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GAFFNEY, SC (AP) -- Authorities say a teenage girl shot in her father's store has become the fifth person slain by a suspected serial killer.

Cherokee County Coroner Dennis Fowler says 15-year-old Abby Tyler died at a Spartanburg hospital Saturday morning. Her death came two days after she was wounded and her father was killed Thursday at their family's furniture and appliance shop near downtown Gaffney.

Sheriff Bill Blanton says investigators believe the killings are linked and the search is on for a suspected serial killer. An 83-year-old mother and her daughter were shot to death on Wednesday, and a 63-year-old peach farmer was found dead a week ago.

Blanton says all the victims were shot but would not say how the deaths were linked.

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

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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