Jerry Buck Inman Pleads Guilty to Bikini Murder

Convicted sex offender Jerry Buck Inman has pleaded guilty to robbery, kidnapping, rape and murder in connection with the death of a Clemson University student in May 2006. Inman admitted in court that he strangled the 20-year-old Tiffany Marie Souers with her own bikini top.

Under South Carolina law, Inman can still receive the death penalty even though he entered a guilty plea.

The body of Souers was found May 26, 2006 in her off-campus apartment by a former roommate. Her bikini top was still around her neck.

Inman's DNA, on file because he is a convicted sex offender, matched evidence found in Souers' apartment. He was arrested two weeks later at his mother's home in Tennessee. Inman (pictured in mug shot) was also suspected in two other sexual assaults -- a rape of a Tennessee woman and attempted rape of a woman in Alabama.

Wants to Die for What He's Done

Inman is scheduled to be sentenced September 8. A defense psychiatrist who interviewed him told the court that he wants to be executed for his crimes.

"He wishes to die for what he's done," Dr. Donna Schwartz-Watts said. "He has consistently stated that."

Inman previously served almost 18 years in North Carolina and Florida prisons for rapes that he committed when he was a teenager. He had been out of prison only about nine month when he was arrested in the Souers' case.

After his arrest he confessed to the robbery and attempted rape of a 24-year-old woman in Rainsville, Alabama, and to the rape of a 28-year-old woman in Sevierville, Tennessee, during those nine months he was free.

See Also:
Man Pleads Guilty in SC Student Bikini Strangling

Background:
The Clemson Bikini Murder Case
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^{Photo: Family Photo}