The murder of Tiffany Sessions
Gainesville, Alachua County, Florida · 1989
Overview
Tiffany Sessions, a 20-year-old University of Florida finance student, left her off-campus apartment in Gainesville on the afternoon of February 9, 1989 for her daily power walk along Williston Road, carrying a Sony Walkman and wearing a two-tone Rolex, and never came back. She left her wallet, keys and identification behind. Her father, a South Florida real-estate developer, organized what the FBI has called the largest search in Florida's history, with hundreds of volunteers and a reward that reached $250,000, but no trace of her was found. In 1992 another student, Elizabeth Foster, was raped, beaten to death and buried in a shallow grave about a mile away. Twenty years later the Alachua County Sheriff's Office cold case unit matched DNA from the Foster scene to Paul Eugene Rowles, a paroled Miami murderer who in 1989 had delivered pizzas and scaffolding in Gainesville along Tiffany's route. Rowles died in prison in February 2013. Detective Kevin Allen spent a year reconstructing his life, and among Rowles's belongings investigators found an address book listing his victims, with the date 2/9/89 written between two notations of "#2". On February 6, 2014, Sheriff Sadie Darnell named Rowles as Tiffany's abductor and killer, calling it highly probable. Excavations in 2014 and 2020 found nothing. Her remains have never been found.
How it was solved
The identification rested on a detective's reconstruction and a dead man's notebook, not on forensics tying Rowles to Tiffany. The chain began with another victim. Elizabeth Foster, 21, a Santa Fe College student, vanished on March 15, 1992; her car was found behind a former restaurant on U.S. 441 south of Williston Road, and a park ranger found her body in a shallow grave eight days later. In 2012 the Alachua County Sheriff's Office cold case unit, formed by Sheriff Sadie Darnell, re-examined the Foster evidence with newer technology; investigators matched DNA from the scene to Paul Eugene Rowles in February 2012 and announced it that September. Rowles was already serving life. He had raped and murdered Linda Fida in Miami in 1972, been sentenced to life in 1976 and paroled in December 1985; he moved to Gainesville in 1988, where he delivered pizzas and scaffolding to a construction project along Tiffany's route, and left for Jacksonville in 1992. In 1994 he kidnapped a Clearwater teenager who survived. Investigators went to see him in a Miami-Dade prison in January 2013; he was on a ventilator with lung cancer, and by the accounts given afterward he gave them nothing. He died in February 2013 at 64. That year Darnell hired Detective Kevin Allen for the cold case unit and told him Tiffany's case came first. Allen built a timeline of Rowles's jobs, addresses and vehicle. Among Rowles's belongings was an address book, called a calendar by some outlets, that listed his victims, including Fida and an apparent reference to Foster. In the middle of it was a date with no name, 2/9/89, with "#2" written on either side. Investigators read it as a count: Tiffany as his second victim. In late January 2014 the sheriff's office excavated the Foster burial site as a possible disposal site for Tiffany. On February 6, 2014, she named Rowles the prime suspect, calling it highly probable that he was responsible. The dig was cleared the next day with no sign of her, and a 2020 search prompted by a witness also found nothing. DNA identified Rowles as Foster's killer, not Tiffany's; what linked him to Tiffany was the reinvestigation.
Sources
- New Development In Tiffany Sessions Disappearance (February 5, 2014)
“In February, 2012 investigators matched DNA at the Foster crime scene to Rowles. In January, 2013 Rowles was interviewed about Sessions' disappearance. The following month, Rowles died in prison of natural causes.”
- Searching for Tiffany Sessions (photo essay)
“Not only were the names of Rowles's victims listed, but in the middle of the book was a date - 2/9/89. And on either side of this date Rowles wrote "#2," indicating that Tiffany may have been Rowles's second victim.”
- Tiffany Sessions Case (February 6, 2014)
“Alachua County Sheriff Sadie Darnell says it's "highly probable" that Paul Rowles is the suspect in the disappearance. The sheriff's office is digging where the other woman's body was found to see if they can find Sessions' remains.”
- Asking for help in 25-year-old missing student case (February 7, 2014)
“Rowles was in ICU on a ventilator, dying from lung cancer. We believe this was potentially a dump site also or disposal site for Tiffany.”
- No Sign Of Missing Student's Remains, Detectives Seek Information (February 8, 2014)
“It was very disappointing. We really felt we had a real good shot.”
- Twenty-Year-Old Cold Case Cleared (September 25, 2012)
“DNA from registered sex offender Paul Eugene Rowles has been connected to Foster. There were no eyewitnesses and no surveillance videos.”
- DNA links man to 1992 Alachua County killing (September 25, 2012)
“Investigators said DNA analysis connected 64-year-old Paul Rowles to the death of Elizabeth Foster. Autopsy results indicated that Foster had been sexually assaulted and died as a result of a severe beating.”
- Tiffany Louise Sessions
“She left her wallet, keys and identification inside her residence. He is known to have delivered scaffolding to a construction project along Tiffany's jogging path.”
- Disappearance of Tiffany Sessions
“The police did not initially handle the disappearance as a crime because a crime scene had not been found. The Federal Bureau of Investigation have said the search for Sessions is the largest in Florida's history.”
- New search in old missing woman case yields no new clues (February 28, 2020)
“Rowles was convicted of killing Linda Fida of Miami in 1972. In 1994, Rowles was sentenced to 19 years for kidnapping and sexually assaulting a teenager from Clearwater.”
- Investigators search new site for clues in disappearance of Tiffany Sessions (February 27, 2020)
“Investigators believe Sessions was abducted and murdered by a now-deceased convicted serial killer.”
- 'I'm very hopeful': Search continues 35 years after the disappearance of Tiffany Sessions (February 9, 2024)
“Tiffany Sessions left the UF campus and went for a jog on February 9th, 1989, and never returned. Detectives say they need new information to help them find Session's body to solve the case.”