GAINESVILLE, Fla., March 10 -- Confessed serial killer Danny Rolling sings of a 'grim reaper' riding into town on tapes played Thursday at his sentencing hearing for the August 1990 Gainesville murders.
Rolling has pleaded guilty to the grisly student slayings and a jury of nine women and three men is trying to decide whether to recommend the death penalty.
Rolling made the first part of the tape in a motel in Sarasota just before he left for Gainesville, where the murders were committed. In a song he entitled 'The Mystery Rider,' he sang:
'Jingling spurs rolling into town. Old black stallion bearing a grim reaper. Dressed in snake hide, worn black leather. You are a mystery rider, what's your name? You are a killer, a drifter gone insane. Mystery rider, what's your game? You are a rebel no one can tame.'
After starting the tape in Sarasota, Rolling moved to a campsite in Gainesville just before the killings began.
At the dramatic end of the tape, Rolling talks to his father in Shreveport, La.
'I never had a daddy that I could go to and confide in with my problems. Or you just pushed me away at a young age,' Rolling said. 'I guess you and I, we both missed out on a lot. I wanted to make you proud of me. I let you down, I'm sorry for that.
'Well, I'm gonna sign off for a little bit. I've got something I've got to do. I love you. Bye.'
State Attorney Rod Smith said in his opening statement it was at that point Rolling left the campsite and went to the apartment of Sonja Larson, 18, of Deerfield Beach, and Christina Powell, 17, of Jacksonville, where he stabbed them both to death.
Rolling also has confessed to the murders of Christa Hoyt, 18, of Gainesville; Tracey Paules, 23, of Palm Springs North; and Manuel Taboada, 23, of Miami.
Testimony is expected to last through next week.
