Daniel "Danny" Rolling had a tough start in life. He was one of two sons born to James Harold Rolling and Claudia Beatrice. James was a Korean War veteran who worked as a Shreveport police officer. Unfortunately, he was also very abusive. He often hurt his wife and sons for the smallest things, like breathing in a way that annoyed him. He even told Danny that he was unwanted from birth. One time, Danny's mother went to the hospital because she claimed James tried to make her cut herself with a razor blade. Although she tried to leave him many times, she always returned shortly after.

James's cruelty didn't stop there. Once, he pinned Danny to the ground, handcuffed him, and called the police to take him away, simply because he was embarrassed by him. In another sad incident, Danny had a dog that he loved very much. But James beat the dog so often that it eventually died in Danny's arms. These harsh experiences left deep scars on Danny as he grew up.

As a teenager, Danny started getting into trouble. He was arrested several times for robberies in Georgia and Alabama. He even got caught spying on a woman who was getting dressed. As an adult, Danny found it hard to fit into society and hold down a steady job. At one point, he worked as a waiter at Pancho's restaurant in Bossier City, Louisiana, but he struggled to keep his life on track.

In August 1990, Danny Rolling went on a terrifying crime spree in Gainesville, Florida. Over the course of several days, he murdered five students—four from the University of Florida and one from Santa Fe College. Rolling's crimes were particularly brutal as he mutilated the bodies of his victims, decapitating one and posing them in provocative positions. This horrific series of events started on August 24 when he broke into the apartment of two freshmen, Sonja Larson and Christina Powell. After finding Powell asleep on the couch, he crept upstairs to Larson's room, where he attacked and killed her by taping her mouth shut and stabbing her repeatedly.

After killing Larson, Rolling went back downstairs to Powell. He taped her mouth shut, bound her wrists, and cut her clothes off with a knife. He raped her and then stabbed her in the back five times, killing her. Rolling then returned to Larson’s body and raped her corpse. He posed both bodies in shocking positions before calmly taking a shower and leaving the apartment. The next day, Rolling struck again, breaking into the home of Christa Hoyt, an 18-year-old honors student at Santa Fe College. He waited for her to return home, then attacked her, tied her up, and raped her. He killed her in a similar fashion to Powell, stabbing her in the back. Rolling then mutilated Hoyt’s body, decapitating her and posing her head on a shelf to increase the shock for whoever found her. The murders caused widespread panic among the students in Gainesville. Many altered their routines or left school altogether. On August 27, Rolling entered another apartment, this time killing 23-year-old Tracy Paules and her roommate Manny Taboada. Rolling killed Taboada after a struggle and then attacked Paules.

He taped her mouth and wrists, raped her, and stabbed her in the back. Rolling posed Paules' body but left Taboada's as it was. The similarities between the victims—petite brunettes with brown eyes like Rolling’s mother—and the methodical way he posed their bodies left the community in terror. Law enforcement initially had few leads but eventually focused on Rolling after a tip linked him to an unsolved triple murder in Shreveport, Louisiana. Investigators noted similarities between the cases and confirmed that the suspect in both had type B blood. Rolling was arrested in September 1990 for an unrelated robbery, and evidence connected him to the Gainesville murders. He was charged in November 1991 and later confessed, claiming he wanted to become a "superstar" like Ted Bundy. Rolling was sentenced to death and executed on October 25, 2006. Before his execution, he confessed to the Shreveport murders, bringing some closure to those affected by his crimes.