with him. This was fucking weird, but that's not how Danny interpreted it. He thought they were all good buddies. And now their buddy is standing in the bedroom, you know, entrance to their bedroom, blubbering about how he's in big trouble, needs all their money to get out of town because he just shot his dad. A moment later, the burglar alarm goes off. Danny puts his gun to Steve's head. As Steve answers the phone, assures them everything's fine. False alarm. And now Steve tries to reason with Danny.

Starting point is 00:48:20 Why don't you put the gun down? He said. We don't keep cash in the house. And whatever you did, it couldn't be so bad that we can't help you get through it. Well, Danny slowly lowered the gun as Steve promised to do whatever he wanted. After some hesitation, he handed the gun over to Steve. Steve put it in the other room. But then when he returned, Danny had another gun. And then Danny yelled for Steve to get him his first gun again. Steve complied.

Starting point is 00:48:40 It's almost like Danny isn't terribly stable. Now Louisa steps in. She convinces Danny to call the hospital, find out whether her dad was dead or not. And Danny does and he's fucking shocked to find out that James is alive. In critical condition, but he's alive. Motherfucker took one between the eyes and is alive. Over the next two hours, Louisa and Steve remain trapped in their home with Danny, who alternated between crying and putting the gun down, picking it up and yelling at him.

Starting point is 00:49:04 At one point point Danny tells Steve He needs a ride to Dallas, Texas and Steve replies. I can't drive you to Dallas Louise said he's not driving you anywhere Balls II Okay, Danny actually agrees then a moment later Luis to offer him 30 bucks in cash gives him some cookies and an apple And then Danny members he should probably get going He steps out but then remarks that it's cold and Steve offers him a coat. Thanks, says Danny as he puts it on.

Starting point is 00:49:28 You know, you're never supposed to leave witnesses, he adds staring at the couple. Promised me you're not going to call the police after I leave. And they promised. And then the crazy son of a bitch actually apologized for tracking some mud in on the carpet and he just left. But he hadn't of course turned a new life and become some nice guy. They did call the police but they won't catch him. He'll now travel through multiple states, coming to trail of unsolved rapes and robberies

Starting point is 00:49:49 along the way. He won't be able to remember all of his victims' names later when he speaks about his crime spree. In Kansas, where he arrived by Greyhound bus, he would live with some so-called hippies for about a month. Then in June, he robbed two Kansas City grocery stores netting over $3,600. Also robbed a Taco Bell. I wonder if he feasted on some double-decker tacos. They did have those back then.

Starting point is 00:50:10 God, they're my favorite. I still miss them. Also broke into a home in Roland Park, Kansas, the suburb of Kansas City. Stole the ID card of Michael Kennedy Jr. along with a.22 caliber handgun. Then he headed to Boulder, Colorado, where he attempted to rape a woman on a mountain climbing trip. When she resisted, he beat her until she was bleeding from her nose and mouth. But then when she continued to resist and pleaded for him to stop, he just did. He let her go. And then he just sat down, watched her as she ran down the mountain, screaming hysterically.

Starting point is 00:50:36 This guy was a monster, but he wasn't completely dead inside. At least not at this point still. It's like he had a conscience that would just flicker in and out like a weak radio signal. Sometimes he'd feel empathy, other times nothing. In Denver he robbed a downtown convenience store with the 22 before hitchhiking all the way back to Kansas City. Once there he now decided to make his way south. By July 17, 1990, Danny had made his way to Tallahassee, Florida, 150 miles from Gainesville.

Starting point is 00:51:03 Using the alias Michael Kennedy Jr. he checked into the Travel Lodge on West Tennessee Street. Next day he brought a bot, a Marine K-Bar combat knife with its thick seven inch carbon steel clip point blade at the Army Navy store near the bus station in Tallahassee. Kind of like a classic Pacific theater World War II marine knife. July 22nd took a bus to Sarasota, Florida where he checked into the Cabana Inn using a stolen identity of Michael Kennedy Jr. once again. While there he recorded 11 original songs with the guitar he picked up at some point on his journey. Recorded them onto a portable tape player he previously stole, probably stole the guitar too, and started to leave a

Starting point is 00:51:42 farewell message to his family, the rest of which he would record in August. I have to wonder if he learned a thing or two from Bunny, you know, being serious now about songwriting, because he was actually good. I mean the recording quality is not great. It's just tape recorder, but this is a song called Mystery Rider recorded in that hotel room. June, the spoons rolling in the down Ooh, black style, yellow on your bread rims, river Again, it's terrible quality, You're a killer, a drifter, you're insane. I know it's kind of hard to hear what he's saying there, but the chorus says, Mystery Rider, what's your name? You're a killer, a drifter, gone insane. And then he sings, Mystery Rider, what's your game? You're a rebel rebel no one else can tame. Disturbing and pretty self-aware. Well, during his time in Sarasota, he had friends and salesmen at Burdine's department store.

Starting point is 00:53:11 The two go to several area restaurants, go to some strip clubs together. He also dates the woman he met at the Cabana Inn. Just kind of living a somewhat normal life down there for a little bit. Having a grand old time in Sarasota. But then his money will start to run low and on August 8th he moves from the Cabana Inn to the Sunnyside Inn, cheaper motel across the street, and he'll stay there for three nights before leaving town. On August 18th, Danny Rowling now steps off a bus in Gainesville. Here we are. Still using the name Michael Kennedy,

Starting point is 00:53:39 he checks into the University Inn on 13th Street, paying cash to rent room 104. He'll spend the next several days scoping out the area noticing that there are a lot of attractive young brunette women around which is his favorite but his money will be a you know was almost completely gone so on August 23rd he checks out of the hotel makes a campsite in a clearing in the woods on the eastern side of southwest 34th Street approximately 250 yards from the corner of Archer Road. At the center of the camp, he put up, I imagine there's probably buildings and all kind of stuff, probably development there now.

Starting point is 00:54:09 At the center of the camp, he put up a small tent he purchased at a Gainesville Walmart. Later that day, he saw the Exorcist III at the Litchfield Theater, which featured a decapitation and a killer possessed by a bloodthirsty demon named Gemini. Then his own birth sign was Gemini and he felt like the movie was speaking to him. With the night still young, he decided to do some peeping and he got caught. A security guard stumbled across him as he stood on a large bucket, spying into the second

Starting point is 00:54:33 story window of an apartment. When the guard asked him what he was doing, Danny replied, and I got to give him credit here for being pretty damn clever. He's on this bucket, looking into this window, security guard comes, you know, sees him, like, hey buddy, what are you doing? And then he says to the security guard, I saw what you did. And then he got down on the bucket,

Starting point is 00:54:54 walked past the bewildered guard, and just disappeared into the woods. Fucking worked. I wish I would have thought of that one when I was a juvenile delinquent, right? When I was getting caught stealing something before like they really get to into what they're saying It's like, okay. All right. Listen, bud. I saw what you did

Starting point is 00:55:08 Don't worry about it. I won't snitch if you won't and then just confidently walk away And now we get now we get to one of the worst parts of our unfortunately true tale But first before we hear about a time for today's second of two mid show sponsor breaks Thanks for listening to those sponsors and now let's return to the summer of 1990. August 26, 1990 would dawn on Gainesville bringing with it more than just the promise of a new day. It was the beginning of the semester, promise of a new year. Patricia Powell's youngest daughter, 17-year-old Christina Powell, had recently moved to Gainesville about 90 minutes away from their Jacksonville home.

Starting point is 00:55:45 The baby of the family was six older siblings. Christina had graduated from Episcopal High School in Jacksonville, where she studied theology, worked on the school's literary magazine, and played multiple sports. She was eager to become an architect. And though she was the youngest in the family, she would also be the first to pursue a four-year degree. Excited to get started with her life, she had parked her car, left home just a few days earlier. She called her family that night to let them know she had made it and that started with her life, she had parked her car, left home just a few days earlier.

Starting point is 00:56:05 She called her family that night to let them know she had made it and that she and her roommate, a young woman named Sonia Larson, were making good progress unpacking. Sonia seemed like she was going to be a great roommate. She was a National Honor Society scholar from Pompano Beach in southern Florida. She had taken advanced classes at Ely High School, played on the varsity softball team, managed the girls' basketball team. She sang in her church choir, played flute in her church orchestra,

Starting point is 00:56:28 led Bible study, and helped out at the church's daycare center. That summer, like Christina Sani had taken summer classes to get a head start in her college studies. That was where the two girls met. They grew close quickly, were excited to begin the year together. On the 23rd, the girls bought some items

Starting point is 00:56:43 for their apartment at Walmart, had dinner at Chili's, and stopped at a convenience store on the way back to their apartment. That night, Christina slept downstairs in a yellow tank top on the couch. Sonja went upstairs wearing a yellow t-shirt with Atlanta on the front. They were planning for an early morning. They had to unpack, clean up, start looking for part-time jobs. Patricia waited to hear about it eagerly, but Christina didn't call. Not on August 24th or Saturday, August 25th. On that day, Christina was supposed to meet her sister and brother-in-law when they arrived to her apartment to deliver some furniture, but nobody answered the door. The young couple waited until 9 p.m., but no Christina.

Starting point is 00:57:17 Was this Christina's attempt at living life on her own? Was this how she was trying to prove that she wasn't the baby, the family anymore? Patricia didn't want to wait to find out. Early on the morning of Sunday the 26th, Patricia and her husband, Christina's father, set out for Gainesville. The buzz in the city was immediate from the outskirts of the packed highways. Over 30,000 students were arriving, flying down the interstate in packed U-Hauls and overloaded cars.

Starting point is 00:57:39 Lines at supermarkets and department stores stretch around the block in some places. At 3.45 p.m., when most people are still unpack unpacking Gainesville Police Department officer Ray Barber gets a call Christine his parents had called him in called in a welfare check No stranger these Ray got in his car drove over to the courtyard of the Williamsburg Village Apartments a three-story residential complex Located at 2000 Southwest 16th Street only one mile from UF's main campus. Ray spotted the building's maintenance man, went over to meet him, and they made their way to apartment 113. Ray knocked loudly on the second floor front door, the apartment's main entrance.

Starting point is 00:58:15 When nobody answered the maintenance man tried to open the door with his key but wouldn't budge. Two men made their way to the rear porch door, but smashing a window didn't seem to help open the door. Instead they walked up to a door the door. Instead, they walked up to a door on the third floor, broke it down by dislodging it from the door frame. And immediately, the smell of death floated out to greet him. Ray drew his gun, but the source of the smell wasn't hard to find. Already in the initial stages of decomposition, 18-year-old

Starting point is 00:58:38 Sonya Larson's body showed she had suffered a violent death. Her only item of clothing, a t-shirt, pulled up past her breasts, exposed obvious stab wounds on Sonya's arm, leg, and chest, and extensive swelling on her face indicated she had sustained a brutal blow to the head. Her arms stretched upward past her head, while her legs extended off the end of the bed, spread apart with both feet touching the floor. Multiple stab wounds were clustered on and around her right breast, and a large piece of flesh appeared to have been cut from her upper left thigh, deep enough to expose the femur bone underneath.

Starting point is 00:59:07 It was fucking brutal. Bloods everywhere. A pool of blood discolored the center of the bed. Blood saturated pillows lay scattered at the headboard and blood spatter stains blotched the walls closest to the bed. With his heart in his stomach, Ray proceeded downstairs and found the nude body of another young woman laying on her back in the living room next to the couch. It's Christina Powell. She had five stab wounds to her upper back and both her nipples have been cut off.

Starting point is 00:59:30 Ray immediately noticed that her body was at an unnatural angle, her neck bent towards her right shoulder, and her hair fanned out from the right side of her head. Both of her arms extended above her head, both legs spread apart wide, bent at the knees, fully exposed in her pubic area. Clearly, they've been posed by their killer. Nearly an empty bottle of Dawn dish washing soap had been left between her knees on top of a damp towel. The soap coated her vaginal area, left a layer of foam around her vulva. The killer and rapist had clearly tried to destroy traces of DNA he had left on and or

Starting point is 01:00:03 inside of her. A pair of underwear apparently tossed aside by her killer lay on the floor, side of brown purse spotted with blood. Marks on both victims suggested they had been bound with tape, Christina on her wrists, Sonya across her mouth. Family pictures, loose change, other contents of both girls' purses dumped on the floor by Christina's body. Bloody tissue paper lay scattered around the kitchen.

Starting point is 01:00:28 Soon a call was placed to Gainesville police chief Waylon Clifton. Clifton had just settled into his chair to watch a preseason football game when the phone rang. It was a call from his deputy chief, Daryl Johnson, informing Clifton of a double homicide. After a last look at the Vikings-Oilers game, Clifton heads out the door. Immediately upon arriving in the apartment, Clifton knew in his words that they were dealing with a bad, bad guy. This was clearly someone who was going to prey on young women and Clifton was charged with protecting a city full of them. At 3 in the morning, August 27, Clifton called the Commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and asked for several of their best agents. Just a couple hours earlier,

Starting point is 01:01:01 another police officer was on route to another murder scene. 18-year-old Christina Hoyt was a student at Santa Fe Community College in Gainesville, as well as a clerk at the Records Bureau of the Alachua County Sheriff's Office. She was a popular student, had served in the Student Council, performed in the band before graduating with honors from Newbury High School. She moved out of her family's home shortly after her 18th birthday, taking with her her enormous collection of teddy bears. She decided to study chemistry and was an honor student, but being on her own she needed to pay the bills. Since she was interested in police work, she joined the explorer's unit of the sheriff's office, a branch designed to allow students to get a firsthand look

Starting point is 01:01:42 at law enforcement. Excited by the possibility of someday working in a crime lab, Krista eagerly took the clerk position at the sheriff's office. But that night, Krista failed to show up for her midnight work shift. And her coworkers, with the permission of her supervisor, Nancy Carlton, dispatched a deputy to go check on her. They were all worried. When Krista had gotten her wisdom teeth pulled out, she still showed up for the midnight shift.

Starting point is 01:02:03 Something serious must have happened to her to make her miss. Deputy Keith O'Hara received a dispatch call 1.13 a.m., August 27. He immediately proceeded to Krista's apartment at 3533 SW 24th Ave., less than 3 miles away from the Sonia Larson slash Christina Powell homicide site. Located in the southeast corner of the complex, apartment M sat on the eastern side of a wood frame, gray color duplex building. After announcing himself as a police officer, deputy O'Hara knocked loudly on the front door of the apartment. No one answered. Tries the door. It's locked. The property manager then showed O'Hara how to get to the rear bedroom door of Krista's apartment. He

Starting point is 01:02:39 led O'Hara through an unlocked wooden gate situated adjacent to the apartment, remarking the gate was supposed to be locked. Then the two men walked down a narrow corridor to a chain-linked fence that separated the building from the thick woods behind it. Both men spotted a section of the fence sagging, seemed to have been pushed down. O'Hara told the man to go back to the wooden gate. Then O'Hara climbed over the sagging section of fencing, saw a sliding glass door directly in front of him.

Starting point is 01:03:02 Although blinds in the door prevented him from seeing inside where he stood, they did not extend all the way down to the ground, leaving a small space between them and the floor. So he laid down on his stomach, and Deputy O'Hara now aimed his flashlight, peering into the dark apartment, and he is met with the sight of Krista's headless body. It sat hunched forward at the edge of her bed midway between the foot of the bed and the headboard. Her hands drooped beside her thighs, which were spread wide apart. Her feet seemed to float on the

Starting point is 01:03:27 floor in a pool of blood. As O'Hara stared in horror, small drops of blood continued to trickle down to the floor from the decapitated torso. Where is the head? His flashlight soon finds it, sitting on the top shelf of a nearby bookcase, propped up by a wooden jewelry box, so it seemed to be staring in shock at her own body. It was clear that whoever had done this had time, patience, and dedication. The cut was clean, almost surgical, but the rest of her body showed a crime of manic passion. Narrow stab wounds were visible on her back. Her torso had been mutilated as well.

Starting point is 01:04:00 Both of her nipples had been cut off just like with Christina Powell. In an area of flesh two inches wide was missing from her back. A deep cut from her pubic bone ran all the way up to the breastbone, exposing her intestines. Crime scene investigators discovered that the latch on the sliding glass door of Christa Hoyt's bedroom had been popped off and since there were no signs of a struggle, her killer could have been waiting for her inside the apartment when she returned home. A red and white Kentucky Fried Chicken box, one drumstick, the only thing left inside, sat on a kitchen counter next to a Dunkin' Donuts box, perhaps the remnants of Krista's

Starting point is 01:04:32 last meal. That morning's headline in the Gainesville Sun would proclaim, two UF students found brutally slain. Krista's murder hadn't made it in time to the newspaper. It was the first story in what would become a flood of media coverage over the following weeks. As the news began spreading across the community, homicide investigators from the Gainesville Police Department and the Alachua County Sheriff's Office gathered in a conference room, among

Starting point is 01:04:56 them, Chief Waylon Clifton, University of Florida Police Chief Everett Stevens, and State Attorney Len Register. They discussed the double homicide as well as the additional clearly related murder of Krista Hoyt. Based on the similarities between the two crime scenes including the tape, similar knife wounds, removal of victims nipples, and missing flesh, investigators surmised that the same person had to have killed all three victims. Due to the more extensive body mutilation at the second crime scene, they speculated Krista and Sonya had been killed first, followed by Krista.

Starting point is 01:05:27 It appeared that Sonja had died after putting up a fight. She'd suffered 11 stab wounds to her right arm, five around her right nipple, two stab wounds to her chest, and a large wound on her right leg. Christina Powell had fewer puncture wounds, five through her back, at least two of them puncturing her right lung, estimated to have lived for a minute or two after the fatal stabbing. Meanwhile, Krista Hoyt had 11 stab wounds to her left arm, five around her right nipple, two on her chest, a large wound on her left leg, one stab wound extended through her aorta, lung and heart, and coroner's judge that was the one that killed her.

Starting point is 01:06:00 The mystery writer was a brutal, brutal son of a bitch. It was looking to be the worst situation a police force could find themselves in. A serial killer was on the loose in a city of college kids, excited to be out and about, moving into new places, meeting strangers wide open to the world and its possibilities. There was one immediate suspect. Christina Powell's boyfriend, a young man named Adrian White. He had driven with her to Gainesville on the night of Wednesday, August 22nd. He'll be quickly ruled out though. In addition, the detective has discovered a letter from Sonia Larson's boyfriend and college student in

Starting point is 01:06:31 Tennessee expressing his hurt, disbelief, and anger in response to her decision to break up with him. Was that the motivation for these horrific crimes? With all three bodies accounted for, the police could now begin to put together a timeline. Neighbors of Christina and Sonia's had heard the shower running around 6.30 in the morning, August 24th. Neither girl was an early riser. In addition, another neighbor heard George Michael's song, Faith, playing loudly in the girl's apartment a few hours later at 10 a.m.

Starting point is 01:06:56 Since both girls had died at some point over the night, it appeared like the killer was cleaning up, listening to some tunes, taking their time. Of course, less helpful tips also arrived. Psychics and whatnot who reported things like the killer hung his victims up like meat, skinned them in a round steel building, or his name was for some reason Donald Green. All this was spurred on by the media,

Starting point is 01:07:15 which had now caught on to Krista Hoyt's death and was running constant coverage of all three murder investigations. For many of the murders revived nearly forgotten memories of the young coeds savagely attacked in another Florida college town over a decade earlier. 1978 infamous serial killer Ted Bundy had attacked four Florida State University students in their Chi Omega sorority house in Tallahassee, sexually assaulting one, killing two, then brutally assaulting and raping another student in a house off campus. Bundy had only recently been put to death in Florida's electric chair, January 24th, 1989. Now it was like his

Starting point is 01:07:48 ghost was back in Gainesville. That same day, August 27th, Danny decides to get some money. Just before noon, shirtless but wearing a brown ski mask. Okay, interesting combo. Storms into the First Union Bank on Southwest Archer Road just down the street from Christa Hoyt's apartment. He says, this is a robbery, put your hands up. He shouts out while waving a metallic blue handgun, no one will be hurt if you all cooperate. Carrying a dark colored duffel bag across his shoulders, he jumps over the counter, smashes the security camera with the gun,

Starting point is 01:08:17 orders the bank tellers to fill the bag with money. As the customer starts to move outside, he yells them to stop, then he warns the tellers, don't put any red die packs in the bag. After closing the bag of money, he strides towards the door. Don't let anyone move! He snarls. Don't do anything. As he hurries out the door, he sneers at them in a sarcastic tone.

Starting point is 01:08:34 Have a nice fucking day! Seconds later, not 50 yards from the bank, red die packs, concealed within the stolen money, explode, causing red smoke to bellow out of the top of the bag. He runs back in, opens the door. That's a fucking dick move you guys what the fuck and then he goes back you know to try and get away I don't he didn't run back but how pissed was he as he continues running across the parking lot towards the Dollar General store now witnesses see Danny removing the ski mask and just he just keeps going around 1 a.m. next morning August 28th officer Tim Merrill

Starting point is 01:09:02 notices two men one white white, one black, walking north on Southwest 34th Street now. The white dude is Danny Rowling. Aware of the recent bank robbery, Officer Merrill calls for backup, follows the two men into the woods. When Merrill orders them to stop, the black man complies, but the white dude takes off, sprints deep into the woods. Merrill chases that son of a bitch a few hundred yards to the darkness, then loses sight of

Starting point is 01:09:25 him in some dense tree cover. After being detained, the other man, 34-year-old Tony Danzi, fucking one letter away from Tony Danza, 34-year-old Tony Danzi, tells all the officers that he recently met Mike, the white dude who ran away at Taco Bell. Mike said that he lived in a campsite in the woods, had money there, he was saving to go to Kansas City. Danzi had given Mike a ride across town for a promised payment of 10 bucks when they reached Mike's tent.

Starting point is 01:09:49 Within hours, a K-9 police dog would track Mike's scent to a campsite about 300 feet into the woods. Nobody was there, but they did find a whole bunch of dye stained money under a raincoat on the ground. I told you guys that I'd put that fucking dye in the... Officers also found a blue steel Taurus 9 millimeter handgun, various jewelry, brown colored ski mask, gloves, and a small cassette player with the tape that we just listened to a song from. Subsequent assistance from the FBI would reveal that the handgun originally belonged to Robert Ford of Sarasota who

Starting point is 01:10:17 sold it to a man named Michael, a drifter staying at the Cubana Inn near Miami in the Temi-Emi... Temi-Emi trail earlier in the summer. That was all they had to go on for at the moment. Then the killer struck again. The morning of August 28th, a student named Tommy Carroll had gone to the Gator Woods apartment shortly before 7 a.m. intending to check on his friends Manny Tabota and Tracy Paulus. A mutual friend had asked him to drop by. Wasn't all that common for a guy and a girl to live together, at least not platonically, but that was the way Tracy wanted it. Friends since high school, Tracy and Manny had decided to share an apartment because

Starting point is 01:10:51 Tracy wanted the security of living with a male roommate. She felt it would be safer than living with another woman. Six foot two, 200 pounds, athletic, Manny was certainly an intimidating physical presence. He played offensive guard at American High School in his hometown of Hialeah near Miami. He'd also serve as president of the school's drama club and played Danny Zuko in their production of Grease. Tracy meanwhile had been a cheerleader, softball player, newspaper editor, senior class president, homecoming queen, senior class, voted her best all around. She was a fucking all-star. This maniac's snuffing out some incredibly bright lights in Gainesville. Manny planned on becoming an architect, had been accepted

Starting point is 01:11:28 into a program for that. Tracy, meanwhile, was finishing up her pre-law studies at UF before applying to law school. They were excited to start the year together, but nervous when the news about the three homicides came out. On the night of August 26, Tracy called her parents, who told her to be careful, stay close to Manny. Shortly afterward, Tracy chatted on the phone with Lisa Byer, a friend from Fort Lauderdale who had called her around midnight. They talked about a trip they were planning and about the murders. Tracy reassured her friend that she had Manny nearby. Lisa asked to call the next morning.

Starting point is 01:11:58 Tracy promised she would before hanging up around 12.50am. Manny came home early the morning of the 27th around 1 45 a.m. from his new job as a bartender at Benegans he'd done so well on his pre-employment test they didn't have to rise up to the ranks of serving tables or being a bar help as he got ready for bed neither person noticed the dark figure watching Tracy through the window he was still watching when Manny poked his head into Tracy's room to say good night then around 2 30 a.30am a piercing scream jolted David Leroy awake. Just a couple hours earlier his girlfriend had called him in a panic.

Starting point is 01:12:30 Worrying about the murders. Asking him to come over and spend the night at her apartment complex. She lived in unit 1207 directly above Tracy and Manny's place. Well David agreed, headed over and he noticed a tall white guy standing next to the basketball hoop when he went in around midnight. But David didn't think a lot of it He and his girlfriend watched some TV and then headed to bed and then he was jolted awake by that scream He got up checked on his girlfriend's roommates. Both were sound asleep in their bedrooms Then he went on the balcony strained to hear anything strange, but everything was silent. So he went back to bed

Starting point is 01:13:00 And I feel bad for him. I mean, I probably done the same thing, but I bet he felt guilty later Next morning Lisa Bayer repeatedly tried to reach her friend Tracy by phone, but nobody picked up. When Tracy still wasn't picking up on the 28th, Lisa reached out to Tommy Carroll, Manny and Tracy's friend as well, asked him to check on him. The building manager sent the maintenance man to accompany Carroll to Manny and Tracy's apartment number 1203. After knocking on the front door, elicited no response.

Starting point is 01:13:24 The maintenance man used his master key to unlock it. As soon as he opened the door, both men saw Tracy's body lying in the hallway between the apartment's two bedrooms. A dark-colored bag was beside her head. The maintenance man immediately slammed the door shut and re-locked it. When he returned five minutes later with the police, the door was unlocked now, and the bag was gone. So the killer probably was in the apartment when they first checked. Police found Manny's bloody body inside his bedroom. His clothes were blood soaked. He had a total of 31 cuts and stab wounds on his face, torso, arms and right leg.

Starting point is 01:13:56 He had fought someone fiercely. Major stab wound on the left side of his chest left an internal wound track about six inches long according to his later autopsy, hitting the upper lobe of his left lung, ascending aorta superior vena cava, and lower lobe of the right lung. 13 of the stab wounds were to his hands, reflecting the fight he'd put trying to fend off his attacker.

Starting point is 01:14:18 Tracy's body was in a similar condition. In addition to three stab wounds on Tracy's body, medical examiner William Hamilton noted a light coating of liquid soap present on the pubic and perianal region. Once again, the killer tried to destroy the DNA he'd left in a sexual assault. The medical examiner concluded that Tracy died from blood loss finding multiple stab wounds of back with penetration of left lung and pulmonary aspiration of blood. Based on her injuries, Hamilton thought that after the infliction of the stab wounds, it

Starting point is 01:14:48 would have taken between two and five minutes for Tracy to go into shock and then die. But there was an important difference to the other two crime scenes with this one. Neither body was mutilated. Combined with the locked then unlocked door and the disappearing bag, investigators concluded the killer had been interrupted before they could complete their plans. News of this third murder scene spread quickly across the University of Florida campus. Under the headline, Lust Killer Toll Now Five, Hundreds Leave UF, the August 29th edition of the Orlando Sentinel reflected other area newspapers in describing a mass exodus of students fleeing the school in fear.

Starting point is 01:15:21 We're going to pack tonight and go home, said Liana Blanco, a senior. It's just too scary here. Our parents won't let us stay. fleeing the school in fear. We're gonna pack tonight and go home, said Liana Blanco, a senior. It's just too scary here. Our parents won't let us stay. Those who stayed behind became hyper vigilant about their safety. Students like 17 year old freshman, Gail Hartzig, slept on the floor in a friend's room

Starting point is 01:15:34 so that they wouldn't have to sleep alone. Like hundreds of other students, Hartzig fled home Labor Day weekend, and although she returned to campus after the holiday, her roommate stayed away the entire week, and some of her friends never returned to campus. Other students and residents bought out the city's supply of stun guns, deadbolts, mace, shotguns, rifles, and baseball bats. I've never seen anything like this before, said Butch Ford, owner of Saps Pond and Gun

Starting point is 01:15:58 Shop, but I've never seen five murders in Gainesville in 48 hours. Many were taking things into their own hands because they were frustrated by the lack of information about the crime scenes and possible suspects. In the absence of information, rumors blazed like wildfires. One contender to the killer was a pizza delivery man, and that rumor nearly drove several local pizza places out of business. Another claim that the killer was impersonating police officers, which considerably impeded detectives' efforts to interview wary residents.

Starting point is 01:16:28 Terrified students even began to suspect one another. I think the killer is a student, 26-year-old medical student Sonia Peterson asserted. She lived in an apartment just down from the Larsen Powell murder scene. The murder started right when school was starting, Peterson added, and it would be hard to fit in if you were a 40-year-old psycho-looking guy. I started noticing guys and thinking, oh my god, it could be him. It's a 21 year old junior, Lisa Marie O'Leary. All of a sudden, every guy looks like a murderer. I'm just flashing now.

Starting point is 01:16:52 This is all terrible. I was flashing now like if I was my age working as a pizza delivery man in Gainesville, looking like I look, this would be such a fucking nightmare. I would have to like every time someone I'm not, I haven't killed anybody. I haven't killed anyone. I just, such a fucking nightmare. I would have to like every time someone has to I'm not I haven't killed anybody. I haven't killed anyone. I just I just like pizza. I'm just I just needed a job. Here's your pizza. I'm safe. I'm safe. Promise you I'm safe. Telephones which would make you look even fucking crazy. The telephones the Gainesville police department and the Alachua County Sheriff's Office came alive every night with nervous callers reporting anyone suspicious,

Starting point is 01:17:24 anything alarming From what looked like a man's shadow on the wall to the sound of some metal scraping on the door No one felt safe. It was a strong vibe of paranoia and fear in the air Anybody felt like they could be the next victim, especially if you were a young brunette woman By August 29th newspapers around the country are carrying cover to the killings Serial killing of five students terrorized Florida College Town, read one headline. Another read panic on Florida campus after five are slain. When one Florida newspaper announced that the killer sought out petite brunette women,

Starting point is 01:17:54 many young women in Alahatcha County started to dye their hair. But the police emphasized that they didn't know much about the killer beyond this detail. We're still trying to find out if there's any common denominator or commonalities between the five victims," Police Chief Wayland Clifton said. "'Dark hair seems to be one of the commonalities. Obviously he likes young people,' Clifton added. Work in the crime scenes will provide investigators with more data. To begin with, all three murdered women were under 23, about 5'4 tall, with shoulder length

Starting point is 01:18:22 brown or dark hair. In all three cases, the killer gained entry to the victim's apartments through rear doors and dimly lit areas of the buildings late at night or during the early pre-dawn hours. All three scenes also involved a victim who had been sexually assaulted, bound with tape at the mouth or wrists prior to the sexual assault, and in all cases the tape had been removed. At the first crime scene, Christy Powell had a tight pattern of stab wounds near the center of her back. Christa Hoyt, Tracy Paulus had similar wounds at the second and third crime scenes respectively. All of the victims were killed by the same type of long

Starting point is 01:18:54 bladed knife and all of the rape victims shirts and bras were cut off during the assaults. And they'd all been posed. Christina and Sonia with their legs spread. Christa with her fucking head removed and placed on a shelf and her legs also spread. Then there was what came after it appeared that the killer used soap and towels to clean up evidence of sexual assault at the first and third crime scenes. Then there were the weird coincidences all three crime scenes had victims killed on water beds. So random all three apartments had a house cat that was unharmed and present when officers arrived. had a house cat that was unharmed and present when officers arrived. Bojangles just rolled his eyes and said, typical. Cats probably just watched and didn't do shit to help. Dog would at least bark. He's not wrong. One thing seemed clear according to Captain Richard Ward.

Starting point is 01:19:35 Finally, fucking dick in the steps. All three scenes packaged in such a way as to make some sort of statement. The person doesn't necessarily want you to say why as much as he wants you to be shocked by the way he committed the crime. All these things were helpful, but the investigation still challenged by many factors. Five homicides required the intervention of more than one police department, meaning coordination was hard to achieve. And then there was the media spreading panic throughout the community. The Allahatchewa County Sheriff's Office and Gainesville Police Department combined their resources to form a special task force devoted to identifying and finding the killer of the five Gainesville students.

Starting point is 01:20:07 In addition to 40 officers and deputies from the two local police departments, the Student Homicide Task Force will be augmented with extra investigators and crime scene analysts from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, as well as investigators from the State Attorney's Office. And most importantly, FBI profilers would be traveling from Quantico, Virginia to provide a profile of the killer. Later that afternoon, Task Force leaders gathered in Captain Ward's office to meet with the legendary FBI profilers, Special Agents Jim Wright and John Douglas. We have met Agent Douglas over and over here in the suckers. The group's discussion focused on a promising new suspect who had been identified during a canvas in neighborhoods surrounding the crime scenes. One interview in particular from the canvas raised red flags in the eyes of investigators.

Starting point is 01:20:51 A group of roommates living in the Gatedwood Apartments complex revealed that they had kicked their ex-roommate out of the apartment the week before because he was, quote, acting crazy. They described the former roommate as a loner who had a lot of deep scars all over his face, gouged on his leg, remnants of a severe car accident. According to witnesses, this individual had a habit of putting on military-style camouflage clothes at midnight, going on when he referred to as stakeouts. Not suspicious at all. Usually not returning until the early morning hours.

Starting point is 01:21:21 According to the man's ex-roommates, he was also upset over the fact that his girlfriend had recently dumped him, and they pointed out that the girlfriend looked just like several of the female victims in the recent murders. Suspect was also over six feet tall, weighed 230 pounds, meaning he could have overpowered every victim, also frequently carried a large honey knife strapped to his leg, and had a reputation for hating women. Oh boy. Background check revealed that he had received psychiatric treatment in mental institutions and had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. I mean, when you lay all that out there, I would think he for sure did it.

Starting point is 01:21:54 And just the day before, he had appeared at his old high school in Melbourne, Florida, acting disoriented and strung out. Additionally, witnesses noticed that he had a bandage on his right hand as if he had recently been cut by a knife. Most importantly, people who lived at the Gatorwood Apartments Complex had seen him staring at Tracy Paulus. Very promising lead, right? Even John Douglas seemed convinced that this dude fit the profile the task force ordered

Starting point is 01:22:17 the around-the-clock monitoring now of their prime suspect. 19-year-old Edward Humphrey. Eddie was the youngest of George and Elna Humphrey's four children born in Winchester, Massachusetts October 5th 1971 He had attended elementary school in Great Falls, Virginia before moving with his family to in the Atlantic, Florida near Melbourne Beach Seemed like a regular kid a member of the student council key club Spanish club was also an Eagle Scout But his parents divorced in 1987 when he was 16, changed him. His grades dropped, he came down with mono, couldn't seem to shake off his depression. Then started showing signs of manic depression culminated in

Starting point is 01:22:52 an episode in 1988 when he jumped out of his brother's car while it was driving down the highway at 60 miles an hour. Jesus Christ. Miraculously he was not as seriously injured as you would expect. He graduated from Melbourne High School in the spring of 1989, then a few months later fell asleep at the wheel while driving on South Patrick Drive. His Mercury marquee ran off the road, slammed into a concrete utility pole, not wearing a seatbelt, Humphrey smashed into the windshield, shattering the glass, badly slicing up his face. How he got a little scars. Also suffered a collapsed lungs, compound fracture of his right leg, so severe that a steel rod had to be implanted. He confided him to a

Starting point is 01:23:28 hospital for three weeks and then crutches for months after his discharge. His scars drastically changed his look. He eventually came to the UF campus June of 1990 where the 19 year old planned on continuing his studies that fall but it didn't take long for things to go sideways. On June 22nd he exchanged some hostile words with the driver of a car behind him who honked angrily due to Humphreys very slow speed During the altercation Humphrey threatened the other driver with his knife then later that same month He hadn't even been in town a fucking month yet a University police officer stopped Humphrey for driving erratically after being pulled over Humphrey seemed nervous. He became upset

Starting point is 01:24:04 when the officer let him go with a warning Humphrey now started driving down the fucking wrong side of the road and the officer has to stop him again and this time issues him a ticket for careless driving. So clearly something's going on with his mental health, right? He's not doing well. Then in July, police ejected Humphrey from an Indialantic surf shop after he threatened several customers by telling them that he would cut their hearts out. Dude, quickly gaining a reputation for being a psycho. August 6th at Patrick Air Force Base near Cocoa Beach, a military police officer encountered Humphrey, running in circles, talking to himself, and chewing on a beer can. He then proceeded to tell the officer that he wanted to join the military so that he could quote, hang people up and gut them like deer.

Starting point is 01:24:45 He is not arrested at this time, only because it is not illegal to be super fucking creepy. And on an unspecified date at some point the same summer he warned a security guard at Gatorwood apartments that God told me to kill you. Jesus. Finally a local Krispy Kreme doughnuts employee told investigators that Humphreys had struck up a conversation with her one day. Fascinated that she dissected bodies in her human anatomy class. She remembered the discussion because he had asked her if she ever took skin or body parts home to mess around with. Again, this dude is struggling. He's very mentally ill. So investigators wonder, you know, could he have committed this crime, these crimes? Did the timeline

Starting point is 01:25:21 fit? Well, it did. Witnesses reported seeing Humphrey at a party in Gatorwood at around 10 30 p.m. Friday night August 24th, just a couple of hours after he would have potentially murdered Christina Powell and Sonia Larson. Victim Christa Hoyt, the girl who was decapitated, also attended that party, which was hosted by the twin sister of Humphrey's ex-girlfriend. So a lot of connections. Around 2 a.m. Saturday, August 25th, Humphrey had threatened two UF students with a knife outside the Pi Lambda Fire fraternity house. The more investigators looking at this dude, the guiltier he looks. Shortly afterward, a University Police foot patrol officer saw Humphrey speeding down

Starting point is 01:25:57 Fraternity Row in a black Cadillac. When the officer yelled at him to slow down, Humphrey made a U-turn, drove back to the officer to apologize. During their conversation, Humphrey sweated profusely, mentioned he wanted to join the military so he could fight in the Middle East. The encounter lasted a few minutes, then Humphrey drove away. Was he possibly leaving Christa Hoyt's apartment at that time? More recently on August 27th, two officers had responded to the Hawaiian Village apartment

Starting point is 01:26:20 complex in connection with Humphrey's grandmother's request that they check on him. Humphrey moved into apartment 131 of the Hawaiian Village August 18th after being asked to move out of Gatorwood by his roommates, right? When they just wanted him gone. He barely lasted two months before they were like, you got to get the fuck out of here. You're too creepy. He called his grandmother the morning of August 27th, potentially just hours after murdering Manny and Tracy, complaining that his car had been towed or stolen. When officers arrived at Humphrey's apartment around two in the afternoon, he seemed disoriented. When he answered the door, told officers

Starting point is 01:26:48 he would be joining the military to help solve the Middle East crisis. Also brought up the student murders and said that whoever killed them must be a sicko. He eventually asked the University Police to help find his car, which he'd lost on campus after parking it near the library. The police subsequently located Humphrey's car

Starting point is 01:27:03 not near the library, but by a dormitory elsewhere on campus. Now it's suspicious too. Based on all this, FBI profiler Jim Wright declared that the likelihood of Humphrey being the killer looks very good. Yeah, I would have thought so too. The veteran agent pointed to Humphrey's recent appearance at his old high school as evidence of him losing control of the situation, seeking out places where he had a stable time in his life, also emphasized that the next stressful thing to happen to Humphrey would very likely lead to more bodies. So they had to act fast.

Starting point is 01:27:31 Just two hours after the task force met again on August 30th, they learned that Humphrey had now been arrested. He'd been arrested earlier that morning. This makes him look even guiltier. They're elated to the news that their top suspect is in custody being held at the Brevard County Jail. They're elated the news that their top suspect is in custody being held at the Brevard County jail Well, he'd been picked up after his grandma elna, uh levati same first name is his mom Called the police reported that her grandson had beat the shit out of her while she sat in her living room

Starting point is 01:27:58 He choked her punched her fractured bones in her face Holy shit. This guy is not our killer Uh, right, but if i'm hearing all this I'm fucking shocked if he hasn't already killed somebody. The scene Deputy Doug Hammack found was disturbing. Blood spattered across a reclining chair, a nearby coffee table, and the carpet. As he took it all in, he saw a glimpse of Edward now bounding up the stairs. Hammack followed, placed Edward under arrest for aggravated battery. He is clearly deeply disturbed. After telling Hammack, I hit her and I'm sorry, Edward began banging his head on the rear window hard while screaming, I'm gonna kill myself! I'm gonna kill myself! Over and over. When task force leaders learned of Humphrey's arrest, they dispatched nearby FDLE agents, Florida Department of Law

Starting point is 01:28:36 Enforcement, Wally Gossett and Dominic Pape to interview Edward at the Brevard County Detention Center. During the late night rambling interrogation, Edward denied any involvement in the Gainesville murders, but at times he randomly referred to himself as John and demonstrated some knowledge of the killings. Edward told his interviewers that a man with a mean edge had killed the five students and stated that the man John was inside of him. There was a psychopath running loose.

Starting point is 01:29:02 Humphrey's John persona now said and he's not taking any prisoners I'll tell you exactly who he is probably ninja probably really thin probably me Edward swore he'd never killed anybody but I'm investigators asked John if he killed anyone he said he did My god back in the days before DNA This dude would have for sure been convicted for the murders, right? He did not commit. I Mean if I was one of these people, like, all right, all right, we're good. We got him. We got our guy. Oh my God. Danny Rawling could have just skipped town as a free man. In addition to answering the agent's questions, Humphrey

Starting point is 01:29:34 voluntarily provided head and pubic hair samples, gave blood samples as well. Investigators scoured over places Humphrey was known to hang out for evidence of the murders, a wooded location on South Highway A1A and behind his house, but they didn't find anything. Was it possible that Humphrey was known to hang out for evidence of the murders, a wooded location on South Highway A1A, and behind his house, but they didn't find anything? Was it possible they wanted him if he was just crazy, crazy, and in the wrong places at the wrong time? Even so, Edward Humphrey still had to answer for the assault on his grandma, and prosecutors still wanted to keep him around if new evidence connecting him to the five killings turned up.

Starting point is 01:30:00 Although his bond was initially set at $10,250 after his arrest, a Brevard County prosecutor succeeded in convincing the court to raise it to a million, an amount about 200 times a normal bond for an assault charge like Humphrey's at that time. But then even though their top super creepy disturbing definitely violent suspect was in custody, weird shit is still happening around town. On the afternoon of August 30th, University of Florida engineering student Christopher Osborne returned to his home on Northwest 12th Street, found the front door unlocked and leaning open. Somebody broke into his house by removing a screen and forcing open a bedroom window. The thief had apparently made himself at home, ate some cookies, had some Quaker instant oatmeal, and watched a Playboy video on the VCR.

Starting point is 01:30:39 This really made himself at home. He's had a good jerk on the couch there. Then the burglar left the TV on and dirty dishes in the sink before driving away in Osborne's car a tan 1978 Buick Regal. Then another side, that would be so fucking weird if somebody like you found out that somebody stole your car, broken your house, but not only that, they just like hung around for a while. Yeah, I just read a book, you know, listened to the speakers or stereo system.

Starting point is 01:31:03 I don't know. Maybe like fucking doodled some shit on your fridge or whatever. Early in the morning of August 31st, Gainesville police spotted a man walking along Southwest 20th Avenue near the three murder scenes now. As this other suspect emerges, I'm sorry, another suspect emerges

Starting point is 01:31:18 and then quickly disappears. Clad in camouflage pants, the man darted away when he noticed the police approaching. They pursued him to the Mill Run Apartments Complex into the nearby woods but then lost him. Dozens of officers, police dogs searched the woods to no avail. Even a police helicopter couldn't find him. Later that day, family and friends gathered across Florida to remember the five young

Starting point is 01:31:37 lives brutally ended by their still unknown killer. At St. David's Episcopal Church in Jacksonville, hundreds of people honored Christina Powell. First Baptist Church in Pompano Beach offered comfort to over a thousand mourners that showed up for Sonia Larson during the service. It was said she was probably in glory already taking care of children. That was her plan. Near Gainesville, close to 500 people packed an auditorium at Newbury High School to share memories of Christa Hoyt.

Starting point is 01:32:02 In Miami, a similar crowd gathered to mourn Tracy Paulus and Manny Tabota. Tracy lay in a silver-colored coffin in Van Orstel Chapel in Coral Gables wearing the same blue satin gown she wore when she was named homecoming queen in American High School. Fuck her poor parents. Meanwhile, as her August 31st meeting concluded, task force leaders concluded the case would be wrapped up shortly. They're feeling confident. Ol' Eddie fuckin' Nanoeater is their dude.

Starting point is 01:32:26 But then a new connection is about to be made that will take suspicion away from Eddie. On September 1st 1990, FDLE agent Don Maynes traveled to Shreveport, Louisiana to meet with Sergeant Don Ashley of the Shreveport Police Department. Maynes made the trip to investigate similarities between the five students slain in Gainesville and a triple homicide that occurred the prior year in Shreveport, right, that of the Grissom family we went over. Meanwhile, with all the media coverage of his murders and law enforcement on high alert, Danny decides, time to leave Gainesville.

Starting point is 01:32:55 He makes it to Tampa on September 1st. At around 7.45pm September 2nd, wearing a t-shirt, shorts, and a brown ski mask, he walks into a save-and-pack grocery store at the corner of Nebraska and Fowler Ave to rob it. Tossed paper bags to the cashiers, ordered them to fill the bags with money. Unfortunate for him, some Hillsboro County Sheriff's deputies were eating in a nearby restaurant. They responded to the store in time to intercept Denny's. He raced out with 3,000 bucks, jumped into that Buick Regal. As he started the engine, the two deputies stepped in front of his car with their guns drawn. Denny now tried to get away by putting the car in reverse, only managed to smash into

Starting point is 01:33:27 an alley and wedge the car there. Good for you, asshole! Somebody yelled from a group of gathering onlookers. Now a deputy walked towards him from behind, weapon aimed at his head, ordered him to get out of the car. He doesn't. Instead, he takes his fucking gun out, points it at her, and says, lady, I don't want to shoot you.

Starting point is 01:33:42 And after a brief standoff, she backs down. He is so lucky he didn't get a different cop who would have just justifiably put some bullets in him. Danny now yanks the car in the drive, floors the gas pedal, speeds forward as deputies, repeatedly fire shots at the car. They fired 19 shots. Incredibly, not only would Danny not be hit

Starting point is 01:33:59 by any of those shots, he would get away. He is sometimes, I have to reluctantly admit, pretty fucking good at being an outlaw. He'll abandon the car several blocks away, flee into some woods, scale a chain-link fence, sprint across the highway, and then break into a house and hide on North Orleans Street. There he'd use the phone to place calls to his mom and to Bunny. Gotta fucking talk to Bunny. Then he ran off, broke into another house nearby, and left after not finding anything of value. Ultimately, he'll leave the neighborhood on a 10-speed bike he stole from someone else's

Starting point is 01:34:28 back porch, and then spend that night in a house still under construction. After hiding out in that place for almost five days, on September 7th he breaks into Ray and Patricia Rio's unit in the River Garden Apartments in Tampa. While the Rios and their 16-year-old son slept upstairs, he just made himself a home, ate a banana, stole two Timex watches, took some car keys off the coffee table, moved a dining room chair over to the bottom of the stairway so it would be the first thing the Rio's saw when they came downstairs just to fuck with him, just to freak him out. For good measure, he left his banana peel on the chair.

Starting point is 01:34:58 Then he stole their car, a 1983 Silver Ford Mustang. Late of that day, just before 1 p.m., he strolled into a Winn-Dixie supermarket at Southwest College Road in Ocala, wearing a fisherman's hat, Bermuda shorts, deck shoes, and sunglasses now. And just like he'd done so many times before, he walked over to the nearest cashier, flashed his 38 revolver, told her to get the money out. He ran out with over 2,000 bucks now, which he dumped into the Silver Mustang before screeching out of the parking lot. Then he might have just bounced on out of town, but it was a training day for the local police department, meaning twice the number of patrol units were on the streets, and he

Starting point is 01:35:31 didn't get far before he heard sirens. Pushing the pedal harder and harder, Danny accelerated, but more and more police cars kept appearing on his tail. Finally he crashed into another car sitting at a stoplight at the intersection of 5th Avenue and Southwest 10th Street. But Danny, the mystery rider, outlaw Josie Wales, wasn't about to sit there and wait to be arrested. Jumping out of the now demolished car, he fucking sprints across the parking lot, dashes through the

Starting point is 01:35:54 doorway of an office building, runs out the back door before he comes to a grass covered lot. And there he realizes the police have surrounded him on all sides. And with a lot of guns pointed at him, he finally drops to his knees, puts his hands up, and he says, boy, you guys are good. You guys are real good. He was surprised Sergeant Greg Gresham of Ocala's Criminal Investigation Division by now freely admitting to the robbery. He would then be kept in the Marion County Jail under increased supervision after law

Starting point is 01:36:22 enforcement learned of his previous escape attempts. He'd be moved to a different cell every day with guards checking on him every 15 minutes. Despite those efforts, true to form, he does almost get out. He threw his cell's toilet through the window in an attempt to escape and maybe would have escaped but the plexiglass didn't break. Meanwhile, what's going on with the Gainesville investigation? Well by September 2nd, police are having second thoughts about Ed Humphrey.

Starting point is 01:36:46 There are several suspects we're considering at this time. Lieutenant Sadie Darnell insisted on behalf of the Gainesville Police Department. Indeed, they had over 1,500 other leads with detectives traveling to Alabama, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New York, Oregon, and Tennessee in pursuit of suspects. But a lot of them still thought that Eddie was the guy. Montana, Nevada, New York, Oregon, and Tennessee in pursuit of suspects. But a lot of them still thought that Eddie was the guy. Back in Gainesville on September 6, task force members oversaw a search of Humphrey's Hawaiian Village apartment.

Starting point is 01:37:12 Behind a water heater in a bedroom closet, they found a large military-style knife and a map showing a small pond along with several handwritten notes about a star and several X symbols. Could this be the knife that had been used to kill five Gainesville youths? Well, they hoped it was. On September 7th, forensic anthropologist William Maples joined the task force for a meeting to discuss the weapon used in the five Gainesville murders. Maples had attended the autopsies conducted by Dr. Hamilton, had seen the type and extent of injuries inflicted on the victims. He noted in particular that the hilt of a large knife left an imprint on one victim's back.

Starting point is 01:37:50 Based on his initial analysis, Dr. Maples believed the weapon to be a knife with a seven to eight inch blade and a sharp, smooth, non-serrated cutting edge. And it would be a sturdy knife, like a military weapon. So exactly the kind of knife that Danny had during his sub and also that Ed had unfortunately my god during a subscript meeting with the task force investigators Maples was asked whether the murder weapon could be a Marine Corps fighting knife commonly known as a K-bar Maples thought it definitely could have been once again Eddie looks fucking guiltier than ever now that it seemed likely that Eddie would be charged with

Starting point is 01:38:22 five murders and not one assault Eddie's grandma walked back her accusations said Eddie never hit her. Meanwhile September 17th, Danny Rowling pled guilty to the Cala Wynn-Dixie robbery charge surprising both the prosecutors and the judge. He told the judge, I disturbed the peace of this county and I am guilty sir. Y'all judge me as you see fit. If you see anything in me and I wonder it myself that's worth saving, then maybe there's hope for me. But I don't know, maybe I'm not worthy.

Starting point is 01:38:52 His mom and grandma wrote letters to the court asking for leniency. I mentioned the abuse he'd faced at his father James's hands, but their petitions didn't make much of a difference. Danny is now sentenced to life in prison as a habitual felony offender. Even outside of being charged for any of his killings, he was probably never going to walk free again. Not for a long time at least. From prison, Danny would watch news coverage now of the Gainesville investigation to one fellow prisoner he remarked that the police were never going to catch the Gainesville killer. Now let's check back in with the other suspect. A few weeks later, Brevard County State Attorney Norm Wolfinger pushed forward with Humphrey's

Starting point is 01:39:28 prosecution. On October 10th, following a one-hour deliberation, a six-person jury reached its verdict finding Humphrey guilty of the reduced charge of battery on an elderly person. It didn't matter that Eddie's grandma walked back her accusations. It was clear he'd assaulted her. Although he denied that the Gainesville murder investigation had any influence on his office's treatment of the Humphrey case, Wolfinger acknowledged that the swift trial and conviction would aid the investigation.

Starting point is 01:39:51 If in fact a prime suspect is Edward Humphrey, they would have additional time to continue their investigation without making an arrest, Wolfinger said after the verdict. But Eddie was not in Shreveport when the Grisham family was killed. And more are connecting those murders to the Gainesville killings now. The October 11th edition of the Miami Herald featured a story with the headline, the Louisiana case is similar to killings in Gainesville. The article asserted that the Gainesville Task Force had renewed its interest in the Shreveport triple homicide of the Grisham family. It cited numerous similarities between the Gainesville and Shreveport crime scenes, including that all of the Grisham family. It cited numerous similarities between the Gainesville and Shreveport crime scenes including that all of the female victims were young,

Starting point is 01:40:27 petite brunettes. The killer used tape during the crimes but then removed it afterward. The killer also used cleaning liquids at the sites to scrub the rape victims bodies and destroy evidence and he staged the bodies of the women. And then DNA testing on blood and hair samples from Humphrey failed to show a match of the semen left at the crime scenes, including a pair of panties and paper towels at the first crime scene, in Krista Hoyt's vagina at the second, and in Tracy Paulus's rectum at the third. Edward was a dangerous man, certainly capable of murder, but now it's clear that he did

Starting point is 01:41:00 not commit these murders. Killer, possibly, probably, still out there. On November 15, 1990, Humphrey appears in a Titusville courtroom again, this time for sentencing. Under the state sentencing guidelines, Judge Theron Yon could sentence Humphrey to a range of punishments spanning from probation on the lenient side up to 22 months in prison on the harshest side. Although it was Humphrey's first offense, the judge did not hesitate in sentencing him to the maximum term of 22 months confinement in the Correctional Mental Health Institution, a mental hospital in Chattahoochee with 14 months of probation to follow. And I think that's

Starting point is 01:41:34 the right call. I mean this guy needed a lot of help. Force him to get it by keeping him in a psychiatric facility for a couple years. Many though, including Humphrey's own family, would argue that this was a result of the Gainesville investigation even though the investigation not turned up much linking Humphrey to the crime scenes. And speaking of that investigation as Thanksgiving Day now approaches and has been three months since the killings many in Gainesville felt frustrated with the lack of progress in the investigation especially the victims families. Around Christmas psychologist John Philpin prepared a new psychological profile of the

Starting point is 01:42:06 killer, concluding that his criminal acts had escalated over time. He probably has done break-ins before, maybe just creepy crawly trips where he entered, moved things around, perhaps removed innocuous objects. The whole idea of watching a woman coming in from the outside and invading her privacy would appear to be a significant part of the ritual and the related fantasy system. This guy may have a juvenile record for this type of offense, it read in part. John, you're good. You're real good. Then soon Shreveport detectives realized that their new main suspect was far more accessible than they thought. He was already in custody. Shreveport resident Cindy Juracic, who had met the incarcerated drifter 15 years prior

Starting point is 01:42:45 at the United Pentecostal Church, called in a tip to the Shreveport Police Department. Three months earlier, in August of 1990, Cindy had heard about the murders in Gainesville, and the murders made her think about Rowling, whom she had met at her Louisiana hometown church and his possible link to the murder of the Grissom's in Shreveport. Rowling had sent some deeply disturbing shit to both her and her then husband Stephen Dobbin. Stephen told her that Rowling had told him he had a problem. When she asked what kind of problem, Steve said he likes to stick knives into people. Can you imagine someone telling you that that was their problem? How shocking that would be. What's going on bud? You doing all right? Not really. I've got a problem.

Starting point is 01:43:26 That's alright. Everybody's got problems. That's normal. We've all got them. What's yours? You wouldn't understand. You'll just judge me. No, I won't. Come on. I bet it's nothing I haven't heard before. Yeah. Yeah, let's hear it. Well, you see, I got this problem where I really like to stick knives in people.

Starting point is 01:43:48 Come again? Knives. I said I like to stick knives in people. Oh, shit. OK, I was kind of hoping I misheard you the first time. Have you ever heard about a problem, a person having a problem like that before? No. Of course I haven't heard about a problem like that before.

Starting point is 01:44:04 That's fucking insane. Do you think there's something wrong with me? Yes. Big time. I haven't had a problem like that before? No! Of course I haven't heard about a problem like that before! That's fucking insane! Do you think there's something wrong with me? Yes! Big time! Oh Mike, you're way fucked in the head! You should probably throw yourself off a cliff! Anyway, Cindy dismissed these comments when she heard them because she didn't want to

Starting point is 01:44:17 believe Rowling could be responsible for the murders in Shreveport. But then the news of the Gainesville murders haunted Cindy and she finally contacted the police in November based on her hunch about Rowigh's connection to the murders in both cities. Good job Cindy! Hail Cindy Juracich! You just can't sit on those hunches forever, right? You know, you never know which hunch can crack a case. Investigators responded to the tip, quickly found Raleighn... I keep wanting to call him Raleighn, you know, it's fucking Raleighn... found Raleighn. He was in prison only 40 miles from Gainesville. Luckily Gainesville had the semen samples from the crime scenes. Now they

Starting point is 01:44:49 just needed an opportunity to test those against Danny. Two months later, after students in Gainesville had spent a full semester living in fear, after further looking into Danny on January 24th, 1991, anonymous sources identified 36-year-old Danny Harold Rowling as the task force primary target and the January 25th edition of the Gainesville sun featured the headline slain suspect in Ocala jail since September. Soon the news would make its way back to Danny's parents, uh, who would say that they were shocked for some reason. We're heartbroken over this.

Starting point is 01:45:17 James Rowling stated flatly, he may be disturbed, but he ain't guilty of that. And yeah, James is still alive. That bullet he took between the eyes somehow did not kill him. He may be disturbed, but he ain't guilty of that. And yeah, James is still alive. That bullet he took between the eyes somehow did not kill him. One source said he lost an eye in the shooting and an ear based on the bullet's trajectory through his head. Pretty strange for James to stand up for the son he continually abused and the son who shot and disfigured him.

Starting point is 01:45:39 No, he ain't that bad. I mean, he's got his daddy's temper. Look at my eye. Look where my eye used to be. But all in all, he's got his daddy's temper. Look at my eye. Look what my eye used to be. But all in all, he's a good kid. Danny's mother seemed even more stunned. We're just sick over this. Claudia Rowling said. She compared the media frenzy, folks not her son, to its previous treatment of Edward Humphrey. They've destroyed him and his family like they're destroying my family. I'm so upset. I can't talk about it anymore.

Starting point is 01:46:01 Weirdly enough, Danny would get support from Humphrey's family, who believed the cops were trying to pin it on yet another innocent person. January 25th, 1991, five months after the five student murders, the Gainesville task force publicly names Danny Harold Rowling as the prime suspect in the Gainesville Ripper case. Several weeks later, FDLE agents appeared at Rowling's jail cell with a search warrant authorizing them to obtain DNA and other bodily evidence samples from him. Over the next hour and a half, the agents took head hair, pubic hair, and blood samples to compare DNA, to compare two DNAs, excuse me, obtained at the Gainesville crime scenes. They also took footprints, handprints, and fingerprints. Finally, on March 12th, the FDLE forensic laboratory finished his fingerprint and DNA analysis,

Starting point is 01:46:42 concluding that none of the sample prints taken from Danny Rowling in jail matched the latent prints obtained from the crime scenes. A little surprising, right? Well, maybe not really though because he cleaned up after himself. A DNA profile, however, obtained from semen recovered from vaginal swabs of Christa Hoyt, did match Rowling's DNA so closely there was only a one in three million chance it belonged to someone else. Despite him cleaning up the crime scene and not leaving prints, he did still leave some DNA. Had he committed these murders a few decades earlier, he very likely would have gotten away with these killings. Eddie would be sitting on death row instead of him. Additionally, fibers from the ski mask recovered at Rowling's campsite matched fibers found on a piece of duct tape

Starting point is 01:47:21 recovered from the Gatorwood Apartments crime scene, and tool marks left in the door at Sonya Larson and Christie Powell's Williamsburg apartment matched the blade width and tip characteristics of a screwdriver found at Rowling's campsite. Further analysis would eventually connect the screwdriver to all three murder sites. Investigators also gathered evidence suggesting that Rowling came into contact with at least some of the five slain students before their murders shortly before. A Walmart receipt recovered from Sonia and Christina's apartment showed a purchase made from the Gainesville store August 20th, 1990.

Starting point is 01:47:51 At precisely the same time, at a nearby register, register 22, someone purchased the same brand and type of tent found at Rowling's campsite. Detectives also obtained security camera recordings at Verne's Quick Shop, a convenience store located on Southwest 34th Street, less than a block from Sonia Larson's apartment, and directly across the street from Rowling's camp. Even peeping on her for a while. Video footage showed Sonia entering the store at 9 28 p.m. August 25th, recorded

Starting point is 01:48:16 Rowling in the store several times the day before. Additional surveillance showed Rowling at the store at 12.05 a.m. 6 p.m. 6 30 p.m. 9 30 p.m. 9 38 p.m. on August 24th. He's in that area all the time. Christa Hoyt last seen alive 9 28 p.m. the same night when she stopped at the same convenience store on her way home after playing racquetball with her friend Paul Schwartz. What's he stalking these girls? Probably. April 17th 1991 FBI special agents arrest Danny for the burglaries he committed in Tampa in early September of 1990.

Starting point is 01:48:47 The FBI agents Cindy Barnard and Steve Davenport also informed Danny that Gainesville PD had tons of evidence linking him to all five murders. Danny took the information stoically, said he'd probably spend the rest of his life in prison. Then he said he'd wish he'd moved into an apartment with his brother instead of moving back in with his parents years earlier after he got out of Parchman three years before. Then as agents left, he said he wanted to help clear Edward Humphrey's name. Soon after, however, despite naming Rowling as the prime suspect in their case, Alachua

Starting point is 01:49:17 County prosecutors announced that they are going to seek grand jury indictments against both Rowling and Edward Humphrey. They still have not ruled out Eddie entirely. Addressing why indictments would be sought against both guys, FTLA spokesman John Joyce explained, We feel like we have evidence that needs to be presented to a grand jury, that we hope will lead to indictments against both of these people. Meanwhile, Danny continued to face criminal proceedings related to a string of robberies he committed after leaving Gainesville. In the course of that, he'd be examined by

Starting point is 01:49:44 forensic psychiatrist William Corwin. At a competency hearing, Corwin recounted how Rowling told him about his history of marijuana use, cocaine, crack cocaine, alcohol use, beginning when he served in the Air Force. Corwin also discussed how Rowling described seeing a demon one night while in bed with his wife. The bedroom window was partially open. Cold wind blew the curtains over him, he said. He said he saw something outside pouring into the house like black smoke. And then different faces and forms appeared in the dark smoke.

Starting point is 01:50:15 And that's f**king scary. Frightened, Rowling said he blurted out Jesus three times, causing the demon to retreat back through the window. Based on his interactions with Rowling, Dr. Corwin diagnosed him with antisocial personality disorder and a schizophrenic type of psychosis. At another trial, July 23, clinical psychologist Fred Farzanagan testified that he considered Rowling fit to stand trial. So did clinical neuropsychologist Sydney Marin. Psychologist Michael Mayer, however, retained by the public defender's office, said Dandy suffered from a personality disorder and an unspecified affective disorder that made him unfit to stand trial.

Starting point is 01:50:50 Isn't it almost always that way, right? The prosecution finds psychological experts that find the defendant fit to stand trial and the defense team finds experts that find them unfit. After considering all the experts' testimony, Judge Coe rules that Rowling competent to stay in trial, concluding he has a rational as well as factual understanding of the charges against him. August 23rd, 1991. Nearly the one-year anniversary of the week of the slains, the 5th District Court of Appeals rejects Humphrey's claim that he had only been sentenced to 22 months and not probation and assaulting his grandma because of prejudice from the Gainesville

Starting point is 01:51:23 cases. Two days later, August 25th marks the one-year anniversary of the discovery of Christina Powell and Sonia Larsen's bodies. Two days after that, August 27th, Edward Humphrey gives an interview from prison. He emphasized that he was not on lithium at the time of the Gainesville murders, making him appear more suspicious. Also said he hoped to go back to school after he got out of prison. Now properly medicated, he is doing a lot better.

Starting point is 01:51:47 August 29th, after three hours of deliberation, the jury in Rowling's Tampa armed robbery trial returns its verdict, finding him guilty on all seven counts. Judge Harry Lee Coe sets Rowling's sentencing hearing for October 11th. Meanwhile, having served more than a year in prison, Edward Humphrey is released from the Lake Butler Correctional Institution on September 18th. Other than stopping for a haircut and a shave on the way, he drove straight to the Orlando office of his attorney, Donald Leichbach, to give a press conference. He said he looked forward to spending time with his family, and Leichbach called the proceedings against his client a raw deal and injustice. The attorney said he was confident of their success in the grand jury proceedings scheduled

Starting point is 01:52:23 for November 2nd. The prosecution's case against both Rowling and Humphrey seemed to rest on the idea that both men collaborated to perform the murders, something that seemed plausible if he didn't think one man could create all that carnage. Same day as Humphrey's release, in nearby Marion County, Rowling received that life sentence I mentioned earlier, plus another 30 years as a habitual offender for the September 1990 robbery of that Ocala-Win-Dixie. Months later on October 18th in Hillsborough County, Judge Harry Lee Coe sentenced his rolling to three more consecutive life sentences, one for each cashier he robbed, plus 170

Starting point is 01:52:58 years for a string of robberies and burglaries committed in Tampa. Holy shit. But the right call, I think. I mean, murders or not, he was definitely a fucking menace to society. He should never walk free again. And if he didn't commit the murders, with all his escape attempts, with all his armed robberies, with him pulling a gun on that one cop who tried to arrest him, and on and on and on, you know, a dude like that should not be allowed to keep terrorizing society. In opposing the sentence, Coe stressed that he intended for it to ensure that Raleigh would not be given the opportunity

Starting point is 01:53:23 to see the light of day again. In response, Rowling told the court, I guess I've always been a problem. I want to crawl under the woodwork somewhere, but I can't seem to find a crack. Then he pulled a spider out of his pocket. That one spider he fucking, you know, had in his cell. The good one. In Parchman prison. And he just whispered softly, there's ain't nothing worse than we've already been through already, Charlotte. I'll take care of you and you take care of me, okay?" Then he kissed the little spider, put it back in his pocket, and it was in the dry eye in

Starting point is 01:53:48 the courtroom. Do I need to point out that I'm kidding about the spider moment? I hope not. November 5th, grand jury proceedings regarding Rowling and Humphrey's involvement in the five-student murders commence at the Alahatchewa County Courthouse in Gainesville. I think I added a syllable there. Alachewa. Al-ewa Hatchewa. Alachewa Hatchewa. Just a week later, November 13th, Ed Humphrey's grandma, Elna Havarti,

Starting point is 01:54:13 dies of a heart attack. Family blamed it unequivocally on the stress of the indictment. Yeah, probably had nothing to do with the fucking beating Eddie put on her. While the jury indicted Danny Rowling on five counts of first degree murder, three counts of sexual battery, and three counts of armed burglary on November 15th, they did not indict Humphrey. Jury deemed the evidence against Humphrey so weak that it not only declined to indict him, they also issued a no-true bill conveying the jurors conclusion that he had absolutely nothing to do with the Gainesville murders. And you know what? Good on them.

Starting point is 01:54:43 Humphrey family learned the good news at Elm's funeral. May 21st, 1992, Danny Rowling sensed again after being convicted for possession of a firearm and bank robbery for the robbery of the First Union Bank in Gainesville. Before he sensed, he had an opportunity to address the court, and he broke out in a song. Jesus, I want to be more like you. I just want you to know I'm trying all my life. I've known misery. You came into my life and set me free. I love you. Yes I do. I don't know the melody. That's just the words. Probably has a better melody than that. Then he made a speech in which he said that I don't hate nobody and he asked the judge to pray for him. US District Judge

Starting point is 01:55:24 Maurice Paul listened to all that shit, did not pray for him, and then calmly sentenced Rowling to life in prison again. He's now been sentenced to fucking five life prison sentences or five life sentences, plus I think 200 years. And he hasn't even tried for the murders. Oh my God. With all the known Florida robberies now accounted for,

Starting point is 01:55:41 Rowling is cleared to be tried for the murders of Christina Powell, Sonia Larson, Christa Hoyt, Manny Tabota, and Tracy Paulus. In prison, Rowling tells details about the Gainesville murders to a convict named Bobby Lewis who had befriended Rowling when the two shared the same floor on the W wing of the prison. Rowling shared his plan to escape from Gainesville jail if he could find a way to get sent back there, and he spoke about his fear of being moved to Q wing which housed the electric chair to keep from being sent there rolling pretended in a suicide attempt by tying a noose around his neck and worked

Starting point is 01:56:11 He was able to stay in W wing. He wasn't he was a clever fuck Roy also confessed that he wanted to sell his story so he could help his daughter out financially the daughter He had nothing to do with but also that he liked the media attention He was getting Bobby Lewis would meet with investigators regularly telling them about how Rowling confessed to using a screwdriver and duct tape in the crimes, how he had posed to women to leave a message. But what could have been seen as a mistake, divulging critical information about the cases was actually intentional on Rowling's party. Danny wanted Bobby to talk to investigators for him. On January 17, 1993, Bobby informed prison officials that Danny wanted to talk with law

Starting point is 01:56:45 enforcement now about past homicides. Danny would be willing to discuss the Gainesville murders in detail but only through Bobby. Bobby would do the talking. This is so fucking weird. In exchange Danny wanted to be visited by a true crime writer he'd struck up a correspondence with, a woman named Sondra London, and he wanted to be left alone until he went to death row. In a follow-up interview the next day, who's speaking, Bobby is his fucking press conference person, his press advisor. Bobby now told investigators that Danny told him that Krista Hoyt had screamed through the tape covering her mouth when he stabbed her.

Starting point is 01:57:17 God damn. Danny added that she was extremely beautiful and quote, the best fuck he ever had in his entire life. You know what? Danny had such a brutal childhood, but also fuck him. Man, so odd how he did seem to have a conscience sometimes, but other times just as cold-blooded and cruel as they came. Danny also said that at the last crime scene. I mean, well Bobby said through Danny. Yeah, Danny said through Bobby. There we go. Danny also said at the last crime scene he had been surprised how ferociously Manny Taboda tried to defend himself.

Starting point is 01:57:45 Said Manny had fought like a wild man, cursing him, struggling to the last breath. Bobby told investigators that Rowling did not seem remorseful about the Gainesville murders at all. Instead, he gloated to Bobby that the K-Bar knife he used for all the killings was so sharp, it was like cutting butter. Even cutting through a couple bones was nothing to it. That's terrifying. Lewis also produced a handwritten document containing a full confession and a walkthrough of the murders of Christina and Sonia. The document also included information about other murders, including how he raped Tracy Paulus once before killing her, that motherfucker, and a second time after she was dead.

Starting point is 01:58:17 He also made a full confession to the Grissom murders in Shreveport, saying he'd bound Sean and Julie while he murdered Tom and then he went to kill little Sean. saying he'd bound Sean and Julie while he murdered Tom and then he went to kill little Sean. Sorry to have to do this kid. Rowling whispered and Sean stared at him defiantly. He said, I'm a man the boy replied his voice quavering. Yes, you are a man Danny agreed and then plunged a knife deep into the boy's back. That fucker Sean was eight years old. He then raped Julie in the bathroom made her get into the bath and wash brought her to the bedroom where he stabbed her three times in the back just toyingying with his victims, just playing God, making them act out his sick little fantasies. Detectives finally led Bobby and Danny through an irritating and lengthy

Starting point is 01:58:53 interview on January 31st, 1993, where Danny refused to say anything, made Bobby respond for him the whole time, but would confirm that Bobby was telling the truth only after Bobby answered. That's just weird little power trip here, I guess. Just like to be able to fuck with investigators. Despite his weird method, he did confess to the murders, or Bobby confessed to the murders, and you know, that Danny committed. For some reason, I imagine Danny thinking that by only communicating through Bobby, it was like some kind of loophole, that Bobby would take the fall for his crimes. Like somehow Bobby would have to end up sharing his death row cell where he would continue to act as his translator and then for some reason Bobby

Starting point is 01:59:29 will actually end up sitting in Danny's electric chair. I listen I'm not gonna truck and protest being electric here but I I won't sit in it. Bobby will sit in my place which is Danny's plan the whole time. You know he just makes Bobby do the confessions and Bobby shares his death row cell then Bobby has to sit with him the electric chair and then he sneaks out the back door just rides off into the night the mystery rider Fucking getting away with it again. Oh boy You are a drifter, God insane. That's very true. Oh, remember that true crime writer, Sandra, Sondra London I mentioned earlier?

Starting point is 02:00:13 Well the reason Danny is confessing is so he can get, you know, his true crime book. Well her relationship with Danny has gotten more than professional. He had agreed to let her control all information released to the media by him, including his art, songs songs and other writings But investigators who were still working with Danny they didn't like her They banned her from visiting him in response Danny and Sandra. He is 39. She's 45 now decide to get engaged February 25th She would write him Slowly, I began to see you as 200 pounds of hard man and that was another kind of love

Starting point is 02:00:43 began to see you as 200 pounds of hard man. And that was another kind of love. That's the one that became so dizzy when I finally laid eyes on my gorgeous hunk of masculinity. And to be told I will never see you again, this is tearing me up. Darling, I wonder, would you like to get married? Sondra's fucked up. I can't stand women who know what these guys have done,

Starting point is 02:01:02 still fall in love with them. So fucking insulting and disrespectful to their victims. Sandra had previously dated when she was in high school a Gerard John Schaeffer, a man who went on to become known as the Killer Cop, the Hangman, and the Butcher of Blind Creek. That fucker was convicted of the 1972 murder and mutilation of two teenage girls in Florida and is suspected in the murders of 26 other women and girls. A week later, these two pieces of shit appear on the TV show, Current Affair.

Starting point is 02:01:28 Despite professing their love to the world, investigators still don't let Sondra visit, good. On the grounds that she seemed interested in profiting off of Danny's crimes. Soon, despite Sondra writing to Danny that she had wanted to quote, rip your clothes right off and rape you quick, I told you she was fucked in the head. Sondra found out that Danny was writing to another female true crime. What? He's not faithful? What the fuck? So they weren't as close as she thought. Meanwhile, various depositions took place as the state of Florida made its case against Danny Rowling. The main issue was whether or not Danny's diagnoses possible brain damage due to his numerous head injuries over the years, drug use,

Starting point is 02:02:06 abuse at the hands of his father, mitigated any of the circumstances of the crimes. Psychologists would present Danny's pattern of behavior from escalating from peeping in windows to burglaries to rapes to murders. He spoke of how it all began with him wanting to live in a different family, how the peeping, you know, allowed him to live in that fantasy world and reinforce the distance between him and those people as well though. Basically since he stopped peeping, it was like experiencing devastating abandonment over and over again. Was that really what this was about?

Starting point is 02:02:37 Or was it mostly about just watching hot nude women make his dick hard? Women he wanted to rape. I mean if it was mostly about just wanting to be part of a different family Why wasn't he peeping in on some old married couples watching fucking Wheel of Fortune? You know having dinner together shit like that His attorneys linked I wanted to see something about Pat Sajak But I got nothing his attorneys linked his posing of bodies and mocking the police to his desire to snub his father a police officer and that I buy

Starting point is 02:03:01 James himself would even testify describing a cycle of abuse that began with his own father's treatment of him. He revealed that both his uncles were schizophrenic and that his wife's side of the family also had a history of serious mental illness. However, James did place all the blame on the actual murders on Danny himself. You know, he was beaten growing up and he didn't kill anybody. Which is true. James is also still a piece of shit though. Jury selection for Danny's trial began February 15th, 1994. But then right after the case had barely begun to proceed, Danny had a surprise announcement. Said he wished to enter a guilty plea for all five of the murder counts in Florida, all three of the sexual battery counts.

Starting point is 02:03:35 There are some things you just can't run from, he said. Then he presented the court with a signed guilty plea he'd written February 10th. Danny would say it was to save the victim's families from the trouble of a trial, but it was also possibly done to cast him in a better light, right, since the jury wouldn't now have to hear as many of the gruesome details of the crimes. Still, lead prosecutor Rod Smith vowed to seek the death penalty.

Starting point is 02:03:55 He would give the opening statement to the three-man, nine-woman sentencing jury March 7th, closing arguments would be presented March 23rd, and the jury would return with a verdict the following day. Did not take them long to decide. They recommended the death penalty. Actually, they recommended five death penalties, one for each of the five murders, and a judge would confirm those sentences April 20th, 1994. So he's definitely never getting out. He's got like a thousand life sentences, a couple hundred

Starting point is 02:04:20 extra years, and five death sentences now. Now let's fast forward a bit to some good news. Six years to 2000 and check back in with old Edward Humphreys real quick. Did you wonder what happened to that troubled dude? The one time Gainesville Ripper murderers prime suspect. I did. In the summer of 2000, he graduated magna cum laude with a 3.76 GPA from the University of Central Florida in Orlando with a bachelor's degree in business administration.

Starting point is 02:04:45 He did go back to school. Once cleared of the Gainesville murders, he put himself through Brevard Community College, graduating with honors in 1994. He's taken his meds consistently. He enrolled at UCF in 1995 taking classes around part-time jobs ranging from cleaning dog kennels and swimming pools to assembling tanning beds and working in factories. He stayed out of trouble, taking medication for his manic depression, reminded to him by a wristwatch alarm. So he took it very seriously, and hopefully he is still doing very well today. Six years after he graduated, October 25th, 2006, Danny Rowling would graduate as well. He'll graduate right on the fuck out of this earth, be executed by lethal injection.

Starting point is 02:05:24 This was after the Supreme Court rejected his last-ditch appeal with nothing left to lose now He he finally gave more details. I guess the Shreveport murders. He'd already said he did it though He handed his spiritual advisor Reverend Mike Hudspeth in Florida police a handwritten confession and an apology I thought it was an apology. Sorry about killing that family. Whoops my bad His last meal was lobster tail. He's saying a gospel hymn. Sure. Why not? But then made no statement immediately before his execution, which was witnessed by many of his victims relatives After receiving his lethal injection Jesus actually said sorry bud. You can't come into heaven. So that was a cool like last minute detail

Starting point is 02:06:00 Jesus like hey, I didn't buy that that thing at the end. So go fuck yourself. You're gonna burn in hell That happened after he's pronounced it at 6 13 p.m. The mystery rider Will never ride again And with that let's get on out of this timeline Good job soldier you've made it back Okay, before I share a little recap, some final thoughts, I have some great news. I have another wonderful sponsor. Today's Time Suck was brought to you by the D'Asela al Gambe Italian Tours. If you want to experience Italy like a real Italian, book your next trip with D'Asela

Starting point is 02:06:41 al Gambe. Hey, it's Mia. It's Giuseppe Parmigiana. I'm the owner of the D'Asela al Gambe. next trip with the Sella Gamba. Hey, it's Mia! It's Giuseppe Parmigiana! I'm the owner of the Sella Gamba, an Italian for a period. And I show you all of the best places where to bid off in Italy. Book your trip with me, influencer, Frenze. We see the Statue of Deborah, and we bid off to it.

Starting point is 02:07:01 He has his Italian sausage out, so you should too. Then we visit the Panti Vecchio, the most famous bridge in the world. We bit off into the river. So many pretty girls for us to look at. Ciao bella, look at my meatballs. They're spicy, put them in your mouth. We visit the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, the D Duomo, one of the most famous churches in the world. And we baptize some hot Donnas with a bowl of noodles. Ha ha, living like an Italian stallion. Always with the dick out,

Starting point is 02:07:34 always with the spicy meatballs. If you want to experience Italy like a real Italian, you book your next trip with me, a Giuseppe Parmesan, in the Sella Gambia today. Ciao bella. Tour is not offered to women and children. Darcella Gambi will not cover legal costs related to public display of nudity or sexual aggressive behavior. By agreeing to take a tour with Darcella Gambi, you are

Starting point is 02:07:53 considered to any and all form of sexual harassment and a result carried out by Giuseppe Parmigiana. Ciao bella. So yeah, that was a cool company. Oh, the monster of Florence. We learned so much about how horny the men of Florence are in that one. So much peeping, so much jerking, so much beating in the bushes. Speaking of peeping, the Gainesville Ripper. The Gainesville Ripper.

Starting point is 02:08:15 Ah, I wish I could just be, I wish I could just be Giuseppe in a pomegranate. He sounds like a fun guy. Anyway, Gainesville Ripper, aka Danny Harold Rowling. Danny endured the sort of horrendous childhood that certainly doesn't guarantee someone will grow up to be a menace to society, but does tilt the odds more towards that outcome. Temperamental, controlling, and violent, Danny's father James fought with his mother Claudia and he haped both verbal and physical abuse on Danny and

Starting point is 02:08:39 his younger brother Kevin as well. Perhaps that was when he developed, you know, some type of multiple personalities as a defense. Not that he had like multiple personalities as far as like separate kind of like people inside of him, but he had different personas. Maybe personas better than personality because there was a sweet tender side to him, you know, that loved church, helping his community, a side that could be a good boyfriend, could craft a good tune, but also obviously this aberrant, deviant side where he fantasized about slipping into someone else's life, raping, torturing, and murdering them ruthlessly. By the age of 25, Danny had already possibly passed the point of no return when it

Starting point is 02:09:14 came to the possibility of him ever becoming a healthy, normally functioning, and helpful member of society. After his divorce, he raped a woman who resembled his ex-wife and embarked on several armed robberies to the south, leading to his incarceration in Georgia in 1979. Multiple escape attempts landed himself in solitary confinement in a stinking cell flooded with sewage where he only had a handful of spiders for company and only one good one! Charlotte, love of his life, those other two fucking Jezebel spiders had to die. Back in Shreveport in November of 1989, Danny was fired from his job at a restaurant for missing shifts.

Starting point is 02:09:48 Shifts he spent murdering the Grissom family, including 55-year-old Tom, 24-year-old Julie, and 8-year-old Sean. Those murders would bear many of the hallmarks that Danny would go on to repeat later in Gainesville. Binding his victims with tape, plunging knives into their backs, sexually assaulting a young woman before washing evidence from her body with soap and Julie like later victims would also be found posed the trigger for Danny's final spree would come in May of 1990 when he shot his dad James would fucking incredibly survive

Starting point is 02:10:16 between the eyes he was shot Danny finally felt he no longer had anything to lose now a few months later after bouncing around the country robbing and raping on August 24th he slipped into the home of UF freshmen Christina Powell and Sonia Larson brutally stabbed both students and raped Christina. The following day he made Santa Fe Community College student Krista Hoyt his next victim leaving behind her severed head on a shelf to face her body propped up on the bed. On August 27th the killer surfaced again at the home of 23 year old UF students M students, two 23-year-old UF students, Manny Tabota and Tracy Paulus.

Starting point is 02:10:49 Neither body was mutilated, probably because he almost got caught, didn't have time to finish his ritual. By this time, investigators in the city of Gainesville at large were in a panic. It seemed like something from the serial killer heyday of the 70s and 80s, not 1990, when young people are talking into Nokia cell phones and starting to listen to grunge, but it was exactly what was happening. Finally after a false start with a young mentally ill man named Edward Humphrey, investigators got a tip from a woman in Shreveport, linking Danny to the murders both there and in Florida. Luckily Danny was already in prison for robbery, serving a life sentence. The only thing left to do, serving a lot of them, the only thing left to do was try to

Starting point is 02:11:24 figure out what made Danny kill. Was he mentally ill? Did he have multiple personalities? Did his drug and alcohol abuse corrode his brain? Did his dad hit him hard enough to give him brain damage? If so, how did he manage to clean up so effectively after himself at the murder scenes? To be so methodical? Whatever the reason.

Starting point is 02:11:40 Maybe he's just a guy who allowed his voyeuristic kink to take control of him. Danny was executed by lethal injection in 2006. And now Lucifina wants me to remind you to be careful with your fantasies. Do they involve anyone getting hurt? Do they involve someone not knowing that you're using them sexually in some way? Maybe not touching them but watching them. Might want to examine that fantasy. Is it only fun to fantasize about but never act out on in some kind of real way? Never

Starting point is 02:12:05 an urge for that. Are you sure you don't want to actually violate somebody? If violation is the turn on, well maybe talk to somebody as in a therapist. Make sure it's healthy. You know, maybe it is but maybe it's not. Maybe it's just something that will only ever live in your head and in your sex life in the form of role play or through porn where others are engaged in consensual role play. But what if that's not the case? What if it's something you really, really want to do? Then get help before you hurt somebody. Before you descend down a dark, dark path that there is no returning from.

Starting point is 02:12:35 Time now for the takeaways. Time Shuck Top 5 Takeaways Number 1 Danny Rowling the Gainesville Ripper murdered eight people in Shreveport and Gainesville between November 1989 and August of 1990 While he murdered three men Tom and Sean Grissom and Manny Tabota his motives for those murders were primarily sexual For his murders in general, excuse me Not for those murders the men focusing on petite brunettes who had gotten his attention in public places while he drifted. Brunettes, some sources say looked like his ex-wife, others say looked like his mom or both his mom and his ex-wife. He would sexually assault and mutilate Julie Grissom, Christina Powell, Sonia Larson, Krista

Starting point is 02:13:15 Hoyt, and Tracy Paulus, in the most gruesome case disemboweling Krista Hoyt and cutting her head off before leaving it on a shelf as though to observe her own headless torso. 2. Danny Rowling had a childhood to rival many of the serial killers we've covered here before. Abused by his police officer father, treated like a piece of property rather than a child, and forced to watch his mom break down repeatedly until she tried to commit suicide, an act Danny would also attempt. Danny used peeping as a way to enter a fantasy world where he didn't have to deal with his own family, and where he enjoyed how sexually excited he became watching young women who couldn't see him. His fantasy world would ultimately take over his life.

Starting point is 02:13:51 Number three, for months following August of 1990, police in Gainesville believed they'd honed in on a suspect, a mentally ill 19-year-old named Edward Humphrey, who had a record of making threats, talking about violence, not liking women, even assaulting his own elderly grandmother. Despite Humphreys not being tied to the crime scenes by any concrete evidence, police continued their investigation to him, even after they discovered that Danny Rowling could have committed the murders, thinking that maybe the two worked together. Eventually, however, Edward Humphreys would be found innocent and as of the year 2000

Starting point is 02:14:19 at least, had gotten his life back on track. Number 4. On April 20, 1994, Rowling was sentenced to death after already receiving five life sentences, plus about another 100, 200 years. He was sentenced to death actually five times over. Wouldn't be killed five times, but he would be killed once on October of 2006. After Danny had a final meal of lobster tail and confessed,

Starting point is 02:14:40 and you know, wrote his apology about the Shreveport murders. Number five, new info. Did you know that Danny Rowling, the Gainesville Ripper, tale and confessed his apology about the Shreveport murders. Number five, new info. Did you know that Danny Rowling, the Gainesville Ripper was the inspiration for a major horror movie franchise? In December of 1996, Wes Craven's Scream made its silver screen debut and revitalized the slasher film genre through its equal use of suspense and comedy. At the time, the successful slasher films of the 70s and 80s had fallen out of favor, in part because of increasingly poorly received sequels to

Starting point is 02:15:07 long-running horror franchises. Scream follows high school student Sydney Prescott, played by Neve Campbell, as her high school friends become the target of a murderer known as Ghostface. On March 9th, 1994, an episode of ABC News, Turning Point, about Danny Rowling, inspired young screenwriter Kevin Williamson to write a screenplay titled Scary Movie, which would later become a change to Scream. Williamson then wrote Scream 2 in 1997, returned to the franchise to write Scream 4 in 2011. And after the first Scream movie launched his career into showbiz, Kevin also created

Starting point is 02:15:40 the hit TV series Dawson's Creek. How random was that? Had Danny Rowley not become a serial killer, there would have likely never been the hugely popular show Dawson's Creek which launched the career of Katie Holmes. Strange, strange butterfly effect. The Gainesville Ripper has been sucked. Thank you to the Bad Magic Productions all the help of making time suck starting with the queen of bad magic Lindsay Cummins Thanks to Logan Keith recording this episode filming it for the last time and designing merch for the store at bad magic productions.com Logan

Starting point is 02:16:16 You want to say anything for the last time and the producers Mike in studio? Yeah, man. It's uh, it's been a ride. I'm very fortunate for Yeah, man, it's been a ride. I'm very fortunate for the opportunity to continue to still do work on the episodes. Yeah. Do scared to death and short sex and all that. So yeah, I'm going to miss the process of sitting behind here and taking the notes as we go and, you know, watching the flubs and, you know, all the fun behind the scenes stuff. But yeah, man, you know how life is fickle and it can change at any moment. And yeah, I'm fortunate that we, the show will get to continue to go on and we're going

Starting point is 02:16:56 to continue to work together and the episodes are still going to come out and everything's going to be great. Yeah, man. It's been great having you. It's been a fun ride. I hope you have some good memories to take back to Indiana with you. Yeah, man, it's crazy how both at the same time, it feels like just yesterday we moved out here.

Starting point is 02:17:16 But also at the same time, it's been several years and it's a good chunk of life. And so, yeah, I'm happy to have this chapter as a written part of my book and to continue the work we do here. And even beyond that, I'm excited for, yeah, all the new things on the other side of this. Yeah, man.

Starting point is 02:17:40 Well, it's been great to have you. And yeah, and thanks for taking a chance coming out here. And yeah, it's gonna be fun to keep working with you. Yeah, thanks, man. Well, thanks for taking great to have you. And thanks for taking a chance coming out here. And yeah, it's going to be fun to keep working with you. Yeah, thanks, man. Well, thanks for taking a chance on me. I know I mentioned it on Scared to Death, but when I moved out here, I knew about my own sound stuff and whatnot, but I've never worked in podcasting.

Starting point is 02:17:59 I had never actually sat behind the board of a live recording or anything like that. So to trust me with not only doing that, actually sat behind the board of a live recording or anything like that so to trust me with not only doing that but very quickly doing all of it is yeah man lost on me you've been great at it you've been great at your talents a guy yeah and thank you to Sophie Evans as well for her kick-ass initial research again this week thanks to the all-seeing eyes moderating the cult of curious private Facebook page and the the Mod Squad over on Discord.

Starting point is 02:18:26 And now let's head on over to this week's Time Sucker Updates. Updates? Get your Time Sucker Updates! We've been talking a lot lately about dudes beaten off in public. So let's start there with our updates. Super Sucker and Dick Magnet, Sarah Wheeler, send in a ridiculous message that I love so much with the subject line of pervs and Florence still alive and well as of 2015. I know it probably sounds like I'm just exaggerating, but there's, there's so

Starting point is 02:18:59 many dudes beating off on Florence. It just blows my mind. Sarah writes, Hey Dan, long time listener, second time writer. After listening to the intro to the Monster in Florence episode I felt compelled to write in to share my own anecdote about pervs in Florence. I studied there in 2015 on an exchange program. One night while walking home from a bar with a friend we heard a bike coming up behind us. We were walking through a piazza so there was plenty of room for the biker just to ride by us. So you can

Starting point is 02:19:23 imagine our shock when a man pulled up as slowly as possible on a bike without tipping it over with one hand on the handlebars and one hand on his dick. Yes he was openly masturbating to two girls walking in the street while riding a bike. He proceeded to circle the piazza around us a few times on the bike jerking it all the while. I was horrified but also Impressed anyway, hope that gave you a laugh. Love the show three out of five stars Sarah PS The monster of Florence is an incredible book. The connection to Amanda Knox made Made at the end blew my mind. Yeah, holy shit, sir

Starting point is 02:19:58 Yes, such a good book such an amazing source and poor Amanda Knox to have to deal with that same insane fucking prosecutor But also what the fuck is going on over there like is it something in the water if Florence is the horniest city on earth the most sexually repressed both it is unreal also this jerking off at a bike even feel good that seems like a terrible place to jerk off I hope that dude wrecked his bike shortly after you saw me just landed on his boner maybe maybe he let maybe he fucking bent his boner at a 90 degree angle. And he has to jerk off to the side now.

Starting point is 02:20:29 Thanks for sharing that story. I did laugh. I hope you are no longer followed by any rolling beaters. Now for another message inspired by the Monster of Florence episode, sent in by a sexy and sex-positive anonymous spacer with a subject line of cucks and such. If you happen to read this on air, please do not use my name for reasons that will become apparent. You're right.

Starting point is 02:20:49 Longtime listener, since 2017, almost as a long time space lizard, hot wife, and ethical non-monogamist. Just listening to the latest suck on the monster of Florence and wanting to clarify something. I may have misunderstood what you were saying with regards to the husband who liked to watch his wife with other men, but I know you're a detail-oriented meat sack, yes, and wanted you to understand the different flavors of men in the E.N.M.E.N.M. ethical non-monogamous lifestyle. Cucks or cuckolds, cuck-holdresses or cuck-queens are the female flavor. Oh, I didn't know that. There are men who like to watch their wives slash partners with

Starting point is 02:21:20 other men, true, particularly hotter, more well-endowed men known as bulls. But there's an additional element required to be considered a cuck. Humiliation. God, it sounds a lot more fun to be a bull than a cuck. Many men like to watch their wives other men, but those who are called cucks like to watch as a quote real man takes care of their wives and often they sit in the corner and suffer insults, mockery, and in some extreme cases punishment such as CBT, Cockball Torture. Jesus Christ! In addition, these men do not like to join in. They get off on verbal and sometimes physical abuse. Is that healthy? Is that a healthy kink?

Starting point is 02:21:54 Compare that to a stag. A man who enjoys watching his partner have sex with another man often participates. The female equivalent is a vixen. A man who enjoys watching her being watched. In addition, hot wives are women who have sex with other men. Sometimes this will mean dating separately from her partner and telling him all the details later when she returns home and then has and then have the hottest sex of her life. I understand that a lot of the sexual behaviors you described are unusual to a vanilla person. Hey! But okay, that's what we call you traditional monogamous.

Starting point is 02:22:23 However, there's a whole subset of society that enjoys having sex with others. If you don't know, it's called the swinger's lifestyle or just the lifestyle. This would be very interesting suck topic and I'd love to share more info. Well, Captain Whiskerhorn will be fucking all over this episode. It's estimated that 2.5, 2 to 5% of the U.S. population is a part of it and it is not the seedy underbelly you might think. Doctors, teachers, lawyers, cops, couple next door. This amazing group of people is full of educated, sophisticated, highly evolved individuals who develop lifelong

Starting point is 02:22:51 friendships which may or may not include sex. We are empty nesters at age 50. We had trouble making friends as adults until we discovered this lifestyle. It has enhanced our lives, improved our communication, and electrified our sex lives. We have made so many friends that have so many amazing and sometimes surreal experiences. There are resorts even cruises that cater to this group. Oh man, sorry my mind immediately went when you talked about cruises I just pictured like the custodial staff just being like fuck. More come to clean up. Also a part of the group but sometimes a bit separate are the BDSM community and the polyamorous community.

Starting point is 02:23:26 As an aside, I embedding lots of spaces which are poly. Also we call sex play, and there are so many different styles, parallel, excuse me, soft swap, full swap. I got a whole dictionary of terms I can share with you. A few good resources, some books, The Ethical Slut, Sex at Dawn, some poly secure podcasts, We Got a Thing,

Starting point is 02:23:46 Swinger University, 4-Hour Play, and Room 77. Room 77 sounds interesting. I don't even know what the fuck is behind the door. Room 77! Anyway, thanks for reading. I'd love to chat further by this group of open-minded individuals and fill you in on what the lifestyle is really like. Thanks for all you do. Keep sucking. Wouldn't change a thing. 3 out of 5 stars. Hail everybody but especially Lusifena, who I'm sure is very familiar with lifestyle. I'm sure as well. Hail Lusifena. Anonymous. Well, Anonymous, I did know a little bit about some of this. It turned out the the cuck I was referring to was actually a gay man who had zero interest in having sex with his wife, as I'm sure you know now.

Starting point is 02:24:22 Just from that episode. But, you know know he married out of familial cultural pressure uh but I wanted to share this info because it did include a lot of stuff I was not familiar with I didn't know a lot of these terms like vixen and stuff there's just so many ways to make a relationship work isn't there it's all fascinating to me sounds like what you're doing is working for you and you're having a great time and then it's hot as fuck uh I don't think I'm emotionally wired correctly for most of this but also I'm very lucky to have a partner who is sexually adventurous. Right? We both like to play around with different types of sex, but we're also both too jealous to handle sharing one another. But we love hearing about stuff like this, right? Not for us, but you

Starting point is 02:24:58 know, don't care that it's for other people. We've even talked about someday going to like a like a sex club to watch. Not like Danny Rowling watching. We're just like what goes on there? Just curious about how it goes down, right? I'm sure the atmosphere is very sexy. Who knows? Yeah, good for you and your partner figuring out again what works for you both. Just make sure that those weans and ladyweans are clean. And now one more Monster of Florence related message. A gorilla sending the message with the subject line of the Monster of Florence versus Dad Watch. Dear Dan the man sucking tin Maserati Bugatti spaghetti Cummins. A long time listener, second time sender. I have to say that while the Italian police are a cluster of incompetence,

Starting point is 02:25:35 one person who has never brought into question about the murders of the victims would be your dad or maybe my dad. I can't be certain. Nobody knows where your dad was between 1968 and 1985. As a volunteer member of Dad Watch, I will look into this. I'm surprised be certain. Nobody knows where your dad was between 1968 and 1985. As a volunteer member of DadWatch, I will look into this. I'm surprised you didn't jump at the opportunity to use a DadWatch joke in that episode, since it's never been confirmed who the monster was. I know I thought about it. I should have.

Starting point is 02:25:54 With a performance on the Italian police force, he could have gotten away with it after he left Italy. I also want to warn you about your abuse of the Super Mario theme song. Nintendo's lawyers are always looking for an excuse to sue, to protect the brand. No snitch, but I'll leave that up to fate. Sincerely, a gorilla working for Dad and Watch. Dear Gorilla, I am ashamed. Yeah, I should have went with that dad joke in the episode. Especially because, you know, he probably did commit those murders. I mean, he would have been a kid for the first one, but you know, kids murder. And you know, was he just a kid in the first one, but you know kids murder and you know Was he just a kid in the 60s? I don't even know that for certain I've never seen the birth certificate who knows when he was actually born, you know where the fuck he was

Starting point is 02:26:31 Yeah, thank you for looking into this if you do determine that my dad is guilty. Let me know I'll kill it myself Justice can will be served Now one more a message. It really helped me out this week Yes, send him by another anonymous sucker. Beautiful sucker with the subject line of a huge thank you. Hello, Suck Master, Suck Nasty. I've been listening to your podcast since 2018. Have been a huge fan of All You Do.

Starting point is 02:26:54 This is the first time I've ever written in and I wouldn't have written in if it wasn't kind of serious. I have no clue if you'll ever see this or ever read this on the podcast. I hope you do as it may be able to help people go on through the same thing and maybe give them hope. Alrighty enough fucking around. I wanted to thank you as this podcast and your humor literally saved my life. I listen to your podcast whenever I can but recently have been listening to maybe three four episodes a day. I was recently broken up with and

Starting point is 02:27:17 this breakup absolutely crushed every fiber of my being. I dated this gal for a year and when I first met her it was love at first sight for me. I've had a rough life. I know I know maybe that's not as uh rough as some people but I've gone through things no one should ever have to go through at my age. I'm a young meat sack 21 years old. I met my now ex-girlfriend when I was 20. She came into my life and I was contemplating ending it as I went through some seriously traumatic shit. She brought life and color back into my life and we were inseparable. We spent almost every day together making memories, loving each other. I wanted to marry her. I saw a future with her. I just knew this was my person. She brought me calm and

Starting point is 02:27:50 understanding and so much more. We lived together for a few weeks, took day trips, other trips together, slept skin to skin, hail lusifena, and spent every moment we could together. We had some fights. Those ended up in the put us in some bad situations. I wanted to make it clear I never physically abused her, nor did I ever cheat on her. I was head over heels for her, and she was my first real relationship, my first love. She broke up with me, said some hurtful things, then blocked me a week and a half ago.

Starting point is 02:28:14 When she broke up with me, it was like my life ended. I have some mental health issues, I'm in therapy, but sometimes the mind does things no therapist can help with. Anyways, I was looking up how many Advil bottles, or Tylenol bottles I would need to overdose, as I did not wanna be in this planet anymore. I didn't want to have to deal with any more hurt. I just thought I wasn't mentally able to carry on. I couldn't stop crying. My body broke down. I was in the depths of hell. Anyways, I amassed Advil bottles over a few days enough

Starting point is 02:28:36 to overdose, be successful, and as I was about to head home, I looked through my camera roll, trying to find something to help me to go on as I was sure I wasn't going to make it to the next 24 hours. I saw a screenshot of your podcast, I smiled at myself, it was of the Granny Ripper Suck. And I introduced this podcast to my ex and we listened to it together. I thought to myself, why not listen to one more suck? So I turned on the Michael Jackson and Molly episode and I heard a better help ad. Better help is what I use, but I was certain even my therapist couldn't help me. As I listened I drove around hearing your laugh, crack jokes, brought the first smile and genuine laugh to my face for a

Starting point is 02:29:09 while. I started to listen to more episodes, started to realize that the love you have for the queen of the suck came on later in life. I started to think yo this shit could happen to me later on maybe I do have a future. I decided to talk to my mother about how I was feeling. I started to really get the help I needed. Basically I wanted to give you a huge massive thank you to you and your podcast for giving me some form of hope some form of belief that I was gonna be okay. You brought some joy into my life at the moment when I needed it the most to have not stopped listening to your podcast as it's helped me through my

Starting point is 02:29:35 rough days. Anyways wanted to thank you again because as much as I think I was the one who kept myself alive that day you kept me going. I kept listening to your podcast truly made me happy I didn't think I'd find happiness again and believe me I tried. Again thank you. I kept listening to your podcast, truly made me happy. I didn't think I'd find happiness again and believe me I tried. Again thank you. I know this is long, probably boring, but I just want people to know that if you are worried you'll never be happy again or another meat sack has ripped your heart out, just know it'll get better. It is still a struggle every day. All of this is still very fresh, but having your podcast helps so much. When I listen I'm able to transport myself out of my life and into the suck verse

Starting point is 02:30:05 Again, thanks for what you do as always hail, Lusifena glory be to triple M Hail Nimrod praise be to good boy Bojangles and PS if you do read this insanely long email Could you give a shout out to my brother Max? He's the best brother anyone could ever ask for He always has my back and if you do read this again, please keep my name private Thanks again suck master. Keep on sucking. Well young sack Thank you for taking the time to send this in. Yeah breakups can be brutal, right? I've been through many And you're right. I didn't meet Lindsay I didn't meet Lindsay until I was 35 years old and well

Starting point is 02:30:37 I dated some people before that I really cared for you know deeply before no one compares to her, right? Just think about that. You might not meet the love of your life for 14 more years. You're so young. You might also meet them tomorrow. But also you don't need them. I love Lindsay to death, but right before I met her I was also happy. You can be happy, real happy by yourself. And you should be. You should work on that. Life is such a gift. And if you're lucky enough to live long enough, it has so many seasons to it. And so many have their own unique kinds of beauty. I have to remind myself all the time to stop looking ahead towards the next season and just enjoy this one. Be present. Be here.

Starting point is 02:31:12 Right? So enjoy this one. Enjoy the heartache as weird as that sounds. Right? Enjoy feeling so much emotion, so much hurt. You know, in that pain, don't you also feel so fucking alive? So present. Enjoy this summer. Find moments to get outside in the sun, reflect on what a beautiful world this can be, how many magical moments it can provide, from finding new love to the feel of a cold glass of water, drinking a hot summer's day, to just something as simple as a little ladybug landing on your thumb before flying away into a big blue sky, landing on some green leaves of some living thing around you, where surrounded by so much life so much wonder Take a deep breath enjoy the very simple pleasure of that air just fill in your lungs

Starting point is 02:31:51 Also, maybe go to Wendy's grab a frosty. These are fucking magical in the summer. They're so cheap and delicious But just keep going just keep getting up keep looking for little pleasures I understand that everybody has bad days and, I struggle with this shit as well. You know, my mind's all over the place. In the course of a day, I'll have like feelings like this. And like two hours later, I'm like, you know what? I fucking suck. All the good times are over.

Starting point is 02:32:13 I'm a fucking piece of shit. Just out of nowhere. I don't even know why I have these thoughts floating in my head. And then I have to like refocus. So like, as I'm telling you these things, I also have to constantly tell myself these things. Know that like, you know,

Starting point is 02:32:22 there's a lot of people struggling. And it's just up and down. And you just try to like fucking grind out the down until you're back to the up. When you see your brother, give him a hug. Give Max a fucking big hug. And you know what? And pinch his bottom. Pinch his bottom when you hug him. Enjoy the look of shock on his face and then have some good laughs.

Starting point is 02:32:39 Take care of yourselves, everybody. Feeling a lot of love for everybody right now. Thanks Time Suckers. I needed that. We all did. And by everybody I don't mean people like Danny Rowling. Maybe a little bit for who he used to be. But after what he did, mmm. Thanks for listening to another Bad Magic Productions podcast. Scared to Deaths and Time Suck each week. Short Sucks, Nightmare Fuel, and a Time Suck and Scared to Death podcast feed some weeks. each week. Short Sucks, Nightmare Fuel, and a Time Suck and Scared to Death podcast feeds some weeks. Please don't peep in anybody's windows this week and then kill them later. Just focus on your country music.

Starting point is 02:33:13 More songs. Less murder. Less peeping. More keeping on sucking. TARGET SUCCESS! Mad Magic Productions Now take us home, bunny! You sexy serial-killing dating hot piece of ass you! Tune up all your instruments, we'll make the rafters ring I'm loving what I'm doing and I'm proud to be a hawk

Starting point is 02:33:56 New country music causes girls really hungry from the hawk Well, I remember country the way they played it yesterday We gathered on the old front porch and sang many a night away. So weird to think about her getting a serocalline. Whether it was bluegrass or alcohol action melodies. That one! There were banjos and obros and fiddle playing in sweet harmony. Bros and Fiddles playing in sweet harmony. Yee-hoo! There's many kinds of music that help to make the world go round. But honestly, it seems to me there's nothing like the country sound.

Timesuck with Dan Cummins - 413 - The Gainesville Ripper

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