Notification laws, failed to stop accused killer, but data base led to his downfall  06/09/2006

By Seamus McGraw  

June 9, 2006

GREENVILLE, S. C. (Crime Library) — By his own account, Jerry Buck Inman, a convicted sex offender with a history of violence was, during at least one horrifying week last month, a predatory "animal," stalking victims in at least three states and ultimately, authorities say, brutally killing one.

In a week-long crime spree, during which he allegedly spotted 20-year-old Clemson University co-ed Tiffany Souers as she relaxed on the balcony of her apartment, entered her building and in a sexually motivated frenzy strangled her with her own bikini top, the 35-year-old ex-con had also targeted women in Alabama and in his home state of Tennessee.

In the Tennessee case, authorities have said, Inman, an unemployed construction worker who had spent most of his adult life behind bars for a variety of sex crimes had been cruising the woman's neighborhood, spotted her, and forced his way into her home. In Alabama, he told authorities, he found a woman he wanted to attack, went to her home, hacked his way through her floor and was waiting to attack her when she returned home for lunch.

In all three cases, authorities say, Inman chose his victims at random. There was no plan, no specific itinerary, nor did he remain close to his own home turf. As a result, despite the fact that he was listed on sex offenders registries in two states, registries designed to alert citizens that a dangerous predator might be in their midst, their was no way that any of the three victims, including Souers, could possibly have been aware that he was out there, or of the threat that he posed.

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Contact Seamus McGraw at seamusm@ptd.net

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