All language subtitles for How.It.Really.Happened.S04E02_English

♪♪

♪♪

Welcome to
"How It Really Happened."

I'm Hill Harper.

In late August of 1990, the city
of Gainesville, Florida,

was paralyzed by a string of
senseless and sadistic murders.

The bodies of five college
students were discovered

in their apartments
brutally stabbed, tortured.

Some were sexually assaulted.

One, decapitated.

Investigators knew
that this was the work

of a deranged serial killer,

but who could be capable
of such violent depravity?

It would be more than a year
before the public

and the victim's families
finally knew the truth.

Here's how it really happened.

♪♪

♪♪

Man: They were crimes
that horrified a community.

Five students between
the ages of 17 and 23

stabbed to death in August 1990.

Darnell:
Sonja Larson, Christy Powell,

Christa Hoyt, Manny Taboada,

and Tracy Paules.

We were forced to recognize
that horrible things can happen

to vibrant
and talented individuals

in a beautiful and pristine
place such as Gainesville.

Man:
Gainesville police discovered
the first two murder victims

Sunday afternoon.

Emery: Christy, she was moving
into her apartment.

She got in her car,
and off she went.

And I literally can see her
rounding the corner,

just like that.

Man: Sonja Larson was 18,
the typical all-American girl.

I'll be in a store,
and I will think,

"Oh, Sonja will like that."

And then it hits me.

Sonja's not here.

Man: Yesterday,
the third victim was found,

reportedly decapitated.

Hoyt:
When Christa moved in with us,
she started coming around

and giving each one
a hug and kiss

before she went
to sleep at night.

And now you wish it could
just keep going on and on.

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

were found at an off-campus

student apartment complex
Tuesday morning.

Taboada: The great thing
about my brother

is that he lived life
to the fullest,

and I was just --
just so proud of him.

And that will never change.

Lahey:
She was my sister, and I lost
a big part of my heart.

Shoot, I'm 54 years old,

and I still can't
get over her loss.

Hewitt:
These crime scenes were probably
the most horrific crime scenes

that I had ever seen.

He would stalk, in some cases,
these victims in advance.

And then pounce when
they were very vulnerable.

This guy was committing murders
in the middle of the night.

You're most vulnerable
when you're asleep.

Woman: All had been stabbed.

Several were mutilated.

He was not just there to kill.

He was showcasing a room,

and that was
terribly disturbing.

After he dismembered people,
he stayed and --

and just posed people.

It was bone-chilling.

Woman: Police warned the killer
may still be stalking.

It was horrific,
and it was heart-wrenching.

He was still out there.

♪♪

[ Telephone rings ]

There was new, hot leads
every day to follow up on.

There was a bank
of investigators

working the phones day
in and day out.

Etheridge: At the time,
there were questions.

Why is this taking so long?

This guy is out there.

Where is he?

Woman:
Investigators say they have
volumes of evidence

and a pool of suspects.

We're looking at eight
possible suspects

in our series of homicides.

Woman:
From that category, 18-year-old
Edward Lewis Humphrey

is the only
one authorities would name.

The University of Florida
student is in custody

on separate charges
of beating his grandmother.

Stacy: He -- he looked like
a serial killer.

He had scars on his face,
and he was acting erratically.

He was talking about murder.

Man: Police say
they've been told,

Humphrey liked to put on
military clothes,

strap on a knife,

and go on nighttime
reconnaissance missions

in the same area
searchers sloshed through

looking for
possible evidence.

They were just searching
and searching and searching.

They were looking for anything.

Needle in a haystack.

Hicks: The police were really
at loose ends,

and then it wasn't until
Danny Rolling made

a foolish mistake
that he even came

to the attention
of law enforcement.

Woman:
Danny Rolling, 36-year-old
unemployed laborer,

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.

I was asked by the assistant
chief public defender in Ocala

to evaluate his competency

and mental state
at the time of the charge.

We start talking.

He said, "I just want to know

whether everything I tell you
is confidential."

He then went on and told me
about the five homicides.

Man: Five gruesome stabbings
took place

over a three-day period
in late August.

Krop: He went into detail
where he killed,

mutilated, posed,
and decapitated,

and other very sadistic
kind of acts.

One of the things
that Danny told me

was that after he killed
on the second day,

the next morning, he woke up,
and he couldn't find his wallet,

and he presumed
that he left it at the scene.

So he had gone back
to the scene.

Of course, no one
had been there yet.

When he went back,
that is when he decapitated.

He didn't do that initially
at the crime scene.

Woman: Christa Hoyt has been
decapitated,

her head placed on a bookcase.

I almost think he wanted to know
if he had shocked me,

and I said,
"No, I hear it all the time,"

which of course,
I don't hear it to that degree.

Christian: Now, Dr. Krop knew
that Danny Rolling

had confessed to these killings.

Danny rolling put Dr. Krop
in a very precarious position

because the tenets
of mental therapy,

you cannot tell anyone.

Krop: Once he made
his confessions to me,

he seemed emotionally relieved,
and I was emotionally drained.

And then I started realizing

this was
a confidential evaluation.

I couldn't tell anybody.

Danny hadn't been charged
with murder.

It might cause a mistrial
down the road

if he's ever brought to trial.

Christian: On the other hand,
he knew at that point

that Danny Rolling
was not going to be killing

anymore university students
because he was locked up.

So, in the end,
Dr. Krop didn't say anything.

He waited for the system to work
the way that it's supposed to.

The truth will come out.

We knew we had evidence
of the suspect

from all three crime scenes.

Man: Matching DNA would link
a suspect to the murders.

And things
just started clicking.

[ Cheering ]

Let's go, Gators, let's go!

Let's go, Gators, let's go!

Let's go, Gators, let's go!

Woman: Homecoming festivities
at the University of Florida

are in high gear.

And while there's no apparent
lack of enthusiasm,

memories of the tragic events
of recent weeks

are never far
from students' minds.

The fall semester,
it's the semester of dreams.

There's always that optimism
in the fall,

and that got taken away from us.

My heart just goes out
to families

and friends of the victims.

Hopefully, someone
will catch this guy,

and there'll be a lot
of happy people if that happens.

Man: Some of the best criminal
investigation minds

in the nation
have been working on the case,

but still,
no one has been arrested.

Hicks: The murders had stopped.

I called my police sources
in South Florida,

and I said, "What do you know?
What do you hear?"

And at the time,
the police had decided

either the person
who was involved in it had died

or had been arrested
on some unrelated crime.

Well, let's see
who's already in jail.

Hewitt:
We filled out ViCAP, violent
crime apprehension program,

and it's run by the Federal
Bureau of investigation.

It is a very in-depth document

that you fill out
on every scene.

They feed the information
into their computer base,

and any crimes that have
any similarities to it,

it kicks 'em out,

one of them being murders
in the Shreveport area.

Woman: The Gainesville murders
contained striking similarities

to a 1989 murder
in Shreveport, Louisiana.

24-year-old Julie Grissom,
Brunette college student,

had been raped, stabbed,
posed on a bed,

and the bedroom meticulously
cleaned up afterwards.

Hewitt: Her body was staged
on the side of her bed

similar to some of our victims.

Woman: Police there say
her father and nephew

must have come in
on the killer.

They, too, were fatally stabbed.

Several police sources
have told us

they have suspected a connection
between the two cases.

Hewitt: The task force sent
an FDLE agent to Shreveport

to talk
with the investigators.

Danny's name came up
because of the Grissom

killings in Shreveport.

There was warrants for him
out of Shreveport

for shooting his father before
he left in the spring of '90.

The investigators
in Shreveport said,

"Hey, you might want to go down
and check him out."

Woman: Was he linked to
the five killings here?

He was basically
a career criminal.

Hewitt:
He had done numerous robberies

and been convicted
and served time.

The man's been to prison
for armed robbery

in three different states.

He came to the wrong state
when he came to Florida

and committed an armed robbery.

Hewitt: In the midst of working
the student murders,

we had a bank robbery that
turned out to be very important.

♪♪

♪♪

Stacy: The First Union robbery,

it got kind of lost
in all the other news.

Mann: It was crazy.

It was in the middle of the day,
near a busy intersection.

The bank robbery takes place.

Hewitt: I don't think anybody,
until much later,

put it together
that they were connected.

We got there, and somebody said
that the suspect

had ran across the parking lot
and turned into a wooded area

that leads into
the University of Florida.

They brought in the K-9s,

and the K-9s tracked him through
a wooded area to a campsite.

At the campsite,
we found dye-stained money,

a bag, a screwdriver,
audiotape player,

a knit ski cap,
and a pair of sports gloves.

And they packed all the stuff up
and moved it to evidence.

Mann: At that time,
it just didn't make sense

that it had any connection with
the Gainesville student murders.

Three months later, we said,
"Maybe we should go back

and look at our evidence that
we collected from the campsite

that was associated
with the bank robbery."

And when we did, we found
the tape recorder and noticed

that there was a tape inside it.

And on that tape was talking.

And singing.

The moon is shining.

The rain keeps pouring down.

And he identifies himself.

As Danny Rolling.

Mann:
Now you have a possible suspect
giving their full name

in Gainesville
during this particular case.

This is a very possible suspect
and probably the suspect.

We knew we had evidence
of the suspect

from all three crime scenes
in Gainesville, Florida.

Our forensic lab people were
able to create a DNA profile.

Back then, to run DNA took
several weeks as opposed to now

where you can get something
in one or two days.

Reporter:
Sources have told Channel 4 News
that the lab is doing

DNA testing on either blood,
hair,

or semen sample
found at a crime scene.

I got a call one day from a guy
I worked with at FDLE.

He goes, "Hey, you arrested
this guy named Danny Rolling.

I need to come down and pull
some blood from him."

Mann:
They took him to the infirmary
and had his blood drawn.

That blood was sent to the lab.

Graham:
Dennis calls me, and he goes,
"you're not gonna believe this.

We think this is the guy."

And all of a sudden,
things immediately

just start coming together.

Man: Today, a published report
says police

are waiting
for a DNA blood test

to confirm that
their suspicions are correct,

that they may know
who the killer is.

They had discovered his camp
in the woods

and the songs that he had --
the tapes he had made.

♪♪

Man: Mario Taboada spends a lot
of time at the cemetery.

His brother, Manny,
was stabbed to death

in Gainesville, Florida.

♪♪

Taboada: My brother was murdered
at the end of August, 1990.

Months later, our case was still
in the limelight

and in the news.

Man: For many,
it's difficult to understand

or accept why
no one's been arrested.

The wheels of justice
move slow, and okay,

that's fine to say
unless your child was murdered,

and it takes this long
to catch the guy.

It turns out,
he was actually in custody.

Man: Investigators confirm
that this man,

36-year-old Danny Rolling

of Shreveport, Louisiana,
is a suspect.

He's currently jailed on an
unrelated armed robbery charge.

Reporter: Danny, they say you
murdered five people.

What do you have to say?

Hicks: They had discovered
his camp in the woods,

and the songs that he had --
the tapes he had made.

You knew without a doubt
that he was involved.

We continued putting
the evidence together.

Woman: In each envelope,
small pieces of more

than 2,000 articles of evidence.

Hewitt: There was a screwdriver
found at the campsite.

The screwdriver was so important

because at all
three crime scenes,

there was tool marks
at the entry point

that could be matched up
to the specific tool

that was used to break in.

Like a fingerprint,
they matched 'em.

We knew the screwdriver
had come from Wal-Mart,

so we went back and started
checking the surveillance tapes

and cash register receipts.

Rolling was in Wal-Mart
purchasing a tent.

And the time that the tent
was being purchased

in the sporting goods section,

our first two victims,
Sonja and Christina,

was checking out at the front
register in the same Wal-Mart.

Forensic evidence from him
comes back

on all three different scenes.

Christian: He left semen behind.

That was his big slip-up.

Man: You had him dead to rights.

And then the question became,

was there anybody else
involved with him or not?

Stacy: I think it was pretty
evident that Danny Rolling

was gonna be indicted
for the murders,

but the big question mark
was Ed Humphrey,

whether he had anything
to do with it.

Woman:
Former University of Florida

student Edward Humphrey
of Melbourne

was named early on
as a possible suspect.

Humphrey has not been
indicted or charged,

but prosecutors
have not cleared his name.

We only have one shot
at doing this.

You can't be tried twice
for the same crime.

So once the process starts,
we've gotta do it right

and do it right the first time.

♪♪

A Florida grand jury
has just indicted

Danny Harold Rolling
for the murder

of five college students

in Gainesville, Florida.

Stabbing her with a knife --

Woman: A clerk reads
the grand jury's decision.

Danny Rolling is now charged
with all five student murders.

I remember the headline,
it said, "Rolling indicted."

Woman: The grand jury
also decided

there wasn't enough evidence
to indict Ed Humphrey.

"Humphrey not."

The indictment said,
for sure,

that Ed Humphrey didn't
have anything to do with it.

Woman: Lab tests on evidence
at the crime scenes

did not match up to Humphrey.

Christian:
Humphrey was released,

and there's absolutely
no indication

that he had anything to do
with these killings.

We agreed with the grand
jury's assessment that,

as of today,
there was insufficient evidence

to return an indictment
against anyone

other than Danny Harold Rolling.

Woman: Rolling said nothing
as he was officially charged

with five counts
of first-degree murder.

His attorney entered a plea
of not guilty to the charges,

but later said an insanity
defense may be more appropriate.

Every time I saw him, he had
sort of this bemused face.

I'm not sure what
I'm doing here.

God bless the people of Florida.

Lord help me.

He's just a real piece of work.

I received word that Danny
Rolling wanted to talk to me.

Danny wanted to confess.

There was pin drop silence,
and then gasps.

Woman: I figured there was
something you wanted to say.

Yes, ma'am.

Any and all parties
involved in the investigation

under way concerning the
Gainesville murders have been

and will be dealt with
in an honorable fashion.

The wheels of justice
may turn slow, but they do turn.

Welcome back.

15 months after
the brutal killings

of five college students,

Danny Rolling was indicted
for the Gainesville murders.

Investigators vowed that
the suspected serial killer

would pay for the innocent
lives he took,

but justice
would not come easy.

Man: They were crimes
that horrified the community.

These kids were butchered
in a senseless act.

Man: 15 months of an exhaustive
investigation

led to Danny Harold Rolling,

a drifter from Shreveport,
Louisiana.

He didn't have any emotion,
no matter what was said.

He came almost close
to looking clueless.

Hewitt: He was a very strong,
athletic individual.

But he wanted that perception
of being a weak person.

Woman: Danny Rolling's public
defenders believe

he hasn't been competent
in quite some time.

Rolling says he hears voices

and see demons,
symptoms of psychosis.

♪ My words, all my tears
run together, baby. ♪

Danny was not unintelligent,
and he was not crazy.

He -- in the sense of insane.

He was anything but that.

He wanted to be a superstar
among criminals.

Being famous for, you know,
committing horrible crimes.

Tried to blame the demons
for turning him

into the kind of person he was.

Smith: He had ynnad,
which is one of his spirits

that came to him, evil spirits,

which is Danny
spelled backwards.

I'll never forget Rod Smith
saying early on,

he knew right from wrong.

Smith: He was very calculating.

The person who committed these
crimes was very much in control.

It was all about control.

My lawyers advised me
not to make any, you know,

answer any questions.

[ Laughs ]

Smith: Danny would play games.

His narcissism was at the heart
of everything he did.

Hewitt: Rolling wanted
to meet with us.

He wanted to tell us
where the murder weapon was.

Woman: Heavy equipment pushes up
mound after mound of dirt

as metal detectors
search for clues.

We spent months digging
and searching.

And never found
the murder weapon.

♪♪

I received word from
the corrections department

that Danny Rolling wanted
to talk to me.

Rod got word that Danny
wanted to confess.

Smith: It was not above him
at all to say,

I'm gonna do this
just to throw us off.

But Danny won't talk to them
except through

this other inmate
named Bobby Lewis.

He was kind
of a notorious inmate.

Bobby Lewis's claim to fame
is he's the only person

to ever escape
off death row in Florida,

and that's his claim to fame.

Rolling's idea
was to befriend Lewis

so he could help him escape.

We went up there to the prison
and met with rolling

and Bobby Lewis
at the same time.

He wanted to make sure
that we understood

that Robert Lewis
was his advocate.

Woman: Rolling would talk only
through a fellow inmate

at Florida state prison.

We told Rolling, "we understand

what you're trying
to get through Lewis,

but we need to hear it
from you."

And he was reluctant to do that.

And so we came up with the idea,

we'll ask Bobby Lewis
the questions.

If it's wrong, you correct him,
and he can tell us.

This was ventriloquism.

This was puppetry.

He was bizarre.

They would ask him questions.

He would lean over,
whisper to Bobby Lewis.

Bobby Lewis
would answer for him.

I don't know why they thought
this was such a great idea.

Then we would turn around
and ask Rolling,

"Is what he's
telling us correct?"

Smith: Legran just kept saying,
"Did he get that right, Danny?"

And Danny kept confirming,
so we now had Bobby saying it,

but Danny confirming it.

We had the DNA evidence,
and most importantly,

we had him saying what he did.

We thought it was a slam dunk.

But Danny
wouldn't see it that way.

Man:
Rolling has pleaded not guilty
and denies law enforcement

reports that he confessed
to the crime.

♪♪

[ Sirens wailing ]

Man: Rolling came to court
in a motorcade,

heavy security,
armored vans.

He gave no clue as he stepped
out of the van

as to the bombshell he was
about to drop in court.

I was in journalism school
by the time Danny Rolling

ended up in court,
and I was working for WUFT-GM.

It was an NPR station
run by the students.

It was February 15th.

It was my 50th birthday.

We all went into court.

Lahey: I was standing next
to Diana Hoyt.

All of a sudden, I hear,
"They're bringing him in."

And we froze,
and then here he comes.

♪♪

And it's the first time
we've ever seen him.

We had no clue that anything
that was going to happen.

Your honor,
this is the defendant,

Danny Harold Rolling.

Danny Rolling was meticulous,
crafty, and evil.

Your honor, I've been running
from first one thing

and then another
all my life,

but there are some things
that you just can't run from.

I leaned a little closer to hear
what they were saying.

And all of a sudden,
the whole town froze.

Sidner: Danny Rolling decided
to plead guilty,

unbeknownst to any of us
that were in the room.

Man: Danny Rolling pleaded
guilty to the gruesome murders

of five Gainesville area
students in August 1990.

I almost questioned
that I'd heard what I did.

There was pin drop silences,
and then gasps.

Stacy:
'It was absolutely stunning.

No one saw that coming.

He says he can't run
for his demons anymore,

and he admitted to killing
all five students.

It was a shock to the system.

I don't recall
that he ever apologized.

Woman: Anna Larson was in court
the day rolling pleaded guilty.

Can you ever forgive him?

Larson: What I think about that
is that the people

who need to forgive him
are unavailable.

They are dead.

We learned a lot
that we didn't know before.

Fraser: When Tracy Paules
saw him, she said,

"you're the student killer."

And said to him,
"They will find you."

Listen, I was okay
with just getting a gun,

shooting him,
and that be it.

♪♪

Man: It was a trial
that was to take months,

but today in
a Gainesville courtroom,

6'4" Louisiana drifter

Danny Rolling
put an end to all that.

In a surprise move,
rolling pleaded guilty

to the now infamous
Gainesville student murders.

There are some things
that you just can't run from.

He was not remorseful.

He was never remorseful.

Man: His attorney claims Rolling
decided to plead guilty

in his jail cell last month.

When we've asked him
why he reached this decision

was to do the right thing.

I think it was a play
on his part

to attempt to stay out
of the death chamber.

Taboada:
It was very simple for me.

I've always said I wanted
to refer to him

in the same tense
as my brother --

in the past tense.

♪♪

Man: Should Danny Rolling die

because he murdered five college
students in August 1990,

or should he be allowed
to live

because his mind was warped
by a terrible childhood?

That's the question
before a Gainesville, Florida,

jury now.

The prosecution described
the murders

and said Rolling should die.

Smith: That's five humans
tortured to death, premeditated,

planned by a man
with a history of crime.

I had never prosecuted
a case before.

Now, I didn't tell people
that very much.

You must return --

you must return a recommendation
of the death penalty.

Man:
Defense countered that Rolling's
brutal childhood in Louisiana

turned him into a monster.

He came from a very,
very abusive background.

He was a very mentally
disturbed person.

I diagnosed him with borderline
personality disorder.

Woman: His head bowed,
Danny Rolling heard friends

and relatives describe a life
of emotional and physical abuse

at the hands of his father.

Rolling's mother,
ill with cancer,

testified on videotape
to her husband's extremes.

James went straight to
the bedroom where Danny was,

and he grabbed his hair
and held his head back

and put a knife
to his throat.

I accept that he was
damaged goods

from his beginnings
in Louisiana,

but many people
have bad parents,

and they don't do what he did.

Woman: Danny Rolling was hustled
into the courthouse

wearing a bulletproof
vest under his shirt.

So strong is sentiment
against the confessed killer,

police take no chances.

Hoyt: I went every day
to the court.

I went for Christa.

She was no longer on this Earth
to stand up for herself.

Woman: Tracy Paules's sister
was in tears

even before the first witness
was called.

She knew what was coming.

I had to be there every day
to represent her.

Had to.

Umm -- she, umm,
would have done that for me.

I feel like I still want
to protect her.

To me, it's almost
the last thing

I'll ever get to do for her.

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

How he went into the apartment
and did what he did,

step by step.

We learned a lot
from the penalty phase

that we didn't know before.

Smith:
We know that Danny originally
had picked somebody else out,

who his first victim
was gonna be.

Have no idea who it is.

He was at the back of a house,

and somebody stumbled around
that house, and Danny ran off.

We were told that,
when Tracy Paules saw him,

she said,
"you're the student killer."

And he told his people
he liked that,

he liked that
she recognized him.

Tracy actually stood up
to him and said to him,

"They will find you."

I'm glad that she was able
to stand up to him in some way.

He wanted to be known
as the greatest

serial killer of all time.

He was the most
despicable person I ever saw.

He would often turn around

and look us right in the eyes
and stare at us,

but he knew all the time that
he was playing to the cameras.

Smith: You have to understand,
in Danny's mind,

everything was always about him.

He wants to be as famous
as possible, you know.

He wants to get the spotlight
every chance he gets.

You never knew
what you were gonna get.

Fraser: One day he's crazy.
The next day he's singing.

The next day,
he's smiling and happy.

Hicks: He got a girlfriend.

She'd come into the courtroom,
and "I love you."

And she'd wave to him.

It was surreal.

Woman: Rolling's accused
of grandstanding here,

even during
his final plea for mercy.

There's much I'd like to say,
your honor,

about our world, my beliefs,
and the destiny of man.

It was infuriating to watch him.

If only I could bend back
the hands on that ageless clock

and change the past.

But alas.

I am not the keeper of time.

Only a small part of history.

And the legacy of mankind's
fall from grace.

And then he'd sit down
and look at the camera.

Absolutely the wrong way to go.

♪♪

Man: Danny Rolling had
already admitted

he was the serial killer who was
behind the five brutal slayings.

Now it was time
to hear his fate.

♪♪

It is ordered and adjudged
that the defendant,

Danny Harold Rolling,
is hereby sentenced to death.

I think some people would say
that it was a shame

that you couldn't do the
sentencing five times, you know?

Taboada: Listen, I was okay
with just getting a gun,

shooting him,
and that be it.

Woman: Mario Taboada did what
all the other relatives

of the five students
wanted to do.

Standing up so that
he would have to see me.

It startled everyone.

He was able to address the
person who killed his brother

for the first time
and have that person see him.

Taboada: We have the last say.

We will prevail.

Our children's names
will be remembered.

It was fitting that one
of the victim's family members

got the last word.

I have no pity
for this individual.

This is a life form gone bad,
and I don't feel

jack [bleep] for him.

Woman:
Killer Danny Rolling left for
death row under heavy security.

Are you ready to die?

I've been preparing
myself for years.

This is my last interview.

Woman: It is?
I'm not doing any more.

It took forever to go
through the appellate process.

Man: In August 1990,
Rolling went on a three-day

rampage in off-campus apartments
near the University of Florida.

Mann: It's not a matter
of whether he did it or not.

He said he did it.

He just didn't want to die.

This is five horrible,
heartless murders.

Danny Rolling enjoyed
what he did.

It was his supreme
source of joy.

He would have done
the same thing again.

Hoyt: During his time while
he was in prison,

he had the students' pictures
above his bunk

so every night,
when he went to sleep,

he could look at those pictures
and relive each crime scene.

You can't keep killing
our children.

Are you ready to die?

I've been preparing myself
for years.

♪♪

It was 16 years in the making.

Hewitt: The families all met
here in Gainesville.

We made arrangements
to escort 'em up

to the Florida state prison.

Hoyt:
We got to see all of the people
that worked on the crime scenes

and who worked with us
through the years

and get to talk to 'em.

Mann: There's a bond
that will always be there.

It's just, you know,
it's something that I cherish.

We were led to the back,
into the room,

and it was very crowded.

They brought him out on
his gurney and hooked him up.

It was very, very difficult
to sit through this.

The 52-year-old killer is being
given a lethal dose of drugs.

Lahey: He died too peacefully.

I watched him die
too peacefully.

He was able to take a medical
cocktail and simply go to sleep.

It was very anticlimactic.

Considering the -- the violence

that he bestowed
upon these victims.

♪♪

The world became a better place
to not have the evilness here.

On this date, October 25,
2006, at 6:13 P.M.,

the state of Florida
carried out its sentence

against Danny Harold Rolling.

Mr. Rolling sang a song.

"None greater than thee,
oh Lord.

None greater than thee."

Man: And there were five verses,
five choruses.

It went on for, I'd say,
between two and three minutes.

He would look at each one of us
in the eye,

and he kept singing his songs.

I didn't understand
how he could sit there

after the horrendous crimes
that he has committed

and talked about the angels
watching over him.

I don't understand that.

We waited for this time,
and justice was done.

Tracy will always live
in our hearts and our minds.

I thought maybe at that point,
that was closure.

To watch him disappear,
oh, I don't know.

I'm feeling a lot better now.

A lot better now.

But it really wasn't
'cause she's still gone,

and I still hurt.

I still hurt for her.

Fraser: Danny Rolling,
he got what he deserved.

The victims, they didn't
get what they deserved.

They didn't get to live
their lives, so remember them.

Don't remember him.

♪♪

Emery: Christy, she was the girl
that was cheering

everybody else
up all the time.

When I think of her now,

I literally see her
with a smile on her face.

Man: Sonja Larson was 18.

I look forward to being with her
in eternity, you know?

I believe that she's here,
that her presence is here.

Hoyt: They called
Christa glow worm

because she always had
a brilliant smile.

She was always happy,
and she was a pleasure to know.

Taboada: You know,
when you least expect it,

I will still bump into somebody
who says, you know,

"I knew your brother.

He'll be 24 forever."

Lahey: I told my children
all the time that they have

a guardian angel,
Aunt Tracy.

It brings me comfort.

I just really wish
she were here.

Sidner: If you drive down one
of the main thoroughfares

in Gainesville, there is a wall,
and on that wall, to this day,

there is a memorial to the
five students that were killed.

I think the wall reminds us
that we're all human beings.

Sidner: His name's not on that
mural. Their names are.

He told people he wanted to be
the greatest serial killer

of all time.

Hicks: He did not get
what he wanted,

and there is sort of
a sweet justice in that.

♪♪

Just hours before his execution,

Danny Rolling confessed
to three additional murders.

In a written statement,
Rolling said

he killed 55-year-Old
Tom Grissom, his daughter,

Julie, and 7-year-old grandson
Sean in Shreveport, Louisiana.

In the decades since
the Gainesville student murders,

a scholarship
in the victims' names

has raised hundreds
of thousands of dollars.

And the memorial wall bearing
the names of the five killed

still stands in remembrance
of promising lives lost.

I'm Hill Harper.

Thanks for watching.