D (15:08)

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C (15:23)

Then the Gainesville police got a tip that just raised the stakes even more. See, a few days after the murders, some officers from Shreveport, Louisiana reached out to the Gainesville pd. They thought the Ripper may have been connected to even more unsolved murder cases from their town. So now let's go back to November of 1989. About 10 months before that spree in Florida. On the 4th, someone broke into a home that was shared by three people. 55 year old Tim Grissom, his 24 year old daughter Julie and his 8 year old son Sean. The home intruder killed all three of them and mutilated and posed the bodies afterward. And the specific way that he disfigured the remains now looked familiar. It was very similar to the murders in Florida. The officers thought this can't be a coincidence. Maybe these crimes had all been committed by the same person. So from there, the different departments compiled the genetic evidence they had. Like I said before The Gainesville police had partial DNA. There was just enough of it to compare with the samples the Shreveport officers had gathered from the triple murder scene. And I'm not going to lie, it took a while. By January of 1991, the investigators confirmed the that the murders had all been committed by the same person. And not only that, the officers were finally actually able to determine the killer's identity, because, get this, he already had a criminal record and had been arrested before he was in the Shreveport database. And more importantly, while the officers were learning all of this information, they got another useful tip. It was from a woman who had lived in Shreveport at the time of Tom, Julie and Sean's murders. The first ones she knew of, a neighbor who had always seemed just a bit aggressive and violent. And he had left town right before the killing spree in Gainesville. The man she named was the exact same person whose DNA matched the Gainesville crime scenes. And most important of all, the investigators didn't have to track him down or figure out where he had fled to after the Gainesville murders, because they already knew where he was. He was sitting in jail in Marion County, Florida, which was about 440 miles away from Gainesville, and he was facing charges that had nothing to do with the killing spree. His name was Danny Harold Rowling. Now, Danny was born back in 1954 in Shreveport, and unfortunately, he grew up in a very abusive environment. His father was physically violent against Danny, his mother, and his younger brother. And on top of that, one night when he was young, Danny witnessed a horrific crime. He was having dinner with his parents and his grandparents, and that's when his grandfather and grandmother started fighting. And the grandfather actually became so angry that he picked a knife up, and then with his free hand, he grabbed his wife by the hair and began sawing at her neck with the knife. And he actually didn't stop until he cut off her head. And he did this right in front of Danny, who witnessed this entire gruesome scene. Needless to say, this was all very disturbing for a young boy. And by the time he was in middle school, he was acting out and getting into lots of trouble. This was also when he began to be sexually aggressive against the girls and women that he knew. When Danny was just 14 years old, he got caught spying on a neighbor girl. She was changing in her bedroom, then turned to see Danny looking through her window. Of course, she told her parents, who talked to Danny's father. And then his father beat him up, which is what he always did when he was angry at Danny. So as soon as Danny turned 18, he tried to enlist with the military. His first choice was the Navy, but his application was rejected. So instead, he joined the Air Force. But Danny only lasted a short while before he quit. And that's when his life of crime actually began. Danny was in and out of jail throughout the 1970s and 80s. He stole and did drugs. During this time, Danny also got married. He was physically abusive against that wife, so this meant he also frequently got arrested for domestic violence on top of everything else. Eventually, she leaves him. And Danny was so angry that he decided to punish the next woman he saw who reminded him of his ex wife. He tracked down a stranger who resembled his former wife and raped her. Now, Danny's criminal record was getting longer by the day. And you may be wondering, how is this guy even out? Well, the answer is that most of the time, he wasn't let go on purpose. Danny became an expert at breaking out of jail. So it almost didn't matter what crimes he was convicted of or how long his sentence was. He always found a way to get free again. And in the midst of all of this, he killed someone for the first time. But it wasn't a murder. Danny was in a car accident, and a woman died in the car crash. It wasn't intentional, but it took a toll on Danny's mental health. He spiraled, and ironically, he dealt with the shame of taking another person's life by becoming even more violent. It all culminated on November 4, 1989, when Danny crossed the line and became an actual murderer. That's when he killed Tom, Julie, and Sean in Shreveport, his hometown, his home neighborhood. The police still weren't sure why he chose to target these three people or what his motives were, but the pieces were starting to come together. By now, the investigators understood that Danny was driven by anger. When things did not go the way he wanted them to, he would lash out and hurt other people. For example, In May of 1990, Danny got fired from his job. Now, he always had a hard time staying employed. He was regularly getting let go. But for some reason, this time around, Danny took the termination personally. That same night, he went back home. He had a gun with him. And the moment Danny saw his father, who lived with him at this point, he fired twice. He didn't pause to see if his dad was okay or bother to call an ambulance. He just turned and walked away, leaving his father to die. Now, the father had been shot, once in the torso and once in the face. He eventually lost an eye and an ear, but he actually survived the shooting. But Danny didn't even stick around to learn all of this. He'd already decided he couldn't stay at home and wait for the police to arrest him. He had to skip town. So Danny began using a fake name, and he moved to Gainesville, Florida. Except he didn't have any money. He couldn't afford to rent an apartment. So instead, he actually camped out in a tent. It was pitched in a wooded area very close to the University of Florida campus. And interestingly, there was a street not too far from the woods that was full of apartment complexes. Many of them had fences to stop wild animals from coming out of the forest and onto the apartment property. But Danny realized it was pretty easy to jump the fence and slip through holes. And that's when he got into a habit. He would sit outside of apartment buildings and watch the residents through their windows. And in particular, he made note of which units had young women living in them. He'd watch them come and go, living their lives. He'd fantasize about hurting them. And then finally, on August 24th, he escalated. That is when he broke into Christina and Sonia's home to assault and murder them. The next night, he did the same thing in Krista's apartment. He had been surveilling her for days prior to the attack. Perhaps that's why he was so elaborate when he posed her body after the murder. And then finally, he struck against Manny and Tracy. But by then, Danny was seriously broke, and he needed to get food and more supplies for his crimes, which meant he needed to get his hands on some money. So on August 27, the same day he killed Tracy and Manny. Instead of continuing his murder spree, Danny actually robbed a bank in Gainesville. And he got away with a big wad of cash, which he stashed in his tent in the woods. Now, later that evening, police were actually patrolling the area. They were on edge after all of the murders. So when an officer saw Danny creeping through the trees, he immediately ordered Danny to stop. Well, Danny does not surrender. He breaks into a run. The officer chased him all the way back to the tent. That's when they find the stolen money. But in the moment when the police officer had no idea that Danny was even connected to the murders, he thought that he just found the bank robber from that day. Now, either way, the police arrested him and charged him with burglary, which was why he found himself sitting in a jail cell four months later in January of 1991. And then the police got the DNA evidence and the tips about Danny and they realized he's sitting in jail for the bank robbery and they pull him into questioning and before long Danny admits what he had done. He says, yeah, I'm the Gainesville Ripper, you guys. Fall always feels like a reset between back to school, busier routines and shorter days. Finding time to cook can be tough. That's why I love Factor. Their chef prepped dietitian approved meals make it easy to stay on track and enjoy something comforting and delicious no matter how hectic the season gets. Choose from a wider selection of weekly meal options including premium seafood choices like salmon and shrimp at no extra cost. And enjoy even more GLP1 friendly meals and new Mediterranean diet options packed with protein and good for you fats. 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E (26:01)

Watch frightful family favorites like Hocus Pocus and Tim Burton's the Nightmare Before Christmas on Disney.

C (26:07)

I Am the Pumpkin King.

E (26:09)

Then take the terror to 10 with a thrilling new remake of the Hand that Rocks the Cradle. Scream and more with Huluween on Disney. All these and more screaming this Halloween season with Hulu on Disney. Bundle subscription required 18 + select Hulu content via Disney Additional content on Hulu App terms apply. Visit disneyplus.com hulu for details.

C (26:28)

Now, of course, the police charged Danny with all of the murders and he hired a lawyer that began preparing his defense. He tried to argue that he wasn't mentally competent to stand trial. Danny claimed he had developmental disabilities that prevented him from understanding what he was doing. Except mental health professionals examined him and they did not buy the argument. They agreed that Danny did have some disabilities, but he still knew right from wrong. Now, Danny's trial was scheduled for February of 1994 and he was facing five counts of murder. Ultimately, rather than fight these charges, Danny actually pled guilty. To be clear, he didn't accept a deal or bargain for a lighter sentence. After Danny admitted to his guilt, he was sentenced to death and this probably won't come as a surprise, but the whole trial and sentencing phase, him pleading guilty, was a huge news story. Of course it was. Danny had traumatized the entire community of Gainesville with his brutal, grotesque crimes. So now people all throughout the United States wanted to make sure that he would face justice. They tuned in whenever the nightly news did a story about the case. They bought papers, they gossiped about it. And this included an aspiring writer named Kevin Williamson. Now, as soon as he heard about Danny's killing spree, he realized would make a pretty good scary movie. So he wrote a screenplay for the film that we now know as Scream. Except it wasn't a particularly accurate adaption of the story. It was very much a work of fiction. For example, in the film, the killer targets high school students, not college students. I don't want to spoil the ending, but let's just say the film's murderer was very different from Danny. Now, either way, as you know, Scream was a huge Halloween hit. It brought slashers back into the mainstream after they had been unpopular in Hollywood for years. And the release injected a lot of new excitement and energy into the horror genre. But even while people were flocking to the theaters to watch this movie, very few of them even realized that Scream was based on on the true story of the Gainesville Ripper. And in the meanwhile, Danny remained on death row. He filed a number of appeals, all of which got rejected. On top of that, he began telling guards and reporters that he wasn't actually responsible for the murders. He just pled guilty. To be clear, Danny still admitted that he committed all of them. But now he's saying it wasn't his fault. According to Danny, during his killing spree, he believes now that he had been possessed by a demon. This evil spirit had taken control of his body, and it had forced him to do these horrible, violent things. At other times, he would tell a different variation of the story. Danny would go on to say he had multiple personalities, one of which was a serial killer. So then his excuse wasn't that he was literally possessed, but that he had a psychological condition that was similar to a possession. Either way, he supposedly wasn't in control during the murders. He didn't want to pay the price for them. And, of course, lots of people chose not to believe his story. After all, he couldn't even keep his excuses straight. Still, Danny seemed dead set on controlling the narrative around the murders he'd committed. At one point, he announced he was going to write a book on what he had done. And it was also going to include illustrations which Danny intended to draw himself. Now, obviously, as soon as his victims families heard about this, they were horrified. So they sprang into action. They couldn't stop Danny from publishing his piece, but they wanted to make sure he didn't make any money on it. So they filed a suit that guaranteed all of the proceeds from the sells went somewhere else. Danny never saw a dime in profit. Still, his book did eventually hit the bookstores. In it, he continued to maintain that he had multiple personalities. Danny actually said he was just as horrified by the murders he'd committed as everyone else. Still, this wasn't enough to get his verdict overturned, and Danny was executed on October 25, 2006. That's when he had the chance to say his last words. Danny chose to sing his statement. It was one final way to show that he wasn't even remorseful. And he had disdain for all the people he had hurt. 47 witnesses watched as he gave this singing performance. Then he was strapped into a chair and given a lethal injection. He passed away at the age of 52. But even though Danny was gone, life would never be the same. And his story had ultimately changed American pop culture. And more importantly, he had traumatized the community of Gainesville. To this day, there are memorials and signs all across the campus. They honor the dead and encourage passersby to never forget what happened to them. Some groups have also campaigned to change the way we talk about the murder spree. They want people to call it the Gainesville student murders because that puts the focus where it should be, on the victims, the students, not on Danny. But no matter what people say or how they talk about the situation, it is impossible to deny that Danny left his mark. Perhaps he did so physically, too. There is rumors of hauntings at the places where he committed the murders. People also have said there's evil energies in the woods where he stayed during the murder spree. However, the spookiest stories are about Danny's childhood home. According to current residents, they have experienced a lot of paranormal activity there for years. They say that sometimes they hear bumps and other noises in rooms that are supposed to be empty. Other times, objects seem to move on their own. Framed pictures fall off the wall, Even if nobody has touched them. According to them, this all began right after Danny's execution, which makes it sound like they are saying his restless spirit returned home after his death. And this isn't just a little rumor that they say in 2021, an actual team of paranormal investigators decided to explore it. They used all of their ghost hunting equipment and visited all of the murder scenes and Danny's home. The team also filmed everything and eventually their footage aired on the Travel Channel. Now, during their investigation, they used a machine that's supposed to detect changes in energy. It beeps very loudly whenever a possible ghost may be nearby. At one point, the investigators lit a campfire in the woods near the area where Danny once lived. And they asked questions aloud about the murders and about whether Danny really was possessed. And each time they brought up the crimes, the equipment beeped. It made the team believe that Danny really was there and he had come specifically to answer their questions because he was proud of what he had done and wanted to keep discussing it, even in death. And then the team apparently made contact with something in Danny's home. It claimed it was the Gainesville Ripper. But get this, the entity also said it wasn't Dany's spirit. Instead, the creature seemed to corroborate what Dany said, that an evil demon had possessed him and forced him to commit the murders. The paranormal team conducted an exorcism to try and cast out the evil spirit. But by the end of the television special, they felt like the house had been cleansed. They didn't sense any evil presence. Their equipment wasn't going off anymore. So to all appearances, they may have sent Dany's spirit to the next life or gotten rid of this demon. Or at least that's what they've said on camera. Ultimately, it is impossible to say exactly what's true and what isn't. If Dany was possessed or not. Maybe he was an ordinary human being who just did something terrible. So terrible in fact, that his soul was never able to find peace. Or perhaps there is nothing supernatural here and the paranormal investigators are exaggerating for views. Ultimately, you gotta decide what you choose to believe. But I will say, at this time of year, when Halloween is just around the corner, it's easier than ever to accept that pure evil may just really exist. Alright, you guys, I hope that was a good episode for you learning about the story that inspired screaming. All of our episodes this month are going to be spooky Halloween based. So I'll see you next time with another one. Goodbye.

F (35:31)

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