All language subtitles for How.It.Really.Happened.S04E01_English

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Welcome to "How It
Really Happened."

I'm Hill Harper.

In August of 1990,
Gainesville, Florida,

home to the University
of Florida,

was named one of the safest
places to live

in the United States.

As it turned out, it wasn't.

Just days before college classes
were about to begin,

a stranger came to town,
and he brought terror with him.

His victims, young
and unsuspecting students.

His unthinkable crimes would
paralyze the campus

and the entire town
with panic and fear.

Who could have brought
this kind of violence

to such a sunny place?

It would be more than a year
before police could figure out

who was committing
the Gainesville student murders.

Here's how it really happened.

♪♪

Sidner: It was bone-chilling
'cause it seemed

like something
out of a terror movie.

Fear, complete and utter fear.

Smith:
There's not a single parent that
lived through that time period

who hasn't said, "Oh, my God,
that could have been mine."

♪♪

Reporter:
Fear is bracing the small
town of Gainesville, Florida,

after the deaths
of five students.

Darnell:
We were forced to recognize
that horrible things can happen

to vibrant
and talented individuals

in a beautiful and pristine
place such as Gainesville.

♪♪

Browne: Gainesville
is a wonderful city.

It's got beautiful trees,
great nature,

and then you got
the university.

Hicks: Gainesville
is the University of Florida.

Large university with
fraternities and sororities,

and it was a laid-back
sort of atmosphere

with these wonderful
oak trees there,

and it was
a beautiful campus.

And the sun always shone.

A football town, a college town,

and I went to school there,
so beer-drinking town.

It was fun.

Sidner: August of 1990.

It was my first year
at the University of Florida.

Like any freshman,
you show you,

and you got all the jitters
and the excitement

of starting
a new school year.

Hoyt:
Christa was always happy.

She was always enthusiastic
about everything.

She enjoyed life.

She said she wanted to be
a crime scene investigator.

Reporter:
Manny Taboada and Tracy Paules
had known each other

since their days here
at American High School.

Taboada: You know, the great
thing about my brother

is that he lived life
to the fullest.

He was an architecture major.

He was super, super, super happy

about that particular time
in his life.

Tracy had this way of
just mesmerizing people.

She really did.

She wanted to be a lawyer.

She had one last semester
left in her Bachelor's degree.

Browne:
Fall 1990 was my last year,

so I was looking forward,
you know, to a great year.

Mann:
Things were on a real high.

You had a brand-new University
of Florida President,

John Lombardi.

You had a brand-new coach
named Steve Spurrier,

so people were pumped up.

They were excited about
the fall semester taking place.

And so there was a lot
of optimism.

There was a lot of hope
going into 1990.

And the last thing
on your mind is murder.

Powell: I know the University
of Florida and Gainesville

were totally shocked
that day in 1990.

There was a demonic person
roaming loose.

This town, it literally
came to life in August.

It was not uncommon,
not even unexpected,

that you would have
lots and lots of people

walking the streets.

Mann: You could blend into
the University

of Florida student population
and really not get noticed.

Sullivan: This man had come
to Gainesville --

I believe he arrived in --
on August 20th of 1990.

He was pretty much
a ne'er-do-well.

He had stayed a couple of days
in a hotel, ran out of money,

and he started living
in a field off Archer Road.

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He was a voyeur.

He was a Peeping Tom.

He would go, and he would
sit outside these apartments

and watch for a while.

♪♪

Later at night, that's when
he would enter in.

Man:
The apartment was number 113

in the Williamsburg
Apartment Complex,

which served as the residence
of Sojna Larson

and Christina Powell.

Christina Powell and
Sojna Larson were freshmen.

They're just good kids.

Their entire lives were
stretching out before them.

Reporter: Sojna Larson was 18,
a Baptist church volunteer,

descried as a typical,
all-American girl.

Sojna Larson wanted to be
an elementary school teacher.

Emery: Christy -- nobody ever
called her Christina.

Maybe her mom if she was mad.

She was the first in her family
to go to college.

She was the youngest
of seven children.

She was very proud that she
was gonna go to college

and get a four-year degree,

and it was a very big
accomplishment for her.

Sullivan:
It was around 3:00 a.m.

He carried with him

a Marine Corps
combat knife, very sharp.

He made his way up to Christina
and Sojna's apartment.

Man: Entered the apartment
by breaking in

through the rear door.

He then crept upstairs,
where he entered into a bedroom

where Sojna Larson
was asleep.

He had stabbed Sojna Larson.

He placed a double strip
of duct tape

over Sojna Larson's mouth
in order to muffle her cries.

No one heard anything.

When he returned downstairs...

Man: He found
Christina Powell asleep.

He pressed a double strip
of tape over her mouth

and taped her hands
behind her,

stabbing her five times
in the back.

♪♪

Emery: Christy's sister was
headed to Gainesville

with Christy's belongings
to move her into the apartment.

When she got there,
nobody answered the door,

and nobody answered the phone.

Sullivan:
Christina Powell's parents
were coming in the next day.

They hadn't heard from her.

When they got to
the apartment complex,

they saw the cars
were there.

They knocked on the door,
but there was no answer.

They had to get
the apartment manager,

and the apartment manager
ended up calling the police.

♪♪

The officer was led in,

and it wasn't but just
a few seconds

they spotted the first body.

Clifton: You've got two young
females that are deceased.

We do think that at this time
that they are homicides.

Emery: When we got the news,
it was just like time

kind of stood
still literally, you know.

And my mom said --

I think exactly her words
to me were,

"Honey, it's Christy."

That was it.

When I think of what he did
to her, it tears me apart

because I can see her face.

I can see what she went through.

Clifton: It was a horrific time.

I realized when I saw those
first two young victims

that there was no telling
how many more times

this person
was gonna strike.

Sullivan:
Before Gainesville was starting
to even really understand

and digest the one, there would
be a second murder, as well.

♪♪

Reporter: It was late yesterday
afternoon the bodies

of two University
of Florida students

were found brutally murdered
at their apartment

only two blocks away
from campus.

Emery: Christy wanted
to study architecture.

She was good at graphic design.

She was only 17.

Reporter:
Ada Larson takes comfort

in remembering a daughter
frozen in time.

Larson:
I have her pictured at 18,

and she shall be
forever 18 for me.

Smith: And they were at that
great moment of their lives,

and it was all cut short.

Sidner:
Two students had been killed.

It didn't take long before
everyone started to realize

that something really
diabolical was going on,

and the fear set in.

Mann: You could tell there was
something different

about these
particular homicides,

and that's when I knew
we had a problem.

Clifton:
3533 Southwest 24th Avenue,
apartment M, Gainesville,

which served as the residence
of Christa Hoyt.

Hoyt: She was so sweet.

She had the most beautiful
violet eyes that you ever saw.

She went through her high
school living at my house.

Taught
her how to drive a car.

I helped her make prom dresses,
and we had lots of fun doing so.

Mann: Christa
had an infectious smile.

I knew her when she was
a Sheriff's Explorer.

The Explorer program is
for young people

that are interested, possibly,
in a law enforcement career.

She was also an employee

at the Alachua
County Sheriff's Office.

She was a very good employee
and a very good Explorer.

Mann:
She was working the midnight
shift in the records bureau.

She hadn't shown up for work.

Sheriff's office sent
a deputy sheriff out to see

if there was any problem.

Hewitt: She was a good employee.

She would either call in,
or she would be at work.

And so they became
very concerned.

They knew about
what had happened

with the first crime scene,

and I think this even
intensified their concern.

They knocked on her door
several times

trying to find her.

The owner/manager of
the apartments lived on scene.

I was there actually early
Monday morning, and he said,

"Do you have a key
to Christy's apartment?"

A deputy went around to the
backside of the apartment,

and there was a sliding
glass door back there.

They were met with a shocking
crime scene, to say the least.

I followed the sheriff
around there

and watched him
with his flashlight,

get down on his hands
and knees.

And he shined his light up,

and he could see
the headless body of Christa

sitting on the edge
of her bed.

There's no head.

There's no head.

I said, "She's not all right,
is she?"

And he said, "No."

Fraser:
I was told by one detective,

it was the most gruesome
crime scenes

he had ever seen
in his life.

When I walk into this
small apartment,

we saw a bookshelf
that was out of place

in the middle of her bedroom.

Her head had been placed
on the bookshelf.

The killer had chopped off
her head,

set it on a bookcase
in front of a mirror

so that the officer who opened
the door would see it.

It was horrific.

Hoyt:
It was my husband's birthday.

The police went to his office

and told him at the time
that she had been killed.

He called me, and all I heard
was, "Christa's dead."

We found out that apparently
somebody had broken

into her apartment
and was waiting for her.

He was like a Peeping Tom.

He went and peeped
on her nights before.

He actually broke in
and waited for her.

He was inside her apartment.

Smith:
He surprised her from behind and
placed a choke hold upon her.

He then taped her mouth
and her hands behind her back.

He then stabbed Christa Hoyt
through the back with such force

that her aorta was ruptured,
and she died.

And I just could imagine
her terror of how hard

that was on those
last few hours of her life,

and that is the worst thing
that I have to live with.

I'm sorry.

Reporter:
The question now facing police
is, are these murders related?

Now we had three victims,

and there was the possibility
that it could continue.

At this point,
we simply don't know.

Clifton:
He found Manuel Taboada asleep.

Sullivan: Manny woke up.

Manny was a pretty strong guy,
and he started fighting him.

Reporter: A new school year
is about to begin

in many parts of the world,

but in Gainesville, Florida,
this year will be one

that college students
look back on in horror.

♪♪

♪♪

Browne: It was Monday morning,
probably around 9:00,

and I was walking
to my first class.

And the editor of
The Alligator,

our student newspaper,

was handing out
individual pieces of paper.

I learned that three students
had been murdered.

Reporter: Gainesville police
discovered the first

two murder victims
Sunday afternoon.

Yesterday, the third victim
was found,

reportedly decapitated.

That's when we started to hear
the word

that this could be
a serial killer,

which just didn't
even make sense.

Hewitt: But then on early
Tuesday morning,

we learned that there
was another crime scene.

What is going on?

Reporter: Every morning brought
more unthinkable tragedy.

Hewitt: Manny and Tracy, they
were high-school friends,

and they both come
to the University of Florida,

and they were roommates here.

Buyer: Tracy and Manny,
I met them in high school.

Manny was on the football team,
Tracy was a cheerleader.

They were both extremely
likeable,

popular, very outgoing.

Lahey: Tracy and I, from day
one, very close.

We did look alike,
we thought alike,

we kind of spoke
for each other in a sense.

It annoyed our friends
quite a bit,

the connection that we had.

They wondered why I was
always so protective of her.

Manny was very similar
to Tracy.

Very big personality, very fun.

You just want to hang out
with him and laugh.

I called Tracy on Sunday night
after I saw on the news

about the first two murders.

It was Sunday night
before school started,

and I called Tracy.

And you know, we both
acknowledged thank God

she lives in with Manny,
and that that was a safe --

a safe thing for her.

And she felt safe.
I felt safe.

My last words to her were,

"Be careful
and call me tomorrow.",

And the next day, tomorrow,
was her first day of school.

♪♪

♪♪

Hewitt:
Tracy, he had been at her window
watching her hours

before he actually
went back and broke in.

I don't think he knew Manny
lived there.

Smith: At approximately
3:00 a.m. on 27 August 1990,

he broke into the apartment
by prying open the double glass

sliding door
at the rear of the apartment.

He found Manuel Taboada asleep.

When he took the KA-BAR knife,
and he stabbed him

the first time in the chest,
of course, Manny woke up.

But Manny was
a pretty strong guy,

and he started fighting him.

He wouldn't give up.

Manny fought like hell.

I think he was stabbed 31 times.

Smith: The commotion caused
Tracy Paules

to come towards
Taboada's bedroom.

Tracy Paules fled
towards her room

and attempted
to lock her door.

He followed, breaking
the bedroom door open.

Reporter: Tracy Paules
was already terrified

with the discovery
of three bodies

when she realized her roommate,
Manuel Taboada,

had been attacked.

Tracy Paules said,
"You're the one, aren't you?"

And he said, "Yes, I am."

I -- What must have gone
through her mind,

you know, at that point?

The next morning,
I called Tracy.

No answer.

The whole day, we tried calling
her, left voicemails, nothing.

Tuesday morning,
nobody's heard from Tracy.

This is not normal.

Something is going on.

I contacted another friend
of ours, Tommy.

Tommy got up,
drove to Tracy's apartment.

He calls me from the pay phone,

and he said,
"Look, Tracy's car is here,

and I don't want to go
peering into her windows

because there's a serial killer,

and people are gonna
think I'm crazy."

So, we called the office
manager,

and the maintenance man came.

Tommy hangs up.

Next call I get, it's Tommy,

and he's just screaming,
"It's Tracy.

It's Tracy."

Woman: After going in four
or five feet, what happened?

Carroll:
We discovered Tracy's body.

Lahey: I'll never forget this
for the rest of my life.

Tracy and I talked
every other night

when she went back
to Gainesville at 11:00

because the rates
went down at that time.

And our plan was to talk
Tuesday,

and then that Tuesday morning...

Tracy's dead,

and she was murdered.

My life changed forever.

I really honestly at the time
did not believe it was Tracy.

I thought Tommy made a mistake,
and at the time,

I didn't realize Manny was
also inside the apartment.

To the right, I noted a bedroom
with a bed in it.

The bed was covered with blood.

To the left, I noted that
there was another victim.

Taboada:
I'm driving down I-95, and I'm
changing the radio stations.

And they were interrupting
programming

to give some updated news,
and I remember them saying

that they had found
two more bodies in Gainesville,

and that there was
a South Florida connection.

Reporter: Victims four and five,
a young man and a woman,

were found at an off-campus
student apartment

complex Tuesday morning.

Taboada: Starting to describe
the individuals,

and I knew then
that it was Tracy and Manny.

♪♪

It's like a lightning bolt
hits your heart and your soul.

The first thing that came
to my mind is my mom.

I just could not imagine
what this was gonna do to her.

Manny Taboada was an athlete
here at American High School,

and afterwards,
he continued to lift weights.

He was big,
well over 6 feet tall,

not the kind of person,
his friends say,

who could easily be overpowered.

Hewitt: I think it heightened
our concern

that this person
didn't have no fear,

and that he had
the physical capability

of overtaking a man
and killing him.

Stacy: Everybody came to
the realization

that he's not
just looking for women.

I mean, it could be anybody.

He could be looking
for anybody to kill.

Reporter: Police fear the
gruesome nature of the killings

could mean
there may be more,

unless they can catch
the student killer first.

Lombardi: This is not a moment
that any of us would wish

upon any institution,
any community,

or any group
in the United States.

The senseless violence
comes with no reason,

and the loss
has no explanation.

♪♪

Welcome back.

In a three-day span
at the end of August 1990,

five college students
were found

brutally murdered
in Gainesville, Florida.

Three were sexually assaulted.

One was decapitated.

The community was terrorized.

No one knew who the killer
or killers were

or when
they would strike again.

Reporter:
The city of Gainesville
is in a state of fear and panic,

held hostage by at least
one brutal killer.

Late Tuesday, the bodies
of a young man and woman --

Tracy Paules and Manny Taboada,

were taken from
the apartment complex

where they had been
found murdered.

♪♪

Lahey: That summer was the last
time I got to see her.

I remember watching her
walk into the airport,

and I just stared at her
for a while.

But I didn't have that feeling

that I wasn't gonna
see her again.

In the past, all the victims
had been female.

We did have
one male victim today.

Taboada: I think I asked a lot
of times, "Are you sure,

you know, that it's my brother?"

And they kept saying,
"Yes, unfortunately, it is."

Sidner: When we heard that a man
had been killed,

everyone thought,
"Okay, nobody's safe."

Etheridge: They were scared.

This guy was somewhere
out there.

Reporter:
With little new information
and the possibility of a killer

still stalking, anxiety
in Gainesville is on the rise.

Scary. Because what's
gonna happen next?

You didn't know.

The town was in a terror mode.

It was horrible.

They closed all the stores
as soon as it got dark.

Nobody wanted to be out
on the streets.

After what had happened
to Christa,

at night,
everybody slept in my house.

We left the outside lights on,
all the inside lights.

We were terrified that somebody
was after our family.

We had no clue.

Tensions are high right now.

We're trying to keep a level
head from our end.

Citizens are calling in just
about anything that moves.

People were calling
law enforcement

at the drop of a hat
on anything

that seemed slightly out
of the ordinary.

The people there were helpless.

They didn't know who did this.

Why whoever had done this
had picked these people,

were they arbitrary
selections?

Were they targeted?

I'm really scared.

-What are you gonna do?
-I don't know.

I don't know if there's anything
I can do.

You thought about it
every time you were alone,

especially when it was dark.

I'll never forget having
the switchblade in one hand

and a baseball bat in another
hand and kicking doors in.

And I was absolutely at the time

sure there was someone
or someones behind those doors.

I'm afraid every night.

Every day, I'm afraid.

We weren't willing to let
our guard down at any point.

Reporter: Hundreds of students
attended a news conference

held on the University
of Florida campus.

All wanted to know
how they would be protected.

Beginning at 8:00 tonight,
you'll see more police coverage

than you've ever seen in
any city you've ever lived in.

We can assure you,
we're taking every precaution

to make Gainesville
as secure as possible.

It doesn't stop until he stops.

In fact, crime dropped like
a rock for the next quarter

because literally, there was
a cop on every corner.

Students and parents were
going into the hardware stores,

and they were buying locks,

and some people
were buying guns.

And people were told
unilaterally,

"Don't walk alone,
especially at night.

Go with groups."

There was a real panic
on campus

with parents taking
their children out of school

because they were afraid.

Man: I just can't believe
this is happening.

I mean, I'm ready to take
my daughter home

until this is cleared up.

And frankly, we were afraid.

Yeah, we're probably
going home today.

A girlfriend of ours
already went home.

Her parents made her go,

and we're probably
gonna do the same.

Reporter: There's been a mass
exodus of students

from the university campus.

Usually it's really packed,
but now there's hardly anybody.

By this weekend, there'll
be nobody basically here.

Hicks: This was a place
with fraternities,

sororities,
30,000-plus students.

Something was always
going on there,

and there was just --
there was this stillness.

Smith: Gainesville
was very different before.

Never quite the same.

There's an innocence lost that
was never completely regained.

Etheridge:
Just weeks before the killings,

a national magazine
voted Gainesville

one of the most
liveable cities in the country.

Now the people of this normally
placid college town

can only wait and wonder

if life here will ever
really be the same.

It appears that the killer
may have spent

some time in the apartment.

He stayed after
he dismembered people.

He stayed and posed people.

And this is after they died.

Reporter: Fear gripped the small
college community of Gainesville

after the bodies
of five college students

were found in three days.

All five were stabbed
repeatedly.

Clifton:
We have every reason to believe

now that all of
the five victims found,

beginning last Sunday afternoon
about 4:00,

then through this morning,

are probably all connected
to one suspect or two suspects.

Hicks: As soon as they realized
that they had five

probably related homicides,
all the media went up there,

which probably certainly
didn't help the tensions

or the concerns at the time.

It was causing the level of
anxiety to rise that much more.

Man: You've had five people
that have been murdered

over the past five days.

This is a case that's not
gonna get solved overnight.

Everything that can be done
is being done.

Reporter:
About 600 police officers
are involved

in the hunt for the killer.

So is the FBI.

Mann: Chief Clifton
and Sheriff Hindery,

they decided early on
to form a task force.

Approach this thing
with a lot of resources.

Immediately flood the area
with cops.

There was new developments
daily in the case.

Darnell: It appears that
the killer may have spent

some time in the apartment.

He did not go, we don't think,
right in and out,

which is typical in most
violent crime situations.

Hicks: And everyone's head
sort of popped up.

Now, that was that new element.

Fraser:
There was a crime scene expert.

He said it was one of the
cleanest crime scenes

he'd ever seen,

and there wasn't a lot
of evidence left behind.

For instance, he poured
different types of liquid

solvent, dish soap,

over the lower portion
of some of his victims,

and we believe that was in
an effort to eliminate evidence.

Sidner: He stayed after
he dismembered people.

He stayed and posed people
in certain positions.

And this is after they died.

Fraser: He took his time.

This was a despicable SOB

who took his time doing
what he was doing.

Reporter: They are revisiting
all three of the murder sites,

searching for clues
from what they believe

is the work of a deliberate
and methodical killer.

There was leads, thousands
of leads being called in.

Numerous people called in
as suspects.

People were calling in,
everything from,

"You know, I dated this guy,
and he was just bizarre."

I mean, there are so many
individuals, frighteningly so,

out there who could have
committed a crime like this.

Smith:
We were having terrible leaks.

Every time you read the paper,
there's a new suspect.

I think that first week,
Edward Humphrey.

I was told,
"He looks good to us."

Reporter: Investigators have
been very interested

in 18-year-old Edward Humphrey
since shortly after the slaying.

He was acting erratically.

He was talking about murder.

He was telling people
he was going on recon missions.

Reporter: Dozens of tips came
into police about him.

His bizarre behavior attracted
a lot of attention

that summer of 1990.

Hicks:
It came out that he had been
observed walking in the woods

with a knife or things like that
and acting aberrant.

Reporter: When Edward Humphrey
was a part-time student

in Gainesville,

he used to carry
a large hunting knife

and go on what they called a
night-time reconnaissance trip.

This week alone, the University
of Florida police

were granted two warrants
for Humphrey's arrest.

Two students claim
he threatened them

with a knife the day before
the first bodies were found.

Hoyt:
I recognized Edward Humphrey.

I had gone to a doughnut shop

that was not very far
from Christa's,

and I had stopped there
right before Christa's death

to get some doughnuts
to take home.

When I came back out,
he followed me,

and he's saying
something to me about,

"You have somebody you're taking
these doughnuts home to?"

And I turned around
and looked at him.

I said, "Yeah.

He's about 6'4",
and he'd like to meet you."

I knew he was in that area.

I knew what he had said to me
and how he had approached me.

So, yes, I recognized him
right away.

Then, of course, everybody here
became very suspicious.

Reporter: Humphrey was arrested
yesterday morning

for beating his
79-year-old grandmother.

Hicks: The fact that he had
assaulted his grandmother

was pretty unnerving,
and she -- she was tough.

She was angry, and she
was not angry at him.

Get away!
Get away, you damn fools!

She was angry at us.

Reporter:
Humphrey's entire family
has been besieged by the media

ever since he was identified
by police last week

as one of several suspects
in the Gainesville murders.

Hicks: I also remember how
pained his brother

was trying to talk
to the media and saying,

"I don't believe
he would do this."

My brother did not
do these killings.

He's no way connected
with Gainesville.

He's not capable
of killing anybody, okay?

Hicks: This is not who did this.

Humphrey:
Can I say one thing?

Man: You probably don't want to
talk about it now

till you get a chance to talk to
your attorney first, all right?

No, I just --
innocent until proven guilty.

Okay.

Krop: We start talking.

He said, "I just want to know
whether everything

I tell you
is confidential."

He then went on to share
with me,

word by word,
or scene by scene,

and told me about
the five homicides.

Lombardi: Thank you very much
for joining us here today

at a memorial
for Christa Leigh Hoyt,

Sojna Jane Larson,
Tracy Inez Paules,

Christina Patricia Powell,
and Manuel Ricardo Taboada.

Browne: Your heart goes
to the families, even now,

because folks were able
to move on

with the rest of their semester,
the rest of their lives,

and to know that these families
and these very close friends

were not gonna be able
to do that,

that was the hardest thing.

Reporter: The five victims of
the murder spree

have all been laid to rest.

Emery: Nothing made sense.

A lot of it is a blur.

Buyer: It was very difficult.

I mean, we ended up having --

we're going to two wakes
and two funerals of our friends.

I mean, it was just so many
questions,

and it was hard to find any type
of comfort in not knowing.

Reporter:
Also uncertain is whether
police are looking for one,

two, or more suspects.

We didn't know that they had
any suspects until Ed Humphrey.

Reporter: Investigators from
Gainesville questioned Humphrey

for 12 hours.

Stacy: He had scars on his face.

He was acting erratically.

He was just almost
an obvious suspect.

Reporter:
Edward Humphrey remains one of
the prime suspects in the case,

but police caution
that he is only one

they are now investigating.

The town was still gripped
with fear.

Reporter: A nationwide search
is underway,

but the suspect list
remains fluid.

And in the words of one
authority,

the investigation at this stage
is a massive whodunit.

Then there was a robbery at
a grocery store 30 miles away.

I was a sergeant in
the investigations

on the west side of Ocala.

The robbery call goes out.

Ocala PD officers
did a remarkable job

and were right there
as he was pulling out.

And we got into a chase.

He actually almost hit my wife,
who was pregnant.

Finally took him into custody,

brought him
to our district offices,

and I actually interviewed him.

Reporter:
Danny Rolling told police

he's a 36-year-old
unemployed laborer.

He told them that when he was
arrested for holding a gun

to the head of an employee
of this Ocala grocery store,

and then leading them
on a wild chase through town.

Graham: He was very chatty.

When I talked to him,
he confessed to the robbery.

He was incredibly apologetic
and genuinely felt bad

about what he did.

He acted like a little kid

who had been caught
doing something wrong.

Man: Did you have any
mental problems, Mr. Rolling?

♪♪

Reporter: Rolling is also wanted
in Louisiana

on an attempted
murder charge.

He's accused of shooting
his father,

a retired Shreveport
police officer.

We learned that he grew up
in a very abusive household.

His father was a Shreveport,
Louisiana,

police officer
who had a terrible temper,

was apparently caustic,
abusive to Danny.

He was married for a short time.

He went into the Air Force,
you know,

he didn't really do
all that well there.

He gets out, and at one point,
he took up armed robbery.

And he wasn't really good
at that, either.

Reporter: He was convicted of
armed robbery, stealing cars,

and spent time
in a state penitentiary.

He was the type of person
that confessed to what he did.

He always confessed.

♪ What were my words? ♪

♪ All my tears
run together, baby ♪

Reporter: Danny Rolling's
public defenders believe

he hasn't been competent
in quite some time.

Rolling says he hears voices
and sees demons.

Krop: I was asked by the --

I believe she was the assistant
chief public defender in Ocala

to evaluate his competency
and mental state

at the time of the charge.

And we start talking,
and he gave me his history

and talked about
the armed robbery.

He said, "I just want to know

whether everything I tell you
is confidential."

And I assured him.

He then went on to share
with me,

word by word,
or scene by scene,

and told me about
the five homicides.

Christian:
Danny Rolling confessed to
all five murders in Gainesville.

Danny Rolling wanted to confess.

Once he made his confessions
to me,

I started realizing that
I couldn't tell anybody.

This was a confidential
evaluation.

Christian: It's the equivalent
of a parishioner

telling a priest
something in confession.

You're just not allowed to break
that seal of confidence.

If you make a movie like that,
they'd go,

"No, he didn't do that."

It's just surreal.

It's all surreal.

Reporter:
Two suspects aren't in jail.

I don't think that they know
who it is.

Reporter:
Law enforcement officials,
though, say be patient.

Hewitt: We brought in the K-9s,
and the K-9s tracked him

through the wooded area,
tracked to a campsite.

After the DNA was processed,
everything fell into place.

Then the question became,
was there anybody else

involved with them or not?

That's what we were
waiting to find out.

Every time he mentioned
her name, it was a jolt.

How he went into the apartments,

told her how he was
going to kill her.

To think that this monster
was in there

and had done these things.

That's what he wanted.

He wanted to be a superstar
among criminals.

There as pin-drop silence
and then gasps

because none of us expected
what happened in court.

It was months after the murders,

and no one had been charged
with the brutal killings.

One possible suspect,
Edward Humphrey,

was already serving time
on unrelated assault charges.

A second possible suspect,
Danny Rolling,

was also behind bars
for armed robbery.

Could either of these men
be the Gainesville killer?

What would finally
lead investigators

to find the madman
behind these unthinkable crimes?

Find out on the next
"How It Really Happened."

I'm Hill Harper.

Thanks for watching.