Daniel Harold ""Danny"" Rolling, a.k.a. ""The Gainesville Ripper"", was an American serial/spree killer, serial rapist, ephebophile, necrophiliac, family annihilator, and (once) bank robber, who terrorized Florida in the 1990's.
Rolling's parents James and Claudia married when Claudia was nineteen, and she became pregnant with Rolling two weeks later, much to James's disgust. He and the rest of his family were abused by James, who would tell Rolling (who was the subject of most of the abuse) ever since he was born that he was an unwanted child. In one instance, James pinned his son to the ground, handcuffed him, and had his coworkers at the local police department take him away, all because he was embarrassed by him. Rolling's mother Claudia tried several times to leave James but always returned. In his teenage and young adult years, Rolling committed several robberies in neighboring states, for which he was arrested. He was also caught spying on a cheerleader dressing up. In May 1990, after years of abuse, Rolling attacked his father during a family argument. While hoping to kill him, the attack failed, but James lost an eye and an ear.
On the night of August 24, 1990, Danny broke into the apartment of college students, Sonja Larson and Christina Powell. There, he found Powell asleep on the couch but did not attack her at first. Instead, he proceeded upstairs and stabbed Larson to death. Afterwards, he returned to Powell and raped her before stabbing her five times in the back. He then posed Powell and Larson's bodies in provocative positions before leaving the apartment. A day later, Rolling broke into the apartment of Christa Hoyt by prying open a sliding glass door with his knife and a screwdriver. Though she was not home, Rolling waited for her in the living room. When Hoyt arrived, Rolling attacked her from behind and subdued her, then raped and stabbed her. His stabs were so violent that her heart ended up being ruptured. Afterwards, he decapitated her body and posed the head so it would face the body. Two days later, Rolling broke into the apartment of Tracy Paules with the exact same method as before. When inside, Rolling found Manny Taboada, who was appointed by Tracy to be a bodyguard due to the string of murders, asleep. He fought with him and eventually killed him. Paules heard the struggle and went to Taboada's bedroom, saw Rolling, and attempted to barricade herself in her room. However, Rolling managed to break inside and raped her before stabbing her three times in the back.
During the investigation, police already identified a prime suspect, a mentally ill college student named Edward Humphrey, who attended the University of Florida. Rolling was eventually arrested for burglary and his tools were matched to marks left at the crime scenes.
