Danny Harold Rolling (May
26, 1954 – October 25, 2006), also known as The Gainesville
Ripper, was an American
convicted
killer. After confessing to
the murder and mutilation of five students in Gainesville,
Florida
in August 1990, he was ultimately executed. He also confessed to
raping several of his victims, committing an
additional 1989 triple homicide in Shreveport, Louisiana
, and attempting to murder his father in May
1990. In all, Rolling confessed to killing eight
people.
Early years
Danny
Rolling was born to James and Claudia Rolling in Shreveport,
Louisiana. His father, a police officer, was
abusive to both him and his mother, and
later his brother, Kevin. Claudia Rolling made repeated attempts to
leave her husband, but always returned.
After
several incarcerations as a teen and young adult for a string of
robberies in Georgia
, Rolling had trouble trying to assimilate into
society and hold down a steady job. At one point, he worked as a waiter at
Pancho's restaurant in Shreveport,
Louisiana. In 1990, Rolling attempted to kill his
father during an argument.
The Gainesville Ripper
He later
fled to Florida
, where he
began his burglary and robbery spree, which culminated in the murders of
five people in Gainesville. His signature was to arrange the
bodies in such a way as to highlight the carnage in the rooms —
this even included setting up several mirrors and decapitating
and/or posing his victims.
Although law enforcement authorities initially had very few leads,
in November 1991 Rolling was charged with several counts of murder,
and
Alachua County State Attorney Rod Smith oversaw the prosecution.
Rolling
pleaded guilty in court, nearly
four years after the murders occurred. He was subsequently
convicted and sentenced to the
death
penalty on each count.
A second
man, Edward Humphrey of Indialantic, Florida
, was considered an initial suspect in the
Gainesville murders; authorities cleared him of all charges after
Rolling's arrest. Police also considered Brandon
Curry.
Rolling
was known for hiding in Ocala, Florida
in a wooded area that is now a Home Depot.
Subsequently, Rolling confessed via letter from his spiritual
advisor to the Shreveport, Louisiana police, to the killings of
55-year-old William T. Grissom, his 24-year-old daughter Julie and
eight-year-old grandson Sean as they got ready for dinner on
November 4, 1989, in Grissom's home. Shreveport police alerted
Gainesville police to the similarity of the murder scenes, which is
what prompted Gainesville Police's interest in Rolling. Shreveport
police, though holding an open warrant for his arrest, never
pursued
extradition, supposing Florida
would sentence him to death more easily than Louisiana.
Aftermath
Rolling aided the writing career of
Sondra
London, who met him in prison while working with
Gerard John Schaefer and other serial
killers.
Rolling and the Gainesville murders are the subject of the book
Beyond Murder by John Philpin and John Donnelly.
Rolling was the subject of an episode of
Body of Evidence: From
the Case Files of Dayle Hinman, a
Court TV show (transmitted as
Crime
Scene USA: Body of Evidence on Discovery Channel in the UK).
During Rolling's trial,
Court TV ran an
interview with his mother from her home, during which someone
shouting and complaining (presumably Rolling's father) off-camera
can be heard.
A feature
film entitled The Gainesville Ripper is currently in
production in the Gainesville and Jacksonville, Florida
areas, based on the accounts of the
killings. In the film, Rolling is portrayed by
Zachary
Memos.
During his incarceration, Rolling wrote and illustrated a horror
fiction novel,
Sicarius, as well as several songs and
poems. His paintings and various musings are now collected as
"
Murderabilia".
Execution
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. He
showed no
remorse and refused to make any
comments or offer any apology to the relatives of his victims,
several of whom were present at his execution as witnesses. His
last meal consisted of
lobster tail, butterfly
shrimp,
baked potato,
strawberry cheesecake, and
sweet tea. Shortly before his execution,
Rolling confessed to three other murders, those of the Grissom
family in Shreveport.
References
- "The Killer Confesses" Crime Library.
Retrieved on 2006-10-26.
- http://www.c-scribe.com/sicarius/homepage.html
- "Danny Rolling executed, state says" South
Florida Sun-Sentinel (accessed October 25, 2006)
- "Rolling confessed to 3 other murders before
execution"
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