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Tuesday, 13 June 2006 20:00 |
| Jerry Buck Inman
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?¥Bikini Strangler?? confesses; got his start in Buncombe
CLEMSON, S.C. ?? A man known as the ?®Bikini Strangler?? who has confessed to the strangling death of a Clemson University student has a record of sexual assaults in the Buncombe County, N.C., area, according to authorities.
Jerry Buck Inman, 35, faces charges of rape, murder and kidnapping in the death of 20-year-old Clemson junior Tiffany Souers.
Inman was arrested on June 8 near his mother??s house in Dandridge, Tenn., after DNA tests led investigators to him.
Souers was kidnapped outside her apartment on May 26 and was subsequently raped and strangled to death with her bikini top.
Inman was convicted in 1988 in Buncombe County for sexual assults on two males.
According to records on file at the Buncombe County Courthouse, Inman
forced anal intercourse on one of his victims and forced another to
perform oral sex on him. No indication of the age of his victims was
given in the documents.
Though he was sentenced on Sept. 26, 1988 to 20 years in prison for the
crimes, he was released by the N.C. Department of Correction on Jan. 4,
1999.
In addition to the Clemson killing, Inman is a suspect in two other
cases. He has been charged with burglary, robbery, theft and attempted
rape in Rainsville, Ala., where authrorities say he broke into the home
of a woman after she came home from work for lunch on May 23.
He is also a suspect in a May 24 rape that occurred in Sevierville, Tenn.
Man charged in woman??s fatal fall from motorcycle
A Candler man turned himself in Monday afternoon and was arrested in
connection with the death of Rachel Ledford, 20, who fell from the back
of a motorcycle that he allegedly was driving on Interstate 40 about
12:30 a..m. May 31.
Conan O??Neal Ford, 32, was being held in lieu of $100,000 bond at the Buncombe County Detention Center.
Ford, who failed to remain at the scene of the accident, was charged
with felony hit-and-run and scheduled for a court hearing this past
Tuesday morning.
Investigators contend that Ford was driving the motorcycle from which
his passenger, Ledford, fell near mile marker 38 in Buncombe County.
She died after being hit by several vehicles, officials said.
A group of five people reportedly were riding motorcycles and traveling
in other vehicles the night Ledford died, at which point two of the
people riding with the group stopped. Warrants sought cellular
telephone records of three other members of the group.
Body recovered Monday from Swannanoa River
The body of Michael Eugene Smith, 36, of Asheville was recovered by
Asheville Police and Fire Department personnel early Monday afternoon
from the Swannanoa River.
The police received a call at 12:30 p.m. about the body, which was
found by a friend in a stretch of the river between Lowe??s and Circuit
City, near Swannanoa River Road.
Bookkeeper for glassmaker charged with embezzlement
The former bookkeeper of a local glass manufacturer has been indicted on charges of embezzlement.
A grand jury approved the charges against Cindy Bell Sherman, 45, of Leicester on June 5.
The indictment said Sherman embezzled more than $52,000 from Bullseye Glass between October 2001 and March 2005.
During this time, she was allegedly keeping money allocated for payments to suppliers while stringing creditors along.
Owner Terry Bullerdick said he could not understand why the company was
having so many financial problems until he discovered the missing money
in March of last year.
Bullseye Glass had reduced its staff from 15 to four employees and had
to end health insurance coverage and other employee benefits during the
period of the alleged embezzlements.
Bullerdick said he suspects that the total figure stolen is more than double the $52,763 listed in the indictment.
Man indicted on charge of first-degree murder
John David Beavers of Asheville on June 5 was indicted by a grand jury
on a charge of first-degree murder in the death of a respected
Asheville physician.
Dr. Brian Ling was shot to death March 10 in an exam room at Mountain Kidney Associates on McDowell Street.
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