PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. — It has been 35 years since Gainesville was terrorized by a string of murders that left a permanent scar on the University of Florida community. In August 1990, just as students were moving in for the fall semester, five young lives were taken in a series of crimes so brutal that they shocked the nation and sent a small college town into panic.
The victims were freshmen Christina Powell, 17, and Sonja Larson, 18; Santa Fe Community College student Christa Hoyt, 18; and University of Florida roommates Tracy Paules and Manuel Taboada, both 23. Each was murdered in their own home over the span of just four days. The crime scenes were not only violent, but in some cases staged, creating a level of fear that gripped the city in a way few had ever experienced.
At the time, Local 10 News Investigator Jeff Weinsier had just graduated from UF and was working as a reporter for WCJB-TV20 in Gainesville. He lived only blocks from some of the crime scenes…