Danny Rollings father, who was a 20-year veteran cop of the Shreveport Police Department, had not only taught his son how to take abuse all of his life, but he also taught Danny how to cover his tracks. Rolling covered both of the young womens mouths with duct tape before he bound their hands. However, his divorce appeared to be the catalyst for his crime spree, as the murders began shortly after he and his wife parted ways. Finding Powell asleep on the downstairs couch, he stood over her briefly but did not wake her up, choosing instead to explore the upstairs bedroom where Larson was also asleep. Gainesville Ripper murders are the subject of the book Beyond Murder by John Philpin and John Donnelly. They were sitting by themselves at the dinner table in Louisiana when Danny Rolling told her about his darker side, which would blossom in August 1990 with the slayings of five Gainesville college students. Danny Harold Rolling (May 26, 1954 - October 25, 2006), also known as The Gainesville Ripper, was an American convicted serial killer. Na die verskyning van Kevin Light Rolling begin woedend pa te versprei na die jonger broer Danny. Lewis would be his confessor. His mouthpiece.. Many students had begun taking extra precautions, such as changing their daily routines and sleeping together in groups. Claudia tried to escape the toxic marriage, but time and again she returned. During his trial, Court TV conducted an interview with Rolling's mother from her home, during which his father could be heard shouting off-camera. Photo: AP Photo/Chris O'Meara Print Cite In the early morning hours of Friday, August 24, Rolling broke into the apartment shared by 17-year-old university freshmen Sonja Larson and Christina Powell. These are the real-life mobsters and events that inspired the books and movies. Crime News is your destination for true crime stories from around the world, breaking crime news, and information about Oxygen's original true crime shows and documentaries. Authorities soon zeroed in on a prime suspect, a UF student who briefly lived in the same complex as two of the victims and exhibited erratic behavior, at one point getting arrested for hitting his grandmother. But thats not quite the end of the story. [6] They also found tools matching marks left at the Gainesville murder scenes. In 1998, a judge ruled that proceeds from the book to the tune of $20,000 could be seized from London for work published in relation to the Gainesville Ripper story, reported the New York Times. While Rolling initially met with the task force alone, he asked for Lewis to join them; he wanted his friend to make statements and answer questions in his lieu. On his alleged use of Rolling, Lewis wrote: "It not something I'm proud of -- it just survival -- in a animal world.". [15] Rolling's relationship with London, which developed while he was behind bars, was the focus of an episode of Errol Morris' First Person. London described meeting Rolling as something she wasnt prepared for, according to the Washington Post: Standing before my hungry eyes was one gorgeous hunk of man. Rolling, to the Post, described his relationship with London as deep as the Amazon river and just as wild!. He reportedly claimed to have used the power of his mind to unlock the door and enter the apartment. He told her the name of the personality, but she couldn't recall it. In 1994, Rolling pleaded guilty to five counts of murder, three counts of sexual battery and three counts of armed burglary in connection with those five slayings. At age 14, Dannys neighbors caught him peeping into their daughters room. As a result of his murder convictions, Rolling was executed by lethal injection on October 25, 2006, and pronounced dead at 6:13 p.m. EDT at Florida State Prison in Starke, approximately 30 miles northeast of Gainesville, Florida, after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Rolling's last-ditch appeal. Following the visit, he was served his last meal, which consisted of a baked potato, butterfly shrimp, a lobster tail, strawberry cheesecake, and sweet tea. His father survived but lost the use of an eye and ear before fleeing to Kansas and Florida, eventually arriving in Gainesville. Lucifer told me eight souls for every year Id done in prison, said Danny Rolling according to CNN. [6] They included: posing of the victims; tape residue on victim's body; and vinegar used to clean the body. In 1994, before his trial could get underway, Rolling unexpectedly pleaded guilty to all charges. A tortured soul since birth, Rolling, a.k.a the Gainesville Ripper, passed on the horrifying abuse he had endured onto his victims. Rolling suggested to investigators last year that he killed a Shreveport woman, her nephew and her father on Nov. 4, 1989, but he has not been charged. He holds a steady job,. "One day, I picked up the phone, I called Crime Stoppers, and I said, 'I think there's one guy y'all need to investigate -- Danny Rolling.'"[6]. Although he was given an opportunity to make an oral statement, Rolling spent the last three minutes prior to his execution singing a gospel song. Rolling was executed in 2006 after singing a hymn and eating a lavish dinner, and never quite achieved his dream of being a superstar like Ted Bundy though he undoubtedly still harbored these dreams in prison. But Danny tried to stay in control and he attended church and struggled to hold down steady work. Around this time, Rolling began corresponding with journalist Sondra London, who would become his fiance and help him put together The Making of a Serial Killer. He took a shower before leaving the apartment. [12][13] Rolling had a last meal of lobster tail. Lewis was a bit of a character on his own: he was the only person to escape from death row in Florida in a 1978 prison break. . He would see that as kind of a sign somebody (is) communicating directly to me through the movie.". Echoing his later killings, Julie was found with bite marks and her body arranged with her legs spread on the bed. Over the course of four days in 1990, Rolling went on a rampage where he murdered five University of Florida students in a spree that terrified the nation. Krop said Rolling has a borderline personality characterized by violent mood swings, impulsive and self-destructive behavior, narcissism and anti-social feelings. Sondra started a correspondence with Rolling, leading to a book and also an engagement. He broke out of prison several times and was fired and quit jobs just as frequently. So now that its been a while, lets find out more about Dannys family, shall we? Back when I was researching Danny Rolling, I wanted to write about a serial killer on a college campus, and an FBI agent hunting down a college professor. Shreveport police alerted Gainesville police to the similarity of the murder scenes, which is what prompted Gainesville Police's interest in Rolling. Sean's final resting place is unknown. Rolling went so far as to cut off the girls nipples and to keep one as a grisly trophy of his actions. Martin Scorsese's 1990 film about Hill and the mafia comes to a climax during the now-infamous Lufthansa Heist. A native of Shreveport, Louisiana, Danny Rolling was the son of James and Claudia Rolling. After a week of gory photographs and lurid details presented by prosecutors, jurors who will recommend whether Rolling should die for his crimes heard more evidence Tuesday of his abused and damaged life. 26 Horrifying Photos Of Holodomor The Ukrainian Famine That Killed Millions, A Look Back At The Disturbing Practice Of Gibbeting, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. In the film, Rolling is portrayed by Zachary Memos.[16]. The song Harold Rollings Hymn from the 2007 John 5 album, The Devil Knows My Name is inspired by Rolling. His first victims were 24-year-old Julie Grissom, her 55-year-old father Tom, and her 8-year-old nephew Sean. She also said that Dobbin told her that Rolling had told him he had a problem. PAGE Cl FLORIDA EXECUTES SERIAL KILLER, Cl CONFESSION Just before being put to death, serial killer, "State Prison at Starke. James also abused and beat Danny, Danny's mother Claudia, and his brother Kevin for frivolous things, such as breathing in a way that displeased him. Those aggressive tendencies and poor impulse control would foreshadow Dannys murderous rage later in his life. executed Wednesday. Rolling then decided he wanted to help Lewis out so that Lewis could strike some sort of deal. . Rolling was executed by lethal injection at Florida State Prison on October 25, 2006, after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a last-ditch appeal. His father, James Rolling, a Shreveport policeman, informed Danny that he was undesired from conception. [citation needed], On April 20, 1994, Rolling was sentenced to death. He ranked fifth in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time." . In the film, Rolling is portrayed by Zachary Memos. April 20, 1994 - Just after Danny Rolling was sentenced to death Wednesday, April 20, 1994, victim brother Mario Taboada jumped to his feet and yelled across the courtroom at Rolling that he would . Danny Rolling was born in Louisiana in 1954. Shippy and Kaza conduct a paranormal investigation in Rolling's childhood home in Shreveport, Louisiana. He claimed his motive was to become a "superstar" similar to Ted Bundy. In February 1994, just before the start of his trial, Rolling abruptly changed his plea to guilty. But the verbal depravity was almost daily, with James telling Danny that he was unwanted or an embarrassment. "You took away the love of my life. Because the spree was happening so early in the fall semester, some students withdrew their enrollment or transferred to other schools. Thus began the streak of the Gainesville Ripper. James also abused and beat Danny, Danny's mother Claudia, and his brother Kevin for frivolous things, such as breathing in a way that displeased him. According to court documents, Lewis even bragged that Rolling, who he called a woman and kid killer wanted him around for security since even the guards would leave him alone if Lewis asked. The Italian fashion designer was coming home from a neighborhood walk when a madman appeared out of nowhere and shot him dead on the steps of his beloved Miami Beach mansion. The killer was a Louisiana drifter who would come to be known as the Gainesville Ripper. Rolling said that he agreed to talk to the task force because someone had trashed his cell, destroying a Valentines Day card he had worked on for more than five hours. Interview with Jim Larson, who describes trying to cope with murder of sister by serial killer Danny Rolling in 1990 and of wife seven years later by man in Orlando, Fla; both killers are together . This was in 1977. The Making of a Serial Killer: The Real Story of the Gainesville Murders. A memorial on 34th Street in Gainesville, Florida, for Rollings victims. Ron Word THE ASSOCIATED PRESS STARKE, Fla. Hendersonville, Henderson County, NC, USA, "; and Monday, December 25. i In The News, Shreveport, Caddo Parish, Louisiana, United States. After high school, Danny joined the Air Force, but was dishonorably discharged after he was arrested for drug possession. father and brother, and eleven songs about heartbreak and outlaws. Meanwhile, the bodies of three victims were found in Shreveport: 24-year-old Julie Grissom, her father Tom Grissom, and her nephew, eight-year-old Sean, who were all killed around the time Danny lost his last job and returned home in vengeance. As he saw several different doctors, Rolling was diagnosed with a number of conditions, including borderline personality disorder and antisocial personality disorder. GAINESVILLE The woman of Danny Rolling's dreams appeared for 75 minutes on Friday, cast doubt on his honesty and then vanished like so many women in his life. TheSouth Florida Sun Sentinel reported 47 people, including a number of his victims' relatives, were present to witness Rolling's execution. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. In 2021, an episode of the ABC primetime true crime television series 20/20 aired the murder case. Spaced over three days, the murders also coincided with a robbery in nearby Ocala. The two married when Claudia was 19-years-old, only to find out that they were pregnant with their first child two weeks later. His time in between stints in jail were spent traveling the country, stealing and occasionally forcing himself on women. 0:00. Jun 29 11:09 His father was a Shreveport police officer named James Rolling, who told Danny that he was unwanted from birth. [citation needed], Shortly after Maines' trip to Shreveport, a Shreveport resident, Cindy Juracich, called Crime Stoppers and reported that Danny Rolling was possibly connected to the murders in both cities. James was a decorated Korean War veteran who worked as a police officer, while Claudia stayed home to care for the children and manage their household. He said Rolling's main problem is his voyeuristic need to peek into windows at women to satisfy his sexual urges and fantasies - which Rolling admitted doing before the killings. Danny Rolling was born in Shreveport, Louisiana. "It was almost as if you could crawl inside and feel his pain," Mills said. Four of Rolling's victims were petite brunettes. They returned to the evidence locker, where the gun, screwdriver, bag of money, and cassette player had been stored, and listened to the tape. In one example of the senior Rolling's sense of discipline, he pinned Danny to the ground and handcuffed him, then had police take his son away because he was embarrassed by him. STARKE - In the end, serial killer Danny Rolling offered no apologies. Chief Assistant Public Defender Johnny Kearns has argued that Rolling was mentally ill during the Gainesville killings, much of it attributable to childhood abuse. Following his arrest, Rolling was interviewed by a number of mental health professionals, who all agreed he had some form of mental illness. Investigators responded to the tip and quickly found Rolling, who had been arrested on September 7, 1990, for an Ocala, Florida, supermarket robbery. The friendship between the two murderers was interrupted by a six-month stint in a mental health facility in Chattahoochee, according to the same court documents, but when Rolling returned to Florida State Prison in December 1992, Lewis continued to seek information. Sondra London collaborated with Rolling on The Making of a Serial Killer: The True Story of the Gainesville Murders in the Killer's Own Words. His role in uncovering details of the Gainesville murders rendered him the focus of press accounts. Except to identify him, she avoided eye contact. Danny Rolling a.k.a. . Danny Rolling broke in May of 1990. The next day he broke into another apartment and. Danny Rolling : biography May 26, 1954 - October 25, 2006 Daniel Harold Rolling (May 26, 1954 - October 25, 2006), also known as The Gainesville Ripper, was an American serial killer who murdered five students in Gainesville, Florida. As in the Powell murder, he forced her to lie face-down onto the bed and stabbed her in the back, rupturing her aorta. It aired July 28, 2013, and tells the story of Rolling's murders in graphic detail. However, as reported by Biography, Rolling's childhood was far from ideal. Daniel Harold Rolling Executed October 25, 2006 06:13 p.m. by Lethal Injection in Florida 47th murderer executed in U.S. in 2006 1051st murderer executed in U.S. since 1976 3rd murderer executed in Florida in 2006 63rd murderer executed in Florida since 1976 Florida victims: (left to right) Christina Powell, Christa Hoyt, As reported by Biography, the resulting film, "Scream," brought "new life into the [horror] genre." Police also considered Brandon Curry. Prosecutors reminded jurors that Kevin Rolling, Danny Rolling's younger brother and closest friend, grew up in the same home and did not become a serial killer. Danny Rolling greets his public defender Trish Jenkins as his mental competency hearing continues at the Marion County Courthouse in Ocala, Florida, on May 31, 1991. A 2007 independent feature film titled The Gainesville Ripper, based on accounts of the killings, was shot in the Gainesville and Jacksonville, Florida areas. Get an all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! However, the killer in the movie had little in common with Danny Rolling, and the completed work had little resemblance to the actual murders. The movie's plot may have also inspired the grisly nature of one of the Gainesville Ripper's first murders. His father was a Shreveport police officer named James Rolling, who told Danny that he was unwanted from birth. Danny Rollings Florida victims: (from left to right) Tracy Inez Paules, Sonja Larson, Manuel Taboada, Christa Hoyt, and Christina Powell. After arriving back at his campsite, Rolling could not find his wallet. Rolling confessed more killings before dying Shortly before he was executed in Florida this week, serial killer Danny Rolling handed his spiritual adviser a handwritten confession to a grisly. Ex-wife O'Mather Lummus, whom Rolling has blamed for much of his troubled life, walked into Alachua Circuit Court to face the man she had not seen in 17 years. As a teenager and young adult, Rolling was arrested several times for robberies in Georgia, and was caught spying on a woman getting dressed. There are now memorials across the University of Florida campus, including five trees planted to honor the victims, and a mural urging students to never forget. STARKE. From Gacy's first sexual assault conviction to his eventual execution, here are the key moments from one of the most notorious murder sprees in U.S. history. The Untold Truth Of Danny Rolling, The Gainesville Ripper, Rolling was not identified as the Gainesville Ripper, The Making of a Serial Killer: The Real Story of the Gainesville Student Murders in the Killer's Own Words. Authorities feel Rolling did not manage to mutilate these bodies because he may have been in danger of getting caught, or was otherwise interrupted. It was only when he was arrested for an unrelated burglary charge that he confessed to some of the most horrific murders in Floridas history and was unmasked as the Gainesville Ripper. Danny's mother rushed to the hospital after alleging that her husband attempted to . "He'd come over every night for a while, and then one night, Steven came in and he goes, 'He's got to go,'" Juracich said. Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! He then flipped her body over and sliced her abdomen open from her pubic bone to her breastbone. In all, Rolling confessed to killing eight people. His mother, Claudia, and later his brother, Kevin. Rolling, 39, fled Louisiana in May 1990 after an argument with his father. As a teenager and young adult, he was arrested several times for robberies in Georgia. 2023 Biography and the Biography logo are registered trademarks of A&E Television Networks, LLC. 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