Cops target suspect in co-ed's slaying, won't say if accused rapist is their man 06/02/2006

by Seamus McGraw

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GREENVILLE, S.C. (Crime Library) — Investigators probing the death of 20-year-old Clemson University co-ed Tiffany Souers have declined to say whether a man charged Wednesday with an unrelated rape in the same apartment complex is a suspect in her slaying.

For the moment, investigators are saying little about any possible connections between the death of Souers, who was found a week ago, partially nude and strangled with her own bikini top in her off campus apartment and David Kudika, Jr., a 25-year-old who lives in the same apartment complex.

Kudika was arrested Wednesday and charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection with an unrelated attack on a woman, authorities said. The sexual assault is alleged to have happened on April 20.

Prosecutors this morning declined to call Kudika a suspect in the 20-year-old engineering student's death. But they insist they have identified, at least partially, a potential suspect — described so far only as a young man — and are optimistic that they are closing in on him, said Marsha Barker, a spokeswoman for 13^th Circuit Solicitor Bob Ariail.

Ariail has scheduled a press conference this afternoon where he plans to release an enhanced photograph of the young man later today.  The photograph shows what the solicitor calls "identifying characteristics" and was taken while the man was "making a transaction that specifically connects him with the victim."

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Contact Seamus McGraw at seamusm@ptd.net

Seamus McGraw

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