Hotline flooded with tips in Bikini Murder case

By Seamus McGraw  

June 5, 2006

GREENVILLE, S. C. (Crime Library) —Authorities probing the strangulation death of 20-year-old Clemson co-ed Tiffany Souers have reportedly received more 200 tips since establishing a hotline late last week, but so far, the man they most want to talk to remains at large.

Among those tips is one from Faith Clark, who worked with Souers at a local charity. Clark has told investigators and reporters that she suspects that a local married man who had been inappropriately forward with Souers and other local woman may know something about the case. She said her fears were not dispelled last week when authorities released a surveillance photograph of a young man, his face obscured by a distinctive bandana, whom they have identified as a possible suspect in the case. Authorities also said they believe the man was driving an older sport utility vehicle: a Chevy Blazer or a GMC Jimmy.

Authorities do not yet know the man's name, and investigators are privately downplaying suggestions that the man Clark has discussed and their suspect are one and the same. According to one official, they are regarding Clark's statements as just one of the roughly 200 leads that have poured in to police over the weekend as police continue to look for the man who strangled Souers with her own bikini top and left her partially nude body in her apartment l0 days ago.

And while the suspect remains at large, authorities, who believe the slaying was sexually motivated, say they are optimistic that they will soon be closing in.

Based on a behavioral profile of the man, compiled by the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division, authorities believe that the young suspect may have a history of sexual offenses, but that the Souers slaying was probably the first time he crossed the line into homicide. Noting that the man's actions after the slaying were careless and erratic, authorities say he has already left a trail of clues. He is believed to have tossed Souers' driver's license carelessly onto a roadside some 30 miles from her apartment, where it was later recovered, and he was photographed trying some six times to use the slain woman's ATM card at two bank machines in the hours after her death. And now, under pressure from investigators and under the unrelenting glare of national media attention that has focused on what has become known as the Bikini Murder, authorities believe that the suspect will soon crack. They expect that he will make some mistake that will help them locate him.

 

TIFFANY SOUERS FULL COVERAGE & BREAKING NEWS

Contact Seamus McGraw at seamusm@ptd.net

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