The Gainesville Ripper: A Serial Nightmare in a College Town

Update: 2025-10-24

Description

In the summer of 1990, Gainesville, Florida, was a humid little college town buzzing with new school year jitters...until one week changed everything.

Within days, five University of Florida students were brutally murdered in their homes. Doors were barricaded, classes cancelled, and the city descended into full-blown terror. The killer was methodical, staging his victims like something out of a horror film. And he was closer than anyone imagined.

This is the story of Daniel Rolling, the man who would become known as The Gainesville Ripper, a drifter raised in abuse and chaos, who left a trail of horror. Before his crimes inspired the movie Scream, they shattered a town and haunted a generation.

This episode dives into how one man turned a college campus into a real-life nightmare. Lock your doors. Check them again. Then press play.

Sources:

https://maamodt.asp.radford.edu/psyc%20405/serial%20killers/rolling,%20danny%20-%202004.pdf

https://ffplaw.com/notable-case/the-gainesville-student-murders/

https://murderpedia.org/male.R/r1/rolling-daniel-harold.htm

https://criminalminds.fandom.com/wiki/Danny_Rolling

https://www.biography.com/news/danny-rolling-scream-killer-gainesville

https://allthatsinteresting.com/danny-rolling-gainesville-ripper

https://abcnews.go.com/US/woman-louisiana-helped-break-case-student-murders-florida/story?id=76900692

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