Teen Girl Becomes 5th Victim of Suspected South Carolina Serial Killer

[MuffyBee]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,530064,00.html
Teen Girl Becomes 5th Victim of Suspected South Carolina Serial Killer

Saturday, July 04, 2009

Authorities say a teen girl shot in father's store is the fifth victim of suspected South Carolina serial killer.

Cherokee County Coroner Dennis Fowler says Abby Tyler, 15, died as a result to gunshot injuries. Her death comes two days after a shooting at her family's small furniture and appliance store in Gaffney, S.C. on Thursday.

The teen's father, Stephen Tyler, 45, was also shot and killed Thursday at Tyler Home Center.

Cherokee County Sheriff Bill Blanton said Stephen Tyler's shooting death and those of three others since last Saturday — a peach farmer, an elderly woman and her daughter — are connected.

"We're concerned," Blanton told reporters Friday. "We're dealing with a man that's killed four people."

The suspect is described as 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighing 200 pounds, with blue eyes. Blanton classified him as a serial killer.

Police released a sketch Friday of the serial killer on the loose who they believe murdered the people in six days in rural South Carolina.
Investigators don't know exactly who he is or whether he is familiar with the area.

Earlier reports that the killer was driving a dark blue van haven't panned out, according to Blanton.

He said it isn't clear whether the victims and the suspect knew each other.

"There's no evidence there is a hit list," Blanton said. "There's no evidence he knows the victims. There's no evidence the victims are connected (to each other)."

The murders all happened within 10 miles of each other in Cherokee, a county of 54,000 people about 50 miles south on Interstate 85 from Charlotte, N.C.

"This person is gonna be somebody that not a lot of people pay attention to or give a second look to," Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright, whose department has joined the investigation, told FOX News on Friday. "Obviously, he's either really good or really lucky."

Thursday's killing happened one day and about 7 miles from where family members found the bodies of 83-year-old Hazel Linder and her 50-year-old daughter, Gena Linder Parker, bound and shot in Linder's home.

Blanton would not say if Tyler and his daughter were also bound.

The killing spree began last Saturday about 10 miles from Tyler's shop. Peach farmer Kline Cash, 63, was found shot in his living room. Investigators said he appeared to have been robbed, but they haven't determined if anything was taken in the latest killings.

The sheriff said evidence makes it obvious that Cash's killing is linked to the deaths of the women, but he refused to give details.

He said the killer appears to have first spoken with Cash's wife about buying hay in a ruse to commit the crime. She left and then came home a few hours later to find her husband's body.

"We think she may have been his intended victim," the sheriff said. He theorized Thursday that the killer could be targeting women.

Cherokee County saw just six homicides in all of 2008, which was double the number reported in 2007.

At least 30 investigators from across the region are working on the case, and Blanton canceled all vacation and regular days off for his officers. He wants anyone living in the area to be vigilant and call in any tips, large or small. He also asked any door-to-door salesmen to stop working until the case is solved.

"We know we are dealing with a dangerous person," Blanton said. "And we know through the investigation that he is unpredictable."

Residents are on edge, according to the sheriff.

"There is fear in our community," Blanton said.

[San]

A weapon found on a man killed in a N.C. police shootout matches a gun used in a series of S.C. killings, officials say.

THIS WAS BREAKING NEWS ON CNN.

http://www.cnn.com/

[MuffyBee]

Thank you San. I hope this case gets solved before anyone else gets hurt or killed.  It must be really scarey for people in the area.

[San]

Police say suspect in South Carolina serial killings is dead

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/07/06/south.carolina.killings/index.html

GAFFNEY, South Carolina (CNN) -- Investigators believe the serial killer blamed for five deaths in South Carolina died in a shootout with police in neighboring North Carolina on Monday, a South Carolina state police official said.

Tests on the gun found on the man killed in North Carolina match the weapon used in the killings that have haunted Gaffney, South Carolina, since June 27, said Reggie Lloyd, director of South Carolina's State Law Enforcement Division. The dead suspect and his vehicle also appear to match descriptions circulated by investigators in Gaffney, he said.

"We believe a killer is off the streets," Lloyd said.

The identity of the suspect had not been released Monday evening. The man was killed early Monday morning in Dallas, North Carolina, after police received a call about a possible burglary in progress, officers there said.

When police arrived at the home, they found inside two people who lived there and a third who "was an acquaintance," police said.

"A second check on the suspect individual uncovered an outstanding warrant" from nearby Lincoln County, police said. "Officers attempted to serve the outstanding warrant when the suspect pulled a gun and fired at officers. Officers returned fire, killing the suspect."

One officer was shot in the leg and was treated and released from a hospital, police said.

About 100 investigators from North and South Carolina were working the case, said Bill Blanton, the sheriff of Cherokee County, South Carolina, which includes Gaffney. Leaves for all members of the Gaffney police department and the sheriff's department were canceled, their respective chiefs have said.

The first shooting occurred June 27, when peach farmer Kline W. Cash, 63, was killed. His wife found him dead in their home, the sheriff's office said, and Blanton said the home may have been robbed.

Four days later, the bound and shot bodies of Hazel Linder, 83, and her 50-year-old daughter, Gena Linder Parker, were found in Linder's home, where she lived alone. Blanton said authorities are still trying to determine if anything was taken from that home.

The killer's last victim was 15-year-old Abby Tyler, who was shot last week and died Saturday. Her father Stephen Tyler, 48, had been pronounced dead at the scene of the shooting, in their family-run furniture and appliance store.

Blanton said investigators had evidence the killings were linked, but did not know a motive.

"I knew all the victims and it's possible that all the victims knew each other," he told CNN's "American Morning." "But we don't have any information right now that links the killer to [them]."

[San]

Police Say South Carolina Spree Killer Had Long Rap Sheet

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,530292,00.html



GAFFNEY, S.C. —

The serial killer who terrorized a South Carolina community by shooting five people to death before police killed him Monday was a career criminal paroled just two months ago, authorities said.

Patrick Burris, 41, was shot to death by officers investigating a burglary complaint at a home in Gastonia, N.C., 30 miles from where the killing spree started June 27. Bullets in his gun matched those that killed residents in and around Gaffney over six days last week, said State Law Enforcement Division Chief Reggie Lloyd.

Investigators did not have an address for Burris. While evidence left no doubt he was the killer, they still had no idea why he did it.

"He was unpredictable. He was scary. He was weird," said SLED Deputy Director Neil Dolan.

Burris had a long rap sheet filled with charges such as larceny, forgery and breaking and entering from states across the Southeast, including Florida, Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland. He had been paroled from a North Carolina prison in April after serving nearly eight years.

"Look at this," Lloyd said, waiving a stapled copy of Burris' criminal record. "This is like 25 pages. At some point the criminal justice system is going to need to explain why this suspect was out on the street."

Gaffney farmer Sam Howell, 61, was among dozens of people from Cherokee County who came to the news conference where authorities identified Burris.

"My prayers were answered. He got what he deserved," Howell said. "He scared the hell out of everyone. I guess we can feel better but we've lost some of our innocence."

The mystery ended in Gastonia early Monday after a couple called police to report a suspicious sport utility vehicle in their neighborhood.

Mike and Terri Valentine were on edge because the Gaffney serial killer was just a short drive away.

They watched two people who sometimes visit the neighboring home get out of the vehicle, followed by a third man who matched the description of the killer: tall, heavyset, unshaven and wearing a baseball cap. The man appeared to be very drunk, Mike Valentine said.

When officers went inside, Terri Valentine said she heard someone yell "put it down" and heard a gunshot.

Then "bam, bam, bam, bam. Next thing I know, all of Gaston County was here," she said.

Gaston County police said the other two people were in custody, but did not indicate whether they were facing charges.

The Gaffney killings happened in a 10-mile area over six days. A peach farmer was killed June 27, an 83-year-old woman and her daughter were found bound and shot four days later, and the next day a father and his teen daughter were shot in their family's furniture store.

The investigation isn't over, and Cherokee County Sheriff Bill Blanton said investigators will trace the suspect's recent activities and trying to figure out if he has killed other people in other places.

"Now we have someone we can focus on," Blanton said.

He said he hopes the arrest calms the fears of 54,000 people in the county 50 miles west of Charlotte, N.C., known for its peach orchards and mills.

"We feel the victims' pain," Blanton said. "This isn't over. We're just changing gears."

[MuffyBee]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SC_KILLING_SPREE?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US
Jul 7, 9:12 PM EDT

Police: SC killer should have been behind bars

By MEG KINNARD and MITCH WEISS



COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- The South Carolina serial killer who terrorized a small community was well-known to authorities as a bully, so intimidating that a scared elderly man once refused to testify against him and extortion charges were thrown out.

The career criminal, Patrick Burris, had repeated run-ins with police for stealing and writing bad checks, and authorities said Tuesday they weren't surprised his crimes escalated. They said Burris, paroled in April after serving eight years in a North Carolina prison, should have never been released.

Burris, 41, shot five people to death in a 10-mile area of rural Gaffney in the span of six days last week. He was fatally shot Monday by officers investigating a burglary complaint at a home in Gastonia, N.C., 30 miles from where the killing spree started. Ballistics from a gun found with Burris linked him to the South Carolina slayings.

"He always had a violent streak," Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page said. "He was very intimidating and very threatening from his appearance: He was at least 6-5 and 250 pounds. You didn't want to mess with him."

It's unclear why Burris began his killing spree. Police were still piecing together details of his life. Records show he had lived in Rockingham County, N.C., a rural county near the Virginia border, since the late 1980s, but he also spent a lot of time behind bars.

He was arrested more than 30 times in North Carolina alone - the first time in 1989 for blackmail. He also had convictions in Florida, Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland.

Most of his convictions in North Carolina involved stealing from homes and businesses and bad checks, records show.

But those cases don't reveal his true character, Page said.

In 1996, Page, then a detective at the Eden Police Department in north-central North Carolina, arrested Burris for extortion. He was accused of forcing an elderly man to write a check and cash it at the bank. But the charges were dropped when the man refused to testify.

"He intimidated that man. He was scared. There was no way he was going to testify," Page said.

In another case, Burris was charged with robbery and assault in 2000 in Eden, but those charges were dropped when the man "backed out and refused to show up for court," Eden Police Chief Reece Pyrtle Jr. said.

"You didn't want to cross him," Pyrtle said. "He had that scowl."

South Carolina Law Enforcement Division Chief Reggie Lloyd, a former judge and federal prosecutor, said more should be done to keep habitual offenders like Burris behind bars.

"At some point, either prosecutors or judges did not believe that it warranted more time. ... Our entire system has really got to get serious about how we deal with these types of offenders," Lloyd said.

North Carolina Corrections Department officials were actually looking for Burris when he was shot because he had violated his parole. Page said authorities did everything they could.

"Every officer along the way did his job," he said. "But we have 37,000 prisoners committed to prison in North Carolina and when those prisons get full, our jails start backing up. I run a jail. I know they can't put everyone in jail. They have alternative programs to incarceration. But there are some that just need to be in jail - and this is one who just needed to be in jail."

The Gaffney killings began when peach farmer Kline Cash, 63, was killed June 27. Four days later, 83-year-old Hazel Linder and her daughter, 50-year-old Gena Linder Parker, were found bound and shot in the older woman's home. The next day, Stephen Tyler and his 15-year-old daughter Abby were found shot in their family's furniture store.

The investigation isn't over. Gaffney police chief Richard Turner said they were tracing the suspect's activities and try to figure out if he has killed others.

"We are all asking why? Why here? Why these individuals? Why these victims?" Turner said. "That's something that this guy took with him to his grave."

A former FBI profiler said it would be tough question to answer.

"This guy has got victims ranging from 15 to 83, he's got males, he's got females," said Mark Safarik, who retired in 2007 as a senior profiler in the FBI's famed Behavioral Analysis Unit. "I don't think that he had the motivation of a serial killer. ... How he got access to them and what the engagement was with these victims would go a long way to tell you what this dynamic is."

Burris' death relieved many area residents who have been armed and on edge. Business owners finally unlocked their doors Tuesday, but many still kept their weapons close.

"I still have my pistol under the counter, and I'll keep it right here," said Matthew McDonald, owner of Bookshelf Florist, as he lifted his small .38 handgun into view.

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Weiss reported from Charlotte, N.C. Associated Press writers Susanne M. Schafer in Gaffney, and Seanna Adcox in Columbia, also contributed to this report.