英语巴士网

美校园恐怖连环杀手将伏法

分类: 法律英语 
The terror started late on a Sunday afternoon in August 1990, just before the fall semester began.

就在1990年8月秋季学期开始前的一个星期六的下午稍晚的时候,恐怖场面开始上演了。

A police officer, summoned by worried parents, discovered the first two bodies in an apartment near the University of Florida campus.

当时,觉得境况不妙的家长叫来了一名警官,他在位于佛罗里达大学校园附近的一间公寓里发现了两具尸体。

Freshmen roommates Sonja Larson, 18, and Christina Powell, 17, were fatally stabbed and sliced up with a razor-sharp hunting knife.

18岁的菘雅·拉尔森和17岁的克里斯蒂娜·鲍威尔是室友,当时她们都是大学新生。她们被人刺杀身亡并被用锋利的猎刀切成一块一块的。

Just after midnight, before the news of the gruesome killings had a chance to take hold, Christa Hoyt, 18, a Santa Fe Community College student and sheriff's office employee, was found mutilated in her apartment, her severed head placed on a shelf.

就在当天深夜关于这一起令人发指的凶杀案被公之于众前,18岁的科瑞斯塔·霍伊特被发现在她的公寓内被残害,她的头被砍下来发到一个架子上。当时她是圣达菲社区大学的学生,同时还是州警察局长办公室的工作人员。

The next morning, UF students Tracy Paules and Manuel Taboada, both 23, were found slaughtered in the apartment they shared nearby, plunging the laid-back college town into a full-fledged panic.

第二天早上,同为23岁的佛罗里达大学学生特蕾西·鲍里斯和曼纽尔·塔博达被发现在她们附近的公寓里被杀害。这使得原本漫不经心的大学城陷入了空前的恐慌。

Students fled, neighbors huddled together for protection, residents armed themselves. Innocence was lost. Many lives were changed forever.

学生逃离了校园;为了互相保护,居民们集中起来,他们都开始拿起武器。无辜的人不断受害。许多人的生活从此被彻底改变了。

The manufacturer of this nightmare was a drawling police officer's son and career criminal from Shreveport, Louisiana, named Danny Harold Rolling.

制造这些凶杀案件的恶魔是一名警察的儿子,名叫丹尼·哈罗德·罗林,一名来自路易斯安那州什里夫波特的职业罪犯。

After a dozen years on death row, the now 52-year-old Rolling is preparing to die by lethal injection at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Florida State Prison in Starke.

现年52岁的罗林的名字在死刑名单上已经呆了十几年。本周三早上6点,他将在斯达克的佛罗里达州立监狱通过注射执行死刑。

Criminal ambitions

罪恶计划

Thousands of UF students have come and gone since Rolling arrived on a Greyhound bus, pitched a tent in the woods near campus and set out to become, as he would say later, a "superstar" among criminals.

罗林乘坐美国灰狗公司的长途汽车到达这里并在大学校园附近的树林里搭起了帐篷,当时校园里有成千上万的弗罗里达大学学生进进出出。他开始实施他的计划,即向他自己后来描述的一样,“成为罪犯中的超级明星”。

But those students and residents who lived through the worst chapter in the city's history locked away indelible memories that are surfacing again as the execution date nears.

但是,随着死刑刑期的临近,经历过这座城市历史上最恐怖事件的学生和城里的居民把他们再一次出现在脑海中无法磨灭的记忆深深的埋藏起来。

"We didn't know the magnitude of it until we were in the middle of it. To wake up each morning to news that another young person was found dead was terrifying," recalled Larry Reimer, a minister whose United Church of Gainesville offered shelter to frightened college students.

“只有当我们身处其中的时候我们才能体会到那到底有多可怕。每天早上醒来的时候一听到的新闻就是又一个年纪轻轻的人被害,那实在太可怕了,”拉里·雷蒙回忆说。当时他是盖斯威尔联合教会的牧师,他的教会为处于惊恐中的大学生们提供避难的场所。

As the body count rose, Gainesville Police Chief Wayland Clifton called for help from the FBI, the Florida Highway Patrol and other agencies. By midweek, heavily armed officers were ubiquitous on the streets, and helicopters with searchlights a nightly reminder that a serial killer was still on the loose.

随着尸体不断被发现,盖斯威尔警察局长维兰·克利夫顿向中央情报局、弗罗里达公路巡逻队和其他机构请求帮助。到周中的时候,全副武装的警察在大街上随处可见,装有探照灯的直升机每天晚上都提醒人们这位连环杀手依然在逃。

UF President John Lombardi canceled classes for the week, and the world's media descended on Gainesville to cover the story.

佛罗里达大学校长约翰·伦巴第将本周的课程全部取消,全世界的媒体都聚集在盖斯威尔报道这一事件。

College town in fear

大学城的恐慌

"What was interesting was how quiet the student areas got," said Ronald Dupont Jr., who was attending UF and working as a night police reporter at The Gainesville Sun. "A lot of people left town, and a lot of people were holed in their homes genuinely afraid. It turned the town from a happy-go-lucky college town into almost like a wake."

“有趣的是学生居住区却异常平静,”当时在佛罗里达大学上学同时也为盖斯威尔太阳报工作的罗纳德·杜邦·Jr.说。“很多人都离开了这座城市,还有很多人因为害怕不得不蜷缩在家中。这让这座原本逍遥自在的大学城几乎变成了守丧之地。”

Steve Spurrier was preparing for the first game of what would be a storied football coaching career at his alma mater when the murders shook campus.

当凶案发生的时候,史蒂夫·斯普瑞尔当时正在准备他在他的母校执教生涯中最重要的第一场橄榄球比赛。

"It was a terrible time in Gainesville," said Spurrier, now head coach at the University of South Carolina. "We actually allowed a lot of our older players to stay where their girlfriends were because of it. Maybe football helped (the healing), but it was certainly one of the worst tragedies that ever happened in Gainesville."

现任南加州大学主教练得斯普瑞尔表示:“这是盖斯威尔最可怕的时刻。因为这一恐怖行径,我们不得不经常允许我们四个年龄较大的球员和他们的女朋友待在一起。也许橄榄球有助于人们恢复过来,但是这毫无疑问是发生在盖斯威尔最大的悲剧。”

The focus of the task force first fell on a UF student who was unfortunate enough to go off his psychotropic medication and begin acting strangely around town after the slayings. He was eventually cleared.

起初,工作组的重点是一位佛罗里达大学的学生,因为他从他的精神病治疗中心离开了,并在凶杀案后在城里有异常表现。最后他的嫌疑被排除了。

Meanwhile, Rolling robbed a bank and stole a car before leaving Gainesville the day after the last bodies were discovered. Belongings he left at the campsite in the woods would eventually link him to the slayings.

同时,就在最后一具尸体被发现一天以后,罗林在逃离盖斯威尔前抢劫了一家银行并偷了一辆车。他在树林里露营时留下的物品最终暴露了他与凶案的关系。

Rolling's name first came to the attention of investigators because he was suspect in the similar mutilation slayings of three people back in Shreveport (he later confessed, but was never prosecuted).

罗林的名字首先进入调查组的视线是因为他在返回什里夫波特后以相似的手段残杀了另外3人(他后来供认了这一罪行,但是没有被因此而起诉)。

But it would be December 1990 before they would find him sitting in the Marion County jail a half hour south of Gainesville, awaiting trial for robbing a grocery store there. DNA confirmed he was the killer.

但是直到1990年12月份调查组才在盖斯威尔南面半小时路程的马里恩监狱找到他,当时他正因为抢劫的第一家杂货店等待审讯。DNA检测确认他就是杀人凶手。

Guilty plea

罪与罚

Rolling pleaded guilty as trial began on February 15, 1994. In the penalty phase, jurors rejected arguments that he should be spared because of an abusive father, unhappy childhood and history of drug use and mental illness. Judge Stan R. Morris sentenced him to die.

在1994年1月15日开始的审判中,罗林被诉有罪。在定罪阶段,陪审团拒绝了他由于受到父亲的虐待、不幸的童年、有吸毒史及精神病困扰而应该被宽恕的意见。法官斯丹·R·莫里斯判处他死刑。

Dianna Hoyt, Christa Hoyt's stepmother, said Rolling's execution has been eagerly awaited by the victims' families. Some will be inside the prison to witness it.

科瑞斯塔·霍伊特的继母戴安娜·霍伊特说,受害人的家人都急切的期待罗林的死刑。一些受害人的家属将会去监狱见证死刑的执行。

"What he did was so horrendous, how he tortured our children," Hoyt said. "I think this man can still find enjoyment from that. I just need his mind put to sleep. I don't need him thinking about it anymore."

“他的行径极端残忍,他折磨我们的孩子的手段令人发指,”霍伊特说。“我觉得他现在依然会以此为乐。我必须消除他的这种想法。我再也不愿意因为他而想起那一切。”

Sadie Darnell, who was the police department's media spokeswoman at the time and developed enduring friendships with the victims' families, said Rolling's execution still matters, even if it also provides him more of the notoriety he sought.

塞迪·达奈尔当时是警察局的媒体发言人,后来与受害人的家属建立了长期的友谊。他说,罗林的死刑依然重要,即便这将会使他像他所期待的一样更加臭名昭著。

"It does not symbolize closure for any of the family members. Retribution, though, is important because it represents that our society is holding that person accountable," said Darnell, now a candidate for Alachua County sheriff.

“这并不意味着对于任何一个家庭成员这一切已经结束了。然而,惩罚依然很重要,因为这表明社会需要他为他的行为负责,”达奈尔说。他现在是阿拉夏警察局长的候选人。

Today's UF students may know the names of the victims because they're painted on a panel on the edge of campus, a memorial that fraternities took responsibility for preserving.

今天佛罗里达大学的学生可以看到当时的受害人的名字,她们的名字写在一块树立在校园边缘的板子上,作为对她们的纪念受到校友会的保护。

Besides being part of the university's history, said Christopher Bucciarelli, president of the UF Interfraternity Council, it's a reminder —— "for everyone to be careful and to be safe."

佛罗里达大学校友会主席克里斯多弗·布塞阿罗里说,除了作为学校历史的一部分之外,这也作为一个警示——“每个人都需要小心,注意安全。”

猜你喜欢

推荐栏目