And the sad, sad part about it is that we had the parents behind us on the stairs.. ''I don't really care anymore,'' he said. The families of Danny Rolling's murder victims filed into the execution viewing room in Starke, Fla., last week. As the questioning went on, Rolling began to say hed dealt with different personalities all my life. He told investigators about two of his darker personalities. In 1990, he set up a campsite in a wooded area behind the University of Florida, Rolling embarked on his murder spree as students began the fall semester. danny rolling brother. Prosecutors also attacked Rollings' claims that he had multiple personalities and that he was overtaken by his evil Gemini side when he murdered his victims. Police also considered Brandon Curry. Rolling turned to art and music for solace his Christmas gift of a guitar at age 15 proved to be one of his happiest memories from adolescence. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. Site contains certain content that is owned A&E Television Networks, LLC. Rolling left Julie Grissom's body spread-eagle on a bed with bite marks all over her body. Danny was the older of two sons. Finally, they listened to the tape. She wrapped her arms around him, reminded him of the good things, of reasons to live, to be happy. I wanted to represent [Tracy], said Lahey, Paules sister. All Rights Reserved. As he saw several different doctors, Rolling was diagnosed with a number of conditions, including borderline personality disorder and antisocial personality disorder. Rolling terrorized Gainesville and murdered five college students, leaving a lasting impact The following May, Rolling got into one final argument with his father. On Nov. 4, 1989, William Grissom, 55, his 24-year-old daughter Julie Grissom and his 8-year-old grandson Sean Grissom were killed in his home in the Louisiana city. His appeals exhausted, Rolling faced execution at Florida State Prison on October 25, 2006. Former state attorney Rod Smith said that when investigators then searched his home, they found magazines about knives, guns and girls. Danny Rolling was scheduled to die by lethal injection at the Florida State Prison on October 25, 2006. His paintings and various musings are now collected as "Murderabilia". Danny Rolling, popularly referred to as the Gainesville Ripper, was a career criminal who was convicted for a string of burglaries, robberies and automobile thefts mere days after he tore through the fabric of the University of Florida campus community, killing five students in bizarre and macabre ways in August of 1990. Watch "20/20" FRIDAYS at 9 p.m. Those aggressive tendencies and poor impulse control would foreshadow Dannys murderous rage later in his life. Within two months, authorities noted the similarities between the murders of the Grissoms in Shreveport and the students in Gainesville, which prompted a request for DNA from inmates from Shreveport incarcerated in Florida. He lost a lot of weight and walked around with dark circles under his eyes.''. 0000002910 00000 n Kevin Williamson was an aspiring writer in the 1990s when the Gainesville Ripper murders caught his attention. Shreveport police, death more easily than Louisiana. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. I cant help it, thats what Im thinking but the terror I cant get past that.. By the time he was caught, five people were dead. Knowing what happened, I cant erase that out of my mind, and nobody should have to go through that, said Scott Grissom. He continued perpetrating armed robberies and getting arrested throughout Alabama and Mississippi as well as reportedly sexually assaulting multiple women. Just Thursday, the state Supreme Court in Tallahassee refused to reconsider its March decision upholding Rolling's death sentence. In fact, that fateful day was his first back at work from his honeymoon. But while Scream provides plenty of slashing scares, in the end, its story of Sydney and the masked killer bears only a passing resemblance to that of Danny Rolling, the "Gainesville Ripper," whose life of violence and despair would present a difficult task for any screenwriter to depict. The bodies of his victims were found over three days in late August, just as the University of Floridas fall semester was beginning. I said, What kind of problem, Juracich said, [and Steven said], He likes to stick knives into people.. This is the shocking moment former Premier League striker Danny Graham ploughed his Land Rover into a Co-Op Village Store, while three times over the drink-drive Hewitt said the man also talked to his family, about life and how he felt he went down the wrong road. Smith said Rolling also talked about the best way to kill a deer. 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. The following day, he made Santa Fe Community College student Christa Hoyt his next victim, leaving behind her severed head on a shelf to face her body propped up on the bed. Sometime in March, his wife's killer, John Huggins, is to join Mr. Rolling on Florida's death row, beginning a slow countdown to possible execution in the electric chair. Gainesville Ripper murders are the subject of the book Beyond Murder by John Philpin and John Donnelly. Williamson used the case to create a screenplay for a horror movie which revolved around the murders of college students and the media frenzy that ensued. Dr. Robert Sadoff, who testified at Rolling's trial, said Rolling may have identified with the movie because Gemini is his astrological sign. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. However, they did not find any evidence to support his assertion that he had multiple personalities. Danny Rolling, a serial killer also known as the Gainesville Ripper, was charged with the murders of five students in Gainesville, Florida, in 1990 and later pleaded guilty to those crimes. The Larsons bought a small house on a dead-end street in Orlando. It was important because he was participating in the confession, Hewitt said. Although the Scream franchise follows high school students, Williamson got his chance to explore the fear rampant on universitys following a case like the Gainesville Ripper. He raped a woman who resembled his ex-wife and embarked on several armed robberies through the South, leading to his incarceration in Jackson, Georgia, in 1979. Tracy Paules and Manny Taboada, both 23, were discovered dead a day later in the apartment they shared. Danny Harold Rolling was born on May 26, 1954 to Claudia and James Rolling in Shreveport, Louisiana. Rolling's third victim, Christa Hoyt, was also decapitated and her torso was sliced open, similarly to the victim in the movie. <]>> Maines said Rolling fled the home after police issued a warrant for his arrest. John Huggins, a landscaper who had been in and out of jail all his life, was on vacation with his wife and their five children. It was soon revealed that this student was battling acute manic depression, however, and with zero evidence connecting him to the murders, the task force was back to the drawing board. Theyre gone but their memory has to always endure, Mario Taboada said. One of the only surviving members of that family is Scott Grissom. Danny Rolling, also known as "The Gainesville Ripper," became one of the most infamous serial killers in American true crime history. 0000005891 00000 n He has gone back to counseling and, slowly, is pulling himself back from the despondency that threatened to take over his life. executed Wednesday. ''It's not going to be even. Danny turned his devastation into anger and raped a woman who closely resembled his ex-wife. The two 23-year-olds had been close friends since high school and had just begun living together. WebDanny Rolling was born in Shreveport, Louisiana following a difficult delivery, which consisted of the use of forceps. Prosecutors found enough evidence to convict him and he was subsequently executed on October 25, 2006, in Florida. He was known for being a Criminal. 0000000616 00000 n 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. And while he had pleaded not guilty, he used fellow inmate Bobby Lewis as his "mouthpiece" to confess to the murders. Granted times past; the dark era of long ago Dr. Jeckle & Mr. Hyde did strike up & down the corridors of insanety.. Prison officials say they know of no other such triangle of misfortune, of anyone sandwiched by such cruel circumstance. Hes now engaged in the Fox series The Following which taps into hysteria on a college campus. Rollings trial for the five student murders began on Feb. 15, 1994, nearly four years after he killed the five students. It is very hard for us to see someone else die. Death penalty protesters said the execution only served to provide Rolling additional attention. As reported by Orlando Sentinel, one of the victims in the movie was decapitated and her torso was sliced open. I did that at the time because I read that serial killers like to be in control, Mario Taboada told ABC News. A high school portrait shows Christina Powell, who, along with roommate Sonja Larson were the first victims of the serial killer at the University of Florida campus. The second, more sinister personality, was named Gemini and Rolling blamed him for his deadliest acts. ''Sonja was safe in her bed when she died, and my wife was at a Publix supermarket at 12 noon, not in a nightclub, not in a 7-Eleven at 2 A.M.,'' said Mr. Larson, a trim, 38-year-old man whose narrow face has a sadness in it that shows through even when he smiles. trailer Witnesses testified to the abuse theyd seen. He reportedly claimed to have used the power of his mind to unlock the door and enter the apartment. He married a woman named O'Mather Halko, with whom he had a daughter, but eventually, he drove her away after exacting the same sort of abuse on her that had been prevalent in his own childhood home. However, his divorce appeared to be the catalyst for his crime spree, as the murders began shortly after he and his wife parted ways. He broke into the house, overpowered them, then raped, stabbed, and murdered them. Then, Rolling came back with his own gun and shot his father in the face, state attorney Smith said. Outside the prison, death penalty opponents stood in a circle singing Amazing Grace after Rolling was pronounced dead. His premonition came true the next day. 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