At Christmas, pain of losing son to mysterious events intensifies for this SC family

Every Christmas, Cindy Hipps and her son, Tucker, decorated the family tree together. They’d carefully unpack the ornaments, many made by Tucker through the years. Tucker always placed the high ones.

Now, Cindy Hipps decorates the tree alone and fills it with angel ornaments. Many were sent to her from people she doesn’t know, people who have heard the story of what happened to Tucker on the Highway 93 bridge in Oconee County on a mild morning before sunrise in September seven years ago.

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Tucker was with 29 other pledges and members of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity at Clemson University, yet no one has come forward to tell the full story of what happened in the dark of night when Tucker died. The information the pledges and two fraternity brothers gave law enforcement and in court depositions was unadorned: They were running, and Tucker disappeared.

They said they didn’t know more than that.

The physical evidence shows 19-year-old Tucker fell from the bridge railing. His chest hit the railing. Dangling by an arm, he tried to crawl back up.

When his body was found seven hours later submerged in Lake Hartwell, his blue sneakers were the only thing that could be seen. An autopsy found he died of head injuries, likely from falling head first onto rocks in the shallow water below. He also had injuries on his legs and arms.

Christmas without Tucker

The Christmas season is especially sad for Hipps because Tucker loved it so. Tucker didn’t like being an only child, and so any reason for a gathering of a lot of people, especially kids, was a reason for joy. Cindy Hipps’ extended family gathered every Christmas morning.

As a child, Tucker went to bed early on Christmas Eve and was prohibited from leaving his room until told to do so. Unwrapped gifts from Santa Claus greeted him each Christmas morning. He got what he asked for except that one year when the item was in high demand.

Hipps can’t remember what it was, but she does remember his disappointment.

She also remembers the knock-down dragouts they’d have when he was in elementary school over homework. He had no interest in school until middle school.

Then he not only excelled without prompting, he also made his own a well-balanced lunch — sandwich, chips, fruit and dessert — to take to school. Hipps said he had a vocabulary like an adult and prayed beautiful prayers in church when he was 4.

Tucker played pretty much all sports and was competitive until high school, when his size didn’t match up with kids like Ben Bouleware, the Clemson standout who attended a neighboring Anderson County school when Tucker was at Wren.

In high school, Tucker attended Boys State, an American Legion program that offers hands-on education about government. The program spurred his interest in politics. Cindy Hipps told him to keep that a secret.

“No mother wants her son to go into politics,” she said, and laughed.

He was a natural leader, and in fact, on the day he died he was a leader among the young men pledging SigEp.

Perils of Greek life

Gary Hipps, Cindy’s husband and Tucker’s dad, didn’t want Tucker to join a fraternity. But Tucker came to them and said he had done everything they had asked of him through the years and implored them to let him join SigEp.

Cindy said he thought it would be like Boys State, collegial, educational. He also knew that most of the leaders on the Clemson campus were members of Greek organizations. It seemed right.

Then came Sept. 22, 2014, just a few weeks into the pledge process. Tucker was told to bring breakfast for those going on the 5:30 a.m. run. He delegated the task to someone else. When the fraternity members learned there was no breakfast, Tucker paid the price. He had words, at the very least, with one of the members.

“People witnessed that, and they ran and didn’t call anyone for seven hours,” Cindy Hipps said.

Fraternity members showed up among the hundreds of people for the visitation at Thomas McAfee Funeral Home Northwest in Greenville’s Berea neighborhood, where the Hippses lived when Tucker was small. Some fraternity members were crying in the vestibule, yet when they talked to her, they seemed distant, Hipps said.

They brought the Hippses a basketball signed by all the fraternity members.

“It was odd and strange, not warm at all, regimented,” she said. “Something was not right.”

And as months passed and she heard not one word from Tucker’s fraternity pals, she began to suspect something more sinister had happened. The silence, to her, spoke of guilt. It still does.

SigEp was suspended in 2015 for violating the Clemson’s conduct code. The suspension ended in 2019, but the fraternity agreed it would not seek reinstatement until members met face-to-face with the Hippses. That has not happened. Cindy Hipps welcomes the opportunity.

Hipps said she has forgiven them and just wants to know the truth. She does not speak of justice or having someone arrested, unless of course someone actually pushed him off the bridge.

“I’m that mother bear who won’t let this go,” she said.

Recently, the reward for information on Tucker’s death was increased to $100,000. Tips continue to be made to Crime Stoppers of Oconee County, Helen Westmoreland of Oconee County Crime Stoppers, said. She declined to talk about what information they have received, but little by little they are filling in the center of the puzzle. The edges are formed, she said.

“This is a conscience-based decision,” Westmoreland said in an Oconee County Sheriff’s Office podcast about Hipps’ death.

Life without Tucker

Hipps stays busy, especially during the holiday season, when seven years ago she and her husband had to come to terms with the fact that Tucker would never come home. She reaches out to other mothers whose children have died, and some reach out to her.

The Hippses have formed the Tucker Hipps Memorial Foundation, which has about $300,000 in assets, according to their most recent 990 federal form. The foundation sponsors an annual golf event and a fishing tournament in the spring.

The foundation donates to charities that support Tucker’s interests, such as Boys State, college scholarships and organizations that help the homeless and underprivileged people.

Hipps recalls how generous Tucker was to people who were not as lucky as he, such as the time he and his girlfriend were having lunch in Greenville and he invited a homeless man to eat with them.

The foundation also supports a cause close to Cindy Hipps’ heart — preventing hazing. She has spoken to Greek organizations to warn of the dangers. She talks about it in interviews and press conferences.

She is working on getting a bill passed by the S.C. Legislature to make hazing among students a felony.

Hipps said she had no idea of the activities of Greek life until it was too late, the “protect the house” mindset. Gary Hipps calls it a “code of silence.” They are working with City Drive Studios and See It Now/CBS on a documentary called Protect the House.

Cindy Hipps wants to warn others about Greek culture. It doesn’t have to be that way.

Moving on

Tucker would be 26 now. He likely would be married, Hipps said. He would be through law school. He’d live nearby. Clemson athletics would have his full support.

Hipps put up her angel tree again this year. A smaller tree stands in the dining room, decked out with Tucker’s special ornaments, ones he made in school that have photos of him in the middle or a small flower pot he painted that bears his name. There are Hallmark ornaments of Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, too! A small football and a baseball helmet. The tree is packed with memories.

Hipps hangs Tucker’s Clemson stocking on the staircase railing. Inside are the notes his friends put in there the first Christmas after he died. The Hippses read them all with his girlfriend on Christmas Day that year. They don’t read them every year.

But they do speak about him often. The Hippses relish the times people remember Tucker.

“He wasn’t perfect, but he was a good kid,” Cindy Hipps said.

He is never far from their thoughts.

The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office is seeking information on the death of Tucker Hipps. To report a tip, call 888-CRIME-SC (888-274-6372).