Man tries victim’s bank card at ATMs

Man tries victim’s bank card at ATMs
Slain student’s license discovered on roadside.

Published Saturday, June 3, 2006

GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) - Police investigating the slaying of a Clemson University student who was strangled with her bikini top released surveillance photos yesterday of a man trying to use her bank card a few hours after the killing.

Prosecutor Bob Ariail said the man, who had covered most of his face with bandannas, unsuccessfully tried to use Tiffany Marie Souers’ card six times at two bank cash machines. The man was driving an older sport utility vehicle.

Ariail said the crime was sexually motivated, but he said tests so far have not indicated Souers was sexually assaulted. He said more tests were being done.

Ariail urged residents to be aware of any man exhibiting "any inappropriate or aggressive sexual advances."

Souers, a 20-year-old junior civil engineering student from Ladue, was found lying on her bedroom floor in her off-campus apartment just a few miles from the heart of the university.

She was wearing only a bra, the bikini top still around her neck when she was discovered May 26.

Also yesterday, Souers’ driver’s license was found on the side of the road about six miles from Clemson.

The owner of a towing business near Pendleton said he called authorities around 10 yesterday morning when James Lindsey of Pendleton came in with a driver’s license he had found on the side of the road.

"He wanted me to turn the license in," Dan Baker said. "He was scared."

Baker turned in the license as well as a small bag Lindsey found farther down Highway 76 just inside Anderson County, Baker said.

A reporter saw authorities photographing and bagging a cell phone found in the ditch about five yards from the road, The Anderson Independent-Mail reported yesterday on its Web site.

Ariail, who has been the official spokesman for the case, would not comment on the license or any other possible evidence.

"Hopefully someone will recognize an individual who has that type of headdress or bandanna, who drives a vehicle of this type, who is exhibiting the behavior profile," Ariail said.

That psychological profile suggests the man would begin to withdraw from friends and family and might change his habits, Ariail said.

A dedicated phone line was set up for tips.

Authorities have said there was no sign of forced entry at Souers’ apartment. Ariail would not say whether the suspect also was a Clemson student.