2 New Murders Spawn Fear of Serial Killer in Florida : Crime: The mutilated bodies of three women students had been found earlier. College campus is in an uproar.

A young man and woman found slain near the University of Florida Tuesday morning were linked by police to the mutilation killings of three women students earlier this week, touching off a wave of fear that a serial killer is stalking the campus.

“It’s clear this part of the country has some maniac on the loose,” University of Florida President John Lombardi said during a staff meeting. “It reminds us of a natural catastrophe. The killer is selecting victims by criteria that are not clear to us.”

“We have a serial or lust killer at large,” said Gainesville Police Chief Wayland Clifton. “We have every reason to believe that all five murders are connected and committed by either one or two murderers.

The bodies of the young man and woman were found together Tuesday morning in an apartment near the campus, not far from where the mutilated bodies of two women students were discovered Sunday. Another woman had been discovered early Monday. News reports said her head had been chopped off.

The Gainesville Sun reported Tuesday that the mutilations provided police with the connections between the first two discoveries.

“I don’t think it takes a rocket scientist to figure out that anybody that commits homicide using mutilation is a pretty sick individual, and it’s somebody we want to get off the streets very badly,” said Lt. Spencer Mann, Alachua County sheriff’s spokesman.

Gov. Bob Martinez ordered 50 state troopers and Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents and two crime labs to Gainesville. FBI agents joined the investigators.

The 34,000-student campus was in an uproar Tuesday, with phone lines jammed and some parents arriving to take their children home.

“Basically I’m just scared,” said Susan Zarycki, 18, from Tampa. “I hope classes are suspended so we can go home.” Anna Bendeck, 23, from Ft. Myers, said: “I’m thinking about leaving anyway. What’s worrying me? The threat of getting killed at night in my apartment.”

Both students said they were demanding more security for their apartment complex. “We don’t walk alone even during the day. I don’t feel safe any more. I don’t even say hi to people,” said Bendeck.

Art Markley, 59, of Miami, flew to Gainesville to pick up his 20-year-old daughter Linda, whom he had just driven to school on Sunday. She had moved into an apartment directly across the street from where two women students were slain. “Her mother is very upset, crying all night in sympathy for the murdered children and in fear for ours,” he said. “Imagine bringing a kid up and then sending her off to college to be murdered.”

The two latest victims were identified as Tracy Inez Paules and a 23-year-old friend, Manuel R. Tobada, both of Miami. Tobada had just been accepted at nearby Santa Fe Community College and was planning to study architecture, a friend, Eric Dunham, 22, of Sarasota, told the Associated Press. Paules, whose age was not available, reportedly was pursuing a law degree.

On Sunday, authorities found two victims--freshmen Christina P. Powell, 17, of Jacksonville and Sonya Larson, 18, of Deerfield Beach, who had shared a townhouse apartment.

One victim was nude and the other was partly clothed, said police Lt. Sadie Darnell.

Eight hours later, deputies found the body of Christa L. Hoyt, 18, a student at Santa Fe Community College and a records clerk at the sheriff’s office. Deputies checked on her when she failed to report for her midnight shift.

More than three-fourths of all University of Florida students live off campus. On Tuesday, university authorities urged students to lock their doors, travel in groups and telephone their anxious parents.

All nine of the state university’s branches have beefed up security, Pat Reardon, the chief spokesman for the state university system, told Reuters.

Reardon said the university was considering setting up a temporary communal dorm in an auditorium where frightened students could spend the night.

Classes were being held as scheduled, but the murders were the main topic of conversations, including comparisons to serial killer Ted Bundy.

“That’s what we’re all saying. It’s another Ted Bundy on the loose,” said Jana Walters, 18, a freshman from Longwood.

Bundy was executed in Florida’s electric chair on Jan. 24, 1989, after murdering dozens of young women, including two Florida State University sorority sisters in Tallahassee in a 1978 rampage. The Florida State Prison where he died is about 25 miles from here.

Three University of Florida students who live across the street from the apartment complex where the two bodies were found Tuesday said they were going home to Key West.

“We’re horrified, we’re scared, and we’re going home at least temporarily until this thing blows over,” said Lydia Blanco, 22, who lives with her sister, Ileana Blanco, 20, and Lauren Bacle, 19.

“It’s very disconcerting,” said student Rob Dye. “I was going to walk home myself last night but my best friend convinced me not to. I’m glad I didn’t walk alone--and I’m going to stick with friends.”

Joe Colucci said he made the five-hour drive here from his home in Davi to stay with his daughter Jennifer, an 18-year-old freshman.

“I came here to be with my child and protect her as much as possible. If they don’t catch someone by this weekend, I’m taking her home,” he said.

Dave Krupezaki, 21, a University of Florida student from Miami, said “with what happened last year with Tiffany Sessions, everybody is afraid.”

Sessions, a 20-year-old University of Florida student, vanished Feb. 9, 1989, after leaving her apartment to go jogging. No trace of her has been found.