Mourners packed the Church of the Annunziata in Ladue, Mo., Thursday to say goodbye to Tiffany Marie Souers, the 20-year-old Clemson University student who was strangled to death with her bikini top last week.
As bagpipers played “Amazing Grace” and bells chimed, pallbearers carried the casket of the slain student to a waiting hearse for its interment at St. Joseph Cemetery in Manchester, Mo.
“It’s great that everybody is able to support her and that her family is given this time to be able to reflect with her and be able to let her go to the Lord,” her friend Alanna Dybus said.
In Central, S.C., investigators said they believe they have enough evidence to build a DNA profile of a possible suspect.
Thirteenth Circuit Solicitor Bob Ariail said police seized evidence that could produce a DNA profile of a suspect, The Greenville News reported Thursday. Officers had also collected DNA samples from other people to compare to a possible profile, but Ariail would not elaborate during a Wednesday press conference.
Results from a rape kit could be returned Thursday, but complete autopsy results would not be released until the toxicology tests come back, which could take 10 to 14 days, the paper reported.
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Police were searching Souers’ computer and cell-phone records for evidence and combing through a trash bin seized at The Reserve apartment complex, where Souers lived.
Clemson student Lisa Trippany told FOX News on Wednesday that police asked her to access her Facebook.com Web account and identify individuals in photographs with Souers.
“They were all classmates of ours, friends and associates,” Trippany said, but declined to divulge names. “You know, it’s really hard for me to think that somebody that knew Tiffany could do this to her because everybody loved her very much.”
Investigators narrowed the student’s time frame, accounting for her whereabouts up until 12:03 a.m. EDT May 26. Police believe she died around 1 a.m. Two women found Souers’ body around 1:30 p.m. May 26 in her bedroom at The Reserve. She had been strangled with her bikini top and was wearing only a bra.
The junior, a civil engineering from Ladue, Mo., had been taking summer classes in order to graduate early. She was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority at Clemson and volunteered at a local charity.
Clemson University planned to send counselors to The Reserve Thursday night to help students deal with the tragedy, said Gail DiSabatino, vice president of student affairs at the university.
“We’re doing what we normally do and that is, we educate,” DiSabatino said. “It’s everyone’s responsibility to take responsibility for their safety and so we’re just reminding students of the things that we tell them on a very regular basis about locking your doors, about walking with others late at night.”
The Central Police Department had been asked to increase patrols to The Reserve and other apartment complexes, DiSabatino said.
DiSabatino dismissed reports that Souers’ death might be linked to two unsolved deaths of women in Pickens County in 1992 and 1997.
“At this point the police have given no linkage to that,” DiSabatino said. “[There’s] no need for concern that’s unduly. At this point in time, we’re looking at this as an isolated case.”
One of those cases was the 1997 death of Stacy Brooke Holsonback. Her body was found floating in Lake Hartwell. Police ruled her death a homicide and officials believe more than one individual may be responsible.
Warren Holsonback, the father of Stacy Brooke Holsonback, told FOX News that the “suspicious people” connected to his daughter’s death do not live in the Clemson area anymore.
“Obviously both girls were very beautiful, good students, with really bright futures ahead of them and it was just taken away from them so quickly,” Holsonback said of his daughter and Souers.
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