Danny Rolling Essay
Katherine Forbert
December 4, 2012
Ms. Dixon 4th period
Criminal Justice III Honors 2nd Quarter Research Project
Danny Rolling On August 20 1990, the university town of Gainesville, Florida was ranked as being the thirteenth best place to live in the United States by Money magazine. By the end of the week, American papers had renamed the town "Grisly Gainesville" after the bodies of five young students had been discovered brutally murdered and mutilated as they slept in their dorms. One weekend by one man transformed the excitement of the beginning school yeah into terror as hundreds of students fled, not knowing if and when he would strike again. A week later the media reported that the police had their number one suspect in custody, which created countless issues and ordeals for Edward Humphrey and his family. His case was simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Emotionally disturbed with a long history of strange behavior and violent emotional outbursts, he had seemed to police and the many witnesses to his antics, to be a prime suspect. With no evidence to hold him, the authorities somehow succeeded in stretching the limits of the law and had him locked away while they built their case around him. Before they could, the real killer was found. Danny Harold Rolling had moved on after his murders in Gainesville and was eventually arrested for armed robbery in Ocala, Florida. It would be some time before he would be linked to the homicides, and it would be longer still before Edward Humphrey's name would be cleared. Danny Rolling's story is a perfect example of how a childhood and background information about a person make the probability of becoming a serial killer so high. It would be impossible to know how horrible Rolling's childhood was and not feel compassion for the child who has been abused, beaten and bullied by an over-bearing and disturbed father. It would be impossible not to feel anger toward his mother who time
December 4, 2012
Ms. Dixon 4th period
Criminal Justice III Honors 2nd Quarter Research Project
Danny Rolling On August 20 1990, the university town of Gainesville, Florida was ranked as being the thirteenth best place to live in the United States by Money magazine. By the end of the week, American papers had renamed the town "Grisly Gainesville" after the bodies of five young students had been discovered brutally murdered and mutilated as they slept in their dorms. One weekend by one man transformed the excitement of the beginning school yeah into terror as hundreds of students fled, not knowing if and when he would strike again. A week later the media reported that the police had their number one suspect in custody, which created countless issues and ordeals for Edward Humphrey and his family. His case was simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Emotionally disturbed with a long history of strange behavior and violent emotional outbursts, he had seemed to police and the many witnesses to his antics, to be a prime suspect. With no evidence to hold him, the authorities somehow succeeded in stretching the limits of the law and had him locked away while they built their case around him. Before they could, the real killer was found. Danny Harold Rolling had moved on after his murders in Gainesville and was eventually arrested for armed robbery in Ocala, Florida. It would be some time before he would be linked to the homicides, and it would be longer still before Edward Humphrey's name would be cleared. Danny Rolling's story is a perfect example of how a childhood and background information about a person make the probability of becoming a serial killer so high. It would be impossible to know how horrible Rolling's childhood was and not feel compassion for the child who has been abused, beaten and bullied by an over-bearing and disturbed father. It would be impossible not to feel anger toward his mother who time