All language subtitles for First.Blood.S01E03.1080p.WEBRip.x265-RARBG

[foreboding music]

- Danny Rolling shows the
most abject, horrible way

that these people could die.

[foreboding music continues]

- A serial killer is paralyzing
a Florida college community.

- [Reporter 1] Sources say
the girl's body was mutilated.

- [Reporter 2] The killings
have terrorized the campus.

- It wasn't normal.
It was sadistic.

And it had the
hallmarks of,

"That it was gonna
happen again."

[siren wailing]

- We were like running from
crime scene to crime scene.

Another homicide,
again, knife wounds.

- He had a problem, sticking
knives in people.

He liked it.

- I didn't intend to start
out living a life of crime.

- He was a peeping Tom,

and then he began to
become a serial rapist.

His appetite couldn't be sated.

[thrilling music]

[gentle music]

sec of
south Shreveport.

Middle income, low crime area.

- A neighbor noticed the
newspapers were piling up

in the driveway at the
house across the street.

And the cars hadn't
seemed to move.

So the neighbor curious
about potentially

something being wrong,

went over and looked
through the window,

and what he saw shocked him.

There was a pool of blood
on the living room floor.

[siren wailing]

- [Police] Okay,
we'll looking around.

- When detectives first
walked through the door,

it's just an absolutely
horrific scene.

[foreboding music]

In the living room,

they find eight year
old, Sean Grissom.

He's in a position that
looks like his hands

were behind his
back, at some point.

- Moving on, they find Tom
Grissom in the utility room,

lying on his stomach.

He's got an stab wound
to the lower back.

They move down the hallway
to the back bedroom

and they find Julie
Grissom lying on the bed.

And she has a number of
stab wounds to the back.

But she's lying on her back.

[foreboding music]

- Danny Rolling's father,
James, was a police officer.

And Danny told me that his
father at times was his hero.

But at the same time, he was
"A cold hearted bastard."

- Dad had to have
control over every aspect

of our life.

Every thought, every...

We weren't allowed to
have an individuality

in the Rolling home.

- When his father came home

and took off that
police uniform,

he expected to have
dinner on the table,

and for everybody else
to just let him alone.

- Danny was always trying
to make his father happy,

but he never could.

- One of the things
that we learned

in just basic psychology

is when you don't
get the reinforcement

from something positive,

individuals, and
Danny was one of them,

would start engaging in behavior

that he'd get attention for,

but it was not
positive attention.

- He would act
out. Cause a scene.

It got to the point
he couldn't go anywhere.

- Danny said his father
was very unpredictable.

- Danny got a puppy one time.

I think he just found it.

He went to school.

I think it was when he
came in that afternoon,

he ran out in the backyard
and he asked his daddy,

"Where's my puppy?"

And his father walks up and
showed him a hole in ground.

He killed it.

Whatever Danny had at that
time to make Danny happy,

Mr. Rolling would destroy it.

- And so we have Danny always
fearing when his father

or how his father
is gonna react.

[tense music]

- I show up to the crime
scene, it's all taped off.

And came to find
out pretty quickly

that there were three victims,

and it was a whole family.

The father is 55.

He was an AT&T worker.

By everybody's standard,

a good neighbor and a good
dad, and one of those guys.

Sean Grissom was a
student at local

neighborhood school here.

Just spending the weekend
with the grandparents.

Julie Grissom was
at the time 24,

LSU Shreveport student,

and was working at Dillard's,
which is the retail outlet.

- Julie and I had been
painting for a year

and six weeks or so.

I used to love to
just hear her talk.

She had an almost
childlike voice.

It was really, really soft.
Everything was soft about her.

She didn't wear flashy clothes,

and she was working on
completing her marketing degree.

Life was good.

I'm at my law practice
in Shreveport,

and my legal secretary said
she just saw a news bulletin

on the television that
Julie and her father

and nephew's bodies
had been found.

[foreboding music]

[siren wailing]

- Detectives, when they are
examining this crime scene,

they're clearly
examining the bodies.

Sean, the eight year
old is fully clothed.

Tom Grissom is
also fully clothed.

But Julie Grissom is nude,

and her clothes have been
cut off and removed from her.

It looks like Julie is
the target of this case.

- They also noticed
tape residue on Julie.

At some point, both of her
wrists were bound together

and there was duct
tape over her mouth.

So whoever did this has
taken the tape with them.

- When you see an
offender like this,

who is engaging
in sexual assault,

and then has a very
definite ritualized behavior

in essentially the
posing of the victim,

I'm seeing a sexual sadist.

And those kinds of
offenders are very dangerous

because they engage
in a lot of planning

and are forensically astute.

[siren wailing]

- This is not your
everyday murder.

A triple homicide
involving a child,

and you have a sexual
homicide as well.

So you've got in a really
egregious crime here.

- The target
was Julie Grissom.

So we just didn't
know the details.

Investigators, they were very
tight-lipped about everything.

So all the reporters go,

boyfriend, ex-lover,
domestic dispute.

We all know Julie's boyfriend,

kind of a high profile local
attorney named Hal Carter.

- There was a
gathering of neighbors

and relatives across the street.

And I said, "I need to go."

- There's an uncanny
ability for criminals

to show up at the scene
of a crime, right?

So we're standing out
at the crime scene

and we see this car slow
rolling down the street,

and it's Hal Carter.

- I saw a detective come
out of the front door

and I waved him over and I said,

"I dated Julie Grissom
for over a year,

and I wanna do everything I can

to help y'all find her killer."

They gave me a strange look.

And he said, "We will be
in touch."

- The minute he
rolled onto the scene,

the entire city
basically convicted him.

Of course we found out later,

he had nothing to
do with anything.

[foreboding music]

- [Danny] Home was not
a safe place for me.

The night, it held a
place where I could go

and I could feel at ease.

- When he was about
nine years old,

Danny started roaming
the streets

to get away from the
home.

He started looking in windows

and saw a family of four
eating dinner together,

and started to fantasize
that he was inside

just to become part of
someone else's family.

- He was always looking for
somewhere to feel welcome,

because he acted so strange.

He didn't know how to
act around normal people.

- One night, he happened
to come across a house

where he observed a female
that had just come out

of a shower.

That was the first time
that he got some sexual

gratification and aroused.

He went back to that same
house, I believe the next night,

because it was so
exciting to him.

And then this became
the pattern after that.

He is
clearly progressing

going from one
relatively benign event

to the beginnings of
becoming a sex offender.

[thrilling music]

- There was a knock on the
door and it was two detectives.

They said, "We need
to question you

about the Grissom murders."

I did get scared because I
knew they were looking at me

as the prime suspect.

But the night of the murders
I was in Atlanta, Georgia.

- He gets alibied out
because he's out of state.

So they're very careful,

but also very quick to
rule out the boyfriend.

- It gets more difficult.

The more time goes by, the
more difficult it gets.

I think the correct
word is anxious.

We felt anxious and worry

that this was gonna
happen to someone else

before we could catch him.

- There was definitely
a palpable sense of fear

because it wasn't
normal, it was sadistic.

And it had the hallmarks of,

"That it was gonna
happen again."

- It's a year later,

the Shreveport murders still
don't really have any suspects.

And when you have a sexual
sadist who is murdering,

this is not typically an
offender who does this once

and then stops.

- Gainesville, Florida is home
to the University of Florida,

and the entire town just

flourishes around the
University.

In late August, every year,
it's just filled with excitement

around the beginning
of the school year.

Students, they're
17, 18, 19 years old,

and they're on their
own for the first time.

Christina was supposed
to call her parents,

and then they hadn't
heard from her

and they got concerned,

eventually called a well check.

Would somebody go by and
would see what's going on?

The police officer
enters the apartment,

and there he is met
with an incredible site.

The body of Christina Powell,

she had been stabbed in
the back multiple times.

And then they went upstairs
and found Sonja stabbed.

The first wound was to the
upper part of her torso.

And there were a
couple of others.

All frontal stabs.

- The offender removed the
clothing from both of them

and then he posed Sonja
Larson and Christina Powell

in provocative positions.

- This was a crime scene
with a real purpose.

We believe it was
designed to shock anybody

that walked into it.

[foreboding music]

- I believe that down deep,
the happiest Danny ever was,

was when he got married
and had a family.

He had a job, he had it all.

His life was gonna be
different from there on out,

but it couldn't last.

[foreboding music]

She goes, "Danny is not who
everybody thinks he is."

I'm like, "What are you
talking about? Danny's, Danny.

She goes, "No, Danny's
beginning to scare me."

She had to wear what
he said to wear.

She had something new,
he would destroy it.

He turned into his
father, literally.

[foreboding music]

That was it. She took
the baby and left.

- Danny refused to
accept responsibility

for his negative behavior.

It was all somebody
else's fault,

either his wife's or society.

And when I talked to him
about why he was such

an angry person, he
blamed her as well.

- And eventually, this
leads to a very strong

disdain for women,

and the need to be in control.

And for Danny, it's
all about control.

[foreboding music]

- [Reporter 3] The
authorities discovered

the mutilated bodies of
two female roommates,

18 year old, Sonja Larson,

and 17 year old,
Christina Powell,

were first year students
who lived off campus.

Police say both girls had
been savagely attacked.

- I was moving into my
own dorm at college,

and the next thing I know,

I was being summoned to
a professor's apartment.

And I got there and my
mom was sitting there,

and then I laid eyes on her,

I knew something was wrong,

and she could barely
get the words out.

But what she said was,
"Honey, it's Christie."

Christie was the
life of the party.

She loved to dance.

Christie was an amazing dancer,

just a dynamo full of power,

and just a really
strong personality.

Christie wanted to
be an architect.

She loved to sketch and draw.

She took drafting classes.

At 17, that was kind
of the direction

she thought she was headed.

Christie's roommate was Sonja.

I never met Sonja, but I
remember Christie telling me

that Sonja was quiet, studious,

and that she thought she
would make a great roommate.

- These were wonderful kids,

and their futures looked
like they were unlimited.

[thrilling music]

- One of the first things
that investigators know

is that this apartment
backs up to a wooded area.

- The perpetrator could have
hidden himself in the woods.

- This guy has probably
been surveilling them

and peeping through the windows.

In the apartment,

Christina Powell is
laid out on the floor

with her arms over her head
and her hair fanned out.

- She was sexually assaulted
and there was a gummy substance

that was on her wrists.

And after closely examining it,

it was duct tape that
had been applied,

and uniquely after it
had served its purpose,

had been cut and removed.

- The fact that they
see sexual assault

and you have the other
victim also posed,

suggests somebody with a
very rich fantasy life.

And somebody like that, is
very likely not to stop.

- The next day as the crime
scene was even being cleared,

notifications coming out

there's another
crime scene.

- [Reporter 3]
Early this morning,

the body of another victim is
pulled out of her apartment.

- Another homicide,
again, another female.

So there's someone out there
that has a specific intention.

Preying on women.

It became clear that we had
a serial killer on the loose.

[thrilling music]

- Less than a day after
the bodies of Sonja Larson

and Christina Powell
are discovered,

another young woman is
found dead in her apartment.

- It was clear that Christa
had been killed with a knife

and that there had
been sexual assault.

- She had been eviscerated
and decapitated.

- He had posed her.

Her decapitated head was set up

so that when you
open the front door,

that's what greeted you.

They're all horrible, but that
crime scene was unspeakable.

[thrilling music]

- As the Gainesville community
is just beginning to process

these three murders,

another homicide
scene is discovered.

With two victims,

Manuel Taboada and Tracy Paules.

- Tracy Paules was
sexually assaulted.

Again, knife wounds.

Manuel Taboada was
found in his bedroom

and he had been stabbed
many, many times.

These three crime
scenes all happened

within a span of
three or four days.

We were like running from
crime scene to crime scene.

- That was unbelievable.

That was when everybody said,

"Oh my Lord, what is going
on? When will this end?"

[foreboding music]

- After Danny's
wife divorces him,

he committed robbery
after robbery.

He committed sexual assaults.

He was imprisoned in
three different states.

- I didn't intend to start
out living a life of crime.

But in the frame of mind
I was in, I figured,

"Okay, I'll just go.
I'm just gonna rob."

And I ended up in prison.

- That was another experience

that certainly hardened
him towards society.

- And then when he
gets out of prison,

Danny was kind of a
loser and a drifter.

- I think his things
weren't changing.

And as he felt he had little
control over his life,

he turns to fantasy

just like when he was
about nine years old.

But this time, he is
fantasizing about raping women,

forcing them to have sex with
him, and also being sadistic.

- For sexual sadists,

a lot of the arousal

comes from essentially
terrorizing their victims.

- I didn't see Danny
for at least 10 years.

I was cooking supper one
night and Danny shows up,

but he weren't the
Danny I knew before.

He looked like Rambo
in the army fatigues,

and he was in the back
throwing a knife into a tree.

And so my husband, Steve,

stepped outside and
was talking to him.

And Danny says, "Steve,
I have a problem."

I like to stick
knives in people.

Steven came in, he goes,

"Cindy, this guy's, what's
wrong with this guy?"

[foreboding music]

- The person
described as a maniac,

apparently, a serial
killer is paralyzing

a Florida college community.

The victims were painfully
young and savagely killed,

but it is by no means over.

The killer still was out there.

- I'm leaving.

My parents are coming to
get me and I'm going home.

- Word of the crimes
spread like wildfire.

- A serial killer
responsible for the deaths

of five young people.

Killings have
terrorized the campus.

- It was a flurry unlike
anything that's ever happened.

- The entire central Florida
area was gripped with fear.

- Scariest thing is just
waiting to see tomorrow morning

if there's gonna be
another report on the news.

- For days, of course
you were on edge,

When is the next one?
When's the next one?

- Is it gonna be Gainesville?

Is it gonna be some other
city? Has he moved on?

You know that the
clock is ticking.

[thrilling music]

We were looking for
other crime scenes,

either within the state
or on a national level

that had common
signature similarities.

One of the cities,

it was identified was
Shreveport, Louisiana.

- If somebody showed you
the crime scene photos

from Shreveport, you'd go,
"I've seen this before."

[foreboding music]

- It's hard to describe
what it feels like.

Frustrating is a word.

- When you focus on the target

of the triple homicide
in Shreveport,

namely Julie Grissom,

the way in manner in
which she was killed,

the binding of her hands with
the duct tape and the removal,

and in the shocking pose,

all of that, at least on the
surface appeared similar.

But we needed something
more than that.

We needed physical evidence
to tie these together.

Our perpetrator in Gainesville,

there had a B blood type.

Specifically, he
was a B secretor,

which is a very small
percentage of the population.

Their perpetrator in
Shreveport has a B blood type,

and he's a secretor.

I felt that whoever
did Shrieveport

in November 4th, in 1989,

may be our perpetrator in
Gainesville in August of 1990.

[foreboding music]

[telephone ringing]

- They would have
these news breaks

talking about the
Gainesville murders.

Another student got murdered.

And I mean, it
was just horrible.

And then they had a news flash.

- [Reporter 3] It was one year
ago in Shreveport, Louisiana,

three people were murdered.

Sources say the girl's
body was mutilated

in a manner similar to the
murders in Gainesville.

- And I looked at
Steve and I said,

"Steve, I guarantee
you, that's Danny."

When I started thinking about
the things he said to us,

the way he acted, the
thing where he told Steve,

"he had a problem sticking
knives in people, he liked it,"

it wouldn't let me sleep.

So I called down
there and I said,

"I hear y'all think there's
a connection between

Shreveport and Florida."

And I said,

"I think there's someone
you need to investigate."

And they said, "Who?"

- She said, "His name
is Danny Rolling."

We were able to find
out that Danny Rolling,

we had him in the
Marion county jail

for having committed a robbery

just a few days after Manuel
Taboada and Tracy Paules

are both killed.

I grabbed another agent

and went down to the
Marion County Jail.

I knew I was meeting the killer.

I knew for sure it was him.

- I asked him for his
voluntary cooperation

to provide me with
a blood sample,

and he signed the form, and
we walked out with his blood.

- Guess what? He's a B secretor.

- Now it's no longer
just my suspicion.

Here's our guy,
Danny Harold Rolling.

[foreboding music]

- Danny told me about the
three homicides in Louisiana.

- So it appears
that Danny saw Julie

in the department
store where she worked.

I think he tried to talk to her,

and she sort of, in his
mind, maybe blew him off.

- Julie probably
never even saw him.

I think he just totally
turned himself over

to what was inside.

All the anger and hate.

- Danny followed her home
and surveilled the residence.

It was the perfect location.

It backed up to
this wooded area.

He watched Julie
through the window.

And her father, Tom,
is outside barbecuing.

So he's coming in and
out of the residence,

the door remains unlocked.

- His plan was to rape
her, make her suffer,

and somehow put her
through the same thing

that he went through.

- He knew that there were
multiple people in this house,

but for him, it was like,

"I don't care. What I
really want is Julie."

[foreboding music]

- Danny had seen Julie
and he followed her home.

Whereas in Gainesville,
Danny had planned his action.

I think the first time,

it was more of a spur of
the moment kind of thing.

- Danny is wearing a mask

and he's got a large
military knife.

So he is a very
terrifying character.

He walks Tom, the
55 year old father

into the utility room and
he stabs Tom in the back.

He moves Julie to the bedroom

and then he dispatches
Sean, the eight year old.

- I asked him years later,

why did you feel a
need to kill the father

and the young child?

And Danny told me,

"'Cause they were in the way."

- Now he was in the
position that he wanted.

He had Julie in the
bedroom by herself.

- He cut off her clothes
and her underwear,

and that's when he
sexually assaulted her.

And he got some kind
of gratification

from being able to
have her afraid of him

rather than the usual that
he was always intimidated

by his father.

- And then he basically
rolled her onto her stomach

and then stabs her in the back.

He wasn't panicked.
He was careful.

Then you have to remember
that he's a lifelong criminal,

and he's a lifelong
peeper and prowler.

- He told me that he was
proud of what he did.

[foreboding music]

- One week before trial,

the judge called me over
to say that Danny Rolling

wanted to enter a plea.

- 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.

- State witness.

- Harry Krop, I'm a
Clinical Psychologist

licensed in the
State of Florida.

What I try and
communicate to a jury

is that a person
isn't born a killer.

So why did Danny Rolling
do such horrific things?

I think you have to look at
all the psychological dynamics

that go way back to
when he was a child.

He indicated the father
would grab him by the hair,

slam him against the
wall, shove him around.

We have the domestic violence.
We have the emotional abuse.

We have the neglect.

The father clearly
was a control freak.

- We know that things that
happen in your young life

come back and form part
of your personality.

- The sexual disorder is
what we call voyeurism,

and it's of a severe nature.

It almost became a
pulsion with him.

And then of course
Danny's failed marriage

reinforced Danny's view that
everybody is against him.

- Danny met the textbook
for progression.

He started off as a peeing
Tom, he then was a burglar,

and then he began to
become a serial rapist.

His appetite couldn't be sated,

until such time as he began
to commit the murders.

- Danny chose the most
abject, horrible way

that these people could die.

And he was fine with it,

because it made Danny feel
like he was the one in control.

- [Man] It is ordered in a
judge that the defendant,

Danny Harold Rolling, is
hereby sentence to death.

- All of these crimes
warranted the death penalty.

It was that heinous.

[foreboding music]

- The reason it's
important for me

to continue to
talk about Christie

is because she was
stolen from me, from us,

from the world.

She would've made the
world a better place,

and she didn't get
an opportunity

to see her 18th birthday.

- If Julie had lived,

I firmly believe
that Julie and I

would have ultimately
married and had children.

We would've had a normal life.

I just miss Julie.

I just miss Julie.