Two years after a 21-year-old University senior was stabbed to death in her South Allen Street apartment, investigators say her killer stalked her from an abandoned apartment in a nearby building.

Police said Dana J. Bailey of Philipsburg was repeatedly stabbed in the chest with her own steak knife by a man who watched her from a third-floor apartment located above Ben and Jerry's -- now merged with Graham's -- at 124 S. Allen St.

The State College Bureau of Police Services, in its first statement regarding the murder in nearly a year, said yesterday the killer may have waited up to five hours in the apartment before he killed Bailey.

Bailey's mother found her daughter's body in her residence above Crabtrees Jewelers, 132 S. Allen St., on March 5, 1987. Up until yesterday, police had released few details of the murder and subsequent search for the killer.

"There will still be some parts of the investigation that we will not discuss," said State College Police Chief Elwood G. Williams.

Police have determined Bailey died sometime between the late evening hours of March 4 and early morning hours of March 5 from multiple stab wounds to the heart and lungs.

Thomas Jordan, State College police criminal investigator, said the killer looked directly into Bailey's apartment from his hideout above Ben and Jerry's on the night of the murder.

Jordan, who a borough lieutenant said works on the case daily, is the only State College police investigator assigned to it full-time.

The killer crossed rooftops joining the two buildings, and used a five-gallon bucket to boost himself onto another roof that led directly to Bailey's kitchen window, Jordan said.

The suspect entered Bailey's apartment through the unlocked window after cutting the screen with a sharp object, he said.

After interviewing nearly 1,000 people during the investigation, Jordan said he narrowed the field to "four or five" suspects who could not be ruled out in the case because of their uncooperativeness.

Two of the suspects are local residents, he said, and the others are either from out of town or unaccounted for.

"When I talk to them, I'm getting things like, 'Talk to my lawyer' and 'I don't feel I have to volunteer any particular evidence so that I can clear my name,' " Jordan said.

"That's the type of response we're getting from these three or four people," he said. "I can't say 'I can put this file away' and forget about it."

Jordan said police believe Bailey was in the apartment when the killer entered and that a struggle occurred. He said the kitchen lies between Bailey's bedroom and the front door of the apartment, and that the killer could have blocked any avenue of escape.

Citing a yearlong electronic surveillance of the building as the reason so little information was released, Jordan said several trespassers apprehended proved to be false leads.

"Based upon our experience with people who commit serious crimes, we felt the possibility was that the person would return to that particular scene," he said.

Jordan said police have examined evidence to determine if Bailey was raped, but it proved inconclusive.

"There is no strong physical evidence to indicate that (rape) was committed," said Jordan, a ten-year veteran of the State College police. "But we can't rule it out."

A criminal profile of the suspect prepared by the FBI in April 1987 describes the killer as an unkempt white male between the ages of 20 and 26 who still lives and works in the area.

The man may have known Bailey casually before the murder, and could have a history of establishing relationships with female students in an "inappropriate way," the profile concludes.

Jordan said he doubted Gregg Greenberg, Bailey's fiance, was involved in the killing. Greenberg talked with Bailey by phone from his Washington, D.C., residence for nearly a half hour on the night of the murder, police said.

"At this point, we have nothing to indicate that Greenberg was involved," Jordan said. "We haven't had much contact with him in the last nine months."

Police said in their press release, "The Bailey Homicide investigation will remain open and the top priority case of the State College Bureau of Police Services."

A $15,000 reward has been offered for the arrest and conviction of the killer by Bailey's friends and family, police said.