- Aug 1, 2014
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Today marks the 25th anniversary of the students who we're killed in Gainesville. I was only 9 yrs old but remember it like yesterday. I just wanted to say R.I.P to those involved and say God Bless to the families.
25th anniversary
- Thread starter Marianna-FL_Gator
- Start date
- Jun 19, 2014
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I was there.
First I heard of it was in an Alligator Extra that was being handed out by students on campus. Technology today, huh? The Extra was 2 more bodies found which brought the total up to either 3 or 4. I can't remember now.
It was crazy.
In my entire time at UF, I only remember one other Alligator Extra. That was when Danny Rolling got convicted.
I'll post some memories later.
Alex.
First I heard of it was in an Alligator Extra that was being handed out by students on campus. Technology today, huh? The Extra was 2 more bodies found which brought the total up to either 3 or 4. I can't remember now.
It was crazy.
In my entire time at UF, I only remember one other Alligator Extra. That was when Danny Rolling got convicted.
I'll post some memories later.
Alex.
- Jun 12, 2014
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I was in school when this happened. I had my girlfriend, who fit the profile of the ones who were murdered move in with me, and I armed up. I had a 357 Rugar Black Hawk with speed loader in my pillow and multiple baseball bats in my room. I remember how creepy it was when no one knew if/when the next incident wold occur. I knew one of the girls and Manny worked with my roommate at Bennigans.
- Jun 12, 2014
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- Jul 23, 2014
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that was about four years after I left, but I remember driving up I-75 and looking over at the Cabot Lodge off the Gainesville exit and seeing about a million FHP cars in the parking lot.
scary time
scary time
- Jun 11, 2014
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My sister had just started, her freshman year. She fit the profile as well. We lived in Jacksonville so Pops and I drove down and brought her back. I remember her coming home every weekend for a while there.
- Jun 12, 2014
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I was at PK Yonge and UPD came by and spoke to every class. My mom worked on campus at the time, so every day I would walk across campus to her office and it was the more quiet that I remember campus being when classes were in session. We reduced the number stops we would take on the way home, and my dad had me pack a pocket knife in my bag incase something happened on my walk across campus. Just a lot of little things, like all the students who worked in the department my mom worked in where given passes to leave early everyday, so they could get home. And some of the support staff letting them stay with them, until things got better. A lot of people did a lot of little things to try to keep people safe.
biggator6
Junior Member
- Oct 2, 2014
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I was there.. living in Town Parc - a stone's throw away from 2 of the 3 sites. It was weird times.
I remember a BUNCH of people sleeping on our floor.. safety in numbers. Bats everywhere.
Going outside and seeing police and news trucks just EVERYWHERE. Literally hundreds of county, local, state police.. just everywhere. Still get chills.
I remember a BUNCH of people sleeping on our floor.. safety in numbers. Bats everywhere.
Going outside and seeing police and news trucks just EVERYWHERE. Literally hundreds of county, local, state police.. just everywhere. Still get chills.
- Jun 11, 2014
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I was in Middle school. Grew up in the area. I remember how on edge our community was and we were miles away. Then there was a murder that happened between us and Gainesville, and everyone thought that the killer had left Gainesville. It later turned out to be drug related, but the hysteria didn't stop until Rollins was captured. Even then, people were skeptical, for a while, that he was actually the killer. I can't imagine what it was like to be a student at UF or to have a loved one there at the time. Every time the story comes up, my perspective changes for a few weeks. It's a haunting reminder of how fragile our lives are and how quickly they can be flipped upside down. The youth today don't seem to know that perspective...to know how quickly your freedom can be snatched from you and replaced with fear. Gainesville hasn't been the same since, nor will it ever be. Part of Gainesville spirit was stripped away in those days.
- Jun 19, 2014
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I spent some time at UF before the murders, when I was still in High School. I thought is was amazingly friendly. Students would smile, make eye contact, chat, whatever.
That all changed with the student murders. There was an immediate effect where a pack of 3 girls would cross the street just to avoid walking past a skinny little kid like me on the sidewalk (yeah, my black friends thought that was cute). Of course it got better, but I was there for a long time after the murders, and it never got back to the way it was before.
That first day when the "2 more bodies found" Alligator Extra came out, I went to Beaty Towers to visit an ex girlfriend. 2 brunettes, 2 blondes, all terrified. They immediately asked me to spend the night.
No, not like that.
Beaty is like this--first door opens to a common area consisting of a tiny kitchen, small table, and a bathroom. Then you have two bedrooms with two students in each.
They barricaded themselves in the bedrooms. Locked the doors and pushed desks against them. The gave me a sheet, a pillow, and an iron (closest thing to a weapon they had) and had me sleep on the floor in front of the common area door. Anybody breaking in would literally have to push my body out of the way.
The floors in Beaty were concrete with a thin industrial carpet on top. Imagine sleeping on the welcome mat at a Home Depot or something. That's what it was like.
After that night, three of the girls went home. The 4th was a little sister (for Sig Ep I think???) and stayed in the House.
(if you don't know what a "little sister" is, that's another conversation entirely)
Alex.
That all changed with the student murders. There was an immediate effect where a pack of 3 girls would cross the street just to avoid walking past a skinny little kid like me on the sidewalk (yeah, my black friends thought that was cute). Of course it got better, but I was there for a long time after the murders, and it never got back to the way it was before.
That first day when the "2 more bodies found" Alligator Extra came out, I went to Beaty Towers to visit an ex girlfriend. 2 brunettes, 2 blondes, all terrified. They immediately asked me to spend the night.
No, not like that.
Beaty is like this--first door opens to a common area consisting of a tiny kitchen, small table, and a bathroom. Then you have two bedrooms with two students in each.
They barricaded themselves in the bedrooms. Locked the doors and pushed desks against them. The gave me a sheet, a pillow, and an iron (closest thing to a weapon they had) and had me sleep on the floor in front of the common area door. Anybody breaking in would literally have to push my body out of the way.
The floors in Beaty were concrete with a thin industrial carpet on top. Imagine sleeping on the welcome mat at a Home Depot or something. That's what it was like.
After that night, three of the girls went home. The 4th was a little sister (for Sig Ep I think???) and stayed in the House.
(if you don't know what a "little sister" is, that's another conversation entirely)
Alex.
- Jun 19, 2014
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When **** got real was when we found out about Manny.
He was a big, strong dude. The killer got him and the girl he was trying to protect. That scared everybody.
I lived by myself in a little apartment right behind the KKG house. The back of the house had an outdoor staircase leading to the second floor. I distinctly remember this tiny little blonde KKG hauling a shotgun up those stairs. She could barely carry it. No way she could handle the thing if she needed to. I thought about offering a hand but it immediately occurred to me that she might interpret my actions favorably and thought better of it.
The other half of my apartment complex was across the street. It was bought by a new sorority. Maybe Phi Mu? The first night I was back in my apartment, I saw these two douchebags "standing guard" at the house. These tools were carrying bats and marching back and forth in the parking lot like it was the tomb of the unknown soldier. To make sure all the ladies in the house noticed their heroic efforts, they started tapping the bats onto the ground as they marched. This spectacle actually lasted a while before they grew tired or bored or maybe the girls told them to get inside and stop acting like douchebags.
That first week, Gainesville became a ghost town. Nobody went out at night. Many of the coeds left to go home for the weekend, or even a couple of weeks. Some withdrew, some transfered.
Housing lifted all co-habitation restrictions so the girls could have guys sleep in their dorm rooms. Absences were excused. Every kid who lost their Florida Scholars money because of grades (pre Bright Futures) blamed it on the murders and tried to get a pass.
Alex.
He was a big, strong dude. The killer got him and the girl he was trying to protect. That scared everybody.
I lived by myself in a little apartment right behind the KKG house. The back of the house had an outdoor staircase leading to the second floor. I distinctly remember this tiny little blonde KKG hauling a shotgun up those stairs. She could barely carry it. No way she could handle the thing if she needed to. I thought about offering a hand but it immediately occurred to me that she might interpret my actions favorably and thought better of it.
The other half of my apartment complex was across the street. It was bought by a new sorority. Maybe Phi Mu? The first night I was back in my apartment, I saw these two douchebags "standing guard" at the house. These tools were carrying bats and marching back and forth in the parking lot like it was the tomb of the unknown soldier. To make sure all the ladies in the house noticed their heroic efforts, they started tapping the bats onto the ground as they marched. This spectacle actually lasted a while before they grew tired or bored or maybe the girls told them to get inside and stop acting like douchebags.
That first week, Gainesville became a ghost town. Nobody went out at night. Many of the coeds left to go home for the weekend, or even a couple of weeks. Some withdrew, some transfered.
Housing lifted all co-habitation restrictions so the girls could have guys sleep in their dorm rooms. Absences were excused. Every kid who lost their Florida Scholars money because of grades (pre Bright Futures) blamed it on the murders and tried to get a pass.
Alex.
- Jun 19, 2014
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Founding Member
I would later become friends with some GPD guys. A couple of them were told to stop shaving, get some filthy clothes, and try to blend into the homeless community.
They were all working crazy overtime everywhere and were shellshocked.
At first, we heard about the kid Humphrey. They thought it was him and he looked the part. Turned out he was crazy, but innocent.
The other thing was the slow dribble of news coming out. They didn't find the bodies in the order they were killed. The last two found included Manny and like I said, that was terrifying. Worse were the stories which slowly came out about the deaths, gruesome details about beheading, staging bodies for effect, that sort of thing. Rumors were rampant.
Things got better with football. 1990 was Spurrier's first season and we were finally GOOD. As the wins kept building up, we had something to rally around, something to take our minds off of the killings. We beat the hell our of Oklahoma in our home opener. Then we upset Alabama at Alabama. That was followed up by more wins at home, big wins. Those games (the home games) were like rays of sunshine breaking through the thick black clouds over Gainesville.
When they finally caught Rolling, people still weren't sure. They were wrong about Humphrey, weren't they? But soon enough folks began to believe and thing got better.
I remember when I was in Law School in 1994 and word of Rolling's death sentence came out (the second Alligator Extra). One of the professors commented that if we got into criminal work, we might have a chance to work on his death penalty appeal before they finally executed him. They were right. It was a dozen years before his final appointment with Old Sparky just up the road in Starke.
Alex.
They were all working crazy overtime everywhere and were shellshocked.
At first, we heard about the kid Humphrey. They thought it was him and he looked the part. Turned out he was crazy, but innocent.
The other thing was the slow dribble of news coming out. They didn't find the bodies in the order they were killed. The last two found included Manny and like I said, that was terrifying. Worse were the stories which slowly came out about the deaths, gruesome details about beheading, staging bodies for effect, that sort of thing. Rumors were rampant.
Things got better with football. 1990 was Spurrier's first season and we were finally GOOD. As the wins kept building up, we had something to rally around, something to take our minds off of the killings. We beat the hell our of Oklahoma in our home opener. Then we upset Alabama at Alabama. That was followed up by more wins at home, big wins. Those games (the home games) were like rays of sunshine breaking through the thick black clouds over Gainesville.
When they finally caught Rolling, people still weren't sure. They were wrong about Humphrey, weren't they? But soon enough folks began to believe and thing got better.
I remember when I was in Law School in 1994 and word of Rolling's death sentence came out (the second Alligator Extra). One of the professors commented that if we got into criminal work, we might have a chance to work on his death penalty appeal before they finally executed him. They were right. It was a dozen years before his final appointment with Old Sparky just up the road in Starke.
Alex.
- Jun 11, 2014
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I had just started working after finishing grad school (yes, I got a real job in Gainesville) and was living with my girlfriend and her sister in the little neighborhood across from Archer Plaza (not far from the murders). We went from having open windows and not locking doors to full lock down mode at all times. RIP to the five and continued condolences to the families for their senseless loss.
NCOGator
Junior Member
- Sep 5, 2014
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I was a Correctional Officer at Florida Sate Prison from 1998-2000 and I actually came in contact with this monster a few times during that period. Every time there was this disgusting feeling and almost rage where I wanted to just beat the hell out of him with my radio. However my professionalism and need to provide for my family wouldn't let me do it. My take is that he was a big pussy! Every time we would go to his cell to take him to a medical appointment or whatever he was always polite and calling us Sir and not looking at us in the eyes. He was real quite and kept to himself and only talked to a few others that were on death row with him.
- Jun 12, 2014
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The stories you guys have told told are chilling. Thank you for sharing them.
- Jun 12, 2014
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A father of one of the kids in my class was asked to work on the defense side for the case by his attorney Parker (I believe that was Rollings Attoney's name). He was a public defender at the time, and I can't remember if he actually worked the case or not... But it was hard on the kid in my class, logically it made sense but in Gainesville it wasn't a logical situation at that point.
