Danny Rolling

Danny Rolling aka: “The Gainsville Ripper” was a serial killer responsible for the deaths of 5 students in Florida in the early 1990s. He first broke into the home of 17-year-old University freshmen Sonja Larson and Christina Powell. Rolling murdered Sonja first, taping her mouth shut to stifle her screams as her raped her before stabbing her to death, and then did the same to Powell who had been asleep on the couch. The next day he broke into the home of 18-year-old Christa Hoyt and waited for her to return. He brutalized her in the same way as his previous victims, then decapitated her to add to the intensity of whoever found her corpse. Two days later he broke into the apartment shared by 23-year-old Tracy Paules and Manny Taboada (also 23.) Manny weighing it at 200 lbs did his best to fight Rolling, but was stabbed to death. Tracy, hearing the commotion attempted to barricade herself in her bedroom, but Rolling broke down the door. He again raped her and stabbed her and posed her body, but opted to leave Manny’s the same as when he died. After being arrested on a burglary charge, Rolling was identified as the suspect in the murders. He plead guilty on each count, and was sentenced to death. He was executed in 2006 by lethal injection, after the US Supreme Court denied his last appeal.

For his last meal Rolling was served lobster tail, butterfly shrimp, baked potato, strawberry cheesecake, and sweet tea.