N.C. killing may be work of serial killer

MOORESVILLE, N.C., July 10 (UPI) -- Mooresville, N.C., police say they are trying to determine if a recent home invasion killing was the work of a suspected South Carolina serial killer, now dead.

Mooresville Police Chief Carl Robbins said his officers were working with the State Bureau of Investigation to learn if alleged serial killer Patrick Tracy Burris killed Matthew Ryan Stewart, 31, on June 9, the Charlotte (N.C.) Observer said Friday.

Burris was freed from prison on April 29 and went on to kill people during a six-day period in South Carolina, police allege.

The 41-year-old career criminal was shot and killed Monday by police officers investigating a report of a burglary at an abandoned home in Dallas, N.C., the Observer said.

Robbins told the newspaper that investigators would compare the ballistics from the Stewart killing to those from the five killings allegedly committed by Burris.

''That's something we'll look into,'' the police chief said. ''But if it's not that, it won't stop us dead in our tracks.''