Man Terrorized Town Before Serial Killings

"You Didn't Want to Cross Him," South Carolina Residents Say Of Patrick Burris

(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.

[gosstom]

Another vote of confidence for the idiots in the gvt. who want to ban guns. Hope you idiots who advocate this find yourself and your family up against a psycho like this some day.

[Benton09]

Country music and NASCAR drive them crazy!

[mswolfestock]

I think everybody should apply for a Permit To Carry A Concealed Weapon. Then "Don't Leave Home Without It."

[gunownerdan]

Exactly. Criminals will always prefer unarmed victims.

[jackp32]

Whether it is Burris or anyone else, I would not cross someone unless I had my friends, Smith & Wesson, with me. By the way, the statement that most people are killed with their own guns is total bull crap*. Get off of those crazy, left wing, anti-second amendment web sites my friend.

[panton41]

Like FBI.gov?

[SomeGuy_9128]

Yeah, let's go back to the wild, wild west where everyone carries a six shooter. Whoever is fastest rules the roost. What we need is parents teaching their kids respect for law and order, respect for the rights of others and common courtesy. That is what's undoing our country.

[DaVicar5]

"Whoever is fastest rules the roost" - That's why I spend so much time at the range!

[tomadams99]

Yea right..."ca, ca, can't we all jus git along?" Take a look around you and see what is going on in the world, and always has.

[ABM_21]

If we all were armed as citizens, with basic rights to protect ourselves, this would not have happened. Every criminal should wonder if the person that they want to hurt , has a gun.
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More often than not, more people are killed with their own guns than by another weapon. The fact of the matter is, arming citizens is not a panacea. What we need is brave souls to testify against these bullies when they go over the line. It always starts off as intimidation and harassment. Then, predictably, it escalates. Yes, the old man may well have been intimidated, and it takes a particularly despicable person to intimidate the elderly. Having said that, had one brave soul testified against this menace, five other people may well be alive today. This is what happens when bullies are allowed to go unchecked for a long time...

[honeysuckle_sociopath]

The fact that more people are killed with their own weapons is one of those empty statistics. Nobody knows why this is true. I think I can take an educated guess. When I was 12 my father first taught me very strict gun safety. I grew up in a gun culture. The South. Everybody had guns. Nobody ever shot themselves with their own guns. After teaching me gun safety my father took me out in the country where we tacked a paper target to a big old oak. We made sure there was a hill behind the tree. Can anybody tell me why? Oh, by the way I'm female if that makes a difference. This was back in the early sixties. My father taught me how to shoot a pistol, a rifle, and a shotgun. We went out every weekend and practiced for hours. I loved it. And I also became an expert shot by the time I was 15. I am rabidly agaisnt gun control. Nobody is going to deprive me of the ability to defend myself and make me a helpless victim if some whacko breaks into my house. I will not surrender my gun even if I am ordered to. I've already chosen a hiding place that no one will ever find. Well my point is that people should be free to purchase guns and keep them in there homes. But before they are allowed to take the gun home, they should be required to take a class in gun safety and to spend enough time on a shooting range until they at least become familiar with shooting the gun and become able to hit some kind of target and not just fire wildly into the air. It doesn't take long to gain this amount of proficiency. Just a few hours, really.
Well, that's my proposal and I'd be willing to bet it would almost completely cut out people accidentally shooting themselves or other innocent people. As far as an argument escalating to the point of somebody being so angry they loose control and grab their gun, that's convered in gun safety class. Well, I'll shut up now.

[truth-b-toll]

why are these nutjobs ALWAYS white? I'm just saying...

[planzzzz]

You mean like Richard Ramariz and the freeway snipers? Just askin'!!

[gsz71]

look at the statistics it might suprise you

[hamiltongrad]

If we all were armed as citizens, with basic rights to protect ourselves, this would not have happened. Every criminal should wonder if the person that they want to hurt , has a gun.

[jxknowles]

The slimeballs will still target the weak. Having more people with guns won't stop this type of violence. It will result in more homicides like Steve McNair.

I'm not against guns. I'm against crazy, unstable people with a right to carry concealed weapons.

[gunownerdan]

Terrorists will always prefer unarmed and defenseless victims.
Self Defense...
A-HUMAN-RIGHT.com

[zonkzilla]

He's not so tough now is he?
Looks like his reign of terror has ended.
The problem is the so called Law goes after citizens who try and protect themselves but lets criminals run wild. If any of those people the criminal bullied had blown his head off they would be sent to jail for life unlike the criminal who was arrested about 100 times and was still on the street.
The right to protect yourself and defend yourself comes from God, not the Constitution, not the law, not the police, not the courts so that right cannot be taken away by anyone but God.

[cepe10-2009]

He is not necessarily the perpetrator either. The police have certinaly proved nothing so far. He may just be their patsie. No court, no defense, no looking at any supposed evidence.

[ibsteve2u]

by cepe10-2009 July 8, 2009 10:26 AM PDT: "He is not necessarily the perpetrator either. The police have certinaly proved nothing so far. He may just be their patsie. No court, no defense, no looking at any supposed evidence."

Now occasionally CBS overlooks reporting a significant fact, but I had no difficulty in finding this line in this article's third paragraph:

[bq]
Ballistics from a gun found with Burris linked him to the South Carolina slayings.
[eq]

I would add, however, that North Carolina is certainly antiquated when it comes to justice.

Mayhap they focus too much on the profitability of business and the whims of the wealthy few, and give insufficient attention to common justice.