Jerry Inman is a sick sexual predator! I am so thankful his DNA was in the national database and that he was careless enough to leave evidence behind! I truly believe he would have kept attacking women had he not been caught- he was a total loose cannon.
Why on earth was this guy released from jail? As you will see, he could not live in public without committing crimes- but he had numerous offenses while in jail too! What is wrong with our legal system?
35-year-old Inman faces murder, rape and kidnapping charges for the May 26th strangulation of Clemson University student Tiffany Souers. Inman has also confessed to two other sexual offenses in Alabama and Tennessee, which happened only days before Souers was killed.
Jerry Buck Inman's criminal history began in 1987 in Tampa, Florida. Inman was 17 years old when he broke into an apartment and raped a woman. Inman threatened the woman with a gun and tied her up before stealing her wallet and car. Two days later, authorities found her car in Charlotte, NC.
Inman lived in Charlotte, NC, for four months and was arrested 2 times. According to Charlotte's 6NEWS, police records from 1988 show Inman was arrested for robbing a department store that used to sit off Eastway Drive. His job was listed at the Jiffy Lube across the street. Inman was later arrested for trespassing and refusing to leave the Mecklenburg County Jail.
Inman left Charlotte and moved to Asheville, NC where on March 25, 1988, Inman was picked up on breaking and entering charges. On May 31, 1988, authorities arrested him again after discovering the arrest warrants from Florida. While waiting for extradition in the Buncombe County jail, Inman tried to escape.
On July 10, 1988, Inman, along with several other inmates- sexually assaulted two fellow inmates. Court documents show he forced anal intercourse on one of his victims and made the other perform oral sex. (Search warrant for DNA) He pled guilty and was sentenced to 20 years- lus a year for the escape attempt. In 1991, he tried to escape two more times. He was unsuccessful. He was charged with only one of the escapes and got another year added to his sentence- for a total of 22 years.
According to The State, Inman was no model prisoner in North Carolina. His record shows 24 infractions, including: three escape attempts, six weapons offenses, disobeying orders and provoking assault. However, under old North Carolina sentencing laws, Inman got one day off his sentence for every day he served and he maxed out his sentence after 11 years. When Inman was released, state law mandated he be given a mandatory 90-day parole.
After his 90-day parole, Inman was sent to Florida to serve the remainder of his 30-year sentence on charges of sexual battery with a weapon or force, robbery with a gun or deadly weapon, burglary armed, grand theft motor vehicle, kidnapping, and aggravated assault with no intent to kill. While Inman was in prison in Florida, he was cited for at least 19 infractions in the six years he served.
The offenses include: seven citations for weapons possessions, an armed assault and four citations for disobeying an order. Under Florida's old sentencing laws, inmates automatically got 1/3 off their sentence if they behave. Because of his infractions, Inman lost 150 days of time off his sentence. He received 4,966 days of gain time- the equivalent of 14 years.
Inman was released from prison in Florida on Sept. 1, 2005. He provided an address in Dandridge, Tenn., where he went to live with his mother. He worked for a construction company & apparently did some work in the Pigeon Forge area. Who knows what crimes Inman committed from September 2005 to May 2006, but he wasn't arrested.
On May 22, 2006- Inman raped 28-year old woman in Sevierville, TN. WBIR reported that Inman cased the woman's neighborhood and attacked her after the woman's husband left for work around 6 am. Inman had a knife and he surprised the woman who was still in bed with her 2-year old daughter. The District Attorney is seeking aggravated rape and aggravated burglary indictments.
On May 23, 2006- Inman attacked a woman in Rainsville, Alabama, when she came home for lunch. The Greenville Times reported that the women was in her kitchen getting ready to eat when a man came up from behind and put a knife to her throat. Inman had entered her home through the crawl space and sawed a hole in her floor. He brought string with him to tie up his victim.
The victim Beth Bates described her attack to The Greenville Times:
"He told me if I calmed down, he wouldn't hurt me," the Rainsville, Alabama., woman said. "He told me to lay down face first, and he tied my hands behind my back. He was going to rape me and God intervened and he decided not to," Bates said. "I talked to him about the Lord and told him that God loves him. I talked to him the whole time and he talked to me. He stopped what he was doing to listen to me." He was strangely calm, and even polite, she said.
"He apologized to me, actually, and he even rubbed me on the back and apologized and stuff," she said. After deciding not to rape her, he put her in a closet, hands and feet still bound, and propped a chair in front of the doorknob. "He told me everything he was going to do before he did it,' she said. "He turned the light on in the closet for me. He was real nice about it and all. I know that sounds odd to say. It could have been a lot worse for me."
Before he left in Bates' car, the man stole about $300 that she had raised for her church, a local Church of God. Inman drove her vehicle only a mile before abandoning it, the DeKalb County, AL sheriff said. Witnesses saw a man meeting Inman's description getting into a red and silver Blazer that matched the vehicle he was later captured in, the sheriff said.
Inman has confessed to the crime and has been charged with first-degree attempted rape, first-degree robbery, first-degree theft of property and first-degree burglary in connection with the attack on Bates.
Three days later, Inman raped and killed Tiffany Souers.
According to a Fox 21 article, The officer who arrested Inman told reporters that Inman called himself a 'sick animal' when asked why he killed Tiffany and attacked two others. He said Inman admitted to just driving around looking for women and when he saw Tiffany, focused on her and got "perverted feelings". Inman told investigators that when he saw one particular woman he wanted, he waited until she went to sleep, He said of the attack on Souers: "He thought she was asleep and that's when he entered the apartment."
Links:
Inman's NC Dept of Corrections Info
Inman's 1998 Transcript of Guilty Plea- NC
