Within hours of learning that a prisoner suspected of killing a security guard and a police officer was on the loose near Virginia Tech, students fled to their dorm rooms and turned to one of the most popular Web sites around: Facebook.

On Monday, students logged in and created 17 separate Facebook groups about the pursuit of escaped inmate William Morva.

The most popular one, "The Homicidal Maniac at Tech Club," boasted 363 members by Tuesday afternoon. It featured a photograph of a white board decorated with a stick figure drawing of Morva in a set of crosshairs. The caption read, "KILL THE B------!"

Comments posted to the groups ranged from shock about the deaths of the two men Morva is suspected of killing to glee about the cancellation of classes.

"It's a horrible thing what Morva did," said Andrew Felts, the creator of the "William Morva is a D----- BAG!!!" group. "Getting out of classes certainly isn't worth two lives. Students might have written that, but they don't mean it."

A freshman from Midlothian, Felts created his group Monday afternoon. He had attended his first class of the year about 10 a.m. but later went back to his dorm when Tech called off all classes for the day.

Pictures posted on the group "I Was at Tech When William Charles Morva Showed Up" included one of a group of young men standing guard on a balcony with an obscene message for Morva.

Josh Eldridge, a freshman communications major, said he started the group after talking with some friends about the craziness on campus.

"We just thought it would be fun to start a Facebook group so that everyone could talk about what happened to them," Eldridge said.

Eldridge has been checking in periodically to see what comments his friends and others have posted.

A wildlife science major, Mat Harrell said he created the "William Morva Got Me Out of Class" group partly out of boredom, but also to inject a little bit of levity into an otherwise serious day.

In addition to comments, students have posted photographs to some of the groups, the most ubiquitous being Morva's mug shot from his August 2005 arrest for attempted armed robbery. A copy of that image was imprinted with an obscene message in red type on Harrell's group.

Beyond Facebook, the blogosphere was filled with updates about the story as it happened, reflections on the case and opinions about what should happen to Morva now that he is back in custody.

About 4:07 p.m. Monday, a Wikipedia entry was started on Morva and already had at least 100 edits posted to it by Tuesday.

One of the most chilling blog entries started this way: "Has anyone seen the news story about the manhunt in Blacksburg, VA? This guy was on my porch early Sunday morning."

The entry explained that the author -- a woman named Heather living in Blacksburg -- had heard something in her front yard about 3 a.m. Sunday after Morva escaped. Six hours later, police officers banged on her door because their dog had tracked Morva's scent to her front porch.

The writer ended her post by writing, "I hope you [expletive] fry, you scumbag."

Read more on the Facebook posters in Amy Kovac's Campus Watch blog.