Crimes Of Danny Rolling example essay topic

"The Gainesville Ripper" There is a theory that family life in the early stages of life greatly influences a person's emotions and mental state. The theory has been taken as far as to try and connect the points between serial killers and abusive childhoods. For this theory, the man who was known as the Gainesville Ripper is the poster child. Born on May 26, 1954, Daniel Harold Rolling found himself in a terribly abusive situation in which his father, James, began abusing him before he could walk.

Not only did his father abuse him, but his small mother was no match for James' temper, and only had one defense: to move out. Unfortunately, every time she and the children moved, Danny's father followed, and the dysfunctional family was pushed back together again. When Danny was a young boy in school, he became very ill for a large portion of the school year. His teacher at the time thought it best for Daniel to take the year over again so he wouldn't be too far behind in his studies. His father saw this as a failure on Danny's part, and whipped him repeatedly. These small incidents of abuse were scattered throughout all of Danny's life, until one day, he decided he would stand up for himself.

When his father had asked Danny to do something he was not comfortable with, Danny refused, and angered James terribly. James went into the shed, and came out with a gun, chasing Danny into the backyard, until there were 5 gunshots. James came back into the house without Danny, leaving Danny's mother to think he was dead. But he was not, and he came back into the house with James's hot gun. Then, he went into the kitchen and shot James twice. Once in the head and once in the gut.

Amazingly, James survived, but he never saw his son again, because Danny ran away from home indefinitely Cullen 2 that day. For a short period of time, Daniel lived a fairly normal life. He joined the Air Force, married O'Mather Halo, and had a child, but this was only a phase. After being discharged from the Air Force due to serious drug and alcohol problems, he separated from his wife and daughter, and was on the run again. In order to stay in money and drugs, Danny lived a life of crime, robbing small grocery stores and homes. Arrested 3 times for armed robbery, Danny still did not learn his lesson, and continued to steal, although rarely being caught afterwards.

However, the life of small crime apparently paved the way for larger and more gruesome crimes, which were committed in a small Florida town named Gainesville, in the time period of 3 days. 4: 00 pm on August 26 marked the discovery of Rolling's first victims in one of the most gruesome and short-lived killing sprees in Florida's history. Christina Powell, 17, and her college roommate Sonja Larson, 17, had been missing all weekend long. From Friday until the Sunday they were discovered, no one had heard from them. Finally, police showed up at the girls' apartment due to loud music and strong odors from inside, and when the apartment was finally opened up, the police found a horrendous sight. Rolling had stabbed both women repeatedly and positioned them naked, in positions to maximize the shock value.

What was thought to be a terrible, isolated, incident was amplified in horror only 9 hours later. At 1: 00 am on Monday morning, the body of a young police secretary named Christa was found in her apartment when she had not showed up for work that evening. She had also been killed with a knife, however, the scene was quite different than the first. Her corpse was found sitting at the end of the bed, with her two severed nipples next to her, her head on the shelf across the room, and a gaping slice that went from her breastbone to her pubic bone. It was obvious that the two scenes were related, seeing as both murders were carried out with a four-six inch blade, and that the scenes were cleaned with perfect precision. No hairs, fingerprints, or any Cullen 3 sort of trail to lead to the killer were found.

Although there was a short, 1 1/2 day break in the murders, Danny Rolling wasted no time killing his fourth and fifth victims of his three day killing spree. Tracey Pauses and Manuel Taboada, both 23, were students who lived together off of their college campus in an apartment. Their friends realized that none of their calls had been returned and that appointments had been broken, so they decided to look into where the roommates had gone. Christopher, the maintenance man for the apartment complex, agreed to let the one of the friends in, but when the two opened the door, the had no need to go inside and look around. Tracy's dead and bloody body was in plain sight in the hallway and there was a dark colored bag on the floor above her head. They slammed the door shut, locked it, and called the police immediately.

When they arrived, the dark colored bag was gone and the door was unlocked, most likely signifying an unfinished job due to an interruption. After the fourth and fifth murders, names for the unidentified murderer started spreading, and the "Gainesville Ripper" seemed to stick, comparing the killer to the infamous "Jack the Ripper". The small city of Gainesville had become so consumed with the killing spree, that the local newspaper featured a story about the murders on the front page every day until September 12, 1990; 17 days after the first murder. Furthermore, a suspect was finally identified.

Edward Lewis Humphrey, a man who had a reputation for a bad temper and an odd way about him, was wrongfully accused and arrested for the crimes of Danny Rolling. He remained in custody until the day Rolling was convicted of the 5 life sentences of murder, which was in 1994. Rolling, however, WAS in prison until 1994, except he was charged with armed robbery and attempted murder (of his father), and was serving a minimum sentence. While in prison for robbery and attempted murder, Rolling found it acceptable to make confessions to all of the inmates about his killings and their brutal manner. Finally, in 1994, Cullen 4 Rolling agreed to make his confession to the police through an inmate, and the State agreed. While giving his confession, Rolling gave all pertinent details, but decided to blame the killings on an alternate personality named "Gemini".

Unfortunately for Rolling's defense, the police already knew that the week of the murders Danny had watched "The Exorcist: Part", which featured a character that beheaded and disemboweled her victims. The killer's name was "Gemini". Rolling was convicted of 5 sentences of first degree murder. When the death penalty came onto the table, his horrific childhood saved him from getting a needle in his arm, swaying just enough jurors to protect him from the sentence.

He is serving 5 consecutive life sentences for his crime, and receiving full psychiatric care. Daniel Rolling was, besides perhaps, Ted Bundy, the worst serial killer that the state of Florida has ever seen..