By Calvin Palmer
Police in South Carolina today confirmed they are hunting for a serial killer after a man shot dead last night became the fourth murder in the past six days.
At a joint news conference held this morning by City of Gaffney Police Chief Rick Turner and Cherokee County Sheriff Bill Blanton, it emerged police have evidence to link the killings but would not provide details.
“Under the FBI definition of a serial killer,” Blanton said, “yes, we have a serial killer.”
The latest victim, businessman Stephen Tyler, 45, was found in his furniture and appliance shop, Tyler Home Center, near downtown Gaffney around closing time yesterday.
Tyler’s 15-year-old daughter, Abby, was also shot and seriously wounded. They were found by a store employee.
Tyler was pronounced dead at the scene while Abby Tyler survived a reported gunshot wound to the head and was airlifted to Spartanburg Medical Center. No details were available on her condition.
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.
It has not yet been determined if anything was taken in the latest killing, which took place less than a half-mile from the sheriff’s office, where at least 30 investigators were already working on the case.
Attention is focusing on the vehicle description from the June 27 incident, an early 1990s model Ford Explorer with faded gray or champagne-colored paint.
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 and he killed an 83-year-old woman,” Blanton said. “The good people of this community don’t deserve that. And it doesn’t look like he shows much concern or remorse.”
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.
[Based on reports by the Associated Press and The Gaffney Ledger.]
