Megan Hutchinson
Staff Reporter
Danny Harold Rolling was born in May of 1954 in Shreveport, Louisiana to Claudia and James Rolling. Unfortunately, his father consistently abused his wife and child. Danny had eventually developed severe anger issues which would later lead to his murderous tendencies.
At age 23, Danny had separated from his wife of four years after he had threatened to kill her. In 1977, he turned his rage towards a woman whom he had raped; oddly enough she looked similar to his ex-wife. This started his serial career.
Danny Rolling stood at 6’2 and was a massive powerful man. From the 1970s to the 1990s he had continued to commit petty crimes and theft. He turned to robberies to obtain quick cash and was later arrested and sent into the criminal justice system in Georgia, Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi. After, breaking out of prison and frequently losing jobs, he turned to murder. His first murder victims were 24- year-old Julia Grimson, her father Thomas Grimson, and nephew Sean, all killed out of rage.
In May of 1990, Rolling had shot his 58-year-old father twice, nearly killing him. Although he survived, he had lost an ear and an eye. After breaking into someone's home, Danny had changed his identity with stolen papers. Eventually, he went on to live as Michael Kennedy Jr. in late July of 1990.
On August 24th, 1990, Rolling had broken into the home of Sonja Larson and Christina Powell, both freshmen at the University of Florida in Gainesville. He had covered the woman’s mouth with duct tape and bound their hands. He raped, stabbed, and killed them both. Additionally, he took ‘trophies’ from the girls. The next day, he had done the same thing to Christa Hoyt. However, he had removed her head, placing it onto her bookshelf.
On August 27th, Rolling attacked Manuel Taboada and Tracy Paules, both 23. First, he had killed Taboada in his sleep then moved to Paules. However, these bodies were not as mutilated as victims usually were. Authorities believed he may have been interrupted.
The police struggled to find evidence at these crime scenes. Instead of leaving the duct tape left on the victims, he would take and dispose of it, getting rid of any fingerprints. Additionally, he would use solvents to clean the bodies of any semen, and some bodies was left in suggestive positions, giving clues to the killer's motive.
Eventually, he was caught at a gas station after a high-speed chase in Ocala on September 8th, after being wanted for the robbery of Winn- Dixie, a local grocery store. Rolling had later confessed in January of 1991 to be the Gainesville Ripper. Prosecutors had gathered enough evidence to convict him and were executed on October 25, 2005, in Florida.
Kevin Williamson, an aspiring writer in the 1990s had caught the attention of the Gainesville Ripper. Williamson had used the case to create a screenplay for a horror movie around college students and the media frenzy that followed the stories. The screenplay was later developed into the classic horror movie, Scream. The cult classic horror movie has grossed over 173 million dollars since its premier in 1996.
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