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American Morning
Returning LSU Students Being Warned of Serial Killer
Aired August 19, 2002 - 07:55 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, freshmen at Louisiana State University start orientation today, but Baton Rouge, the town, gripped by fear. A serial killer has claimed three victims near the campus.
As Charles Molineaux now reports, the 30,000 students heading back to campus this week are being forced to learn some rather hard lessons.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHARLES MOLINEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The thrilling fall rituals of moving into a college dorm, rushing a sorority, or just navigating a new campus have taken a dark, new overtone for students at Louisiana State University.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It scares me. I don't leave anymore, my house, in the afternoon. I don't even go and do my laundry.
MOLINEAUX: Local police and the FBI say the evidence shows one man, a serial killer, is behind the murders of three women in Baton Rouge over the past year, including one who just graduated LSU's business program. The killings happened, not on the school's campus, but in a picturesque neighborhoods close by, where the LSU Lakes Trail used to be seen as a safe place for joggers and power walkers, close enough to rattle even those students who say they do feel safe here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, always near the campus will say -- living on it, and you know, it's shocking when you hear it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're all family, and we are concerned for their safety regardless of where they choose to live.
MOLINEAUX: LSU police captain, Mark Shaw, says he is trying to build a safety umbrella over the campus. That includes a new upgrade to the campus card key system for dormitories, a free emergency cell phone number. University cops have been pulling more foot and bike patrols, as well as briefing and coaching students, parents and teachers.
CAPT. MARK SHAW, LSU POLICE: If you have a proper level of awareness about what's going on around you, then you're going to see things that may be a potential problem, and that may be somebody lurking in the bushes. It may be a road hazard or something like that.
MOLINEAUX (on camera): LSU is also looking to head off danger lurking in the bushes by going after the bushes. It may sound trivial, but the school is serious about a campus-wide pruning program for the vegetation. Here in the quad (ph), the live oak branches have been trimmed up, and the azaleas have been trimmed way down to eliminate possible hiding places and open up lines of sight.
(voice-over): Campus police say they are asking students to do what they should have been doing already, which has apparently provided comfort for some already worried parents, and given new students reason to, while being cautious, be excited again.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's something you've got to deal with. We're from New Orleans and that (ph), and you'll hear about things in New Orleans and the big cities and that (ph) is just that you've got to be on your guard.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's common sense, like, everyone knows to lock your doors at all times, and I feel a little more confident, you know, walking with mace, even the pepper spray and everything. But it doesn't change anything about my feelings about coming to LSU. Like, I'm still really excited about coming.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MOLINEAUX: And self defense has, indeed, taken a new urgency. The university's rape prevention program, which normally has a hard time filling two small classes, now has three large classes completely booked. There is a waiting list, and more classes are being set up.
And we've got more meetings with the students and their parents scheduled for today and tomorrow and the orientation wraps up today -- Bill.
HEMMER: Charles, thank you. Charles Molineaux reporting live there in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
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