We found nothing that led us to the killer,” said Captain LeGran Hewitt of the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office on “ Mark of a Killer,” streaming now on. “I started canvassing the neighbors in the apartment complex, talked to everyone there to see if they saw anything. Rolling raped, disemboweled and beheaded, but officers had a hard time catching him until something he left behind at the crime scenes - the student residences - gave him away. Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.Danny Rolling, popularly referred to as the Gainesville Ripper, was a career criminal who was convicted for a string of burglaries, robberies and automobile thefts mere days after he tore through the fabric of the University of Florida campus community, killing five students in bizarre and macabre ways in August of 1990. We talk about things happening right now that resonate more." "It's historical and doesn't have a lot of impact. Rolling is not real to them," said Jen Day Shaw, dean of students. Students today for the most part have no idea who Rolling was or what he did - unless a professor brings it up or makes a class assignment of it. Today, the federal Clery Act, requires colleges and universities to report all crimes committed on campus or in its vicinity and universities have better means of communicating when an attack occurs on campus, better mental health services for students and the Tarasoff rule, which allows psychiatrists, lawyers, clergy and others to break confidentiality rules if someone has made a direct threat to themselves or someone else. The university developed "an extensive crisis plan" after the slayings, said Linda Gray, who was UF's public affairs director at the time. Rolling never achieved the sort of notoriety he wanted, the "superstar" status of Ted Bundy, Smith said, largely because of the law enforcement community's efforts to keep the focus on the victims and their families. His execution by lethal injection was carried out in 2006. Hundreds of law enforcement officers from several agencies converged in a massive investigation that led to the arrest months later of Rolling, a drifter and career criminal from Louisiana, who pleaded guilty in 1994 to avoid trial and was sentenced to death. The crimes also set a blueprint for how the university deals with campus emergencies that have been adopted by other institutions of higher learning. The student murders forever changed the way local law enforcement handles big crime and treats victims and their family members. Students fled for their parents' homes or crashed at the home of friends. Over a three-day period in late August 1990, police discovered the mutilated bodies of five college students at the southwest edge of the UF campus. University President Kent Fuchs and Alachua County Sheriff Sadie Darnell spoke at the memorial Tuesday.įuchs said it was important to remember how the university and community came together to demonstrate "how the human spirit overcame evil," and while no one can restore the good those five students could have done in this world, "we can reaffirm our caring for one another." The others - 17-year-old Christina Powell, 18-year-old Sonja Larson, 23-year-old Manual Taboada and 23-year-old Tracy Inez Paules - attended the University of Florida. One of the students, 18-year-old Christa Leigh Hoyt, was a Santa Fe Community College student. Rolling was arrested 10 days after the last murder, which terrorized the community as students were returning to campus. They were victims of serial killer Danny Rolling in August 1990. GAINESVILLE | Five students who were slain in Gainesville 25 years ago were remembered during a memorial service at the University of Florida's Baughman Center on Tuesday afternoon.
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