3 Women Found Slain in Two Apartments Near Fla. Campus

A young college student was found slain in her apartment early today, hours after police found two other young women dead in another apartment near the University of Florida, authorities said.

Investigators did not immediately link the slayings. The apartments are less than two miles apart on the south side of Gainesville.

“We’re exploring that possibility, but right now we just don’t know,” said police Lt. Sadie Darnell.

The three slayings on the eve of the fall term prompted parents to flood the university community with worried calls.

“We’re receiving calls from all over, particularly from out-of-state parents,” said Darnell.

A spokeswoman said the university also was getting many calls.

Deputies went to the lone woman’s apartment in nearby Alachua County after she failed to report to work at midnight, said sheriff’s spokesman Spencer Mann. He said she was 18 and a student at nearby Santa Fe Community College.

Mann said there was trauma to the body, but he would not say how she died.

University officials did not immediately confirm a published report that the two other victims were incoming UF freshmen.

The bodies of the two other women were found Sunday when the parents of one had police and a maintenance man open the apartment door. The parents had been unable to contact their daughter all weekend.

The two women were nude and suffered violent deaths sometime during the weekend, according to Darnell. She said police had no suspects in the case.

She said the bodies suffered multiple traumas, but there were no obvious signs of gunshot wounds although police weren’t ruling out the possibility. The victims’ identities were not released.