Patrick Tracy Burris, South Carolina’s serial killer who was shot to death by police Monday, spent his last days taking drugs in a partying binge, says the Charlotte Observer. When police found him in an abandoned house, he was so impaired he could barely walk. Investigators don’t know if Burris fatally shot five people for drug money – or if the career criminal was motivated by nothing more than the desire to kill. Said Gaffney, S.C., police Chief Richard Turner, “The mind of a psychopath is something you cannot predict.”
Burris was arrested more than 30 times in North Carolina alone. He also was convicted in Florida, Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland. He served time in several prisons. Investigators are reconstructing the last two months of his life, when police say he changed from a habitual felon with a history of property and less-serious offenses into a brazen killer. Burris, 41, was released from prison April 29 and was ordered to serve nine months of supervised probation. He missed two meetings with his probation officer and broke an 8 p.m. curfew several times. A probation officer went to Burris’ home 10 times since his release from prison. Authorities decided to revoke his release, obtaining a warrant June 12. If caught, Burris would have gone back to prison for nine months.