The Killer Behind the Mask (Your Scream 7 Cheat Sheet!)

Summary

Twisted Tales with Heidi Wong

Episode: The Killer Behind the Mask (Your Scream 7 Cheat Sheet!)

Original Air Date: February 23, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this chilling episode, Heidi Wong dissects the true story behind horror’s iconic Ghostface killer from the Scream franchise. She reveals that the terrifying character and some of the film’s most unsettling scenes were inspired by real-life serial killer Danny Rolling, known as the Gainesville Ripper. As Wong traces Rolling’s tragic upbringing, his descent into violence, and how his story inspired horror’s ultimate meta-slasher, she offers both a reality check and a deep-dive for listeners excited (or apprehensive) about the release of Scream 7.

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Major Discussion Points and Insights

1. Scream and the Real-Life Ghostface

• Recap of Scream’s Opening:

  • Heidi describes the iconic first scene: “A teenage girl home by herself... picks up the phone... has no idea she’s being watched and that a killer is lurking just outside.” (01:04)
  • The menace grows until the shocking murder of Drew Barrymore’s character, Casey Becker, subverting expectations that a big star would survive.
  • Quote: “It’s the movie’s way of saying nobody is safe.” (04:50)

• Ghostface and His Legacy:

  • The film’s commentary on the media turning serial killers into celebrities.
  • “Since the original Scream... there have been five different sequels. A lot of characters have worn the Ghostface mask, but they all share some things in common: a signature hunting knife, a love of theatrics, and a never ending thirst for violence.” (05:37)

2. The Making of a Killer: Danny Rolling’s Origins

• Childhood Abuse and Trauma:

  • Rolling born in 1954, Louisiana, into a violently abusive home; father James is a police officer but tortures his family.
  • “His father, James, was extremely abusive, beating Danny from the time that he was just six months old. The older Danny got, the worse the abuse became.” (05:58)

• Attempts at Normalcy and Downward Spiral:

  • Tried to escape through religion and marriage.
  • Erratic behavior including peeping, drinking, and claims of demonic visions—Danny blamed for escalating strangeness in the household.
  • “He was blacked out… a shadowy entity that crawled through his window and perched in the upper corner of his room, sitting there, watching him.” (08:49)

• Turning to Crime:

  • Failed jobs, suicide of marriage, an injured finger in a bakery mishap.
  • Repeated armed robberies and time in prison, where his “inner demon” acquires the name Gemini.
  • “The demon that had lived with him… finally got a name. He called it Gemini. It was sinister evil. And when Danny got out, Gemini was in charge.” (12:29)

3. The Crimes: Serial Murders Spanning States

• Shreveport Murders (1989):

  • First major crime: murder of Julie Grissom, her father Tom, and 8-year-old nephew Sean.
  • “Danny spent hours cleaning all the bodies with vinegar… then posed Julie in a sexually provocative position on the bed for maximum shock value.” (14:49)

• Attempted Patricide:

  • Shoots and severely wounds his own father in 1990 after an argument, then goes on the run.
  • “Adding insult to injury, Danny stood over his father and kicked his limp body before running out of the house.” (16:22)

• The Gainesville Ripper Killings (August 1990):

  • Victims include Sonia Larson, Christina Powell, Christa Hoyt, Manny Tabota, and Tracey Paulus, all young students in Gainesville.
  • Murders characterized by horrific violence, sexual assault, and post-mortem posing of victims.
  • “Danny used his knife to decapitate Krista and then put her head on a bookshelf. He placed it across from a mirror so it would be the first thing anyone saw when they walked in.” (20:34)
  • Law enforcement and the entire Gainesville community thrown into fear and panic.

4. Investigation, Arrest, and Capture

• Narrow Escapes, False Leads, and a Lucky Break

  • Danny attempts a bank robbery; dye pack explodes on cash. Cops connect him to robbery but not yet the murders.
  • “There hadn’t been many serial killers who were also bank robbers, so the authorities didn’t think the crimes were connected.” (24:25)
  • Multiple suspects are arrested for both crimes until forensic details (missing finger, handprints, DNA) make the connection.

• How He’s Caught:

  • A tip from a woman in Shreveport (Cindy), whose husband once knew Danny, proves pivotal.
  • “He made some disturbing comments to her husband, specifically that he liked cutting people with knives.” (27:28)

• Final Arrest and Confession:

  • Danny is apprehended after another bungled robbery; task force procures his DNA under the guise of clearing him of unrelated robberies.
  • DNA match confirmed; full confessions follow.
  • “When investigators finally confronted him about it, Danny admitted to everything.” (29:16)

5. The Cultural Aftermath: Horror Imitates Life

• Direct Inspiration for ‘Scream’

  • ABC News special on Rolling inspires Kevin Williamson, who writes the Scream script.
  • “Supposedly, the first draft was so violent, Williamson had to tone down some of the details.” (30:12)

• Execution and Legacy:

  • Rolling executed in 2006, confessed to additional murders before his death.
  • “And even though Danny may have inspired Ghostface, Scream’s legacy has outgrown him. So many others have contributed to these movies, and it’s better to celebrate the community that they’ve created rather than let one man’s dark legacy stain them forever.” (31:10)

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Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• “It’s the movie’s way of saying nobody is safe.” — Heidi Wong on Scream’s opening scene (04:50)
• “The demon that had lived with him… finally got a name. He called it Gemini. It was sinister evil.” — Heidi Wong (12:29)
• “[Danny] used his knife to decapitate Krista and then put her head on a bookshelf. He placed it across from a mirror so it would be the first thing anyone saw when they walked in.” (20:34)
• “Adding insult to injury, Danny stood over his father and kicked his limp body before running out of the house.” (16:22)
• “He made some disturbing comments to her husband, specifically that he liked cutting people with knives.” — Cindy’s tip to task force (27:28)
• “Supposedly, the first draft was so violent, Williamson had to tone down some of the details.” — Heidi Wong on the Scream script (30:12)
• “There’s no reason to fear the dark unless you try to hide from it.” — Heidi Wong, closing the episode (32:40)

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Key Timestamps

• 01:04 — Introduction and connection of Scream to real crime
• 04:50 — Scream’s legendary opening recap
• 05:58 — Early life and trauma of Danny Rolling
• 12:29 — Emergence of “Gemini,” Rolling’s self-described demon
• 14:49 — First triple homicide (Grissom family)
• 16:22 — Attempt at patricide and aftermath
• 18:53 — Begin Gainesville Ripper spree
• 20:34 — Gruesome details of Krista Hoyt’s murder
• 24:25 — Bank robbery and investigation missteps
• 27:28 — Critical tip line call
• 29:16 — Confession and convictions
• 30:12 — Scream’s direct inspiration and Williamson’s script
• 31:10 — Reflection on legacy and closing thoughts

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Tone and Style

Heidi Wong’s narration mixes poetic detail with unflinching true crime storytelling. She balances dark, gory facts with reflections about humanity, trauma, and the way real evil inspires (and is reshaped by) pop culture.

The episode is candid (“There was nothing funny about Danny Rowling’s crimes”), but avoids glorification; instead, it emphasizes the importance of confronting these histories while finding community and meaning beyond the horror.

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For Further Listening

Heidi encourages listeners to share their own twisted tales, submit feedback, and tune in every Monday for more dark true stories behind horror lore. Scream 7 arrives in theaters February 27th, and this episode offers an essential primer for fans (or the merely morbidly curious).

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Final Thought:
“There’s no reason to fear the dark unless you try to hide from it.” (32:40)

Transcript

[Heidi Wong]

Hey, it's Heidi. Looking for your next true crime podcast to listen to? There's a new Crime House show for you to check out. It's called the Final Hours, hosted by Sarah Turney and Courtney Nicole. Sarah is an advocate for missing and murdered victims whose sister disappeared in 2001, and Courtney is a true crime storyteller who has seen firsthand how crime can change a family forever. Together, they bring lived experiences to every case, examining the moments just before a person disappears, the routines, the timelines, the small details that often get over overlooked because every disappearance has a moment where everything still feels normal until it doesn't. Listen to and follow the Final Hours on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes drop every Monday.

[Crime House Announcer]

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[Heidi Wong]

A teenage girl home by herself who picks up the phone. While she talks, she has no idea she's being watched and that a killer is lurking just outside. If this sounds familiar, it should. I just described the opening scene from the original Scream, but did you know that Ghostface was taken from real life headlines and the actual killer's crimes were so violent they had to be toned down for the movie? Welcome to Twisted the Crime House Original. I'm Heidi Wong. Every week I'll take you deep into the true stories behind horror's biggest legends. From vengeful ghosts to bloody slashers to alien encounters and more, these real life accounts are guaranteed to keep you up at night, but scary stories aren't any fun if you're telling them alone. If you've ever had a haunted moment or a twisted tale of your own, I want to hear about it. Drop it in the comments. The creepier the better. Crime House is made possible by you. Follow Twisted Tales and subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts for ad free early access. This episode contains descriptions of violence, murder and sexual assault, so please listen with care. With Scream 7 around the corner today, I'm getting into the real story behind the iconic Ghostface Killer. Although the franchise has taken on a life of its own, the original Ghostface was inspired by a real life serial killer named Danny Rolling, otherwise known as the Gainesville Ripper.

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[Heidi Wong]

Before I get into Danny Rowling's story, let me give you a quick recap of the first Scream movie. It starts off with a high schooler in the fictional town of Woodsboro, California named Casey Becker. She's home all by herself when she gets a weird phone call. The guy on the other line is kind of flirting with her, asking Casey what her favorite scary movie is. She plays along at first, but then it starts to get weird. The caller starts taunting her, saying he's watching her from outside and that Casey won't have enough time to call the police before he kills her now, most people watching this probably thought there was no way Casey would actually get hurt. She was played by Drew Barrymore, who was a big star when Scream came out in 1996. And that's where Scream starts to subvert expectations. Because the killer wearing the Ghostface mask does break in. And when Casey's parents come home later that night, they find their daughter's mangled body hanging from a tree. It's the movie's way of saying nobody is safe. And Scream lives up to that while making fun of all kinds of horror tropes. While Ghostface wreaks havoc throughout Woodsboro, when the media catches on to what's happening, journalists descend onto the town, turning Ghostface into a twisted kind of celebrity, ensuring that even after the killers. Spoiler alert. He's actually two different people are dead. Ghostface's legacy lives on. Since the original Scream came out in 1996, there have been five different sequels, with the next one coming out February 27th. Since then, a lot of different characters have worn the Ghostface mask, but they all share some things in common. A signature hunting knife, a love of theatrics, and a never ending thirst for violence. These elements and more are all inspired by the real life Ghostface Danny Rowling, who terrified the Florida college town of Gainesville in the late summer of 1990. And although scream was just as much a satire as it was a horror movie, there was nothing funny about Danny Rowling's crimes. Born on May 26, 1954 in Shreveport, Louisiana, Danny Rowling had the kind of tragic backstory you'd expect from a horror villain. His father, James, was extremely abusive, beating Danny from the time that he was just six months old. And the older Danny got, the worse the abuse became. Along with physical beatings, James would tie Danny and his little brother Kevin up for hours at a time. And when he wasn't hurting them, he was herding the animals around the neighborhood and making the boys watch. Danny fantasized about getting away, hoping that his mom, Claudia, would leave James for good. And she did try a few times. But James always promised he'd change. And of course, it wouldn't be long before he was right back to abusing them. One night when he was 14, Danny got drunk and was caught spying on a neighbor while she undressed. James punished him with a savage beating. After that, Danny tried to get back on the right path by applying for a part time job at the local Dairy Queen. James told him he could only work there if he kept his grades up, but Danny couldn't hold up his end of the bargain. Within a week of starting his new job, Danny got his report card. His grades were so bad, James made him quit immediately. Danny was furious and he decided to finally fight back. But it didn't go well for him. James pinned Danny against a shed in the backyard and hit him until he was covered in blood. Danny was broken physically and mentally. He started drinking even more, trying to numb the pain he felt inside. One night when Danny was still a teenager, James caught him with a bottle of whiskey. And this time he didn't just abuse Danny. James, who was a police officer, took him to jail. Danny stayed there for two weeks before James came to get him. But if his dad thought that this would teach him a lesson, he was wrong. Danny's resentment only grew stronger. He wasn't going to risk trying to fight James again though. Danny decided to stay quiet, biding his time until he was 17, when he dropped out of high school and enlisted in the Air Force. Before he left, James gave Danny some heartwarming advice. Don't screw up. He did. Joining the military didn't help Danny overcome his demons. He was consumed by feelings of emptiness and to fill the void, he turned to drugs. Along with his rampant drinking, Danny started abusing lsd. Not the sort of thing that you can hide from your commanding officer. After just two years, Danny was discharged and sent home. Try as he might, Danny just couldn't get his life together. He knew he had to change, but he couldn't. So he kept drinking. Then one day when Danny was 19, he was getting drunk on a park bench when some people passed by him on their way to church. They took pity on Danny and encouraged him to come with him. In that moment something shifted in Danny. This felt like a sign that he didn't know that he was looking for. He went to a service and everything changed. Danny dove headfirst into religion. He stopped abusing alcohol and drugs, joined the choir and picked up elderly members in the church van. For the first time ever, he was surrounded by people who cared about him. One of those people was 19 year old Omayther Halko. She thought Danny was a sweet, caring guy. They started dating and less than a year later in 1974, Omather got pregnant. The two of them got married shortly after and Danny seemed ready to be the father that James never was. He got a good job with the water department and seemed to be a loving parent to their daughter Kylie. It didn't last. The pressure started to get to him and Danny started drinking again. He started Acting weird, wandering into the street late at night. Omather had no idea what he was doing. And one night in the summer of 1975, she found out when two police officers showed up at their house, Danny in tow. He'd been caught peeping in a woman's window. Omather felt so betrayed, she wanted to leave Danny. But she decided to stay and try to work on it with him because of their daughter. Unfortunately, Danny was too far gone. He got even more erratic as his drinking got worse. Once, he said, he saw a ufo. And that's not all. Another night while Danny was in bed. He thought he was visited by a literal demon. He was blacked out is what he was like. A shadowy entity that crawled through his window and perched in the upper corner of his room, sitting there, watching him. Although it eventually disappeared, the demon's presence never left. He could feel it, with him always lurking. And it drove him to madness. By 1977, things had gotten so bad that Omayther finally called it off. She ended their marriage after less than three years, taking Kylie with her. And as you would imagine, Danny did not take it well. He blamed the world for his problems, especially after he lost a part of his finger while working a new job at a bakery. So he decided to get a little payback. Danny turned to a life of crime, committing a series of armed robberies throughout the South. But he wasn't exactly good at it. In the summer of 1979, Danny got caught robbing a store in Columbus, Georgia. He was sentenced to six years in prison. But Danny was past the point of learning any kind of lesson from it. When he got out, he went right back to committing armed robbery and was arrested shortly after when he tried to rob a store in Mississippi. He was sentenced to another three years in prison. But this time, Danny had some company. The demon that had lived with him in him finally got a name. He called it Gemini. It was sinister evil. And when Danny got out, Gemini was in charge.

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[Heidi Wong]

After getting out of prison in 1988, 34 year old Danny Rowling and his inner demon, Gemini, was ready to unleash his darkest impulses. For years, Danny's rage had been slowly building. Anger towards his father, resentment towards his mother, seething hatred for the world as a whole. And he turned that anger on a young woman named Julie Grissom. He first noticed her in the spring of 1989 after moving back home to Shreveport. Dani had gotten a job at the mall. And 24 year old Julie worked at the makeup counter of a department store. She was pretty, with brown hair and a dazzling smile. Danny was drawn to her and he couldn't stand it. His anger and attraction mixed into something terrifying. And on November 4, 1989, when Danny lost yet another job, it exploded. That night, Danny followed Julie home from work. He watched her go inside, then went in after her. To Danny's surprise, she wasn't there alone. Julie's dad Tom was there, along with her 8 year old nephew Sean. Before either of them could react, Danny pulled out a knife and stabbed both of them to death. Then he went upstairs to Julie's bedroom. It's not clear if she didn't hear what happened downstairs or if she wasn't able to get to the phone. Either way, Julie wasn't able to call the police. Before Danny attacked, he bound her wrist with duct tape, then sexually assaulted Julie before killing her. After he killed her, Danny spent hours cleaning all the bodies with vinegar to destroy any evidence he'd left behind. When he was done, he posed Julie in a sexually provocative position on the bed for maximum shock value. It took two days for her neighbors to realize something was wrong and call 911. When the police arrived, Danny got what he wanted. They knew they were dealing with a monster, but they couldn't figure out who it was. Danny had covered his tracks too well. And now that he had gotten a taste for violence, he wanted more. Danny had enough self control to lay low for a few months, but that feeling of rage was still there, bubbling under the surface. And six Months after he killed Julie and her family, it boiled over again. In May 1990, Danny went to visit his parents. His relationship with his father, James hadn't gotten any better. It didn't take much to trigger an argument, and this time was no different. When Danny went over, it was raining. James told him to go out and roll the windows up in James car, but Danny didn't want to. It was under a covered carport, so he didn't see the point. James didn't care. It was his house, his rules, and he wasn't afraid to enforce them. When Danny still wouldn't do it, James pulled out a gun and fired, fired several warning shots in his son's direction. Danny ran away while James went back inside cursing at him. But Danny didn't go far. He ran to the shed in the backyard where he knew James kept a backup pistol. He grabbed the gun, ran to the back door and kicked it in. Terrified, his mom Claudia screamed and hid into the bathroom, locking herself inside while James and Danny shot at each other. And this time Danny came out on top. James was shot multiple times and fell to the floor. Adding insult to injury, Danny stood over his father and kicked his limp body before running out of the house. James had been shot in the stomach and his head. He was rushed to the hospital and somehow he survived, although he lost an eye and an ear in the process. The cops went after Danny, but he was nowhere to be found. By the time they started looking for him, he was long gone. For the next few months, Danny drifted around the country, one step ahead of the police. At a certain point, he went to stay with a relative in Southern California and the police caught onto him. But by the time the officers arrived, he was already on the move. Danny was headed back east. He was trying to get to the Florida Keys where he'd catch a boat to Jamaica. Along the way he's stolen cars and robbed convenience stores. But in late July 1990, his money ran out in the city of Gainesville, about 500 miles north of Key West. But before he could move on, Gemini took control. Danny camped out in the woods for a few weeks, biding his time. Until August 23, 1990, the University of Florida was in Gainesville and Danny was just a few hundred yards from some off campus apartments. Students were starting to move in for the new school year. From Danny's vantage point, none of the students could see him, but he could see them. And that day, two of them caught his eye. 18 year old Sonia Larson and 17 year old Christina Powell had just met and they were matched as roommates. On August 23, they both arrived at their new apartment, excited to start life as Florida Gators. But they would never make it to their first day of class. Around 3am on the morning of the 24th, Danny lingered outside their window, peering in. He approached the back door and pried it open with a screwdriver. When he got inside, Dani found Christina asleep on the couch. For a moment he stood there watching her. He debated what to do, not if he should hurt Cristina, but which roommate he wanted to go after first. For the moment, he decided to leave Cristina alone and go after Sonia. She was in her bedroom upstairs with fast asleep. Danny pulled out a knife and before Sonja could wake up, he stabbed her to death. When he went downstairs, Kristina was still sleeping. Dani tied her up, assaulting and torturing Christina before killing her. Afterward, he robbed the apartment and spent the rest of the morning cleaning up like he did at the Grissoms. When he was done, Dani mutilated Sonia and Christina's bodies even more, then posed them for the police to discover. And unfortunately, he was just getting started. On the morning of August 25, the day after killing Sonia and Kristina, Danny walked into an ihop, sat down and ordered breakfast as if it were just any other day. While he ate, he couldn't keep his eyes off another one of the customers. 18 year old Christa Hoyt. She was beautiful brunette and her smile lit up the room. Dani hated her. He waited at the restaurant until Christa was done. Then he followed her home. He lurked outside watching her all day until she went out for the night. When she was gone, Danny broke into her apartment. He crouched behind her bedroom door for hours, listening for the sound of her coming home. Around 11pm, Christa walked in after a night out with her friends. Danni jumped on her before she realized what was happening. Christa tried to fight back, but Dani was too strong. He overpowered Christa, assaulting her before stabbing her to death in another violent frenzy. And again, that wasn't enough for him. Danny used his knife to decapitate Krista and then put her head on a bookshelf. He placed it across from a mirror so it would be the first thing anyone saw when they walked in. By the time he was done, it was the morning of August 26. Meanwhile, the parents of Dani's last victim, Christina Powell, were getting worried. They were supposed to help her move into her new apartment, but she wasn't answering her phone. They decided to head over to make sure she was okay, but the front door was locked and Christina wasn't answering them. Her parents called the police, who forced the door open, revealing a gruesome, tragic scene. Once Christina and Sonia's bodies were discovered, the news of their death sent a shockwave through the city. College students throughout Gainesville locked their doors, changed their routines, and stopped going out by themselves. One of Those students was 23 year old Tracey Paulus. Her apartment was only about a mile or so from Christina and Sonia's, and Tracey was terrified of what happened to them. She didn't know that police had also found Christa's body later that day, but things were scary enough without that knowledge. Shortly after midnight on August 27, Tracey called a friend and then her sister to talk about how scary scared she was. They tried to help her calm down and feel better, trying to distract Tracey from her fears. The whole time, she had no idea Danny was watching Tracey from outside her window. She stayed up until 2:45 or so when her roommate, Manny Tabota, got home from work. Manny was a big guy, a former football player. Danny knew that he wouldn't stand a chance against him, at least not in a fair fight. So Danny kept biding his time until Manny went to sleep. Around 3am Danny used a screwdriver to crack the apartment's sliding glass door open. Tracy's room was along a hallway right across from Manny's. Danny went in there first. By then, Manny was already fast asleep. Danny took out his knife and stabbed it into Manny's chest. The second he did that, Manny woke up. He threw Danny off of him and managed to fight back, but Danny had done enough damage to slow him down. He got the upper hand and stabbed Manny 31 times before killing him. The noise from their fight woke Tracey up and she came out to see what was going on. She walked into Manny's bedroom right as Danny staggered to his feet. Tracey raced back to her room, but Danny got to her before she could lock it. By the end of the night, the Gainesville Ripper had claimed his fourth and fifth, fifth victims over the span of just four days. After killing Tracy and Manny, Danny rolling knew he needed to get out of Gainesville. Thanks to how brutal the murders were, Danny had gotten the attention that he wanted. But that also meant that it was only a matter of time before he got caught. Before he could leave, though, Danny needed money. So he decided to rob a bank. He put on a brown ski mask, grabbed his gun and held up a bank just half a mile from Krista Hoyt's apartment. The teller did as Danni asked and filled a duffel bag with cash. Danny had no idea that she also slipped in a dye pack that was rigged to explode all over the money. After Danny ran off with the bag, the teller called the police. They managed to track him to his campsite in the woods. And although Danny managed to escape, he had to leave most of his things behind, including the bag of dyed money, his gun, and the screwdriver he'd used to break into his victims apartments. But the crazy thing is the officers didn't immediately connect him to the murders. At this point in time, there hadn't been many serial killers who were also bank robbers, so the authorities didn't think the crimes were connected. And over the next few days, two men would be arrested for Danny's crimes. For the bank robbery, they ID'd a man named Michael J. Martin, who'd also been camping in the same woods as Danny. And when it came to the murders, they suspected 19 year old Edward Humphrey, a troubled University of Florida freshman who lived in the same complex as Tracey and Manny. Edward had a history of mental health problems and erratic behavior. As far as police were concerned, he fit the profile of the kind of killer that they were looking for. But Danny hadn't cleared the crime scenes as well as he thought that he did. Investigators were able to collect DNA evidence from the murders and the bank robbery. And they quickly realized they had the wrong guys. Danny was long gone by then. After being chased through the woods, he'd stolen a car and driven out of town. But the officers on his case were starting to put the pieces together. As the investigators looking into the bank robbery regrouped, they traced Danny's gun back to a guy in Sarasota, Florida. When they talked to him, he said that he sold the gun to someone else. He didn't know the buyer's real name, but he remembered something very distinctive about him. He was missing part of his left ring finger, the same finger Danny had injured back when he was working at a bakery in Shreveport. When one of the investigators on the case shared the detail about the missing finger information in a meeting, an officer with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement stood up from his seat. He was also investigating the Gainesville murders. And the killer had left something behind at Sonia Larson in Christina Powell's apartment. A paper towel he had used to wipe himself off after killing them. And the handprint on it showed that he was missing his left ring finger. So now the investigators realized that the Gainesville Ripper and the bank robber had to be the same person. The only question was who was he?

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The task force searching for the killer included FBI agents, which meant that they had access to national databases. So they started looking for murders like the ones in Gainesville, and By November of 1990, one case caught their attention. The 1989 murder of Julie, Tom and Sean Grissom in Shreveport, Louisiana. The Grissoms had suffered multiple stab wounds, just like the Gainesville victims. And like in Gainesville, Danny hadn't cleaned up as well as he thought. The investigators in Shreveport had managed to collect blood from the crime scene. It shared a rare property with the blood from Gainesville, which made it likely that the killer was the same person. Later in November, the task force opened a tip line, which they advertise all across Florida. Pretty soon, a woman who was passing through the state heard about it on the radio, and when she heard certain details about the killings, she got a bad feeling. She called the tip line and said her name was Cindy. She was from Shreveport, and she said that her husband used to be friends with a guy named Danny Rolling. He'd met him through church, but Cindy thought that there was something off about Danny. Her husband thought that he was okay, though, so Danny sometimes came over. The last time Cindy had seen him was sometime around the beginning of 1990 while Danni was hanging out at their house. He made some disturbing comments to her husband, specifically that he liked cutting people with knives. At the time, Cindy had immediately thought of the Grissoms, but she convinced herself that it couldn't be Danny. Cindy never saw him again. After that, Danny said that he was leaving for somewhere sunny where there were lots of young, pretty girls. Gainesville definitely fit that description. Now, Cindy couldn't deny it any longer. Danny had to be the killer. When the authorities heard her story, they agreed. And as it turns out, Danny was already in custody. About a week after the Gainesville murders, Danny tried to rob a grocery store. But he hadn't gotten any better at it over the years. He didn't notice one of the employees calling 911. And by the time Danny made it back to his car with the money, police were already pulling into the parking lot. Danny tried to drive away, but there was no getting away. There were multiple squad cars on his tail, and other officers laid down spike strips ahead of him. When Danny hit them, his car crashed. Even then, he wasn't giving up. Danny wasn't badly hurt in the wreck, and he sprinted into a nearby loan office. But there was nowhere left for him to go. Danny was surrounded and arrested. Afterward, he confessed to a couple other robberies in Florida, although he didn't say anything about any of his crimes in Gainesville. But once Cindy called in with her tip in November, the authorities finally realized that he was the killer. It took a while to get everything ready, and in the fall of 1991, members of the task force went to see Danny in jail. They didn't ask him about the murders right away, though. Instead, they told him that they were looking into a series of robberies. They knew Danny wasn't involved with them and he'd want to clear his name. So they told him he could submit a DNA sample to confirm he hadn't done it. Danny went for it. When the results came back, they showed that Danny's DNA was a match for the samples from the Shreveport and the Gainesville murder scenes. And when investigators finally confronted him about it, Danny admitted to everything. In November of 1991, he was charged with five counts of murder for the Gainesville Ripper crimes. The authorities decided against charging him for the Shreveport murders since the evidence in Gainesville was overwhelming. Plus, they didn't want to hold up that case. And since Danny had confessed, it wasn't taking long. Even though his lawyers thought they had a decent case, he still insisted on pleading guilty without a deal. In 1994, he was sentenced to death. After Danny was convicted, ABC News did a special on him. Millions of people tuned in, including a young screenwriter named Kevin Williamson. Danny's crimes inspired Williamson to write the script that eventually became Scream. Supposedly, the first draft was so violent, Williamson had to tone down some of the details. The final version was obviously a huge hit, launching a massive franchise, but Danny Rowling wasn't around to see it. He was executed on October 25, 2006. Right before his death, he freely confessed to the Grissom murders, hopefully giving all of his victims loved ones the closure they needed. And even though Danny may have inspired Ghostface, Scream's legacy has outgrown him. So many others have contributed to these movies, and it's better to celebrate the community that they've created rather than let one man's dark legacy stain them forever. Thanks so much for joining me on this episode of Twisted, a Crime House original. I'd love to hear from you. What did you think about today's stories? Anything you're dying for me to COVID Leave a comment or review wherever you're tuning in. And be sure to follow Twisted Tales so we can keep building this community together. I'll be back next week with another unbelievable true story. Until then, stay curious and remember, there's no reason to fear the dark unless you try to hide from it.