Nightmare on Campus: Tracking the Gainesville Ripper

College should be a time of optimism, excitement, and new beginnings. But for students at the University of Florida, their fall semester began with fear and heartache. In August 1990, five young students were found brutally murdered in Gainesville, Florida, sparking an intense search for the monster known as “The Gainesville Ripper.”

Attorney Rod Smith served as prosecutor in the trial of Danny Rolling. He looks back on how he was able to secure the death penalty against Rolling and tells how one of Rolling's fellow inmates played a crucial role in building the case against him.

Rod Smith is currently a partner at Avera & Smith LLP. A graduate of the University of Florida School of Law, Rod previously served as United States Attorney for the Eighth Judicial District. He served in the Florida State Senate from 2001 to 2006.

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