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No link found between Mooresville shooting and Gaffney killings
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Published: July 15, 2009
Investigators say they've found no connection between the June 9 shooting death of a Mooresville resident and the man identified as the recent Gaffney, S.C. serial killer.
Mooresville Police Chief Carl Robbins said Tuesday that investigators have "checked the obvious things so far and we haven't found a connection."
He noted, however, that MPD investigators "are still working with" the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) and have not definitively ruled out the possibility that Mooresville's Matthew Ryan Stewart, 31, was shot by Patrick Tracy Burris prior to Burris' deadly shooting spree in Gaffney.
Burris was shot and killed by police in Gastonia during a late-night burglary call on July 6.
Stewart was fatally shot, and his wife Angela wounded in the arm, during what has been termed a home invasion in the Gabriel Estates neighborhood in north Mooresville. The incident happened shortly after midnight on June 9.
Police have not identified or arrested a suspect in Stewart's murder, although several avenues are being examined as the investigation continues, said Robbins.
Since early last week, MPD investigators have been looking into ties between the Mooresville homicide and Burris, 41.
With a long list of felonies throughout the Carolinas, Burris has been positively identified as the man who murdered five people in Gaffney.
Robbins said that as of Tuesday, "there's nothing to link him (to Stewart's murder) other than the proximity of his travels."
Robbins declined to comment specifically on the ballistics aspect of the investigation. One point of interest for investigators was whether the bullet used to kill Stewart could be from Burris' weapon.
Noting that the MPD continues to examine that avenue regardless, Robbins added, "Our investigators are still speaking with the authorities in South Carolina because they have so much information down there and we're still going through it."
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