CENTRAL, S.C. – Investigators are exploring a possible link between the recent bikini strangulation death of a 20-year-old Clemson University student and two other murders in 1992 and 1997.
Police are searching the computer and cell phone records of Tiffany Marie Souers, the Clemson junior recently found strangled to death with a bikini top, FOX News has learned. Investigators seized Souers' computer and searched a Dumpster in her apartment complex for evidence, according to the incident report released to FOX News on Wednesday.
There have been at least two other unsolved killings in Pickens County involving females, but authorities don't know if they are connected. In 1997, Clemson freshman Stacy Brooke Holsonback was found floating in Lake Hartwell. Authorities believe more than one person is responsible for that death.
Souers was found by her roommate around 2 p.m. EDT on Friday in her ground floor apartment at The Reserve at Clemson apartment complex. Friends last saw her at 11 p.m. EDT Thursday night. Authorities believe she died around 1 a.m. EDT Friday.
"What’s tragic about this is this is an aspiring young girl who was the all-American kid from all appearances," 13th Circuit solicitor Bob Ariail said at a news conference Tuesday. Ariail handles prosecutions in Greenville and Pickens counties.
"I feel confident that all the steps being taken will result in an arrest," Ariail continued. "I just think it's going to take a lot of leg work."
Jordan Vogt shared the apartment with Souers and two other roommates and told FOX News the foursome was "security conscious."
Ariail's office will hold another press conference on the case at 4 p.m. EDT.
"Everyone that knew Tiffany loved her," Vogt said. "She had no enemies, I mean even ex-boyfriends, she just didn’t have any enemies. She accepted everyone for who they were and I don’t question any of her ex-boyfriends."
Students who should have been celebrating the first hot days of summer instead trickled out of school-sponsored grief counseling sessions Tuesday evening. None of them wanted to be interviewed. Police have beefed up patrols of the Clemson campus and The Reserve since Souers' body was discovered.
The student's death has shaken the close-knit community. Pickens County Coroner James Mahanes said he usually handles domestic violence incidents and traffic fatalities, not homicide cases involving college students.
The bikini top was still around Souers' neck when she was found and she only had a bra on, Mahanes said. She didn't have any other visible injuries, the coroner said.
Investigators have not received the results of a sexual assault test and there are no clear suspects or motive, Ariail said. He wouldn't talk about events leading up to Souers' death, whether she had any prior relationships or if she knew her attacker. There was no sign of forced entry.
"Speculation is one of the things that leads to suspects having more information than they need," Ariail said.
Souers, a civil engineering student from Ladue, Mo., was a member of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority at Clemson, an agricultural and engineering school in the northwestern corner of the state about 30 miles west of Greenville. She also worked with a local charity.
Neighbors said her apartment was quiet and they didn't hear anything unusual the night she was killed.
"I never expected anything like that to happen here," said 22-year-old Justin Garrick, who lives in the apartment directly above Souers'.
Souers' building is in the back of a sprawling three-story apartment complex about three miles from campus. Orange tiger paws representing Clemson's mascot are painted on the pavement and students tan at the pool, exercise at the community center during all hours of the night and routinely leave their doors unlocked.
"Sometimes we were bad and left keys under the mat," said Kimberly Perry, 21, who will be a senior in the fall. "It was just kind of shocking. That kind of thing doesn't happen around here very often."
Souers' ground-level apartment is down a narrow hallway that is dark even during the daylight hours. It opens away from the complex's center to a parking lot, which is bordered by a construction site.
Some neighbors were disappointed local authorities didn't let them know what was going on. Residents said they saw the coroner's vehicle and several police cruisers, but even those questioned by police had to learn from media reports what had happened.
Neighbor Roeun Eang said she and a friend spent two nights at a nearby hotel after hearing about the killing.
"I was just kind of freaking out a little bit," Eang said. By Tuesday, the apartment complex had sent out a letter informing residents of Souers' death. It also instructed residents to keep doors locked and identify visitors.
"With the circumstances surrounding Tiffany's death are unknown at this time, we urge everyone to exercise common sense security precautions," according to the letter.
Ariail said the entire police force in Central, which is just a few miles from the heart of campus, was working on the case. Other state and local authorities also were assisting in the investigation.
"It was frustrating I couldn't give them more help," said Seth Chinnis, a neighbor who was questioned by authorities. "I was 50 feet away."
FOX News' Sara Bonisteel and Marianne Silber and The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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