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DALLAS, N.C. -- Patrick Burris - the man police have identified as the serial killer who’d terrorized Gaffney, South Carolina - spent days “partying” in Gaston County while police searched for him farther south. That’s according to Mark and Sharon Stamey, who tell NewsChannel 36 they “partied” with him for several days after the murders.
“Just someone we’ve been partying with, to tell you the truth,” Mark said. “He was just real secretive about everything. I don’t know a whole lot about him.”
“I knew he had some troubles in the past or whatever,” his sister Sharon said. “I didn’t ask a lot of questions, didn’t get into his business.”
Starting Thursday, the Stameys say they and Burris began a “partying” binge that lasted until Monday morning when Burris was killed. Mark said the three of them were together nearly constantly.
It never occurred to either Mark or Sharon that their new friend was the man wanted in Gaffney, South Carolina, connected to five deaths there. They did notice that Burris seemed overly interested in the coverage of the deaths on the news.
“It was like he was infatuated with it. He wouldn’t change the channel or anything,” Mark Stamey said. “Just certain things that you don’t make jokes about that he was making jokes about.”
Their innocence ended early Monday morning, after a long night of partying. Mark and Sharon say they found their way to their childhood home at 725 Dallas-Spencer Mountain Road in Dallas. Their family still owns the home, though they abandoned it years ago.
“We hadn’t been there 10 minutes before police pulled up,” Mark Stamey explained.
A neighbor had called police because of the strange vehicle she saw in the driveway. When police arrived, the Stameys say they were sitting in Burris’s SUV—a beige Ford explorer. All three passengers were identified, and then allowed to go inside. The Stameys say they all fell asleep immediately.
Moments later, Mark Stamey says investigators knocked on the door and informed him that their new friend Patrick Burris had an open warrant for his arrest.
“I got up and opened the door and they came in and I was walking into the other room to let my sister know he was going to jail and that’s when the gunfight happened,” Mark said.
“From there, I just heard gunshots. I think maybe two or three gunshots went off in the house. And that’s when I started hollering for my brother,” Sharon Stamey said.
Investigators say Burris shot Officer J.K. Shaw, and was killed by return fire from several officers on scene.
Mark and Sharon Stamey were questioned by police for hours and then released.
Both told Newschannel 36 they weren’t scared of Burris. “Maybe it’s just part of his demeanor to make people feel that way, but I never did really,” Mark said.
Both also said they now feel they escaped a brush with death. “It could have been me,” Sharon acknowledged.
