Danny Rolling (part 2)

Danny Rolling

 I had been sort of fascinated by the serial killer Danny Rolling.  He wasn't like other serial killers.  With exceptions like Ted Bundy, they seem to target so-called "easy targets" like prostitutes.  Sadly, they are less likely to be missed, and they voluntarily put themselves into unsafe situations.  Rolling was different in that sense, because he killed 5 students at the University of Florida in Gainesville.  Pretty young college students aren't supposed to be killed by a maniac with a knife, which is what Danny Rolling was at that point.  He broke into their apartments at night, he raped them, killed them, and mutilated them.
I just finished a book about the murders called Beyond Murder.  It was a good read; I went through it pretty quickly.  I'd say I'm no longer fascinated with Danny Rolling anymore, though.  I pretty much knew most of the gory details already.  One of the things that interested me about him was his music.  During a TV show about him, they played a snippet of one of his songs: "mystery rider, what's your name?  You're a killer, a drifter gone insane."  It sounded good.  Obviously, he had some interesting things to write about.  I read, in the book, that he was talented enough of a musician and songwriter that someone wanted to record him.  But Danny Rolling never showed up for the appointment.  He had problems.  His father didn't want him, but his wife refused to get an abortion.  So his father hated him.  He beat the crap out of him.  It seems like he never loved, or even liked, him.
Danny Rolling was also depressed, as so many people are.  One of the reasons why he killed the amount of people that he did was because he did some very hard time at a plantation-type prison.  The conditions him and his fellow inmates had to endure were very harsh.  In Danny Rolling's case, it didn't work out very well.  He vowed to kill someone for each year he spent at that prison.  So maybe it's not a good idea to inflict cruel and unusual punishment on inmates; it could create monsters.  
Danny Rolling was big, 6'2", and strong.  He lifted weights.  He liked to walk around with a large knife strapped to his leg.  I have tried to imagine the terror his victims experienced at the crime scenes.  It's nothing pretty.  Rolling was a real-life horror-movie monster.
Also, today I bought some walnuts, still in the shell, for my squirrel neighbors.