The
murders that inspired the flim “Scream” were based on the Kings River killings,
in Gainesville FL in 1990, conducted over the course of three days. The
murderer sexually assaulted, tortured and killed 5 University students within a
2-mile radius of each other. The first murder was of students Sonya Larson and
Christina Powell, both starting their freshman year. They were duct-taped and
stabbed to death. The following day the killer broke into the home of a single
woman, stabbed her death without reason and slashed off the victim's nipple as a
sort of trophy, leaving her decapitated head on a bookshelf. The next day he
broke into the home of a young couple, Tracy Pauls and Manuel Taboada both 23
years old. He killed Manuel before sexually assaulting and killing Tracy. Two
weeks later, 36-year-old Danny Rolling was caught in a high-speed chase after a
botched robbery. DNA proved he was responsible for three other killings in
Louisiana in 1989 and was eventually connected, again by DNA to the Gainesville
killings.