Florida SK Danny Rolling:October Execution date

[gellibee]

An execution date of Oct. 25 is scheduled for Danny Rolling, who killed five University of Florida students in 1990.


September 23, 2006


“ TALLAHASSEE - Danny Rolling, one of Florida's most notorious killers, finally has a date with death.

Gov. Jeb Bush signed an execution warrant Friday for Rolling, who killed five Gainesville students in a brutal rampage 16 years ago.


The murders sent the college town into a frenzy that lasted months. Rolling, now 52, became the bogeyman for a generation of students.

His execution is set for Oct. 25.

Ada Larson, mother of victim Sonja Larson, was happy to hear that Bush was keeping a promise he made to execute Rolling during his tenure as governor.

"I'm glad we're going to get it over with," Larson said when hearing of the execution date. "He deserves to die." Gail Patterson, an Alachua County sheriff's deputy who found the third victim, called the date "about damn time."


"It was the worst series of crimes I've ever been involved in," she said. "I think it's a just punishment for the things he did."


Rolling entered Florida history with a Marine Corps Ka-Bar knife. His killing rampage lasted four nights in August 1990.

Rolling attacked his victims as they slept in their beds. He bound four women with duct tape before stabbing them to death. Three he raped, and one he decapitated. Some he left posed in lewd positions.


The victims were Larson, 18; Christa Hoyt, 18; Christina Powell, 17; Tracy Paules, 23; and Manny Taboada, 23.

The killings terrified the University of Florida campus. Thousands of students left for home. The ones who stayed emptied local store shelves of security devices and hunkered in safe havens, staying in large groups.

The campus breathed easier days after the murders when authorities thought they had found the killer, a UF student arrested after an altercation with his grandmother. The anxiety level shot up when it became clear that he hadn't done it.


It took another five months for authorities to name Rolling as the prime suspect. He was a drifter from Louisiana in jail for robbing an Ocala supermarket. Eventually, DNA connected him to the killings.


Joseph Touger, who graduated from UF in 1991, worked in the university's public relations department during the time of the killings.


He remembered the calls that came in from as far away as Caracas, Venezuela.


"It destroyed the illusion of safety and security that we all had," Touger, a Tampa lawyer, said Friday. "But the generation of students who are there now probably don't know much about Rolling or what happened."


On the day his murder trial was to start in 1994, Rolling confessed to torturing and killing his victims. After a two-week hearing to determine a sentence, the jury returned a unanimous recommendation for the death penalty.

John Philpin, a criminal psychologist who built Rolling's profile first for the Miami Herald and then police, said Rolling would have continued killing.


"Danny Rolling is probably one of the purest psychopaths, historically, in the population of serial killers," said Philpin, who went on to co-author a book about the killings. "I'd be willing to bet if you talked to him today, he'd be just as cocky, just as arrogant and thinking he's just as untouchable as he did back then."


The case gave a small dose of national fame to the state attorney who prosecuted the case, Rod Smith, a state senator from Alachua who recently lost a bid to be the Democratic candidate for governor.


The case also vaulted Smith to celebrity status in Gainesville. For months afterward, when he would walk into a mall or a restaurant people would clap or cheer him on.


Smith said he has no plans to attend the execution. He doesn't want to give Rolling any more publicity.


After the U.S. Supreme Court in June denied a request to review Rolling's death sentence, all that was lacking was a death warrant, which Bush could have signed a few months ago, Smith said.

Smith stopped short of saying that Bush sat on the warrant to avoid executing Rolling while Smith was running for governor.


"I think it's past time for this matter to be brought to closure," Smith said. "It's time for his rendezvous with death."


Bush couldn't be reached for comment Friday night. The governor's spokeswoman, Alia Faraj, said the timing had nothing to do with politics.


Bush also signed an Oct. 18 death warrant for Arthur Rutherford, who had avoided his execution while the federal courts considered an appeal of whether lethal injection was cruel and unusual punishment.


Faraj said the timing of Friday's warrants had more to do with the case of Clarence Hill, whom the state executed Wednesday after last-minute court maneuvering.


"The governor did not plan to sign any executions until the Hill case was cleared by the courts," Faraj said.


For George Paules, Tracy's father, the politics don't matter.


"We don't much care if they burn him, stick him or hang him, as long as they kill him," he said Friday.


Rolling, who also is suspected in three killings in Louisiana, has never fully explained why he killed the students.


He reportedly once told an inmate that he planned to kill eight people, one for every year he had spent behind bars in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi.

He also said he decapitated one of his victims to terrorize the community. He wanted to become a criminal superstar and "the world's greatest rapist," he said.


During his numerous appeals, Rolling admitted that he deserved to die.


"But do I want to die? No," he said. "I want to live. Life is difficult to give up." “

[MXB]

SHREVEPORT, Louisiana (AP) -- Shortly before he was executed in Florida this week, serial killer Danny Rolling handed his spiritual adviser a handwritten confession to three more murders.

He admitted to a grisly triple murder 17 years ago in his hometown of Shreveport, police said Friday.

"I, and I alone am guilty," said the one-page note.

"It was my hand that took those precious lights out of this ole dark world," the note continued. "With all my heart & soul would I could bring them back."

Rolling, the son of a Shreveport police officer, was executed Wednesday for killing five college students in Gainesville, Florida, in a ghastly string of slayings in 1990.

Police have long suspected that Rolling stabbed 55-year-old William T. Grissom, his 24-year-old daughter Julie and 8-year-old grandson Sean as they got ready for dinner on November 4, 1989, in Grissom's home.

In 1997, Rolling sent a detailed confession, including a description of the crime scene, to the woman he had married in prison. She gave it to police, said retired police detectives Don Ashley and Danny Fogger, who had worked on the case.

Since Rolling had pleaded guilty in Florida and his execution was expected, Louisiana authorities saw little reason to try him.

Still, police said was a relief to have a signed, public confession.

The Rev. Mike Hudspeth said that during a two-hour visit Tuesday, Rolling told him that he had killed the Grissoms and would give the minister a written confession the following day.

The document was released at a news conference Friday. Most of the text is in cursive, with large, gothic-style capitals at the start of each paragraph.

"I witnessed his execution and it was nothing compared to what he put his victims through," Julie Grissom's mother, Joyce Burton, said in a written statement.

"At least I can get up knowing he's not breathing the air that our children should still be breathing."

[MXB]

STARKE, Fla. -- Danny Rolling was executed Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. for the 1990 murders and mutilations of five college students in Gainesville.

Rolling was strapped on a gurney, placed on a heart monitor and wheeled into the execution chamber late Wednesday afternoon, where the eight carefully marked syringes used in a lethal injection awaited.

The first two syringes contained sodium pentothal, which rendered Rolling unconscious. The third contained a saline solution that was used as a flushing agent. Another two syringes containing pancuronium bromide were then administered to paralyze him. Another syringe of saline solution was administered, and the final two doses of potassium chloride delivered the lethal doses that stopped his heart from beating.

Local 10's Jeff Weinsier was the only South Florida reporter to witness the execution along with family members and others.

Moments after the execution, Weinsier filed his report. He said that before the injection, Rolling was asked if he wanted to make a final statement. Rolling did not say anything, but he began to sing a song that Weinsier said lasted fully two minutes. Weinsier said that the chorus of the song was, "None greater than thee, oh Lord, none greater than thee," and that Rolling sang the chorus several times.

Weinsier said that even after the microphone was turned off, it appeared that Rolling continued to sing until he took his last breath at 6:11 p.m.

Weinsier said that there were 45 chairs in the witness area, five rows of nine. The first three rows were filled with family members and loved ones of the victims. Weinsier said that there were no tears shed by any of the family members. But, he said that when Rolling began to sing, victim Tracey Paules's father, George, rolled his eyes.

Weinsier said that Rolling died without making any apology to the families or showing any sign of remorse.

He was declared dead at 6:13 p.m.

More than 100 protesters, death penalty supporters, curious onlookers and journalists gathered outside the prison in the barren cow pasture. Death penalty supporters cheered when they learned that Rolling was dead.

John Glen Davis said that he drove 792 miles nonstop from his home in Shreveport, Louisiana to be present at the execution.

Davis lived next door to Julie, Sean and Thomas Grissom who were stabbed to death in 1989. Authorities strongly suspected Rolling in those killing as well, but he was never charged.

Rolling's last-minute appeal contending that the chemicals used in Florida's execution process could cause severe pain was turned down Wednesday by the U.S. Supreme Court just a half hour before the execution. The court had previously turned down the same arguments in two other Florida executions this fall.

[MXB]

SURVIVOR OF ROLLING ATTACK RECOUNTS FATEFUL NIGHT

When Florida State Prison executioners begin flushing poisonous sodium pentothal into the veins of Danny Rolling today, Janet Frake suspects she?ll be right here, at Sarasota Moose Lodge No. 1319, with her husband and friends.

As the last known survivor of an assault by the convicted serial killer, Frake has yet to wring any meaning from being raped 16 years ago.

??Well, bad things happen to good people,?? she says, trying to readjust her smile amid a fresh flow of tears. ??But I think the good always survives. And if they say about me, when I die, that I was a good person, that I was good friend, then I?ll be happy with that.??

Rolling, 52, is scheduled to be executed today at 6 p.m. for murdering and mutilating five college students in Gainesville in 1990.

Although Rolling never admitted to raping Frake, in a 1997 autobiography called ??The Making of a Serial Killer?? co-authored by crime writer, and Rolling's former fiance, Sondra London, he described a sexual assault on an unnamed Sarasota resident shortly before he fled to Gainesville.

Sarasota Police Sgt. Bob Gorevan connected the dots against Rolling in 1996 ? thanks to some improvisation by his victim on the evening of Aug. 5, 1990.

??If it wasn?t for the fact that she was able to change (Rolling?s) mind-set, Janet would be dead right now,?? says the 25-year law enforcement veteran. ??I?ve been in plenty of high-stress situations, but I?ve never been a victim before. I don?t know how she did it, but she did everything right.??

Frake, a real estate agent, went public in 1997 ??because I have nothing to be ashamed of?? and to help other rape victims who suffer in silence. She declined to have her photograph taken for this article because ??I?m done, I?m over it?? with having her face in the media. But she agreed to talk again as a reminder for all victims of sexual assault.

??What I encountered that night was pure evil,?? she says. ??That?s what it was ? pure evil.??

Frake was between jobs and living within walking distance of the Cabana Inn off Tamiami Trail when Rolling struck. Rolling had blown into Sarasota on July 22 and eventually set a random course for Clematis Street, where the 30-year-old Frake shared a two-bedroom house with two cats.

Returning from a run to a video store, Frake had picked up a six-pack of Keystone Gold beer ? ??Thank God for that?? ? on her way home. She had been home for roughly two hours when Rolling ? having slipped in through a bedroom window ? attacked her in the bathroom with a hunting knife. Wearing leather gloves and a black ski mask, Rolling bound and gagged her with duct tape.

??At first I didn?t think it was real, I thought somebody was playing a joke on me,?? Frake recalls. ??But there was just so much rage in him, so much anger.

??I?ve read there is no right way to deal with rape, that you can take self-defense classes and try to defend yourself, or you can try to be smarter. Well, there was no way I was going to beat this guy. I was tied up and he had locked all the doors. So I decided to stay as calm as I could.??

Frake created an opportunity shortly after Rolling told her he planned ??to do this all night.??

She said she had some cold beer in the refrigerator, and would he like to take a break first?

??And it was weird,?? Frake says. ??He went from one of the meanest, scariest, most violent sons of pregnant doges you could ever imagine to being really calm and relaxed.??

Rolling ordered Frake to shower off, but she cleaned up with a towel first to collect DNA samples, then tossed the evidence behind the toilet. She poured him his beer in a glass, hoping Rolling would leave fingerprints behind (he didn?t). He placed his knife in her lap, but she told him to take it away. When he asked if he could remove his ski mask, she told him no, keep it on, she didn?t want to see his face (fearing he would kill her).

??I don?t know why he asked permission about the mask,?? Frake recalls. ??It was almost like I was his girlfriend now. You know what he told me? He said, ?You would really like to date me if the circumstances were different.? ??

Omitting key details, such as having shot his own abusive father in the head several months earlier, Rolling told her about his miserable childhood, and Frake pretended to commiserate by sharing bogus tales of her own past.

??I couldn?t have asked for better family and friends than I had growing up. I?m telling you, I should?ve gotten an Oscar that night.??

Frake lost track of time. The attack itself ??could?ve lasted an hour, or it might?ve been five minutes, I have no idea.?? But by roughly 1:30 that morning, she was exhausted and talked-out and suggested it was time for Rolling to leave.

??The last thing he said was, ?Would you do me a favor? Would you give me 10 minutes before you call the cops?? ??

Then Danny Rolling vanished into the night forever.

Or so she thought. Until she saw him on television in 1994, pleading guilty to murder and serenading Sondra London in a courtroom.

??I knew it immediately, just by listening to his voice and watching his body language,?? Frake said. ??That?s the guy who raped me.??

But the police didn?t confirm it until 1996 when, upon attending a seminar in Tampa conducted by the task force that nailed Rolling, Gorevan learned that Rolling had mentioned raping someone in Sarasota. Gorevan sent Frake?s evidence to the FBI for analysis, which confirmed what Frake already knew.

Frake was in for another shock in 1997 when she learned that the Rolling/London collaboration was on shelves at Barnes & Noble Booksellers. When she read the excerpt about his attack on her, (?It was really weird,?? Rolling wrote, ??almost as though she was entertaining a welcome guest instead of a rapist??), Frake says, ??I fell to my knees. It made me nauseous.??

The state of Florida placed a lien on book proceeds under ??Son of Sam?? laws that prohibit criminals from profiteering from their acts. She also tried to sue Rolling for $1 million in civil court for damages, but the case was dismissed because the statute of limitations had expired.

But today, Frake is proud of the response she got from rape victims around the country. ??I couldn?t do much for them other than listen,?? she recalls. ??But they needed to talk. When something like this happens, you do need to talk.??

Frake spent several months after the attack sleeping under her dining-room table with a knife by her side. She attended therapy sessions that culminated with her writing a letter to Rolling, then burning it.

But she also recorded a videotape for Rolling in which she vented her anger. Gorevan delivered it to Florida State Prison, but Rolling refused to watch it.

If she needed a reaffirmation of humanity following the attack, it came during an appearance on a syndicated TV show hosted by Leeza Gibbons.

That?s when ??they surprised me?? by having two members of the audience step forward. They were Ada Larson, victim Sonja Larson's mother, and Ann Garren, victim Christa Hoyt's mom.

Frake has to pause to brush away more tears.

"They came all the way to California to be by my side," she says. "They didn't have to do that. For years after that, I was sending them Mother's Day cards because they were so good to me."