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Clemson slaying suspect in S.C. jail
By ADAM BEAM and CHRISTINA LEE KNAUSS
abeam@thestate.com cknauss@thestate.com
6/7/06 | AP video | ConfessionPICKENS — A man accused of strangling Clemson University student Tiffany Marie Souers has confessed to committing the crime and two other sex crimes in five days, authorities said.
Jerry Buck Inman, 35, fits the profile of a “serial sexual predator,” Jefferson County (Tenn.) Sheriff David Davenport said Wednesday. All the crimes were random, he said.
“He’d cruise,” Davenport said. “When we picked him up last night, he said, ‘I’ve just been out cruising.’ This guy is different.
“He didn’t know (Souers). ... He was driving around in the neighborhood and saw her, and he liked her looks.”
In one week, authorities believe Inman committed violent crimes in Sevierville, Tenn., Rainsville, Ala., and Clemson.
In Sevier County, the district attorney is seeking charges of aggravated rape and aggravated burglary in a May 22 assault.
Authorities in Rainsville, Ala., have filed charges for burglary and attempted rape in a May 23 incident.
DNA has linked Inman to the May 26 strangling of Souers. The 20-year-old junior civil engineering student at Clemson was found strangled with a bikini top, her body partially clothed. He is charged with kidnapping, rape and murder.
Jefferson County, Tenn., Chief Deputy Bud McCoig said Inman confessed to killing Souers after deputies and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agents arrested him. He later confessed to the attempted rape in Alabama and the rape in Tennessee.
“We interviewed him on all the offenses that people were relating to us,” McCoig said. “He did confess to all three cases.”
Davenport said the victims identified Inman from his tattoos. Florida prison records indicate Inman has several skull tattoos and an image of a bat tattooed on his neck.
McCoig said authorities continued to receive information on cases that might be linked to Inman. McCoig said authorities are investigating each case but have made no further connections.
Authorities arrested Inman at 11:45 p.m. Tuesday in a church parking lot near his mother’s home in Dandridge, Tenn.
A few hours earlier, 13th Circuit Solicitor Bob Ariail had announced at a Greenville news conference that DNA at the scene of Souers’ killing matched that of Inman, who was a registered sex offender in Florida and North Carolina.
It is unclear why Inman, who made a living working construction, was in South Carolina.
Jefferson County, Tenn., officials started watching the home of Inman’s mother about 5 p.m. Tuesday. When Inman drove by the house in a red 1980s model Chevrolet Blazer with a gray stripe, officers pulled him over and arrested him without incident.
Inman told investigators he didn’t know he was wanted by police because he hadn’t watched TV or listened to the radio.
“We were very fortunate he showed back up,” Davenport said. “Had he known, he told us, he would have absconded, and we would still be looking for him.”
After Inman’s arrest, a woman in Rainsville, Ala., saw his picture on CNN. It fit the description of a man who, just three days before Souers’ death, had kidnapped and attempted to rape one of her friends.
She called the police, who notified Jefferson County officials, where Inman gave a statement.
DeKalb County, Ala., Sheriff’s Investigator Rhonda Jackson would not say Inman confessed to the crime. However, she said that, “pursuant to his statement ... we were able to obtain warrants.”
Inman faces charges of burglary in the first degree, robbery in the first degree, theft of property in the first degree and attempted rape in the first degree in the Alabama case.
“She was pleading for him not to do it, and he tied her up, her hands and feet, placed her in a closet and put a chair in front of the door,” Jackson said.
In Sevierville, District Attorney Al Schmutzer Jr. will argue before a state grand jury June 21 that Inman should be indicted. Attempts to reach Schmutzer were unsuccessful.
Bob Stahlke, spokesman for the Sevierville Police Department, would not say what evidence investigators believe connects Inman to the May 22 rape of a 28-year-old woman in her bedroom.
Inman arrived at the Pickens County Law Enforcement Center in a Central Police Department car shortly after 2 p.m. Wednesday.
He was dressed in a striped prison uniform and was shackled. He said nothing and only looked briefly at the crowd of media gathered around the back driveway of the law enforcement center.
When Inman entered the center, some officers and local residents gathered along Law Enforcement Road applauded. Inman was arraigned in front of a judge shortly after 3:30 p.m.
His defense attorney, Symmes Culbertson of Greenville, said afterward that he met with Inman about 15 minutes before the arraignment.
Culbertson said Inman “appeared to be in pretty good condition considering the circumstances.”
“He mainly asked about the welfare of his mother and his family members.”
Culbertson said officials indicated to him that Inman would be held at the Pickens County jail for at least “a couple of more days.” He said officials told him they might move Inman to another facility after that.
Faith Clark, who worked with Souers at Sharing Inc., an Easley-based charity resale shop, said she was relieved Inman had been found quickly.
“The DNA database is an amazing thing,” she said. “Hopefully, this is a lesson to other people that might commit this kind of crime.”
Reach Beam at (803) 771-8405. Reach Knauss at (803) 771-8507.
AP contributed to this report.
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