Serial Killer: The Gainesville Ripper

Daniel Harold Rolling, aka Danny, was born on May 26th, 1954 in Shreveport, Louisiana to Claudia and James Rolling. Claudia and James married when she was just 19 years old and, less than a year later, Claudia found herself pregnant with Rolling. James, a police officer, was less than enthusiastic about the pregnancy. He was violent and abusive, with most of his rage directed at Rolling. The first time he was violent with his son was when he was just a year old, reportedly because he wasn’t crawling correctly. There are also reports that James physically abused Claudia while she was pregnant.

Almost a year and a half after Rolling was born, Claudia gave birth to another son, Kevin. Despite having another child, James continued to take much of his rage out on his oldest son. He often referred to Rolling as a mistake or an accident that should’ve never happened. It seemed as though everything that he did set his father off. Claudia would take her two sons and leave her abusive husband, but she ultimately returned to James each time.

There were many reports of physical and emotional abuse by James towards both of his sons, as well as his wife. These are just a few examples: 

• James slapped Rolling in the face and bullied him when he was trying to teach him to drive WHILE HE WAS IN GRADE SCHOOL because Rolling couldn’t use the clutch correctly.
• Angry that Rolling didn’t get a haircut for school, James beat him with a belt buckle and shaved his head. 
• Rolling was handcuffed to his brother after they didn’t cut the yard’s grass how their father liked it. The two were thrown to the floor and James kneeled on their chests.

Claudia had a complete nervous breakdown when the school informed her that Rolling had to repeat the third grade due to his significant amount of absences from school. Regardless of his time spent away from the classroom, when he actually WAS there, he had a lot of difficulties. The school counselors reported that he was “suffering from an inferiority complex, with aggressive tendencies and poor impulse control,” which became increasingly more apparent as he grew older.

When Rolling was about 11 years old, his mother was committed to a psychiatric ward after cutting her own wrists. After this, Rolling began abusing alcohol and drugs. He started leaving his house at night and skulking around the neighborhood, looking through neighbors’ windows. At the age of 14, a neighbor caught him looking into his daughter’s window and reported it to Rolling’s father. James punished his son as he always did: by physically beating him. Despite the threat of his father, Rolling continued to walk through the neighborhood at night, looking into windows, earning a reputation as a peeping Tom. He began committing small offenses that seemed to gradually escalate. In 1971, at the age of 16, Rolling got into a physical altercation with his father and ended up being sent away to a juvenile detention center for two weeks.

After being released, Rolling, looking for some sort of structure and escape from his home, dropped out of high school and joined the Air Force. Initially, he thrived in the environment, however his alcohol addiction eventually led to the use of illicit drugs. He reportedly used acid more than 100 times and he was discharged after being enlisted for under a year. Despite his history in Shreveport, Rolling returned to his hometown. He began regularly attending church at the nearby United Pentecostal Church, where he met a woman named O’Mather Lummus. Six months later, in September of 1974, when Lummus and Rolling were both 19 years old, the two married. 

In 1975, O’Mather found that she was pregnant with a baby girl. She gave birth to Kiley Danielle that same year. After this, Rolling began to feel the growing pressure of being a husband and a father. His drinking and marijuana use increased, he stopped attending church, and his behavior became very erratic. Rolling began disappearing in the middle of the night with no explanation. One evening, O’Mather opened the door to two police officers. They said that they were looking for Rolling because they had several reports of him peeping into neighbors’ windows. She said that Rolling’s father offered to pay for counseling for Rolling and that she tried to tell him how disappointed she was in him, but Rolling just responded with violence towards his wife. After a particularly bad fight, Rolling held a shotgun to his wife’s head and threatened to shoot her. After that, O’Mather took their baby and left.

After leaving her abusive husband, O’Mather said that Rolling’s parents came by to visit her and the baby often and that James would make sure she had enough money to pay for what the baby needed. The only time that she saw her ex-husband after that, he was attacking her new boyfriend. She filed for divorce in 1977. Rolling, now 23-years-old, was absolutely devastated. Around this same time, while Rolling was working his job at a local bakery, he had an accident with a bread slicer, which resulted in him cutting off part of his finger on his left hand.  Shortly after, Rolling was involved in a car accident where he was responsible for the death of a young woman. 

Feeling more alone than ever and crushed by his wife leaving him, Rolling stole his father’s gun and went on a spree of armed robberies throughout the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, and Alabama. He spent the next several years in and out of jail, committing more robberies, and reportedly several rapes. In 1989, after having spent a combined total of 8 years in jail, Rolling returned to Shreveport. He was 35 years old and had accomplished nothing. 

Rolling began working at a local restaurant, but in November of 1989, he was fired for missing a shift. He argued that his boss had changed his schedule without telling him, but it didn’t matter. Rolling was terminated from the job and he was extremely angry. He screamed at his manager, arguing with him about how it was his fault. He couldn’t let go of how he was “wronged” and how he needed to do something to prove that he was worth something. The firing from the restaurant triggered something in Rolling, and he was finally going to do what he’d been fantasizing about for years.

The First Murder

Recently, Rolling had grown infatuated with a 25-year-old department store clerk. Julie Grissom was working part-time at Dillard’s in a localmall while studying marketing at Louisiana State University of Shreveport. She was not far from graduating. She was staying at her father’s house on Beth Lane in Shreveport, in the Southern Hills neighborhood. William Grissom was 55 and a supervisor at AT&T, close to retirement. One weekend in early November, William’s grandson and Julie’s nephew, 8-year-old Sean, was visiting.

Unbeknownst to Julie, on the evening of Saturday, November 4th, 1989, Rolling followed her home. He snuck around the yard, watching Julie inside of the house with her father and Sean. The back door of the house was unlocked that evening as Rolling entered the home, killing all three inside.

The following Monday, the 6th, Sean’s mother, after attempting to contact William and Julie multiple times, she called the police around 8:30AM. She told them that she couldn’t get in contact with her father-in-law and that Sean was supposed to be home that day. Officers called William’s neighbors to see if the home was unlocked. At the far end of the driveway, the newspapers from Sunday and Monday laid untouched. Lights were on in the home and the door to the utility room off the garage was unlocked. As soon as they opened that door, the neighbors found a body blocking them from completely opening the door. They fled the house immediately and alerted the officers.

When police entered the home, they found that the body blocking the laundry room door belonged to William. He was slumped against the door, dead from several stab wounds in the back and chest. Sean was found in the family room laying face down on the floor, with one knife wound to the back. He’d been stabbed with such force that the knife had pierced his back and then through his chest. Julie was found naked, laying partially on a bed. She had been stabbed three times. After stabbing Julie to death, Rolling cleaned her body, put her clothing in the washing machine, then placed her in a provocative position.

Police believed that the three had been murdered around 6-8PM on Saturday night. They found no signs of forced entry or robbery. They described the crime scene as “neat,” with only slight signs of a struggle. Officers had several leads throughout the first week following the murders, but nothing leading them to the killer, however evidence led them to believe that Julie had been the intended target.

Rolling returned to living his life at his parents’ home, just 10 minutes away from the Grissom’s home. Six months later, in May of 1990, 35-year-old Rolling got into yet another heated argument with his father, reportedly because James had told his son to roll up his car windows when it started raining. This particular fight escalated when Rolling pulled a gun and shot his father in the head. James lived, but lost an ear and an eye. He then robbed a couple for cash, telling them that he needed it to get to Dallas. Afterwards, Rolling fled, finally leaving his house in Shreveport for the last time.

Gainesville

Rather than head to Dallas, Rolling got on a bus to Tallahassee, Florida. He went to the Army-Navy store near the bus station and bought a combat Ka-Bar (pronounced K-Bar) knife, then continued on to Gainesville, Florida. Rolling set up a tent and a makeshift campsite in a wooded area.

On August 23rd, 1990, Rolling went searching for his next victim. He came upon a nearby apartment complex, specifically the apartment belonging to Sonja Larson, 18, and Christina Powell, 17. The two girls were roommates and both were about to start their freshman year at the University of Florida. They had met that summer and were forced to get an off-campus apartment since all of the on-campus dorms were full. That night, Rolling watched them through the windows of their apartment. In the early morning hours of the 24th, Rolling used a screwdriver and his Kabar knife to gain entry through their back door. These soon became his signature tools used during his murders. 

Rolling found Christina asleep on the living room couch. He decided that she was the “one” he wanted. He needed to take care of Sonja first, so he went upstairs and found Sonja asleep in her bed. Rolling attacked Sonja as she slept, covering her mouth with duct tape, then stabbing her to death, keeping her quiet so Christina wouldn’t wake up. Rolling went back downstairs to the still-sleeping Christina. He woke her up, then covered her mouth with duct tape. He bound her hands behind her back, stripped her, and raped her while holding a knife to her throat. Rolling then turned Christina onto her stomach and stabbed her 5 times in the back. Then, just as he did with Julie Grissom, he cleaned his victims, posed them in a provocative manner, and fled the scene.

The following day, on August 25th, Rolling broke into the home of 18-year-old Christa Hoyt. Christa was a college student and a part-time clerk at the local Sheriff’s office. When Rolling entered, he found that the home was empty, so he waited and hid. When Christa arrived home around 11AM, Rolling attacked her and put her in a chokehold until she became unconscious. He bound her wrists, gagged her, and cut her clothing off. Like his other victims, Rolling raped Christa, then turned her on her stomach before stabbing her in the back. He punctured her aorta, causing her to quickly bleed to death. Rolling cleaned Christa’s body and posed her in a provocative manner. He then decapitated the young girl and placed her head in a way where she appeared to be looking at her own body. Rolling had now killed three students within the span of 48 hours and nobody knew.

By August 26th, Christina and Sonja’s parents had become very concerned. They hadn’t heard from either of the girls in several days. The phones hadn’t been installed in the apartment yet, so their parents were unable to call them. Sonja’s parents spoke with Christina’s parents, who agreed to head to the girls’ apartment since they lived closer. When they arrived, there was no answer at the girls’ door. They asked a maintenance worker for help, who called police to accompany him and his manager into the apartment. The maintenance worker broke down the door and entered, followed by his manager, a police officer, and the Powells. They first saw Christina’s body. The maintenance man ran back out of the apartment, screaming, then throwing up. He passed Christina’s parents as he fled.

As investigators combed through the apartment after finding Christina and Sonja’s bodies, they found that their door had been pried open with a screwdriver. They could tell that both girls had their mouths and hands duct taped, but the tape had been removed and taken from the scene, likely to avoid leaving DNA.

The following day, on the 27th, Christa Hoyt didn’t show up for her shift at the Sheriff’s office. Concerned since this was extremely unlike her, two officers went to her duplex. They entered and found her dead, mutilated body.

The community was horrified. Three innocent young women had been brutally murdered in their own homes in a very short span of time. Police had no idea who was behind the killings. They’d identified that the three murders were likely committed by the same person based off of the crime scenes and how it appeared things happened. The three girls also looked rather similar. They were all young, petite brunettes. Police were looking at every lead they had coming in, hoping to stop the murderer before he struck again. 

Unfortunately, they were unable to find the man behind the slayings before he struck again. The same day that Christa Hoyt was found beheaded in her home, Rolling broke in through the sliding door of an apartment not far from his campsite in the woods. When he entered the apartment, he was expecting just to find 23-year-old Tracey Paules, but instead he found that Tracey’s roommate, 23-year-old Manuel “Manny” Toboada was home as well. Manny was asleep when Rolling began stabbing him, which caused him to wake up. He began fighting Rolling, causing a lot of noise, waking up Tracey. Tracey followed the noise and saw her roommate being stabbed by Rolling. She ran back down the hallway and locked herself in her bedroom. Rolling easily broke through Tracey’s bedroom door. He put duct tape over her mouth and taped her hands behind her back. He raped the young girl, then turned her over onto her stomach, and stabbed her three times in the back, killing her. He cleaned her body and posed it before leaving. The bodies of Manny and Tracey were found the next day, the 28th.

The community was in a panic. All five murders had taken place within 2 miles of one another and around the Univeristy of Florida campus. The school cancelled classes and people weren’t going anywhere alone. Students were even sleeping in shifts, so someone was awake at all times. Thousands of students left campus and returned back to their homes, frightened that they might be the next victim of the now dubbed Gainesville Ripper. 

The Robberies

On August 28th, a nearby First Union bank branch was the victim of an armed robbery. On the same day, police came across two men who were walking nearby the school campus, acting suspiciously. They followed the two men into a wooded area where they came across a small campsite. One of the men was apprehended, while the other was able to escape the police. The man who escaped was Rolling. The one in custody was a small-time drug dealer. Inside the tent at the campsite, they found several suspicious things. There was cash covered in a pinkish-red dye and a gun that matched the description of the weapon used in the First Union bank robbery. There was also a ski mask, a pair of pants, and pubic hairs on both. Police believed they’d found the man responsible for the armed robbery.

On August 30th, the investigators identified a top suspect in the Gainesville murders. 18-year-old University of Florida freshman, Ed Humphrey had a history of mental illness and was recently charged with assault for beating up his 79-year-old grandmother. He also had a history of being outwardly aggressive towards others. While in custody for the assault of his grandmother and during his trial, he exhibited really bizarre behavior. He was loud and erratic and off his medication. He had a history of brain injuries and seemed very out of control. Humphrey’s grandmother decided not to press charges against him for the assault, but the state did anyways because they wanted to keep him in custody while they tried to find a concrete connection between Humphrey and the murders. Humphrey’s bail was posted at $1 million. They took DNA samples from Humphrey to compare with what was found at the murder scenes. 

Meanwhile, investigators felt unsure if the drug dealer they’d apprehended at the campsite in the woods was behind the First Union armed robbery. He denied that any of the things found at the site or in the tent belonged to him. In early September, Rolling stole a car and drove to Tampa, Florida. He robbed a convenience store at gunpoint. Five days later, he attempted to rob a Winn-Dixie in Ocala, Florida, but he was unable to escape before the police arrived and was taken into custody.

PUTTING SHIT TOGETHER

Back in Gainesville, investigators had found that Humphrey’s DNA didn’t match what was found at the scenes of the Gainesville murders. He was cleared as a suspect. Investigators in Ocala tracked the serial number on the gun used by Rolling in the robbery at Winn-Dixie and traced it back to the owner who lived three hours away in Sarasota. The owner said that he’d sold the gun for cash to a homeless man. The man was unable to give much of a description, but said that the homeless man did have one distinctive attribute: he was missing a large piece of a finger.

In a task force meeting for the First Union bank robbery, one agent was recounting the story of what the man in Sarasota had told police about a man he sold his gun to with the missing finger, when another officer stood up and was like, “OH SHIT.” He said that at the scene of the first Gainesville murders, of Christina and Sonja, a piece of paper towel had been found on the kitchen counter. On one side, there was the imprint of a penis and on the other side, there was an imprint of a hand, as though someone had used the paper towel to wipe himself. The hand imprint though, was missing a finger. THE BANK ROBBER AND THE GAINESVILLE RIPPER WERE THE SAME MAN. Unfortunately, investigators didn’t know who the perpetrator of either crime was.

The crime lab began re-examining all of the items found at the campsite in comparison to everything found at the murder scenes. The ski mask in the tent had fibers on it that matched fibers found on the duct tape at the home of Tracey and Manny. Pubic hairs matching Christa Hoyt were found on the sleeping bag. There was blood on a pair of pants that matched the blood of Manny. A screwdriver was found that matched the marks left at the mruder scenes where access to the homes was gained. 

With the five murders in Gainesville having gained so much public attention, officers in Shreveport noticed that there were several similarities in the Gainesville murders and the still-unsolved triple murder of the Grisssoms. They approached the task force with their suspicions.

Investigators now believed that the man behind the murders and the bank robbery had either fled or was in prison since no similar crimes had been committed since Tracey and Manny’s murders. They made the decision to test the DNA of all inmates in Florida who’d been arrested in the last 3-4 months. On January 24th, 1991, testing revealed that the DNA found at the murder scenes matched an inmate who was in jail for a grocery store robbery: 36-year-old Rolling Rolling.

Finally!

Rolling was brought in to be questioned by investigators about the murders. He was extremely nervous during the interview, and when the detective offered to show him photos from the crime scenes, Rolling wouldn’t look at them. He said that he didn’t want to see them. On September 18th, 1991, Rolling was convicted of three counts of attempted armed robbery and two counts of aggravated assault of law enforcement. He was sentenced to life in prison.

On November, 15th, 1991, a grand jury indicted Rolling on five counts of first degree murder, burglary, and sexual assault. He pleaded not guilty to all charges, but began to give confessions and details through another inmate. The inmate gave all of the information to investigators, and then finally, Rolling began talking directly to investigators. Rolling blamed his actions on a personality disorder. He listed all of his different personalities, blaming the murders on a personality he referred to as “Gemini”. Nobody really bought these claims.

While imprisoned in Florida State Prison, Rolling began exchanging letters with freelance reporter and writer, Sondra London. London had recently published a book that was a collection of stories and drawings from Gerald John Schafer, who was a former police officer who’d confessed to more than 30 murders. Rolling had seen London’s work and asked if she would tell his story. London said that during their exchange of letters, after about eight or nine months, they “gradually developed feelings” for each other. He confessed his love for her and sent her romantic poems. London tried to visit Rolling several times, but was denied for differing reasons. They told her that their friendship was NOT leading to marriage. Finally, they decided to just go ahead and get married, however the jail told them they couldn’t do it in person. They remained engaged as London obtained a “special visitor’s pass” from an officer at the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and met her fiancé for the first time. She described her first impression of him:

“I thought he was a real cornball…my first impression is that he must be some kind of yokel…I learned later that Rolling had very little sense of who he really is, so for him to manifest he has to put on a costume of some kind…I thought he was crazy and schizophrenic probably.”

Despite this description that London gave the press in 2022, back in the 90’s, London told the press that she immediately had a physical attraction to Rolling and she knew that she loved him. She described him as a “gorgeous hunk” and a “dangerous pussycat”. One time, during a court hearing for a robbery that Rolling was charged with, when given an opportunity to speak by the judge, Rolling began to serenade London with a song he’d written just for her. In 1996, after London released her book about Rolling and his crimes, the couple’s relationship ended. She said they remained friends though. Now, London says that she doesn’t miss her once-fiancé. 

In February of 1994, just days before Rolling was scheduled to go to trial for the murder charges, Rolling decided to plead guilty to the murders, rapes, and burglaries. On February 15th, the guilty plea was announced in court. On March 24th, 12 jurors unanimously recommended the death penalty. On April 20th, 1994, the judge sentenced 39-year-old Rolling Rolling to death. Rolling and his lawyers appealed his death sentence for the next 12 years, until the very end. The day before his scheduled execution, his last appeal was turned down. On that same evening, Rolling wrote a statement confessing to the Grissom triple murders in Shreveport. He had never before confessed to these murders. 

On October 12th, 2006, Rolling Rolling was put to death by lethal injection at the age of 52. His last meal consisted of a lobster tail with butter, butterfly shrimp with cocktail sauce, a baked potato with sour cream and butter, strawberry cheesecake, and a sweet tea. 

In 1996, Kevin Williamson said that the story of the Gainesville Ripper was part of what inspired his script for the blockbuster horror movie franchise, “Scream”.