Tiffany Souers: Lessons Learned

By now, Jerry Buck Inman has had his first meal in the Pickens County Jail. He sits in a cell the size of a clothes closet. Magnetic strips on the outside of his jail cell door read "ESC" and "ASLT." Like anyone who knows anything about Inman, the folks in Pickens county know the short, skinny, bald, monster is an escape and assault risk.

The Chief Deputy of Jefferson County Tennessee has already been spreading the word that Inman confessed to not only Tiffany Souers murder, but also two sexual assaults in Alabama and Tennessee. The deputy reports Inman, when asked why he did it, said, "I'm an animal."

And that pretty much sums it up. Tiffany Souers' death is like a freak accident borne of humans developing too far into the wild. Sometimes, there isn't enough room for the animals, so they make their way into the city. This animal, Inman, had a wide stalking range. This time, we humans didn't build a condo in the middle of his forest. This time, he came down from the mountain. If only we'd been able to shoot him before he got hungry again, you know?

Society was smart to keep Inman in a cage for years following his first sex crimes. Once again, a parole board will be forced to ask itself whether it was right to let Inman out of jail a little early. And once again, the debate will be renewed about whether sex crimes should have longer sentences, mandatory minimums, etc. In the past, people have talked a lot and didn't act. I would like to think something would change this time, but I don't have a ton of faith.

We all should learn our lessons on this one, but we aren't the kind to learn quickly. Most of us, myself included, don't learn until it is too late. In the 36 hours since deputies arrested Jerry Buck Inman, I've did little more than work to catch up on a lot of my regular work. I now have more to do than time to do it. That means I need to stop coddling my crime reporter fantasies and get back to writing about gutshot straight draws and leather-assed poker players. There are animals in that world, too, but they'll only take your money.

Before I let it go, however, I'm going to list a few things I'd like to remember in the future (and, hopefully I can help others remember as well).

First, crime profiles can be not only unreliable, but also deceiving. I thought the cops were right to believe the were looking for a young, educated, middle-class, college student who had just committed his first murder. In the end, while we were all looking for a date rape gone wrong, Jerry Buck Inman was doing yard work in Tennessee and likely wondering which state he would visit next.

That brings me to DNA. I don't think everyone should have to give up their DNA for a database, but I think everyone who has been convicted of a violent and/or sexual crime should be subjected to DNA testing an database storage.

See, as I said before, had it not been for DNA in this case, we would never know Inman's name. We would've spent years harassing college students and shaking the bushes around Clemson. What's more, more women would've been killed. That is all a short way of saying, don't you think Inman was done. He wasn't.

As I spend a significant amount of time on the road, I'm now worried more about random crime and my family falling victim to it. I've never worried much about these things. In fact, I've ignored them to a fault. The other night, I was out and a guy game to my house at 9pm and, in essence, tried to get my wife to open the door for him. The cops picked the guy up later, but it was too late for me not to start the process of making sure my family is protected while I'm on the road. Note to potential attackers: First, the cops will know if you break in. A security system will take care of that. And frankly, you better hope the cops get here and arrest you before my wife knows you're in the house. Nuff said?

Finally, by way of explanation for the last few days of obsessive reporting, I can only say that I'm not fully sure what drove me to focus so much on the case. First, I have a history with cases like this and I'm still hurting for the families of victims in which the cases are unsolved. I didn't want this case to remain unsolved. And frankly, I think it was a coinflip. There was a damned good chance Inman could've walked on this one. I give a lot of credit to all of the Upstate and state cops who brought this case to an arrest.

Beyond that, though, I would be dishonest if I tried to say this case didn't make me want to be back on the street. In the final few days of the story, I honestly felt like I needed to be involved. I'd never claim to have been a big deal in TV, but if there was anything I did well, it was cover the huge, breaking stories. There was some good reporting and some bad reporting locally. I wanted to be in there, telling the stories, and asking the questions.

However, there is a reason I got out of the business in the first place, and a large part of my departure was a lack of dedication to good reporting of the news. And money, of course. Money is always an issue, yeah?

With that in mind, I'm going to leave this case in the hands of the reporting pros and I'm going to get back to making money. And hugging my family. And keeping the doors locked.

You know. Life.

Previous coverage

Tiffany Souers and College Murders
Tiffany Souers Suspect
Tiffany Souers: Suspect Still At Large
Manhunt for Jerry Buck Inman

Tiffany Souers: Manhunt for Jerry Buck Inman

CAPTURED CAPTURED CAPTURED CAPTURED CAPTURED CAPTURED

Jerry Buck Inman
DOB: December 19, 1970
Hair: Brown (bald)
Height: 5' 10"
Weight: 159 lbs.
Profession: Construction worker
Possible vehicles: Red 1990 Chevy S-10 Blazer with silver trim with Tennessee license tag 158 DCX -- Green 1997 Chevy Camaro with Tennessee tag SRD 739 -- Maroon Ford EcoLine van registered to Kenneth McArthur

Wanted for the murder, sexual assault, and kidnapping of Tiffany Souers.

Tattoos:

BACK: SKULL
LEFT CHEST: TIGER
LEFT HAND: SKULL PENTAGRAM
LEFT LEG: SKULL DAGGER
NECK: BAT
RIGHT ARM: SKULL DRAGON CROSS MEMORY OF BROTH
RIGHT HAND: SKULL
STOMACH: FEMALE w/ GUN

Previous crimes:

12/14/1987: SEX BATTERY, ROBBERY WITH GUN/DEADLY WPN,BURGLARY, GRAND THEFT MOTOR VEHICLE, KIDNAPPING, AGGRAVATED ASSAULT (FLORIDA)

1988: Buncombe County North Carolina, Sex Offense 2nd Degree, escape from prison/jail

Notes:

Now mentally tied to this case until the end, I started backgrounding Inman from the moment the news conference came on tonight. The above is what you'll find if you look at his release records from the Florida Department of Corrections.

When released from the Florida DOC, Inman told authorities (and likely his PO) that he was moving to 1197 Swansylvania Avenue in Dandridge, Tennessee. Dandridge is a townn of about 2,000 people in Jefferson County, Tennessee, with a population that is overhwlemingly white--not that that really means anything. The last time the Florida Sex Offender Registry updated its records on Inman in September 2005.

North Carolina records show Inman served time in North Carolina for a sex offense and at one point either escape or tried to escape from prison. It looks like he actually escape from jail in Buncombe County and then escape from prison in Montgomery County.

If the records of the North Carolina DOC can be believed, Inman served a little more than ten years behind bars in North Carolina and got out in 1999.

--breathe--

One hour into the news coverage, Google searches are returning little to nothing on Inman. That will change within 24 hours. Right now, the only national news network giving any coverage to the breaking information is Nancy Crace on Court TV. Her producers are doing some fast work, but as of yet the only useful information that has come out of the coverage there is an interview with the PIO of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. That interview revealed little more than the TBI is aware of the case and they aren't sure if Inman had much to do with Tennessee other than some family connections.

Left unanswered as of right now is the relationship with Kenneth McArthur (spelling may be wrong here). He's the guy who owns the Econoline van that Inman might be traveling in. I would think if it is important enough to bring up the guy's name, the cops might offer a little more info on who the guy is.

And consider this. Despite the fact Inman looks like he could bein his late forties, he's only 35 years old. That would put his first conviction for a sex crime when he was seventeen years old. It wasn't long after that that he was convicted for another one. He spent 11 years in jail. That leaves about seven years between the last time the cops had him on a state prison level and now. Methinks there is a damned good chance Souers was not Inman's only victim between then and now.

The Department of Justice National Sex Offender Registry also lists, curiously, an address in Constantine, Michigan. Constantine is located in the township of the same name in the southwest corner of Saint Joseph County. Not sure what, if any, significance that has.

9:00pm ET-- Fox News decided to wake up and get on the case. The Hannity and Colmes hour is beginning with the Tiffany Souers case and the new information. The producers are working hard there too. Noted foresnic anthropologist Michael Baden and Souers' mother Bren have bth been interview in the early minutes of the show.

I'm a bit of a privacy advocate, but I'm willing to bend on this one. A national DNA database is responsible for fingering Inman in this case. Inman wasn't even on the suspect list before his DNA spiked on the national registry search today. That is to say, if it weren't for DNA, there's a damned good chance this case wouuld never have been solved. I mean, Inman is obviously a drifter. I'd put money that he was on some work crew working around Clemson, probably got drunk or high on a Friday night after work, and started stalking the co-ed apartment complexes. All the talk about this likely not being a random crime, I think, just flew out the window.

DNA. Seriously. Bravo to Robert Stewart and the DNA folks at the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED).

9:20pm--The question now becomes, where is the sonofabitch. Local authorities say they don't think he's here anymore. Frankly, that's probably one hell of an understatement. It's a good bet that within 12 hours, they will have a local construction foreman come forward to help out with backgrounding Inman's presence in South Carolina. That might provide a little information on where he is now (maybe he talked to a co-worker about places he'd like to go, etc).

He has a past in Tennessee, North Carolina, and Florida. Stupid criminals tend to run to the places they know, so those places are obvious. He has a nearly two-week head start, but by Saturday (when I suspect America's Most Wanted will get on the case), Inman's face will be all over national TV. He's going to have to pull an Eric Robert Rudolph to stay on the lam. I think his chances are slim. Now, I think it will only be a matter of whether Inman is taken dead or alive (my guess, alive- he's a coward).

--breathe--

9:46pm-- As an aside, I'm reminded tonight of how Tennessee and Upstate South Carolina muders always seem to go together. A few yeas back, a guy named Brad Sigmon killed his ex-girlfriend's parents, hid from the cops for a few weeks, then took off for Gatlinburg, TN. I made it to Sevierville, TN a few hours after the cops there caught Sigmon. The next morning in court, Sigmon was without the benefit of an attorney. He felt the need to confess to me and another reporter at length...on tape. It happened to be one of the highlights of my career. My buddy Jay and I spent a lot of weeks on that case and it paid off in spades.

A year or so later, the former CEO of Sara Lee foods was kidnapped from Upstate South Carolina by a couple of ne'er-do-wells from Tennessee. Cockman, stuffed in a trunk and gagged with duct tape, ended up suffocating. I think those two criminals are on trial as we speak.

10:00pm-- As we reach the ten o'clock hour, it's time for the local FOX news. There is little doubt that this is one of biggest cases of the the last ten years here. In fact, looking back, the last time this part of South Carolina had this kind of national attention, Susan Smith was on trial for killing her sons. That was a bit of a golden age for the local news stations here. And that's all I'll say about that.

10:07pm--So, the big white shirt the suspect was wearing when he tried to use Souers' ATM card makes a lot more sense now. With tats all over his hands and neck, a big bult shirt with a high collar a looooong sleeves are good to cover up the ink. You know, the guy thought he was so smart. Good disguise and everything. Then his DNA betrayed him.

10:20pm--FOX news just reported that Inman's mom saw him today and that Inman was with his sister. When cops went to Inman's sister's house, they were gone. I give it 24 hours before the dude is in handcuffs in the back of the van.

--breathe--

11:00pm--Now the rest of the local news stations have their chance. WYFF's Erin Hartness pulled a good score in the late hours of tonight and got one of Inman's relatives on the phone. Hartness reported Inman did some yard work this afternoon. Jesus. Dude was doing yard work? In his hometown? Good game, sir.

I certainly hope my old colleagues have a crew on the way to Tennessee right now. Inman's days as a free man are numbered. Check that. Inman's hours as a free man are numbered. Over/under on Inman's arrest: 9pm Wednesday. I'll take the under.

12:01am--After scanning some news reports online, it appears Inman actually spent a majority of his prison time in Florida and only got out last September. So he's been loose less than a year and now he's on the run. Perhaps the best report I've seen so far (given, we're only four hours into this portion of the story) has come from one of the Greenville News' least-appreciated assets, Ron Barnett. Ron is the type of guy who LOOKS like a newspaper man, reports like a newspaper man, and usually writes like a novelist. That's why I like him. I know little of his personality, but I know he's a good writer. Just a few minutes ago, Ron published a transcript of his conversation with--get this--Jerry Buck Inman's mother. See, that's the kind of thing that a reporter should be doing. Bravo, Ron. Click here to read the discussion.

Ron apparently was the first person to inform Inman's mom that her son was a suspect in this crime. She told him that Inman has been living at her house since he got out of jail and was there as early as this afternoon. Vera McArthur (the last name clearing up the earlier question about who owned that Ecoline van) told Ron that Inman is bi-polar and suicidal.

I don't think we have to think very hard to figure out how this one is going to end.

12:27am--They got him. Arrested without incident. That should just about do it.

12:34am-- In the words of my wife, "That's how you do the news." As news broke a few minutes ago, we former news producers turned news consumers turned to all the regular outlets for news. We ended up with our local FOX affilate. Where its competition was running lower screen crawls over the late night talk show hosts, FOX kept its main anchors at the station. When the news broke, they were on the air. Not only that...they had Tiffany Souers' father, Jim, live on the phone. Not only THAT, they were the first people to tell him Jerry Buck Inman was in custody. Yep. That's how you do it. And frankly, though I felt like they kept him on for a little long, their line of questioning and interview was top of the line. Professional as all get out. What's more, they ended the interview in a great way. Kudos to the FOX crew for nailing that one to the wall.

Tiffany Souers: The Passion Cross

Today looks to be what I often thought of as a "down day" in crime coverage. Ever-mysterious and acting somewhat the tease, 13th Circuit Solicitor Bob Ariail has announced he will release "significant information" on Wednesday. This will leave us with a couple kinds of news coverage today. The first will be the efforts of the reporters who who try, mostly in vain, to figure out what Ariail will release on Wednesday. The second kind of coverage will be that of the reporters forced into coming up with some sort of fresh angle on the story. If my experience is any indication, the stories will neither be fresh or contain much of an angle. I've been in both positions and I don't envy those charged with the responsibility of filling the news hole today.

That said, I have taken a liking to Georgia-based blogger who came to fame with his blog-based profile of the BTK killer. Huff's Crime Blog is written by Steve Huff, a guy who writes well and takes everything you've seen here to a much better level. I'm secondarily impressed with his ability to find a name of the kind of cross on the killer's bandana. In First Timer, his profile of Tiffany Souers' killer, Huff points out (with visual aids) that the cross is a variation on the so-called "passion cross." I'd encourage you to check out Huff's work.

I really need to return my focus to a life more mundane. Someone asked in an e-mail why I have dedicated so many consecutive posts to this subject. There are a ton of reasons, I suppose. First thing, having known way too many victims of crime, I have a very good idea what Souers' parents and family are experiencing now. Second, I have a chemical in my brain that insists missing people should be found and killers should be caught. That's actually another way of saying that I am no longer able to say that I don't miss my old line of work. For the first time in fifteen months, I actually wish I was back on the street. That, friends, is the selfish part of it.

For now, we wait for Wednesday and whatever Ariail has to offer. The two-day wait leads me to we're about to finally hear something on the physcial evidence front. I guess we'll see.

Previous coverage

Tiffany Souers and College Murders
Tiffany Souers Suspect
Tiffany Souers: Suspect Still At Large

Tiffany Souers: Suspect still at large

For regular readers expecting my regular tales here, I must apologize. See, based on the number of e-mails I have received in the past few days, the interest in the Tiffany Souers murder investigation goes far beyond the Blue Ridge Mountain range. Like me, many people find themselves working scenarios in their heads. I suspect, like me, that they realize there are scores of professionals working right now who have had the same ideas and are trying to figure out how it all fits together. We are voyeurs, I suppose. Nonetheless, my past profession connects me to this case with a very, very thin thread and, as such, I find myself thinking about it an undue amount.

Based on my past relationship with Bob Ariail, 13th Circuit Solicitor, I fully expected an announcement by the end of today (Monday) that a suspect was in custody and on his way to a secure jail. Ariail seemed exceptinally confident--confident enough that, if the cops didn't already have a suspect in custody, they were sitting on somebody and just waiting for the right moment to pick him up. Ariail's statements to the press are almost always extremely measured. That is, if he's telling the press anything, it's already happened or in the process of happening. Ariail's confidence in the Friday news conference (during which the bank video still photos were released) gave me a good feeling that the investigation was nearing its conclusion.

With the weekend now gone by, my confidence has waned, if only slightly. The reports coming from Pickens County sound like the cops are settling in for the long-haul. And frankly, the long-haul has rarely proven to be a good trip in local investigations. Looking back at some of the highest profile cases in the area, many of those that stretched past a couple of weeks still remain unsolved. The Blue Ride Bank triple murder. The Superbike Motorsports massacre. The case of missing college student Jason Knapp. And that's not to mention the still-open cases of Brooke Holsonback and Norsaadah Husain. It's not a local problem, per se. It's the whole "First 48" syndrome.

All of that said, with Ariail and SLED (that's the State Law Enforcement Division) on the case, I still have as much confidence as I can have in the solvability of the case. If the case can be solved, it will be. And frankly, this seems to be a solvable murder. The killer was simply too stupid to not get caught. All of this leads me to what is likely happening behind the scenes right now.

The first option is now the one I consider the least likely: Somebody is already in custody or is about to be. A lot of people got extremely worked up about the arrest of Stephen David Kudika Jr., a Clemson graduate student who lived near Tiffany Souers and was arrested for sexual assault. Many people--even me, for a time--speculated Kudika would eventually be tied to the Souers case. It now seems Kudika just got caught for his misdeeds--or, alleged misdeeds--at a very unfortunate time. He hired Beattie Ashmore (seen left) to represent him. Ashmore is a former assistant U.S. Attorney and now a top defense attorney. If I ever found myself in trouble, Beattie would be my first call. Ashmore has publicly stated that Kudika's arrest and the Souers case are "unrelated." Even more telling is the fact that Kudika bonded out of jail for $30,000, a relatively small sum. If the Ariail or the cops had much worry Kudika was involved in Souers' death, I suspect a wink and an eyebrow raise could've secured a much higher bond. Then again, I'm simply speculating.

The second option is probably the most likely right now. There is probably a short-list of likely suspects and the top investigators are working that list really hard. While this team is putting together its case against their man, another group of investigators is doing its due dilligence by running down phone tips and dead-end leads. The problem for the public--and the good thing for the cops--is that this strategy gives an appearance of ineffectiveness. To anyone who only gets their news from the local TV stations or newspapers, it would appear the cops are chasing their tails. I'm not ready to believe that's actually the case. More likely, there are about ten guys who have offered up DNA samples which will be compared (in decidely anti-television drama speed) with samples taken from the crime scene. While this tough work is being done, the cops are performing in the manner the TV viewing public expects them to. They are answering phones, scurrying around, etc.

Finally, there is the third option. There is, of course, the possibility that Souers' killer is smarter than people think. Even if he was stupid enough to try six different ATMs--unsuccessfully--he at least disguised himself well enough that no one would recognize him. If he's smarter than we think, then there is always the possibility that yet another will go unsolved in Upstate South Carolina.

For the sake of Tiffany's family and friends, I certainly hope that's not the case.

Tiffany Souers Suspect

As a one-time and longtime crime journalist, I honestly thought I had put away the days of thinking constantly about a killer. After many, many years of thinking about and talking to murderers, I was sure I could live the rest of my life without becoming obsessed with the capture and conviction of a murderer.

I was wrong.

It has now been nine days since a friend found Tiffany Souers' body in her apartment at The Reserve in Central, South Carolina. The 20-year-old Clemson student had been strangled with her own bikini top and left dead in her apartment. It happened somewhere around 1:30am.

Indeed, it has been nine days and I find myself checking the internet for updates five or six times a day. Someday, I suspect, I'll better explore why I have taken such an interest in the case. For now, I'm actually on a mission and I think you folks are a diverse enough group to help me out.

See, the guy in the picture above stole Souers' debit card and tried six times to get money in the hours after he apparently killed the co-ed. Hyper-aware of the security cameras, the dude (a white male) tied a bandana around both his head and face. After failing miserably all six times, the suspected killer took off in an older model (1982-1994) Chevy Blazer.

With only the car and the bandanas to go on, the cops have put out pictures (click here to see them all) and are hoping somebody can help them out.

As a guy who likes to think he can find just about anything on the Internet, I was fairly certain I'd be able to find the bandana online. Or something describing the stylized cross on the bandana. Or something. So far, I've found nada.

So, just to satisfy my curisoity, is there anybody reading that recognizes either the bandana or the cross?

Tiffany Souers and College Murders

Don't ask me what it is, but I tend to get a little unglued when college students get killed. Something about it makes me think of all my college friends, the girls I lived with, how it could've been any of them, etc. During my many years here as a journalist in the Clemson University area, I took a keen interest any time a college student disappeared or was killed.

The closest I ever came to such a situation was the case of Brooke Holsonback. She was murdered near Clemson University back in 1997. I wasn't living here at the time, but eventually came to know Brooke's parents and the man who, to this day, is still trying to pin the crime on...well, on the two people everybody suspects were involved. Brooke was strangled and dumped in Lake Hartwell.

I remember driving (incidentally, with my late friend Chris) a long way to talk to Brooke's parents. Her dad, a southern gentleman of the first order, talked of his daughter and sunrises. At the time, he said, "You look at a sunrise and you know there is a God, but some of that beauty is gone, because you know there is evil in this world."

My unsuccessful efforts to help dredge up anything else in the case can be found here.

I also dug deeply into the case of Norsaadah Husain, a Clemson graduate student who was killed in 1992. She was stabbed in a laundry and later dumped in some woods in Oconee County. That case dragged on for so long that the police investigator had retired and started driving a bus for a Christian tour company. I wrote this story about her a few years ago.

For a long time, I toyed with the idea that a serial killer was at long, labored work in the Clemson University area. Eventually, I came to the realization that the cases (and several other unsolveds in the area) just weren't similar enough to merit any serious thought about a single killer being responsible for everything. I still believe that, but this past week hasn't helped much.

A former roommate found the body of 20-year-old Tiffany Souers in her apartment on Friday. Souers had been strangled with her own bikini top and left dead. She came from Ladue, a nice St. Louis suburb (also home to some people I know). Because Souers was a beautiful and successful college girl, the national media networks are jumping on this one. If the cops here can't get their act together quickly, I suspect they can expect a media frenzy.

This is not a trip down a nightmare memory lane. I'm actually angry at more than Souers' death.

In the days since she died, I sort of toyed with the idea of (don't make fun) coming out of retirement. While I had no plans to run back to TV, I thought I might work my old sources and maintain a web presence on the investigation. Why? I don't know. Nothing else has made me want to follow crime again. Maybe it's just that the investigation is six days old and the reporting of the case, so far, has been lackluster. I don't blame the reporters (many of them my friends). It's more the fault of a small police department not being able to handle the media load. The 13th Circuit Solicitor, Bob Ariail (the South Carolina version of a district attorney), has now taken over role of spokesperson. Frankly, that's not going to help, as Ariail is notoriously stingy with information and rarely speaks to the media. He and I had a decent relationship, but most of what he ever shared with me on any case was off the record.

Damn, I'm getting worked up over this. The entire point of this post was supposed to be how sick I am at web squatters.

See, I'd already decided that my schedule wouldn't allow me to properly handle what could end up being a long and drawn out case (given that some drunk college boy doesn't end up getting hooked up by week's end). So, I was going to leave the job to the professionals (where it belongs, admittedly) and go back to my other work. Still, I couldn't help but consider registering www.tiffanysouers.com.

This makes me sick.

Indeed, somebody from Kenya (Kenya?) registered the domain two days after Souers was found dead (and about the time the national media started touting the "Bikini Murder"). Indeed, somebody from Kenya (KENYA!) registered the domain and is now using it to hawk their affiliate deals with various Tiffany (lamps, vases) distributors.

Now, I readily admit, I work in an industry that can sometimes get a little...creative...when working out a marketing plan. However, capitalizing in this fashion on the murder of a college girl is beyond sickening. (And lest ye think I had the same plan in mind, I'd invite you to take a long walk. I'm creative, but I'm not that kind of creative).

Here's what I hope: I hope the cops wrap this one up in a couple of days. I hope Souers' family gets some quick resolution and eventual peace. I hope the www.tiffanysouers.com domain never gets any traffic. And I hope a maneless lion visits Spiral Matrix on Kenyatta Avenue in Eldoret, Kenya and has a nice lunch on the bastard that thought marketing lamps on a dead girl's memory was a good idea.