On this day, Aug. 26, in 1990, the Gainsville Ripper murdered and mutilated two University of Florida students, sending the college town into a panic.
Christina Powell and Sonja Larson, both 17, became the first in a series killings linked to Danny Rolling. The girls were found in their apartment naked and posed in grotesque positions. Shortly after midnight, while police were wrapping up the crime scene, the body of a community college student, Christa Hoyt, 18, was found slain in another apartment. Her naked body had been seated on the edge of her bed, her head propped on a bookshelf.
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Two days later, Rolling killed roommates Tracy Paules and Manuel Taboada, both 23.
Police arrested Rolling on an unrelated charge of robbery. Authorities began focusing on him at the suggestion of Louisiana authorities investigating the killing of a family of three. DNA tests showed he was the Gainsville Ripper. Rolling pleaded guilty, telling the judge, “There are some things that you just can’t run from.”
He was executed in 2006.
– Scott McCabe
