00:00:05
-Gainesville, Florida, 1990.
00:00:09
On the 23rd of August,
00:00:11
students Christina Powell
and Sonja Larson
00:00:14
were preparing to start
their freshman year
00:00:17
at the University of Florida.
00:00:19
-They are the very vision
of hope and happiness
00:00:23
and joy for the future.
00:00:25
-But in less than 24 hours,
00:00:27
they would both be dead,
brutally murdered
00:00:30
by a 36-year-old vagrant
named Danny Rolling.
00:00:33
-This is a person
00:00:35
who volcanically
erupted behaviorally.
00:00:37
The hatred, the paranoia,
00:00:39
the psychosis just unleashed
itself upon the world.
00:00:44
-Rolling's passion
for killing grew.
00:00:46
His victims were bound, stabbed,
and mutilated.
00:00:49
Some had been savagely raped.
00:00:52
-His capacity for violence,
and his appetite for violence
00:00:56
was more than anyone
I had ever encountered.
00:01:01
-A reign of terror
had been unleashed.
00:01:03
A serial killer the press dubbed
The Gainesville Ripper
00:01:07
was on the loose.
00:01:08
Danny Rolling was taking
the lives of innocent victims
00:01:11
all over town,
00:01:13
making him one of the world's
most evil killers.
00:01:16
♪♪
00:01:23
♪♪
00:01:29
♪♪
00:01:36
Gainesville, a university city
in inland Florida.
00:01:40
It was here that 36-year-old
drifter Danny Rolling
00:01:44
killed five students
in just four days.
00:01:48
The city was shaken to its core
by the murders,
00:01:51
and, when Rolling was arrested
for armed robbery
00:01:54
on the 7th of September, 1990,
00:01:57
the police had no idea they had
a serial killer in custody.
00:02:03
Retired FBI Special Agent
Ken Porter
00:02:06
worked on the investigation
00:02:08
into the Gainesville
college killings.
00:02:11
-He brought a dark cloud of fear
and terror
00:02:15
amongst the whole community
of Gainesville, Florida
00:02:18
for at least two
or three months,
00:02:20
where people were
just afraid to go out,
00:02:23
afraid to open their doors,
afraid of the dark.
00:02:28
-In that brief spree of killings
in August, 1990,
00:02:35
Rolling effectively terrorized
an entire community.
00:02:38
He reduced the community
to a sense that no one,
00:02:42
and no woman,
in particular, was safe,
00:02:45
that there was a madman
on the loose,
00:02:48
which, indeed, there was.
00:02:50
-Rolling's victims would have
had the most horrendous time
00:02:54
during their ordeals,
because here's somebody
00:02:56
that they don't know
who's coming into their home,
00:02:59
which is their place
of sanctuary,
00:03:01
and attacking them
in the most brutal way.
00:03:03
It really is terror
of an unimaginable degree.
00:03:08
-Former State Attorney Rod Smith
had never encountered
00:03:11
a case featuring such depravity.
00:03:14
-I have no way to measure
comparative evil,
00:03:16
but certainly, he was a guy
whose crimes were,
00:03:18
for this community,
and in this part of the world,
00:03:22
were among the most tragic
and horrific.
00:03:27
-This killer's story
begins in 1954.
00:03:30
Danny Harold Rolling was born
in Shreveport, Louisiana,
00:03:34
on May the 26th.
00:03:36
His 20-year-old mother
fell pregnant
00:03:39
almost immediately
after the couple married,
00:03:42
much to his father's disgust.
00:03:45
-Danny Rolling was a son
of a policeman,
00:03:48
but he wasn't a very
compassionate policeman.
00:03:51
In fact, he was a violent
and abusive father.
00:03:55
-For the rest of Danny's life,
his father would refer to him
00:03:59
as an accident
that should never have happened.
00:04:02
He had a violent temper, and
almost anything young Danny did
00:04:06
was able to ignite it.
00:04:08
-If he didn't breathe properly,
he was beaten by his father.
00:04:12
The slightest thing
would set him off,
00:04:14
and I think if look at that now,
00:04:16
we'd called that
coercive control now.
00:04:18
We'd call that the kind
of behavior that is designed
00:04:21
to chip away
at somebody's self esteem,
00:04:23
that really does destroy
someone's identity.
00:04:27
-Time after time throughout
his childhood,
00:04:30
Rolling was told by
his supremely arrogant father
00:04:35
that he was useless.
00:04:36
He was a useless piece of work
00:04:38
and never would
amount to anything.
00:04:40
-15 months later,
00:04:41
Rolling's mother
would fall pregnant again,
00:04:44
and gave birth
to her second son.
00:04:47
She would continually try
to protect the two boys
00:04:50
from their father's
destructive influence.
00:04:53
-His mother flees several times,
00:04:55
taking him
and his younger brother.
00:04:58
They get away from his abusive,
domineering father,
00:05:01
but she soon goes back
to the home.
00:05:04
So, you got this constant toing
and froing,
00:05:06
this constant state of upheaval,
00:05:08
and this creates an environment
that isn't safe,
00:05:11
that isn't secure.
00:05:13
-To add to Rolling's insecurity,
00:05:15
his mother, his only
form of stability,
00:05:18
was struggling
with mental-health issues.
00:05:20
Despite him needing her,
she wasn't always around.
00:05:24
Still a young child, Rolling's
existence became a solitary one.
00:05:29
He would hide in the woods
or wander the neighborhood
00:05:32
to escape the constant abuse
from his father.
00:05:35
-He would go out at night
00:05:37
when his parents
didn't know about it,
00:05:39
and he would look through the
windows of the neighbor's homes,
00:05:41
and he'd see them
around the kitchen table,
00:05:44
around the dinner table,
happy families all together,
00:05:47
and he's got that
building resentment.
00:05:50
"Why have these people got this
when I haven't?
00:05:52
What's wrong with me?"
00:05:54
And that's something
that continues to bubble away
00:05:56
in the background.
00:05:58
-Rolling yearned
for a normal family,
00:06:00
the kind of home life that
everyone else appeared to have.
00:06:04
The suffering at the hands
of his father,
00:06:07
coupled with his mother's
mental instability,
00:06:09
sent him on a downward spiral.
00:06:13
-Now, the impact this had on
quite a suggestible child
00:06:16
was severe.
00:06:18
Now, I'm not suggesting
for a second
00:06:19
that Rolling's father made
Rolling into a serial killer,
00:06:22
but there was no doubt
at all there was
00:06:23
a very great deal of animosity
between father and son.
00:06:29
-As a teenager,
Rolling continued
00:06:31
to escape his home life.
00:06:33
He spent even more time
wandering the neighborhood,
00:06:36
and around the age of 13,
his innocent childhood pastime
00:06:40
of watching families
became sexually motivated.
00:06:45
-Rolling had a habit of stalking
people, and he would watch them.
00:06:50
That voyeurism that develops
during his early years,
00:06:54
when he'd look
through the windows
00:06:55
of the happy families
in his neighborhood,
00:06:57
and have that
simmering resentment,
00:06:59
turned into something else.
00:07:00
It turned into something
quite sinister.
00:07:03
-Rolling took
a particular interest
00:07:05
in watching young women.
00:07:07
He was caught several times
00:07:09
and began to get a reputation
as a peeping tom.
00:07:13
His life had now started on
a destructive path of crime.
00:07:18
-It was that classic
serial-killer pattern --
00:07:22
petty crime, small offenses,
00:07:25
gradually escalating into
greater and greater offenses.
00:07:29
-By now, he'd started
drinking heavily.
00:07:32
In 1971, age 16, a drunk Rolling
had a fight with his father,
00:07:37
and he was locked up
for two weeks
00:07:39
in a juvenile detention center.
00:07:42
In an effort to escape
his abusive home,
00:07:45
Rolling then dropped out of high
school and joined the Air Force.
00:07:49
-And I think what he's
essentially doing here
00:07:51
is looking for some structure.
00:07:53
He's looking for a sense
of belonging.
00:07:55
This is somebody who's always
felt rejected,
00:07:58
who's always felt excluded,
00:08:00
and for many people who join the
military, it's a family to them.
00:08:04
It's rules, it's structure, it's
routine, it's a way of life.
00:08:08
-Rolling initially thrived
in the military,
00:08:11
but his drinking evolved
to substance abuse
00:08:14
and led to an early discharge.
00:08:16
After barely a year's service,
he returned to the home
00:08:19
in Shreveport
he desperately tried to escape.
00:08:23
Nevertheless, Rolling appeared
to turn his life around.
00:08:27
He started attending the United
Pentecostal Church
00:08:30
where he met a young woman
in the congregation.
00:08:33
It was love at first sight,
00:08:35
and in 1974, when Danny was
just 20, the couple married.
00:08:40
A year later, they welcomed
a baby daughter.
00:08:43
-When he was first married,
you know,
00:08:45
he was a very religious guy
00:08:46
in a kind of hyper-religious
area out of Shreveport,
00:08:50
went to a very
Pentecostal church,
00:08:52
had a very black-and-white view
of the world,
00:08:56
of the ongoing battle
between good and evil.
00:09:00
-Things looked like
they might be on the up for him,
00:09:03
but he's still drinking,
he's unemployed,
00:09:06
he's not the kind of man
that he thinks he should be.
00:09:09
-In 1977, after just
three years of marriage,
00:09:13
Rolling's wife filed
for divorce.
00:09:16
The 23-year-old was devastated
by her rejection.
00:09:20
-And this is something
that I don't think
00:09:22
he just moved beyond.
00:09:24
The very fact that his wife
is the person that chooses
00:09:27
to end their relationship,
00:09:28
she's taking the control away
from him.
00:09:31
So, we're just adding to these
resentments all of the time.
00:09:35
-At around the time
his wife left him,
00:09:37
Rolling was working
in a local bakery.
00:09:40
He had an accident
with a bread-slicing machine
00:09:43
and lost part of his finger.
00:09:45
It seemed everything was
going wrong for Danny Rolling.
00:09:49
He stole his father's gun
and embarked on a series of
00:09:52
armed robberies
across Mississippi,
00:09:55
Alabama, and Georgia,
but he was soon arrested.
00:09:58
By 1989, after spending a total
of eight years behind bars,
00:10:03
Rolling found himself,
once again,
00:10:05
back in the family home
in Shreveport.
00:10:09
-Aware that he doesn't amount
to anything
00:10:12
and only too conscious
of his father's horror
00:10:14
at his uselessness,
he's 35 years old,
00:10:17
he's virtually amounted
to nothing until now,
00:10:21
Rolling decides to prove
that he does do something,
00:10:27
and he chooses to kill.
00:10:29
-Danny Rolling had grown up
thinking he was worthless.
00:10:32
He'd failed at high school,
in his military career,
00:10:35
and in marriage.
00:10:37
In 1989, at the age of 35,
he found work at a restaurant
00:10:41
in his hometown
of Shreveport, Louisiana,
00:10:44
but even this
resulted in failure.
00:10:46
On November the 4th, he was
fired for missing his shift.
00:10:50
Rolling claimed his boss
had changed the roster
00:10:53
without telling him
00:10:54
and was aggrieved
at his wrongful dismissal.
00:10:58
-Rolling is somebody
who I would refer to
00:11:00
as a grievance collector.
00:11:02
So, throughout his life,
00:11:04
he's harboring
all of these resentments.
00:11:06
There are various events
where the heat is turned up,
00:11:09
and I think the significant one
for me
00:11:11
is when he loses his job
at a local restaurant.
00:11:15
Now, usually, he would take this
fairly quietly,
00:11:18
and he'd internalize his trauma,
00:11:20
and that resentment
would bubble away,
00:11:22
but on this occasion,
he externalizes.
00:11:25
He threatens his manager,
he shouts at him.
00:11:28
You see this rage
begin to come out,
00:11:31
and this is the day
of his first killing.
00:11:35
-Enraged by his mistreatment
at work, that night,
00:11:38
Rolling took his sinister hobby
00:11:40
of stalking to a whole
new level -- a deadly one.
00:11:44
He'd grown infatuated
with a 24-year-old
00:11:47
department-store worker
named Julie Grissom.
00:11:51
-He had decided that he wanted
her, essentially.
00:11:54
So, he followed her home,
and he spied on her,
00:11:58
he saw her with her family,
00:12:00
which included her father, Tom,
and Tom's grandson Sean,
00:12:05
and he's got this vision
of this perfect family
00:12:08
in front of him again.
00:12:09
So, he's thinking,
"Why have these people got this
00:12:11
when I haven't got this?
00:12:13
I feel really aggrieved, I feel
really resentful about this."
00:12:17
-The back door of the house
was unlocked.
00:12:19
Armed with a knife,
Rolling let himself in
00:12:22
and begins a violent attack
on the whole family,
00:12:25
brutally stabbing all of them.
00:12:27
-And on that evening,
he kills Julie.
00:12:30
He rapes her, he assaults her,
he also kills Tom,
00:12:34
he kills Sean, as well.
00:12:36
So, he wipes out three
generations of an entire family.
00:12:40
But it was the attack
on 8-year-old Sean
00:12:42
that was particularly horrific.
00:12:45
-Sean was stabbed with such
force that the knife went
00:12:49
all the way through him
and stuck in the ground.
00:12:52
That is a sort of extreme level
of violence
00:12:55
that even us forensic
pathologists has really seen.
00:12:58
It really tells you something
about what the person
00:13:02
is thinking
when he commits that murder.
00:13:05
-After raping and killing
Sean's Aunt Julie,
00:13:08
Rolling carefully cleaned her,
00:13:10
put her dirty clothes
in the washing machine,
00:13:12
and posed her body
provocatively.
00:13:15
-I think that Rolling saw this
as vindication
00:13:21
that he amounted to something.
00:13:23
That this was his handiwork.
00:13:26
This was something
he was good at.
00:13:28
-Rolling fled.
00:13:29
Two days later,
00:13:31
a neighbor discovered
the gruesome murder scene.
00:13:34
The small town of Shreveport
was in shock.
00:13:37
Rolling had a secret
that nobody else knew.
00:13:40
For the first time,
he'd succeeded at something.
00:13:43
He had been in control,
and he liked it.
00:13:47
Six months later,
00:13:48
Rolling had yet another
altercation with his father.
00:13:52
-The Shreveport murders gave
Rolling the courage to confront
00:13:57
the man who'd humiliated him,
emasculated him over years.
00:14:03
He gets into a full-scale,
drag-out fight
00:14:08
with his police-officer father.
00:14:11
It is so severe that Rolling
shoots his father,
00:14:15
and, indeed, his father loses
one eye and an ear in the fight.
00:14:20
-Empowered by confronting
his nemesis
00:14:22
and seemingly getting away
with the Grissom family murders,
00:14:25
it was time for a newly
confident Rolling to move on.
00:14:29
In May, 1990, the 36-year-old
left his home in Shreveport
00:14:33
for the last time
00:14:35
and headed for the university
city of Gainesville, Florida
00:14:39
to feed his newfound
appetite for killing.
00:14:42
-Many people ask, "Well, why did
Rolling target a college town?
00:14:46
What was so special about it,
that drew him to that place?"
00:14:51
And I think that was because
it symbolized
00:14:53
the very thing
that he resented --
00:14:56
young people, successful people,
people who had opportunities,
00:15:01
and he is just a pot
of simmering resentment,
00:15:04
and it's no surprise to me
that he takes it out on people
00:15:08
who he wants to be like,
people who he feels envious of.
00:15:13
-En route to Gainesville,
Rolling's trip included a stop
00:15:16
in Florida's state capital,
Tallahassee.
00:15:19
-He got off at the bus station
in Tallahassee
00:15:22
and clearly had already
made plans
00:15:23
as to what he was going to do.
00:15:26
He bought a Ka-Bar knife there,
at an Army/Navy store
00:15:30
right there by the bus station.
00:15:32
-Armed with his Ka-Bar
combat knife,
00:15:34
once he arrived in Gainesville,
00:15:36
Rolling set up a makeshift camp
in the woods.
00:15:40
-He was a vagrant,
00:15:42
a bum, if you like,
00:15:44
but he had a purpose,
00:15:46
and his purpose was a
very particular kind of victim.
00:15:51
-Danny primarily targeted
young women,
00:15:54
and they were always
young brunettes,
00:15:56
like his former wife had been.
00:15:58
I was always struck by the fact
that, for the most part,
00:16:01
his victims were of a type.
00:16:04
-On the 23rd of August, 1990,
00:16:07
new roommates Christina Powell
and Sonja Larson
00:16:10
were preparing for the beginning
of the fall semester
00:16:13
at the University of Florida.
00:16:16
-They're 17 and 18 years old,
they're freshmen.
00:16:19
This is the start of an exciting
period in their lives.
00:16:23
-Someone else was enjoying
their excitement, too.
00:16:27
That evening, they caught
the attention of Danny Rolling.
00:16:31
-And he's watching them
through the window.
00:16:33
He can see them giggling
along together,
00:16:35
having a nice time,
washing the dishes.
00:16:38
You can just imagine the kind
of conversations they're having
00:16:40
about the things they're excited
about at university.
00:16:44
-Rolling has been watching them.
00:16:46
In fact, he's probably spent
the best part of the night
00:16:48
outside in the woods
just behind the apartment block.
00:16:52
In the early hours,
he breaks in.
00:16:56
He used very
specific equipment --
00:16:58
a screwdriver to get in
through a sliding door
00:17:01
that most of these girls had,
00:17:03
and a Ka-Bar knife,
which he also used.
00:17:08
Those two elements
were his signature.
00:17:12
-Rolling found Christina asleep
on the couch downstairs
00:17:16
and Sonja in bed upstairs.
00:17:18
-So, he's decided that Christina
is the one that he wants.
00:17:22
So, he gets Sonja
out of the way first.
00:17:26
-He leaves Christina Powell
asleep on the couch
00:17:29
and creeps upstairs
00:17:32
and attacks Sonja Larson
while she's asleep.
00:17:36
He puts duct tape over her mouth
to prevent her screaming,
00:17:39
and also, of course, to prevent
her waking up Christina,
00:17:42
who's asleep downstairs.
00:17:44
-Rolling stabbed Sonja
repeatedly until she was dead.
00:17:49
He then made his way
back downstairs to Christina,
00:17:52
who was still asleep
on the couch.
00:17:54
-He wakes her, puts duct tape
over her mouth
00:17:58
to prevent her screaming,
tapes her hands behind her back,
00:18:03
and proceeds to cut off
her clothes and underclothes
00:18:07
and rape her
with a knife to her throat.
00:18:10
He then turns her onto her face
00:18:13
and stabs her
five times in the back.
00:18:17
It's an act of
the grotesque wickedness.
00:18:20
-As with his first female
victim, Julie, in Shreveport,
00:18:24
Rolling washed
and posed his victims.
00:18:28
-I suspect
the posing of the body
00:18:30
has to do with
his last vision of the body.
00:18:36
He can't take a photograph --
too dangerous.
00:18:40
So, what he does is
his sexual conquest --
00:18:43
and, remember,
this woman was a sexual conquest
00:18:45
a matter of moments ago --
he cleans her up,
00:18:48
because there's nothing
arousing or exciting
00:18:51
about her as a bloodied body.
00:18:54
Cleans her up, poses her,
and I suspect at that moment,
00:18:59
the flash camera of his brain
00:19:01
takes one last look
before leaving.
00:19:04
-Barely a day later,
on August the 25th,
00:19:07
Rolling broke into the home
of his next victim.
00:19:11
18-year-old Christa Hoyt
was a community-college student
00:19:15
and a part-time overnight clerk
at the local Sheriff's office.
00:19:20
-Once again, he broke in through
a sliding door
00:19:23
using a screwdriver.
00:19:26
Once again, he was carrying
his Ka-Bar knife.
00:19:29
Once again, he was targeting
an innocent student
00:19:34
who had her whole life
in front of her.
00:19:37
This time, however, Christa Hoyt
wasn't at home when he broke in.
00:19:43
-Rolling patiently waited
for his victim to return.
00:19:47
When Christa arrived
at around 11:00 AM,
00:19:49
he was ready.
00:19:52
-He starts with a choke hold,
he renders her unconscious,
00:19:56
he then binds her wrists,
he gags her...
00:20:00
-Cuts her clothes off after
she's taped, has sex with her,
00:20:05
kills her by stabbing her
in the back --
00:20:08
actually punctures her aorta,
00:20:09
which is virtually
instant death.
00:20:11
-But what he's done after
she dies shows
00:20:15
a development in his technique.
00:20:17
So, he not only poses her
in a provocative position.
00:20:21
He actually beheads her
and places her head
00:20:24
in such a way that she is
looking at her own mutilated,
00:20:30
posed body.
00:20:31
-Sometimes, if people
are psychotic,
00:20:33
they have some delusion
about the head.
00:20:37
It's almost as if they're afraid
00:20:39
that killing them
didn't kill them.
00:20:41
Removing the head and being able
to look at the head
00:20:46
detached from the body
00:20:48
is a complete reassurance
that the person is really dead.
00:20:52
-Through the violent murder of
Christa Hoyt, it seemed Rolling
00:20:55
was also settling old scores
from his past.
00:20:59
-Many people who have observed
that Christa bore
00:21:02
quite a resemblance
to Rolling's ex-wife,
00:21:05
the woman who had rejected him,
and it's no surprise to me
00:21:08
that this was possibly
the most violent of his murders,
00:21:12
the one where the most rage
was expressed.
00:21:15
-The residents of Gainesville
were blissfully unaware
00:21:18
that a killer was on the loose.
00:21:20
The town's students were
full of hope and excitement
00:21:23
at the start
of the new college year.
00:21:27
Danny Rolling had killed and
mutilated three female students
00:21:31
in less than 48 hours.
00:21:33
The parents of Rolling's
first victims in Gainesville,
00:21:37
Christina and Sonja,
were becoming concerned
00:21:40
at not being able
to contact their daughters.
00:21:43
At 4:00 PM on Sunday,
the 26th of August,
00:21:46
two days after they were killed,
police entered their apartment
00:21:50
and discovered the horrifying
truth behind their silence.
00:21:54
Just hours later,
Rolling's third victim, Christa,
00:21:58
had failed to turn up for work.
00:22:01
-Christa Hoyt worked at the
local county Sheriff's office,
00:22:04
and she was
a very reliable employee.
00:22:05
She was never late for work,
00:22:07
it was completely out
of character
00:22:09
for her not to turn up on time.
00:22:11
So, when she didn't show up
for her shift,
00:22:13
which began at midnight,
00:22:15
two officers went to her home
to see what was going on,
00:22:17
and they came across
the most horrendous scene.
00:22:20
-The Gainesville community
was learning
00:22:23
that some of their students
had been butchered.
00:22:25
Over night, it had gone
from a serene college town
00:22:29
to a place where its residents
cowered behind closed doors
00:22:32
in fear for their lives.
00:22:34
But Danny Rolling's
killing spree wasn't over.
00:22:38
On the same day officers
discovered his latest victim,
00:22:41
Rolling had broken into
another apartment.
00:22:45
His next chosen victim
was 23-year-old Tracy Paules.
00:22:50
-He knows that she lives
in an apartment
00:22:54
not far from where his den,
his hide, in the woods is.
00:22:58
-By then, people were alerted
that something was going on.
00:23:02
We know that because we actually
have a tape recording of Tracy,
00:23:06
and it's a phone recording
in which she basically
00:23:09
is telling someone else,
as I was recall,
00:23:12
Tracy was uncomfortable,
and she said,
00:23:14
"If Manuel doesn't show up
pretty soon, I'm leaving."
00:23:17
And Manuel was working that
evening, and Manny came home.
00:23:21
Well, when he came home,
you know,
00:23:23
I guess the feeling was that
all was safer and more normal.
00:23:27
-Manny, or Manuel, Taboada,
was Tracy's burly 6'2"
00:23:31
college roommate.
00:23:33
Unaware that Tracy had company,
00:23:35
Rolling followed
his usual plan of attack --
00:23:38
breaking in through the sliding
door with a screwdriver,
00:23:41
armed with his
Ka-Bar knife and a gun.
00:23:44
But this time,
he was in for a surprise.
00:23:46
-Danny did not realize
that Manuel had come home.
00:23:49
So, he thought he was going into
an apartment
00:23:51
that had one or two women in it.
00:23:53
Manuel was not the target,
but when he checked the room,
00:23:56
he found Manuel, and actually,
when he stabbed Manuel,
00:24:00
Manuel came alive and fought him
for a sustained period of time.
00:24:04
-Hearing Manuel's screams,
Tracy awoke
00:24:07
and went to investigate.
00:24:09
She was greeted with
a most horrific scene.
00:24:12
Terrified, she raced down
the corridor
00:24:14
and locked herself in her room.
00:24:18
-And now, all that stands
between Tracy and Danny Rolling
00:24:23
is a flimsy bedroom door.
00:24:30
He literally bursts through it,
breaks it down.
00:24:33
-Tracy was now
at the mercy of a killer.
00:24:37
-Rolling taped her mouth,
taped her hands behind her back,
00:24:40
as he'd done
to his other victims,
00:24:42
cut off her T-shirt,
and raped her.
00:24:45
Once again, he turned her
onto her face and stabbed
00:24:49
her three times
in the back, killing her.
00:24:52
Once again, he cleaned
and posed the body.
00:24:56
This was a killing spree --
00:24:58
a spree aimed at,
to some extent,
00:25:01
in cleansing him of the feeling
that he was worthless.
00:25:05
-The repetition in his crimes
was all part
00:25:08
of Rolling's design.
00:25:10
He wanted to leave
behind a signature
00:25:12
so that the world would know
00:25:14
he had finally succeeded
in something.
00:25:17
By now, police have discovered
three of his victims.
00:25:20
The entire city was in turmoil.
00:25:22
Ken Porter was an FBI agent
at the time
00:25:25
and was part of a task force
00:25:27
assigned to investigate
the multiple killings.
00:25:31
-I was driving to work on
Monday Morning, August 27th,
00:25:34
and I heard a news report
on the radio of three murders
00:25:40
that had been discovered
over the weekend,
00:25:42
and was just shocked
as I was driving in,
00:25:45
because things like that
had not happened in Gainesville.
00:25:49
-The task force had immediately
identified similarities
00:25:52
between the crimes.
00:25:54
-He appeared to be looking
for young, college-aged females
00:26:00
with brunette hair
of a small, petite build.
00:26:05
That was the profile
of the three victims
00:26:07
that had been discovered
up to that point.
00:26:11
-On the very day
that Gainesville learned
00:26:13
they had a serial killer
on the loose,
00:26:15
Rolling committed
an armed robbery
00:26:18
at the local branch
of the First Union Bank.
00:26:21
It heightened the fear
felt amongst the community.
00:26:24
The next morning, on Tuesday,
the 28th of August,
00:26:27
the bodies of Manuel and Tracy
were discovered.
00:26:31
Tracy fit the profile
of the previous female victims.
00:26:34
She was a young
female college student,
00:26:38
kind of petite in build,
brunette hair.
00:26:41
She was also killed in the same
manner as the other three --
00:26:45
with a knife, stab wounds,
mutilated body,
00:26:49
and, immediately, everybody knew
that it was the same killer.
00:26:54
-The people of Gainesville
were now terrified.
00:26:57
With the body count rising day
by day, anyone could be next.
00:27:01
The authorities were determined
to catch this monster
00:27:04
before he struck again.
00:27:06
During their investigations
into the murders
00:27:09
and the armed bank robbery,
00:27:11
police came across two men
acting suspiciously.
00:27:14
-So, these two officers
followed them into the woods,
00:27:18
they came upon a campsite
that had been carved out of this
00:27:22
densely wooded area
near the university campus.
00:27:26
-Unbeknownst to the officers,
00:27:27
one of these men
was Danny Rolling.
00:27:31
-The police saw Rolling
and a drug dealer friend
00:27:34
of his at the campsite.
00:27:36
Now, when Rolling clocked
that the police
00:27:38
were watching him, he fled.
00:27:40
He just upped and he left.
00:27:43
-Rolling's drug dealer
was apprehended,
00:27:45
but the killer himself
had slipped into the night.
00:27:48
-They look around the campsite,
00:27:50
and they notice there's
a camping tent set up there,
00:27:53
and they noticed
a few things inside this tent.
00:27:57
They saw this money
that was covered in this pink,
00:28:00
reddish dye,
and they knew right away,
00:28:02
"Oh, this might be the proceeds
or evidence
00:28:04
from the bank robbery."
00:28:06
They also found a gun
that matched the description
00:28:09
of the handgun that was used
in the bank robbery.
00:28:12
-But there were also
some other items
00:28:13
which were quite perplexing.
00:28:15
So, there was a ski mask,
there were a pair of trousers,
00:28:19
there was some pubic hair,
00:28:21
and they didn't make
the connection at the time
00:28:24
between the murders
and the items at this campsite,
00:28:27
but they did back them up,
00:28:29
and they were to prove
incredibly valuable
00:28:31
when the pieces
were put together.
00:28:34
-With an entire town
under the glare
00:28:35
of the national media spotlight,
00:28:38
the FBI were under pressure
to find the killer.
00:28:41
On August the 30th,
amid the panic and chaos
00:28:43
on campus, police identified
a 19-year-old freshman
00:28:47
with mental health issues
as a suspect.
00:28:50
Edward Humphrey lived
in the same apartment complex
00:28:53
as the last two victims
00:28:55
and had been outwardly
aggressive to other students.
00:28:59
-Two days after
the final murder,
00:29:02
he was involved in a physical
battle with his grandmother,
00:29:05
which involved him hitting her,
and the police arrested him.
00:29:10
-Mr. Humphrey's behavior
00:29:12
was such that
he was highly conspicuous.
00:29:14
I mean, he was loud,
he was drunk,
00:29:17
he was off his medication,
he had had brain injuries,
00:29:21
he was out of control a lot,
even in restaurants.
00:29:24
-Humphrey's grandmother
didn't want to press charges,
00:29:27
but the state decided that,
00:29:29
in order to keep their prime
suspect in custody, they would.
00:29:33
They posted bail at
an unachievable $1 million
00:29:37
and took DNA samples
from the suspect,
00:29:40
hoping to conclusively link him
with the college murders.
00:29:44
-He was under investigation
quite heavily
00:29:47
because a lot of the evidence
pointed to him
00:29:50
as a possible suspect.
00:29:52
Word of that leaked out
to the press,
00:29:54
so he became a focus
of the media
00:29:58
as well as a focus
of the investigation.
00:30:00
-I think everybody was so
desperate to solve
00:30:03
what had happened here
for a lot of reasons,
00:30:06
one of which is just
a sense of security that,
00:30:08
"They got the guy."
00:30:10
-Now it seemed that police
had their serial killer
00:30:12
and the prime suspect
for the bank robbery,
00:30:15
Rolling's drug dealer friend,
both in custody.
00:30:18
Despite the incriminating
evidence at the campsite,
00:30:21
the FBI weren't convinced
this was their man.
00:30:24
-For some reason, I just felt
00:30:27
that this was not
our bank robber.
00:30:29
He seemed to me to be
totally clueless
00:30:31
about how to rob a bank.
00:30:33
-But, you never give up
on somebody
00:30:35
until you do the investigation.
00:30:38
So, over the next
couple of days,
00:30:40
my partner and I started
conducting investigations
00:30:43
to determine
if this individual was,
00:30:45
in fact, the bank robber or not.
00:30:48
-Meanwhile, the FBI's real
killer and bank robber,
00:30:52
Danny Rolling,
was still on the run.
00:30:55
-He stole a car,
he drove to Tampa,
00:30:57
he committed three robberies,
including holding up
00:31:00
a convenience store
on September the 2nd,
00:31:03
and five days later, he tries
to commit another robbery,
00:31:06
this time in a store in Ocala,
where he holds the manager
00:31:11
to ransom and demands
he opens the safe,
00:31:14
but, unfortunately, other people
realized what's happening,
00:31:16
the police are called,
00:31:17
and Rolling is unable
to escape this time.
00:31:21
-Rolling was finally taken
into custody
00:31:23
and awaiting trial for
the Ocala supermarket robbery.
00:31:26
But in Gainesville,
the investigation
00:31:28
into the student slayings
had hit a dead end.
00:31:31
DNA evidence had proven
00:31:33
that prime suspect Edward
Humphrey was not their killer.
00:31:37
-He found himself at
the center of this investigation
00:31:40
when police named him
as a potential suspect,
00:31:43
but this was a rabbit hole
that was going to lead nowhere,
00:31:46
and it really was a distraction.
00:31:49
-Without another suspect
for the murders,
00:31:51
the investigation came
to a standstill.
00:31:54
The Gainesville community
had believed the perpetrator
00:31:57
of these horrific killings
was safely locked up.
00:32:01
It had given them
a false sense of security.
00:32:04
But now they knew the truth.
00:32:06
There was a serial killer
still at large.
00:32:09
A dark cloud of fear and panic
00:32:11
hung over the Gainesville
community once again.
00:32:18
-Serial killer Danny Rolling
had been arrested
00:32:20
for a grocery store robbery
in nearby Ocala,
00:32:24
but the investigations into
the Gainesville murders
00:32:26
and bank robbery he committed
in the city were still ongoing.
00:32:31
No link had been made between
the crimes or to Rolling.
00:32:35
The serial number of the gun
used in the bank robbery
00:32:38
was traced
to its registered owner
00:32:40
three hours south
in the coastal city of Sarasota.
00:32:44
So, FBI agents
went to interview him.
00:32:47
-So, the guy told a story
of selling it to some vagrant,
00:32:51
some guy who was just
passing through town
00:32:53
who wanted to buy the gun.
00:32:54
Sold it to him for cash.
00:32:57
And the agent asked him,
00:32:59
"Well, was there anything
that stood out about this guy?
00:33:02
Anything that you can remember
00:33:03
that would help us identify
who he was?"
00:33:07
-Officers were told the gun
had been sold to a vagrant
00:33:10
who had
a very distinctive attribute.
00:33:14
-We were in a task force
meeting one morning,
00:33:17
and I started recalling what
this FBI agent had reported,
00:33:22
that the individual --
the gun used in the bank robbery
00:33:25
had been sold to an individual
who had a missing finger,
00:33:29
and one of
the Florida Department
00:33:31
of Law Enforcement agents
stood up and says, "Holy shit!"
00:33:37
And the whole room falls silent.
00:33:40
-And he proceeds
to explain that,
00:33:43
during the crime scene
investigation
00:33:45
of the first murders
00:33:47
of Christina Powell
and Sonja Larson,
00:33:51
that they found a piece
of paper towel
00:33:56
on the counter
in the kitchen.
00:33:58
On one side was the imprint
of a man's penis,
00:34:02
as if he were wiping himself off
after conducting a sex act.
00:34:08
On the other side of the paper
was a hand print
00:34:12
with a finger missing.
00:34:15
And it was at that point
that everybody realized
00:34:18
the bank robber
is the murderer.
00:34:22
The problem is we still
didn't know who that was.
00:34:27
-Once that connection
had been made,
00:34:29
the crime lab began reexamining
00:34:31
other exhibits
from the woodland campsite
00:34:34
in connection
with the student murders.
00:34:37
-Among the elements of
significance were a ski mask
00:34:43
whose fibers matched the duct
tape found at the third murder,
00:34:48
Christa Hoyt's pubic hairs
were found
00:34:52
on Rolling's sleeping bag
at the campsite,
00:34:55
blood on a pair of his trousers
was found to be Manny Taboada's,
00:35:01
a screwdriver was found
which matched the marks
00:35:04
on the sliding doors by which
he'd got into the apartments,
00:35:08
but the most significant,
perhaps, of all,
00:35:10
was there was
a series of audio tapes.
00:35:13
-In these disturbing recordings,
00:35:16
Rolling alluded to the horror
that he was about to unleash.
00:35:39
As more details of the
Gainesville killings emerged,
00:35:43
police in Shreveport,
Louisiana, realized
00:35:45
that there were significant
similarities between these cases
00:35:49
and the unsolved murders
of the Grissom family in 1989.
00:35:53
They suspected all eight
homicides may be connected,
00:35:57
but the identity of this serial
killer remained a mystery.
00:36:01
-After a period of time
when it became evident
00:36:04
that the murderer
had either left Florida
00:36:07
or had been arrested,
00:36:08
because no further murders
had been committed
00:36:11
that matched that M.O.,
00:36:13
a decision was made
to test the DNA
00:36:16
of all inmates in Florida
who had been arrested between --
00:36:20
I think it was like a
three- or a four-month window --
00:36:23
anybody who had been arrested
during that time frame
00:36:25
was gonna have their DNA
checked against the DNA
00:36:27
on the homicides.
00:36:30
-Danny Rolling was in jail
pending the trial
00:36:32
for the armed robbery of the
grocery store in nearby Ocala,
00:36:37
so he was on the list
to have his DNA checked
00:36:39
against the killer's.
00:36:41
He also had a partially missing
finger on his left hand.
00:36:45
-They obtained his profile,
and lo and behold, they matched,
00:36:49
and they've got their man.
00:36:51
-On the 24th of January, 1991,
as a result of DNA testing,
00:36:56
Rolling became the prime suspect
00:36:58
in the Gainesville
student murders.
00:37:01
Brian Jarvis was a sergeant
covering major crimes
00:37:05
in Marion County,
where Rolling was brought in
00:37:08
for questioning in connection
with the murders.
00:37:12
-When Danny walked into the
interview room, he was shackled.
00:37:16
He had a lot of anxiety,
his left leg would tap,
00:37:19
it would shuffle,
00:37:20
he would be scratching his leg,
or picking lint off of it.
00:37:23
In fact, there was one
or two points
00:37:25
there where the detective
offered to show him
00:37:27
the photos of the crime scene,
said, "I want to make sure
00:37:29
you know what
we're talking about here,"
00:37:31
and Danny couldn't
look at them.
00:37:33
He turned his head away,
and he reacted,
00:37:34
he said,
"I don't want to see that."
00:37:36
-On September 18, 1991,
Danny Rolling was convicted
00:37:41
for three counts
of attempted armed robbery
00:37:43
and two counts
of aggravated assault
00:37:45
on a law enforcement officer.
00:37:47
He was jailed for life.
00:37:49
Finally, two months later,
00:37:51
Rolling was indicted on five
counts of first-degree murder
00:37:55
for the atrocities
in Gainesville.
00:37:57
-Rolling is indicted
for the murders,
00:38:00
and he initially
pleads not guilty,
00:38:03
but he does begin to confess,
00:38:06
and he doesn't do this
in a standard traditional way,
00:38:09
where he sits down with officers
or prosecutors
00:38:12
and tells them what happened.
00:38:13
-He actually speaks through
a fellow inmate of his.
00:38:17
-Once the details of his crimes
00:38:19
were revealed
through his fellow prisoner,
00:38:21
Rolling himself
broke his silence
00:38:23
and spoke to the investigators.
00:38:25
He blamed the atrocities
on a personality disorder.
00:38:50
-And then another one, the evil
one that causes him to kill,
00:38:54
Gemini, was the personality
really responsible.
00:39:11
-Now, in my view, it was not
gonna be about
00:39:13
whether he'd found guilty,
00:39:14
but whether or not
he was gonna be executed.
00:39:16
-With a potential death sentence
now hanging over him,
00:39:19
Rolling's trial was set
for February 15, 1994,
00:39:23
in Gainesville, Florida.
00:39:25
On the opening day in court,
00:39:26
the prosecution was prepared for
an insanity plea from Rolling,
00:39:31
but he was to surprise everyone.
00:39:33
-Sure enough, he got up,
and he stepped forward,
00:39:36
and he addressed the court,
and he confessed to the crimes,
00:39:40
and, of course,
the outburst was --
00:39:42
the victims were stunned,
shocked,
00:39:44
there was even some people like,
"What does that mean?
00:39:45
Did he just confess?"
00:39:48
I mean, it was that shocking
to everyone.
00:39:50
-Rolling changed his plea
to guilty
00:39:52
on all five counts of murder,
three counts of sexual battery,
00:39:57
and three counts
of armed burglary.
00:39:59
On March the 24th, the 12 jurors
00:40:02
unanimously recommended
the death penalty.
00:40:05
-I had no question in my mind
that Judge Morris
00:40:08
was gonna give him
the death penalty.
00:40:10
I don't think Danny had
any doubt,
00:40:12
I don't think the defense team
had any doubt.
00:40:14
-On the 20th of April, 1994,
39-year-old Danny Rolling
00:40:19
was sentenced to death
by Judge Stan Morris,
00:40:22
and immediately sent
to Florida State Prison.
00:40:25
His legal team began a process
of appeals
00:40:27
which would last over 12 years.
00:40:30
During one of these hearings,
00:40:31
Rod Smith got the opportunity
to cross-examine Rolling.
00:40:36
-It was the one time,
it was just --
00:40:38
in my mind,
it was almost me and him,
00:40:40
just for a brief moment.
00:40:42
Danny had said something
in an answer to me,
00:40:45
as I recall it,
00:40:47
"Mr. Smith, I'm not the monster
you made me out to be,"
00:40:50
or, "I'm not a monster,"
something like that.
00:40:52
And for the first time
in the entire thing,
00:40:55
the entire process,
I think I lost my cool entirely,
00:40:59
and I remember saying --
00:41:01
and I remember
the judge just about --
00:41:03
oh, he was really upset
with me for it.
00:41:05
I remember saying something
to the effect that,
00:41:07
"When you killed that boy,
were you a monster then?"
00:41:12
-Rolling fought his death
sentence to the very end.
00:41:16
The day before his execution,
his last appeal was turned down.
00:41:20
That night,
on the eve of his death,
00:41:22
Rolling surprised
everybody again.
00:41:25
Despite never admitting to
the 1989 Grissom family murders
00:41:29
in his hometown of Shreveport,
00:41:31
he had another confession
to make.
00:41:34
"Hereby, I make a formal
written statement
00:41:37
concerning the murders of Julie,
Tom, and Sean Grissom.
00:41:41
I, and I alone, am guilty.
00:41:43
It was my hand that took
those precious lights
00:41:46
out of this old, dark world."
00:41:49
On October 25, 2006,
in Florida State Prison,
00:41:54
justice for his victims
was finally carried out.
00:41:57
At 6:00 PM, Danny Harold Rolling
was executed
00:42:01
by lethal injection.
00:42:03
He was 52 years old.
00:42:06
-When a grisly crime like this
is committed,
00:42:08
and people's lives
are impacted forever,
00:42:11
the worst part of it is,
of course, the victimization.
00:42:15
The families who should've been
able to see their kids graduate
00:42:20
from college,
who instead have to bury them
00:42:25
at the beginning
of their college careers.
00:42:28
That's the worst part.
00:42:30
-The things that mystify us
most about people like Rolling
00:42:33
is how ordinary they are.
00:42:36
We want them to be monstrous
in their behavior,
00:42:39
we want there to be
something obvious about them,
00:42:42
and it's hard to accept
that somebody this meaningless
00:42:46
in terms of anything
they accomplished in their lives
00:42:48
could come in
and kind of dominate
00:42:50
and terrorize a community.
00:42:55
-When I looked into his eyes,
it was vacant.
00:42:57
There was just darkness,
00:43:00
and I'd never seen that before
with anybody,
00:43:02
and I've never seen it
with anybody since,
00:43:04
and Danny Rolling is,
in my opinion,
00:43:08
the most evil person
I've ever met.
00:43:10
-Danny Rolling brutally
slaughtered eight people
00:43:13
for no reason
other than to prove to himself
00:43:16
that he could succeed
at something.
00:43:18
He stalked women, mutilated,
and raped them.
00:43:21
He killed anybody
who got in his way,
00:43:23
including an 8-year-old boy,
00:43:26
and that makes Danny Rolling
00:43:27
one of the world's
most evil killers.
00:43:30
♪♪
00:43:38
♪♪
00:43:47
♪♪
