Fraternity council steps in to take over memorial upkeep
Twenty-three houses at the University of Florida will take turns maintaining the wall painted in memory of five students slain in 1990.
By Wire services
Published April 19, 2004
GAINESVILLE - For almost 14 years, a section of a graffiti-covered wall has been hallowed ground - a memorial to five students brutally slain in 1990 when a serial killer terrorized this university community.
Earlier this spring, it appeared the memorial would fade away when the "Keepers of the Wall" decided they would no longer repaint the monument that had become increasingly targeted by graffiti artists.
But in what some locals consider a "miracle" along SW 34th Street, where the memorial is located, the University of Florida's Interfraternity Council stepped in and agreed to take responsibility for upkeep of the wall.
The simple memorial, white letters on a black background, contains the words "We will always remember" and the names of the five students: Sonya Larson, Christina Powell, Christa Leigh Hoyt, Tracy Paules and Manuel Taboada. It was painted Sept. 4, 1990, days after the bodies were found in off-campus apartments.
At the urging of Robert Mack, president of Alpha Gamma Rho, the 23 fraternities overseen by the Interfraternity Council will each be responsible for maintenance of the wall for a week. When all have had their turn at fixing the wall or removing graffiti, the rotation will begin again.
Mack, a 20-year-old sophomore, was growing up in nearby Williston when the student murders occurred.
"I remember what Gainesville was like during the murders and how the community became unified after the murders," said the food and resource economics major. "It shouldn't be forgotten. It was part of the history of Gainesville."
Danny Harold Rolling, a drifter from Shreveport, La., was arrested and confessed to the killings. Gruesome details about the murders, including the decapitation of one of the victims, mutilations and the posing of the bodies, came out in Rolling's sentencing hearing, where he received five death sentences. Rolling, now 49, has an appeal pending in federal court.
Ricky Paules, mother of victim Tracy Paules, said she's pleased with the fraternity group's decision to save the memorial.
"It touched me to the core to realize that youngsters are doing that," said Paules, who lives in St. Augustine.
Gainesville police Capt. Sadie Darnell, former victim's advocate Laura Knudson and several others had promised to maintain the wall for 10 years. It's been 14 years since the slayings, and Darnell said it was time to focus on the living memorial of palm trees planted in the median in front of the wall.
Darnell, who served as police spokeswoman during the murder investigations, said she thinks the people who have painted over the memorial during the past decade didn't know the value placed on it.
Many current students don't know about the memorial or aren't familiar with all the details of the slayings. Most freshmen, who are 18, were only 4 years old when the murders were committed.
Jennifer LaShane, 20, of Jacksonville was aware of the killings but not the names of the students. She said the slayings have faded from the collective memory of the 48,000 students who attend the university.
There are two other memorials to the slain students in Gainesville. Trees were planted near the library on the UF campus and in a new park financed in part from $15,000 the state collected from Rolling's girlfriend, Sondra London, for his account of the slayings.
