Four Deaths in Six Days in Rural South Carolina County, Police Say

A man was been shot and killed in a Gaffney furniture and appliance store Thursday, the fourth killing in a rural South Carolina county in six days.

Multiple media outlets report a man was killed and a woman found shot around 7 p.m. at Tyler Home Center. Authorities didn't release the names of the victims or the woman's condition.

Earlier Thursday, Sheriff Bill Blanton said the shooting deaths of three other people in Cherokee County since last Saturday are linked.

Investigators haven't determined if the most recent killing is related to the other slayings, which all happened within 10 miles of each other in the county of 54,000 people about 50 miles south on Interstate 85 from Charlotte, N.C.

On Wednesday, family members found 83-year-old Hazel Linder and her 50-year-old daughter, Gena Linder Parker, bound and shot to death in their home in Gaffney, Blanton said at a news conference Thursday morning.

The home is about six miles from a house where peach farmer Kline Cash, 63, was gunned down June 27. 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.

Investigators have prepared a sketch of a suspect and said they think he has been driving a dark blue van. They don't know exactly who he is or whether he is familiar with the area.

Blanton said earlier Thursday that the killer appears to be targeting women although his first victim was a man.

He said the killer appears to have first spoken with Cash's wife about buying hay. 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.

Blanton didn't return several messages left for him or his deputies Thursday night.

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.

Blanton refused to say if anything was taken from the victims, whether they were sexually assaulted or why the killer might be targeting women. He said the killer didn't break into either home.

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

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Four Deaths in Six Days in Rural South Carolina County, Police Say