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The Gainesville Ripper, Part 1
Prior to the summer of 1990, Gainesville, Florida was a stereotypical southern town, with loads of small-town charm — pretty homes and oaks everywhere. Very much a university town, Gainesville is heavily dependent on the University of Florida. School pride can be seen everywhere, from the businesses that are kept afloat during the school semesters, thanks to hungry and thirsty college students, to the school’s colors and the mascot — the Gator — being liberally used throughout the town. Gainesville has its share of drunk and disorderly calls, thefts and even rapes but murder is rare. As late as August of 1990, it wasn’t uncommon for people in town to leave their doors unlocked.
Rival and neighboring city Tallahassee had achieved a level of unwanted notoriety in 1978 when serial killer Ted Bundy, having escaped from jail in Colorado and sitting in a cold and wintry Ann Arbor, Michigan, selected Florida as his new destination and hunting ground. He chose Tallahassee thanks to its proximity to water, allowing the more landlocked Gainesville to avoid that fate. Gainesville was just fine with that slight, preferring to be known as the birthplace of Gatorade and the hometown of musician Tom Petty and actor River Phoenix.
August 1990 was the start of another school year, this one a new decade. The summer months in Gainesville tend to be quieter than the rest of the year, with a great majority of the University’s students returning home, leaving apartments and dorms vacated, and bars and restaurants half full. It gives Gainesville a sleepy, laid back atmosphere until the cars begin arriving with parents dropping off new students for their first year in college and away from home.
Sonja Larsen, 18, and Christina Powell, 17, were like so many thousands of other students that August. Both had graduated from high school the spring before and were entering the University as incoming freshmen. They had met during the summer semester while staying on campus in a dorm. With a third roommate, they had rented a townhome style apartment at the Williamsburg Village Apartments. Williamsburg Village was off campus but only four blocks from the school.