Thirty-year-old Norsaadah Husain, a graduate student from Malaysia, was working on a doctorate degree in food technology from Clemson University. She lived alone in a small mobile home not far from the campus. She was scheduled to finish her degree in May 1993 and planned to return home to Malaysia to teach at a local university there. Norsaadah had been planning to speak at a national meeting of food scientists about her process for removing caffeine from tea.
On June 8, 1992, Norsaadah, who neighbors and associates at the university called reserved and almost painfully shy, stopped by the Suds and Duds to wash some clothes around 8:30 p.m. A man named Gary Mono Jr. lived right next door to the laundro-mat and said his wife had heard a car screech out of the parking lot that evening, along with what she thought was a yell.
A Bloody Scene Left Behind
Around 9 p.m., a customer walked into the establishment and was stunned to find a large pool of blood on the floor, a bloody handprint on a pole, clothes still folded on a table and some still in a washing machine. A car later identified to be Norsaadah’s was still in the parking lot. She was abducted before sunset, during a 20-minute time frame where a Central Town Council meeting was in session nearby and a children’s sporting event had also concluded. Residents were stunned that such a violent crime had taken place in broad daylight.
Police arrived on the scene, and immediately suspected foul play. They began searching areas near Lake Hartwell and other places off the main road, knowing the odds of finding the student alive were slim.
Three months later, a deer hunter came across a near-complete human skeleton in the woods off S.C. 183 near the Oconee Nuclear Plant. On September 17. 1993, those bones were positively identified as belonging to Norsaadah Husain. A skirt, shoes, and a pair of women’s underwear were found near the remains, along with a pendent and wristwatch that both belonged to the victim. No murder weapon was found. An autopsy revealed Norsaadah had likely been stabbed in the throat.
When the young woman’s body was positively identified, Ron Galyean, head of the Food Science Department where Norsaadah was a student, released the following statement:
“As the news filtered through our department, our labs became silent. The quiet was reminiscent of Norsaadah. She went about her studies very quietly and very seriously. All of us at food sciences would like to extend our heartfelt sympathies to the Husain family.”
A Connection Between Two Murders?
At first investigators wondered if Norsaadah’s murder was linked to the stabbing death of another local woman, 42-year-old Daisy Snider. She’d been abducted from the Easley Junior High School Track on November 27, 1988. Her body had been found by a deer hunter about a mile from where Norsaadah was a week after she went missing. She had been strangled and shot in the chest with a shotgun. But in 2004, a 44-year-old Pennsylvania inmate named Mark Neal Golden was charged with the murder of Daisy Snider. DNA collected at Daisy’s crime scene matched Golden’s profile from his arrest in Pennsylvania. He pleaded guilty to the murder and was sentenced to life in prison in South Carolina, which he began serving when he was released from Pennsylvania. He had been serving time for the murder of a man named Mark Weaver in Plymouth. Mark Golden was described as a drifter from Texas when he murdered Mark Weaver in front of his wife near a river in Pennsylvania. It appears the abduction and murder of Daisy Snider in South Carolina had also been random and the two had not known one another.
Members of SLED, the FBI, and the local law enforcement worked the case as best they could, looking for similar crimes elsewhere in the region that might provide new clues. They drew up a list of suspects and meticulously crossed them off the list. But the case eventually went cold.
The murder of Norsaadah Husain remains unsolved. Anyone with information in her case can call Crime Stoppers at 1-888 CRIME-SC or 638-STOP. The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office can be reached at 864-638-4111.
Stacey Brooke Holsonback
On February 19, 1997, 18-year-old Stacey Brooke Holsonback, who went by “Brooke” to her friends and family, attended a sorority meeting at Clemson University before leaving campus with two male classmates who were also acquaintances. They were heading to an area near Seneca, South Carolina, to do some late-night off roading, also known as mud bogging. If you’re like me and had never heard that time before, it means driving powerful four-wheel drive pickups over rough terrain.
Brooke had graduated from Saluda High School, where she was a varsity cheerleader and excelled at gifted and talented classes. She loved gospel music and hoped to pursue a career in medicine, specifically cancer research or designing artificial limbs for the disabled.
The next morning, the freshman biochemistry major failed to show up for work at the School of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering. Her co-workers, including an administrative assistant named Wanda Reed, grew very concerned when Brooke failed to appear at 10:30 a.m. Then, when Brooke’s roommate phoned the office and said she had failed to return to their dorm the night before, Reed knew something was wrong. Not long after, Brooke’s roommate came by the office in person with a few of Brooke’s sisters from the Gamma Sigma Sigma service sorority to see if there had been any news of Brooke’s wheareabouts. Brooke’s immediate supervisor called the police, because they were concerned something had happened to Brooke.
Wanda Reed went to lunch. That’s when she noticed activity on nearby Lake Hartwell. Rescue crews were pulling a body from the water. A construction worker had spotted the body near a YMCA recreation area about a mile from campus.
By February 22, 1997, authorities had confirmed the body found in Lake Hartwell was that of Brooke Holsonback. The Oconee County Coroner had not released his report yet, but said he was awaiting test results to see if Brooke had any traces of drugs or alcohol in her system. Her boyfriend from Prosperity said he’d last talked to Brooke around 5 p.m. after he got home from work. She’d told him she had a sorority meeting that night and sounded like her usual self.
Brooke’s Last Night Alive
Police had also talked to the two male acquaintances Brooke had been with the evening before her body was discovered. Initial reports did not offer the identities of the two students. They said their Jeep had become stuck in the mud, and they argued with Brooke over what to do. According to them, she walked away from the scene between 1 and 3 a.m. They said they looked for her briefly, but when they couldn’t find her, returned to their dorm to sleep.
Wanda Reed told The Greenville News, “This is a great tragedy for us all. She was a beautiful young girl, and we all loved her dearly.”
Because the investigators had been told Brooke walked away from her two acquaintances when their vehicle got stuck in the mud, they asked the public if anyone had seen a young blonde woman who could have been Brooke walking back to Clemson along U.S. 123 or State 93 after midnight. Any witnesses were asked to call the Oconee Sheriff’s Office.
It didn’t take long for the Oconee Sheriff’s Office to admit they needed more help with the investigation. On February 26, Sheriff James Singleton said he had a shortage of detectives and requested assistance from the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED).
The initial autopsy on Brooke told a harrowing story. The medical examiner found bruises on her larynx inside her throat, leading to speculation she may have been choked. She was alive when she went into the water. Her cause of death was drowning, but the coroner ruled it a homicide. In early March, tests to determine whether Brooke was sexually assaulted had not been completed. She had an insignificant amount of alcohol in her blood.
The two young men who had been with Brooke the night she died were questioned separately for more than 13 hours and gave provided hair and blood samples. One of the men had what appeared to be a bite mark on his arm. No charges against them were filed at that time.
On March 5, approximately 200 students, faculty, and staff gathered at Clemson University for a memorial service to honor Brooke’s life. Speakers shared that although Brooke’s time on the campus had been short, she’d made an impact because of her generosity and outgoing personality. Family and friends remembered her as a person who “loved life” and “cared for others.” Her sorority sisters put a fern wreath with an orange and white bow at the foot of a military memorial outside Tillman Hall as a student played taps on the trumpet.
Police also set up roadblocks and handed out fliers in the area around the university, hoping to find any witnesses that would help them with their murder investigation. The fliers depicted the four-wheel drive, a black two-door Jeep Cherokee that Brooke and her friends had been four-wheeling in the night of February 19.
A dozen law enforcement personnel met at the Department of Natural Resources dock and boat landing off State 93, less than a mile from the Clemson campus, that afternoon. Two pathologists and the investigators spent time on the dock in the area where a diver had pulled Brooke’s deceased body from the water.
In mid-March, detectives investigating Brooke’s death asked a woman who had contacted the Oconee Sheriff’s Office after seeing one of the fliers to call them back. The sheriff’s office had set up roadblocks between the Oconee and Pickens County line and the Clemson 4-Wheel Drive Center. around 10 p.m. in mid-March. They were hoping to find a witness who may have driven through the area at the same time of night when Brooke was killed. A woman had called in and said she had information regarding Brooke’s death, and that she would call back later in the day. She never called back, and at that point, the sheriff’s office had no way to track the caller.
A Mysterious Bite Mark
The media reported more on the mysterious bite mark one of Brooke’s acquaintances had on his arm after the four-wheeling. The two Clemson students said they had gotten into a fight between themselves and one had bit the other. Investigators obtained dental impressions of one of the young men and photographed his mouth, according to Chris Olson, a Clemson attorney who was representing the two men. They studied the bite mark using an infrared device to highlight the pattern left on the arm. The tests performed by a local dentist matched the bite mark with the other male’s teeth impression, essentially confirming their story.
By November of 1997, the Sheriff’s Office was offering a $30,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in Brooke’s case.
A year after her murder, Oconee County Sheriff James Singleton said he believed one of the perpetrators felt guilty about what happened and wanted to tell the police what took place that night. He said investigators with Clemson University, the FBI, and detectives had uncovered new forensic evidence would be beneficial to the investigation. He did not say what that new information was. He also had this to say:
“As this investigation proceeds and the pieces of the puzzle continue to fall into place, it will be too late for this person to come forward.”
He noted investigators were keeping in daily contact with members of the Holsonback family and continually updating them on progress in the case. He said, “Enormous resources are being devoted to this investigation, and we are very confident that this case will be solved.”
Re-Enactment Filmed at Lake Hartwell
In mid-July of 1998, officials from the Oconee and Greenville County Sheriff’s offices filmed a reenactment of Brooke’s death at Lake Hartwell. The footage would later be aired on a Greenville-area crime show called “Street Beat.” Graduates of local area high schools worked as actors to portray Brooke and the two men she was with prior to her death. Scenes were shot on Lake Hartwell, using a mannequin, at a university dormitory, and in the area where Brooke and the two men were allegedly mudding that nigh.
A spokesperson for the Greenville County Sheriff’s office said the reenactment featured information the two men told investigators as well as results of Brooke’s autopsy. They purposely withheld some information from the script to protect the investigation.
Investigators showed the completed video to Clemson University students in the hopes of gathering additional clues about the cold case.
Two years after Brooke’s death, her honorary sorority, Gamma Sigma Sigma, put together Safety Awareness for Everyone, or SAFE. Nearly 150 sisters and pledges hoped to raise campus safety awareness through self-defense classes and speakers. Brooke was also honored with a ceremony.
Brooke Holsonback’s murder continues to remain unsolved. Eventually, the public learned the identity of the two students she’d been four-wheeling with the night before her body was found. Bryant Gallup and Jeff Dubnansky left Clemson University not long after her death. Eventually, they both moved out of South Carolina.
FITS News ran an article last year discussing the status of Brooke’s case. It noted that in 2017, the 20th anniversary of Brooke’s death, the Oconee Sheriff’s Office announced the formation of a dedicated task force focused on identifying those responsible for her death. They announced they’d found items of forensic significance that submitted for retesting. Technology has advanced significantly since the murder took place in 1997. Investigators announced a behavioral profile of the offender or offenders was being developed.
The FITS News article also stated this:
Investigators have repeatedly said they believe someone knows more than they have ever shared. Whether that knowledge comes from someone present that night, someone who heard something afterward, or someone who dismissed a detail as insignificant at the time, authorities maintain that the final piece may still exist.
If you have any information regarding the unsolved homicide of Stacey Brooke Holsonback, you are asked to call Crimestoppers at 638-STOP or 1-888-CRIME-SC. You can also text in your tip to 274637. If your tip leads to an arrest, you could be eligible for a cash reward of up to $2,000.
Show Sources:
https://www.oconeelaw.com/post/stacey-brooke-holsonback
Anderson Independent mail
February 22, 1997
Investigators still seek clues in student’s death
Page 1
https://www.newspapers.com/image/813727188
Page 2
The Greenville News
February 22, 1997
Authorities believe coed found in lake was murdered
https://www.newspapers.com/image/194178550
The Index Journal
February 28, 1997
SLED investigating student’s death
https://www.newspapers.com/image/69836970
The State
March 1, 1997
Neck bruises found on drowned student
https://www.newspapers.com/image/753074776
The Greenville News
March 19, 1997
Investigators want to talk to woman who called them about Holsonback murder
https://www.newspapers.com/image/194146658
The Greenville News (see adjacent article about Clemson student charged with filing a false police report)
March 6, 1997
Hunt for killer intensified
Page 1
https://www.newspapers.com/image/194174340
Page 2
https://www.newspapers.com/image/194175240
The Greenville News
March 13, 1997
Bite mark focus of probe in Clemson coed’s death
https://www.newspapers.com/image/194165661
Anderson Independent-Mail
February 21, 1998
Holsonback case still on front burner
Page 1
https://www.newspapers.com/image/813712853
The Greenville News
February 20, 1998
Coed’s killing still unsolved
https://www.newspapers.com/image/193828915
Anderson Independent Mail
July 16, 1998
TV show to feature student’s slaying
https://www.newspapers.com/image/813719302
Anderson Independent Mail
July 22, 1998
Holsonback killing re-enacted
Page 1
https://www.newspapers.com/image/813728701
Page 2
https://www.newspapers.com/image/813728253
February 19, 1999
Clemson student’s slaying still unsolved 2 years later
https://www.newspapers.com/image/193834695
The Greenville News
August 29, 2000
Another school year starts with no answers to cases
Page 1
https://www.newspapers.com/image/194522241
Page 2:
https://www.newspapers.com/image/194522775
Norsaadah Husain
Daisy Snider
Connected?
https://205guy.wordpress.com/tag/clemson-murders
Anderson Independent Mail
Police search 3 counties for vanished Clemson University student
Page 1
https://www.newspapers.com/image/811477609
Page 2
https://www.newspapers.com/image/811477657
Remains identified as Clemson Student
Anderson-Independent Mail
September 18, 1992
Page 1
https://www.newspapers.com/image/812263659
Page 2
