UPDATED South Carolina killer.

[SLS61185]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090703/ap_ ... ling_spree

By MITCH WEISS, Associated Press Writer Mitch Weiss, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 37 mins ago
GAFFNEY, S.C. – Sheriff's deputies searched Friday for a serial killer blamed for four deaths over the past six days as terrified residents wondered who might be next.

Investigators have not figured out how the victims are linked or if they knew the man who shot them. So far, all they have is a sketch of a suspect and a possible getaway vehicle, said Cherokee County Sheriff Bill Blanton.

"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."

But plenty of evidence links the killings, said Blanton, who would not provide details.

"Yes, we have a serial killer," he said at a news conference.

The latest victims were found in their family's small furniture and appliance shop near downtown Gaffney around closing time Thursday. Stephen Tyler, 45, was killed, and his 15-year-old daughter was shot and seriously injured. Tyler's wife, his older daughter and an employee found them in Tyler Home Center, County Coroner Dennis Fowler said.

The latest killing happened one day and about seven 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 Home Center. 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 shootings have prompted fear in Cherokee County, 50 miles south of Charlotte, N.C., and home to about 54,000 people. The county had just six homicides in all of 2008, and that was double the number reported the year before.

Residents have "their guard up and their gun handy," said state Sen. Harvey Peeler, R-Gaffney, who recalled the area being terrorized once before, in the 1960s, by a serial killer dubbed the Gaffney Strangler who murdered several women before he was caught.

"There is no greater fear than the fear of the unknown and nobody knows. You can cut the tension with a knife," Peeler said. "People are locking their doors, even in broad daylight."

The latest shootings took place less than a half-mile from the sheriff's office, the command center where at least 30 investigators were already working on the case. Blanton said a profiler has brought up the possibility that Tyler and his daughter were shot to taunt investigators, but he said his only concern is solving the case.

"We had a 15-year-old girl shot; he killed an 83-year-old woman. The good people of this community don't deserve that. And it doesn't look like he shows much concern or remorse," Blanton said.

The sheriff reminded people they have a right to protect themselves and asked them to call 911 to report anything suspicious. He also advised salesmen and others to avoid knocking on strangers' doors with so many on heightened alert.

"People are going to start shooting at shadows," Blanton said.

___

Associated Press Writers Jim Davenport and Jeffrey Collins contributed to this report from Columbia.

[Malli]

crazy

[Marinepits]

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

South Carolina Police Say Man Killed in North Carolina is Spree Killer

GAFFNEY, S.C. — A man suspected of killing five people and terrorizing a South Carolina community was shot to death Monday by police investigating a burglary complaint at a home 30 miles away.

Ballistics tests on a gun and bullets found with the man in Gastonia, N.C., match those used in a weeklong killing spree in and around Gaffney, said State Law Enforcement Deputy Director Neil Dolan.

"We have him. He's our serial killer," Dolan said Monday night.

Authorities did not release the man's name, but said he has had several encounters with law enforcement over the years.

Dolan said the physical evidence leaves no doubt the slain suspect was the person who shot five people to death over six days. But investigators still have no idea why he started the killing spree June 27.

"He was unpredictable. He was scary. He was weird," Dolan said.

The case came to an end 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 descriptell "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.

SLED Chief Reggie Lloyd said 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.

Blanton 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."

[Jenn]

I seen this on the news for the first time this morning, glad he's gone!