3 Bodies Found in a Vehicle at Florida School

The bodies of three people who had been fatally stabbed were found in a car at the Florida International University campus Tuesday, but officials dismissed similarities to the 1990 student slayings that rocked Gainesville in the northern part of the state.

A yellow cord tied in what appeared to be a six-inch hangman’s noose was dangling from the rearview mirror, but police could not say who placed it there, Sgt. Pat Brickman said.

“The victims apparently were stabbed,” university spokesman Dan Kalmanson said. “The car was a rental. We do not know if they were FIU students.”

Metro-Dade Det. George Reyes would not confirm that the victims had been stabbed to death.

“We can’t really tell how they died,” he said.

Police at state-owned FIU immediately tightened security around the sprawling campus.

“Our students are naturally concerned and worried. We feel it’s an isolated incident and not similar to the serial killings that took place in Gainesville,” Kalmanson said.

The bodies of the two men and a woman were found next to a lake by a campus police officer, authorities said. Unlike some of the victims in the Gainesville slayings, the bodies did not appear to have been mutilated.