Florida executes 'Ripper' who terrorised campus

Tallahassee, Florida: Florida on Wednesday executed a serial killer whose grisly murders of students 16 years ago haunted students at a major university and sent a chill through college campuses across the United States.

Danny Rolling, 52, was pronounced dead at Florida State Prison near Starke minutes after he was injected with a lethal dose of chemicals.

Asked if he had any final words, witnesses at the execution said Rolling sang a song in which he repeated the line "None greater than thee, oh Lord", as relatives of the slain students watched in the death chamber.

Known as the Gainesville Ripper, Rolling murdered four University of Florida students and a Santa Fe Community College student in their apartments in 1990.

He decapitated one victim, posed with some of the bodies, removed skin and body parts and arranged the murder scenes using props that included broken mirrors.

The macabre slayings began on August 24, when Rolling broke into the apartment of 17-year-old university freshmen Sonja Larson and Christina Powell. They were found mutilated and stabbed to death. He had raped both women, one after she was dead.