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S Carolina Serial Killer Murders 4, Locals Stay Home For July 4

by alia_d | July 3, 2009 at 03:49 pm

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A serial killer has murdered 4 people in 6 days around the rural community of Gaffney, South Carolina. The events have convinced many locals to stay home and refrain from their usual July 4th festivities. A task force consisting of 50 officials from the FBI, the South Carolina government, and local agencies is investigating the killings.

The first killing occurred on Saturday, June 28, when Kline Cash, a 63-year-old a peach grower, was killed. The following Wednesday, July 1, Hazel Linder, age 83, and daughter Gena Linder Parker were tied up and shot to death in their home. The latest victim, Stephen Tyler, age 48, was killed on the night of Thursday, July 2 in the Tyler Home Center, his furniture and appliance store. The killer also seriously injured Tyler's daughter, Abby Linder, age 15, who was shot in the head.

Many residents are terrified. They have decided to stay home with locked doors and cancel July 4th plans, like back-door barbeques. However, the police department expects to be out in full force in the surrounding areas, as they thousands may come out to watch fireworks displays.

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. Otherwise, Gaffney is most famous for a giant water tank shaped like a peach that can be seen from Interstate 85.

All of the murders happened within 10 miles of each other in South Carolina's Cherokee County. It is unclear whether or not the killer knew his victims and whether or not he is from South Caroline.

Cherokee County Sheriff Bill Blanton said the latest 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.