DANIEL HAROLD ROLLING

• IQ: 89
• Highest grade in School: 10th
• Highest degree: GED
• was in the Air force branch of the military (never saw combat duty)

• 11th hr. meeting w/ spiritual adviser revealed details about murder

DANIEL HAROLD ROLLING

aka "The Gainesville Ripper"

November 4, 1989 in Shreveport Louisiana

• 3 victims: Julie Grissom- 24, Sean Grissom- 8, Tom Grissom- 55

• all were wrapped in duct tape

• father & nephew had been stabbed to death

Triple Murder

• Julie was brutally raped & then stabbed to death w/ knife

• when done, cleaned up crime scene & then placed her body in a posing position

LOUISIANA TO FLORIDA?

• 3 family members found stabbed to death in home almost a year before Gainesville crime spree

• DNA linked him to the triple murder in Louisiana

• suspected but never tried for those crimes

• never officially confessed, but Louisiana officials had written communication from Rolling in which he referenced case & provided details only a killer wold know

"In order to fulfill all things that no stone be unturned. Here by I make a formal written statement concerning the murders of Julie, Tom & SEAN GRISSOM in my hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana... HAL CARTER, Julie Grissom's fiancee is 100% INNOCENT - TOTALLY PURE of that crime. I, and I alone am guilty. It was my hand that took those precious lights out of this ole dark world. With all my heart & soul would I could bring them back. Being a native son of Shreveport, I can only offer this confession of deep felt remorse over the loss of such fine - outstanding souls.

Have wept an ocean of tears... By which mournful doth float 'pon a sea of regret."

Danny Rolling

• abused by father (James; police officer) & was reminded that from birth, he was an unwanted child

• suffered physical abuse about 2x/week
• played guitar & would sing prayers
• began fantasizing about sadistic violence (especially sexual)
• masturabted to fantasies of killing people & controlling them
• committed 1st rape of woman who resembled exwife
• committed numerous robberies & wished he were shot while doing them (suicidal but never worked)

• adult: had trouble trying to assimilate into society & hold down steady job

** arrived in Gainesville shorty @ age 36

**had pitched a tent in some woods near campus

** knew victims' house because followed them

• Christina was sleeping downstairs & Sonja was upstairs.

• When he got upstairs, he raped & murdered Sonja by taping up her mouth shut & then stabbing her to death.

August 24, 1990

• instead of waking up Christina, he stood over her briefly and chose to explore the upstairs floor deciding to come back later to rape her after he was done was Sonja

( town house 113 in Williamsburg Village apartments )

SONJA LARSON (17) & CHRISTINA POWELL (18)

• he had raped both girls & then raped 1 after death

She died trying to fend him off

• when he went downstairs, he taped Christina's mouth & her wrists behind her back & threatened her w/ a knife as he cut her clothes off of her

• broke into apartment of Sonja & Christina (didnt need gun or screwdriver since door was unlocked)

• Rolling posed the bodies in sexually provocative positions & left the apartment

• raped her & forced her face-down onto the floor where he stabbed her 5 times in the back

**their bodies were found bounded & mutilated

**their bodies were found on August 26 after parents reported their daughter wasn't responding

CHRISTA HOYT, 18

AUGUST 25, 1990

• broke into the apartment by prying open sliding glass door using KA-BAR knife & screwdriver

waited for her to get home in living room; she didnt get home until 11 AM.

• as she entered, he surprised her from behind holding her in a choke-hold

after she been subdued, he taped her mouth shut & wrists together & took her to her room where he cut her clothes off & raped her

• like the Larson murder, he forced her face-down & stabbed her in the back rupturing her heart

• he decapitated the body & posed the head facing the corpse adding shock of whoever discovered her

** body was found propped up sitting on her bed bent over @ the waist

Rolling had sliced off her nipples & left them inside her abdominal wound; police also discovered that her torso was sliced open from her chest to her pubic bone

THE BEGINNING

Tracy Paules & Manuel Taboada, both 23

August 27, 1990

• Rolling broke into apartment by prying open sliding door w/ same tools he used previously

• Manny was the first person Rolling encountered

he was sleeping, so Rolling took his chance & attempted to kill him while he slept; after a struggle w/ the young man, he eventually succeeded in killing Manny

• Tracy heard strange noises, so she went down the hall & found Rolling

ran to her room & tried to barcade herself, but Rolling broke through the door

posed tracy's body & left Manny's body alone

• Rolling taped her mouth & wrists, cut her clothes off & raped her before turning her to her stomach & stabbing her 3 times on the back to her death

SOO???

• Rolling remained at large until September 8th, when arrested after botched robbery in the central Florida town in Ocala

• He was not charged w/ slayings until 1992 while serving life sentence for armed robbery & other crimes

MOTIVES

• For Confessing:

#1. wanted to clear original suspect

#2. wanted to show his regret to Grissom family

• Murders:

**Vowed to kill a person for each of 8 years spent in prisons in Georgia, Alabama, & Mississippi

**Said wanted to become "superstar" like Ted Bundy

• blamed murders on abuse suffered as a child from father & treatment in prison

behavior was also blamed on evil alter ego he called "Gemini"

CHARGES??

• before his jury for his trial in 1994 was selected, he PLEADED GUILTY to all 5 murders

PRISON TIME

Rolling: "There are some things you just can't run from."

• often drew dark & sexual pictures, which he claimed were based on good & bad multiple personalities

• judge to which he pleaded guilty (Circuit Judge Stan R. Morris) accepted pleas, found him guilty & later sentenced him the death penalty

death penalty for each count

• also wrote a graphic book

VERDICT

• May 1992: sentenced to 5 life terms in prison for multiple accounts of armed robbery

**Rolling to Associated Press: "I do deserve to die, but do I want to die? No. I want to live. Life is difficult to give up."

• June 1992: charged w/ 5 murders & 3 rapes & various other crimes

**Confesses murder of Louisiana on 11th hour w/ spiritual adviser hours before led into death chamber

• February 1994: plead guilty to all counts

• March 24, 1994: 6 weeks after trial, jury returned 5 anonymous recommendations for death penalty

• April 1994: Judge announced his verdict of 5 death sentences

**pleaded guilty because by that time he'd already been serving several life sentences for armed robbery

***total of 4 life sentences + 243.3 yrs for slew of armed robbery convictions

FINAL WORDS:

• "None greater than thee, oh lord"

FINAL/ SPECIAL MEAL:

• lobster tail, shrimp, a baked potato, strawberry cheese cake & sweet tea

• @ age 52, he was pronouced dead @ 6:13 PM; 13 minutes after he started singing & 2 minutes after body stopped quiverring

Lethal dose of chemicals paralyzed lungs & stopped heart

• not once did he mention remorse towards murders in Florida, nor did he sing of pain it caused or asked for forgiveness

**fun fact: he was the 63rd person executed since 1973 when Florida reinstated death penalty

SUMMARY

• triple murder in Louisiana in 1989

• murdered 4 University of Flordia students & 1 Santa Fe community College student in their apartments in 1990

• decapitated 1 victim, posed w/ some of the bodies, removed skin & body parts & arranged murder scenes using props like broken mirrors

TOOLS USED

KA-BAR knife

Screwdriver

Duct Tape

"The Gainesville Ripper"

a total of 8 VICTIMS

Christa Hoyt, 18

Christina Powell, 17

Sonja Larson, 18

Tracy Paules, 23

Manuel Taboada, 23

w/ exception of Taboada, all victims were petite Caucasian brunettes w/ brown eyes

CHARACTERISTICS:

• Paraphilia: intense sexual arousal to atypical objects, situations, or individuals

• Rapist
• Necrophilia: Sexual acts w/ corpse
• Mutilator
• Diagnosed w/ borderline & antisocial personality disorder

DATE OF ARREST:

TIME PERIOD of murders:

• September 8, 1990

• 1989-1990

LOCATIONS OF CRIME:

METHOD OF MURDER:

• stabbing w/ knife

• Shreveport, Louisiana
• Gainesville, Florida

Date of Birth:

May 26, 1954

Status:

executed by lethal injection in Florida on October 25, 2006