|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
For the last ten years, the family of Tucker Hipps has searched for answers about what happened to the 19-year-old sophomore at Clemson University on the morning of September 22, 2014. How did this vibrant, handsome young man with the brightest of futures end up underneath a bridge, facedown in the waters of Lake Hartwell following an early morning run with a group of people he hoped to call his brothers.
A decade after this tragedy occurred, Tucker’s parents – Gary Hipps and Cindy Hipps – are no closer to answers. Still, they haven’t surrendered hope that someday, someone will come forward with the truth that will give them closure. They haven’t abandoned the belief that perhaps with age, one of the 29 young men of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity who was with their son that fateful fall morning will realize the importance of accountability.
That someone will break the ranks of “the brotherhood” and come clean with what really happened…
***
THE ‘BROTHERHOOD’
***
Tucker Hipps was studying political science with plans to pursue a law degree when he made the decision to participate in fraternity rush at Clemson. On September 5, 2014 – two-and-a-half weeks before he died – Hipps received an invitation to join “Sig Ep” as a pledge. A natural leader, he was quickly appointed to the role of ‘pledge class president’ – a position that made him the liaison between the initiated brothers and the new class of pledges. Tucker’s parents were concerned this new role might occupy too much of his time – detracting from his studies – but he assured them everything would be fine.
As pledge class president, Tucker coordinated whatever tasks the ‘brothers’ needed to have completed for them – including cleaning, driving members to class or picking up food. It was a time-consuming role that resulted in Hipps receiving calls and texts from active members of the fraternity at all hours of the day and night. It was also a clear violation of the University’s hazing policy prohibiting “any form of personal servitude.”
Sigma Phi Epsilon wasn’t the only fraternity actively violating the hazing policy during the fall of 2014. University officials had received an unprecedented number of hazing reports that year – so many that former vice president of student affairs, Gail DiSabatino, informed school president Jim Clements of her plans to “suspend fraternity activities or otherwise punish fraternities” for “unprecedented conduct issues over the course of the first three weeks of school” including “hazing and sexual misconduct.”
According to the lawsuit filed by Hipps’ family, plans to suspend fraternity activities were supposed to begin on September 22, 2024 at 5:30 p.m. EDT – but DiSabatino backed down after Clemson’s Interfraternity Council’s (IFC) decided to cancel parties scheduled for that weekend.
A detailed report in The Chronicle of Higher Education noted DiSabatino hoped this would mean “little to no media attention or community angst.”
That plan backfired spectacularly…
***
THE PLEDGE RUN
***
There are certain established facts about the day Tucker Hipps died – a Monday – but surrounding those facts are gaps. Blanks. Voids. The spaces between them? They must be filled in by one of Hipps’ 26 fellow pledges – or the three active fraternity brothers who joined the group on that fateful morning run.
What is known is as follows…
At some point prior to September 22, 2014, members of Hipps’ fraternity requested permission from the university to conduct a pledge run organized by members Thomas Carter King, Campbell T. Starr and Samuel Quillen Carney. The run was scheduled to begin at 5:30 a.m. EDT – which meant it was in clear violation of university policy which stated, “no new member activities are permitted to take place between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. Sunday through Thursday unless approved in advance.”
The university did not respond to the request and according to the lawsuit filed by Hipps’ parents, “this failure to respond was interpreted by the brothers as acquiescence of the request to engage in the pre-dawn run.”
***
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2014
7:30 p.m. – 11:59 p.m. EDT: Tucker Hipps attended a fraternity chapter meeting which ended at 7:30 p.m. After the meeting, he studied in the library until midnight. While studying, a group text was sent to all thirty Sig Ep pledges with instructions for the run the next morning:
“530 be in lounge and be fucking quiet says Thomas King”
“Campbell says to wear dark clothes so (we’re) not spotted.”
Tucker also received numerous texts from the three fraternity brothers leading the run the next day and a text from another member, Bryan Golnak, instructing him to bring 30 McDonalds biscuits, 30 McDonalds hash browns, and 2 gallons of chocolate milk to the fraternity hall in the morning before the run.
Tucker responded to Golnak that he didn’t have enough money in his bank account to cover that large of a purchase and was instructed to get his pledge brothers to help.
The McDonald’s run never happened…
***
***
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2014
5:30 a.m. EDT: Despite having been awoken numerous times during the night by phone calls from the active brothers of his fraternity, Tucker showed up to Donaldson Hall to meet 27 members of his pledge class for the scheduled run. The group headed out of the dorm led by Campbell Starr to South Carolina Highway 93 towards Lake Hartwell. Thomas Carter King ran behind the pledges to “ensure that no one fell behind.”
At some point during the run – at or near the bridge over Lake Hartwell – King received a phone call from Golnak who was “pissed off’ that the pledges had not brought the breakfast from McDonald’s. The lawsuit stated King confronted Tucker about it.
According to one witness, the three SigEp members “forced Tucker to get onto the narrow railing along the bridge and walk some distance of the bridge on top of the railing.”
“Tucker slipped from the railing and caught the railing under his arms… tried to climb back onto the bridge unassisted… lost his grip on the bridge and fell headfirst into the water below, striking his head on the rocks in the shallow water,” the witness’ account continued.
The witness further alleged Hipps’ “brothers” attempted to locate him in the waters below using a light from a cell phone – but that no attempt was made to rescue him.”
Other accounts claim Hipps was “dangled by his ankles off the bridge” and dropped, presumably by accident.
The three leaders of the group – Tucker’s “brothers” – then led the group back to Donaldson Hall and instructed the pledges to shower and meet for breakfast at 7:30 a.m.
7:30 a.m. EDT: Tucker did not show for the group breakfast – nor did he attend his classes that morning. The brothers and pledges started calling around looking for Tucker.
11:15 a.m. EDT: King awakens Starr and informs him Tucker is missing. The pledges and brothers begin driving around campus searching for him.
Around this time, one of Tucker’s pledge brothers texted his girlfriend, Katie Krouse, to reassure her Tucker had been seen in the library. This text was sent to “help (them) buy time.”
1:15 p.m. EDT: Starr finally notifies Clemson University police that Tucker is missing – and they begin their search for him.
3:30 p.m. EDT: The body of Tucker Hipps is discovered floating under the bridge in Lake Hartwell. An autopsy revealed his cause of death was blunt force trauma. He had multiple abrasions, lacerations, and contusions to his face and body, including his chest wall, the palm of the hand, his legs and wrist. The coroner opined that the injuries were consistent with a downward headfirst falling injury.
A toxicology report revealed no alcohol or drugs in his system.
***
THE AFTERMATH
***
After Tucker’s body was found, police initiated an investigation amid multiple reports that his death was directly linked to fraternity hazing. While some members and pledges provided voluntary statements, others began closing ranks.
The day of Tucker’s death, all group messages sent via GroupMe – an app the fraternity used to coordinate its events – were deleted by SigEp member Teddy Wells, according to the lawsuit. The filing further accused Thomas Carter King of attempting to delete all calls on his cellular phone from September 18 – September 25, 2014, and accused Campbell T. Starr of attempting to delete all calls on his cellular phone after September 18, 2014. Starr also allegedly switched phone numbers during the course of the investigation.
Starr, King and Carney were “deceptive and failed to be forthcoming with police regarding their knowledge of Tucker’s death,” the suit claimed.
On September 24, 2014, Clemson University suspended all fraternity activities in the aftermath of Hipps’ death. Sigma Phi Epsilon suspended all campus activity at the start of 2015 after being hit with a five-year suspension for unrelated hazing allegations. Less than three months later, DiSabatino was unceremoniously fired from her role as vice president of student affairs. Her dismissal came shortly after Gary Hipps gave an interview to a local television station decrying Clemson’s fraternity system as “broken” – and claiming the truth about his son’s death had yet to come out.
Tucker Hipps’ parents were left to deal with the pain of both knowing – and not knowing. They knew their only son had died under tragic circumstances, but didn’t know the particulars of those circumstances. They knew 29 people were with their son the morning he fell to his death, but they didn’t know what they witnessed.
***
RELATED | NEEDED SCRUTINY ON TUCKER HIPPS’ DEATH
***
On March 30, 2015, Gary and Cindy Hipps filed a wrongful death lawsuit (.pdf) in Pickens County against Sigma Phi Epsilon, its fraternity brothers King, Starr and Carney, and Clemson University.
Around the same time the lawsuit was filed, former S.C. tenth circuit solicitor Chrissy Adams announced the investigation into Hipps’ death had been transferred to her office’s “unsolved crimes” file. According to Adams, law enforcement had exhausted all of its leads in the case – meaning the investigation is officially at a “standstill.”
“Tucker Hipps’ death is a terrible tragedy,” Adams said at the time. “This young man will not, and must not be forgotten. His family deserves answers. His family and those who knew and loved him deserve to know the circumstances surrounding his untimely death. I can only hope and pray that anyone with information will find the strength to come forward, for the sake of the family and in Tucker’s memory.”
To date, Sigma Phi Epsilon has not attempted to reestablish a chapter at Clemson University. Should it seek to do so, it would be required to consult with Hipps’ parents per the terms of a 2017 settlement stemming from the lawsuit. That settlement also established a scholarship at Clemson in Hipps’ name, dedicated a pew in the campus chapel to him and paid his parents $250,000.
Hipps’ parents have emerged as advocates for fraternity safety in the years following their son’s death. They began the Tucker W. Hipps Memorial Foundation to bring awareness to hazing and support anti-hazing efforts. Their work also led to the Tucker Hipps Transparency Act of 2016 – which required public schools to report investigations involving student organizations.
Despite all they have accomplished, they haven’t stopped searching for answers as to why 27 Sigma Phi Epsilon pledges started out on a run that Monday morning in 2014 and one didn’t return. Why an entire fraternity waited almost 7 hours to call 911 to report their “brother” missing. Why out of the 29 young men on that bridge the day their son fell to his death, none have come forward to explain what happened.
Three years ago, Hipps’ family announced that the reward for information leading to arrests in connection with Hipps’ death had increased to $100,000. Oconee County deputy sheriff Jimmy Dixon said Hipps’ case remains open and is being reinvestigated with “fresh eyes.”
“What we’re looking for is the truth,” Dixon said. “We won’t stop until we find the truth.”
Anyone with information on Hipps’ death is encouraged to contact Dixon at the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Bureau by calling 864-718-1052.
***
ABOUT THIS SERIES…
Unsolved Carolinas – sponsored by our friends at Bamberg Legal – is a new series by FITSNews devoted to shining a spotlight on cases which have fallen off the front page. We hope to tell the stories of those individuals who are seeking answers and justice on behalf of their lost loved ones. We will dive deeper into their stories, get to know them through their families and friends and hopefully help find answers for those they have left behind.
In every unsolved case, someone out there could know something that provides a missing link – a critical clue that could bring peace to a family in pain and help them write the next chapter of their stories (even if it is the final chapter). If you know someone who is missing – or has been a victim of an unsolved homicide – email their story to research@fitsnews.com.
The more stories we share, the more hope we can spread …
***
ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Jenn Wood is FITSNews’ incomparable research director. She’s also the producer of the FITSFiles and Cheer Incorporated podcasts and leading expert on all things Murdaugh/ South Carolina justice. A former private investigator with a criminal justice degree, evildoers beware, Jenn Wood is far from your average journalist! A deep dive researcher with a passion for truth and a heart for victims, this mom of two is pretty much a superhero in FITSNews country. Did we mention she’s married to a rocket scientist? (Lucky guy!) Got a story idea or a tip for Jenn? Email her at jenn@fitsnews.com.
***
WANNA SOUND OFF?
Got something you’d like to say in response to one of our articles? Or an issue you’d like to address proactively? We have an open microphone policy! Submit your letter to the editor (or guest column) via email HERE. Got a tip for a story? CLICK HERE. Got a technical question or a glitch to report? CLICK HERE.
7 comments
Why do people insist on littering the highways with their little memorials? Who gives a shit where their precious died? Who wants to drive past the spot where pop-pop or little Jimmy was run over and ground into hamburger?
If it was a dead dog and not a person you’re dumb ass would be all for erecting a permanent shrine to it in the middle of the road.
What an asshole Squishy123
I agree with your opposition to roadside memorials. I have a pact with my wife to, if either of us dies in a car accident, not allow the erection of a memorial at the site. Our bodies and our souls will have moved on from that location.
The crass way in which you express your opposition is sub-human. That young man’s family will likely read this article, and maybe even these comments. Common decency would require that you keep your demented thoughts to yourself. Honestly, you should seek professional help for even having those thoughts in your head.
Ten years. It is so troubling to realize that they all continued on with their day, knowing that they left their friend on the rocks, in the water. It is more troubling to realize that they have continued on with their lives and never told the truth about what else happened that morning. Those young men are likely now husbands and fathers. Maybe this will be the year that one of them finally stands up and speaks out.
As a parent you will never know the impact your only child’s death has on you until it happens to you. I hope no one has to know this grief. I know my precious son is not in that grave or at that cross. What i do know from the many parents of students that reach out to us, that cross is a reminder to them and their students of what can happen. Parents can see the Tucker Hipps Transparency Act and see what bad behavior goes on so they can be diligent and watch out for their child. Our son was killed in the prime of his life and no one has come forward to tell us what happened. I pray it never happens again at Clemson or any other state institution. Until then I will continue to seek “Truth and Change” with no aplogy.
Squishy 123 you do need a therapist for those thoughts much less putting your thoughts in black and white Just some guy is right you can have your own thoughts. If that is something you care to not participate in that is your right. Just do not be so crass. Many parents have contacted Tuckers parents that the cross has made their own children who go to Clemson to think twice about fraternities/sororities. Someone on that run knows the truth and it would be common decency to let Tuckers parents know the truth. That is all they want.
Squishy 123 you apparently do not have children much less have experienced a tragedy in your family.