Suspect Linked to Up to 10 Killings : Manhunt: Authorities identify fourth confirmed victim they connect with former Valley resident Glen Rogers.

A nationwide hunt continued Wednesday for a former Van Nuys man sought in connection with four grisly deaths--three involving women who were found strangled or stabbed to death, while a detective on the case indicated the total slayings could grow as high as 10.

Police in Tampa, Fla., on Wednesday identified 34-year-old Tina Marie Cribbs as the fourth and latest confirmed victim they are connecting to Glen Rogers--alleged by authorities to have charmed, then killed three female companions he met at bars and a fair in California, Mississippi and Florida.

In Los Angeles meanwhile, LAPD Detective Stephen Fisk told reporters that Rogers had boasted to friends that “this is the eighth time,” after killing a woman in Van Nuys in September. Two suspected victims have surfaced since then--Linda Price in Jackson, Miss., and Cribbs in Tampa.

Police expressed worries that Rogers may have killed other people, still undiscovered.

“Virtually every homicide detective in the state of California should make a casual check with Van Nuys,” said Ontario Police Department spokesman Mike Macias, whose department contacted Van Nuys homicide investigators Wednesday to ask whether a year-old slaying in an Ontario condominium might be linked to Rogers.

The body of Price, 34, was found last Friday in the bathtub of an apartment she briefly shared with Rogers in Jackson. Price met Rogers at a fair last month and then quickly fell in love with the blond and bearded man, members of her family said. She later was fatally stabbed.

On Sunday, Rogers, 33, met Cribbs at the Showtime Bar in Gibsonton, Fla.--a small rural community outside Tampa, police spokesman Steve Cole said. Rogers then persuaded Cribbs to return to his motel room, where police allege he stabbed her and left her body in the bathtub.

He fled early Monday morning in the woman’s white Ford Festiva, police said. A handwritten note reading “Do Not Disturb” was left on the motel room door.

Cribbs’ body was found Tuesday by a motel maid, Cole said. Her purse and some jewelry also were missing, police said.

Cribbs was identified after her mother saw news broadcasts of the killing on Tuesday and called a local TV station, which directed her to Tampa police.

Rogers is being sought in connection with two other slayings, including the strangulation in September of Sandra Gallagher, 33, of Santa Monica. Gallagher, whose body was left in a pickup truck that was set on fire, apparently had agreed to give Rogers a ride home from the Van Nuys bar where they had just met.

Gallagher had gone to McRed’s Cocktail Lounge to celebrate the purchase of a lottery ticket worth $1,250, her husband, Steve Gallagher said.

He described the mother of three, known to her friends as “Sam,” as a devoted mother and outgoing woman who “would always give people a chance.”

“I was thinking of what might be done to this guy for justice,” Gallagher said. “I can’t think of anything that would be enough. . . . This guy needs to get stopped, to get put down hard.”

Rogers is also wanted for questioning in the death of Mark Peters, 71, who vanished from his Hamilton, Ohio, home a month after Rogers moved in with him. Peters’ body was found in January, 1994, under a pile of furniture in an abandoned house owned by Rogers’ family in rural Kentucky.

“It seems like the victims he’s picking, he gets their trust,” said Detective Dan Pratt of the Hamilton Police Department. He recalled that Rogers was well-known at bars in the small city, located just north of Cincinnati. “He presents himself as being nice.”

LAPD Detective Stephen Fisk said Rogers was also well-known in Van Nuys bars. “They say the guy is just charming--until he gets drinking,” he said.

Rein Keener, 24, a bartender at McRed’s, said she first met Rogers on Sept. 21, when he came in for a drink, struck up a conversation with her and asked what days she worked. For the next week, she said, Rogers would drop by during her shift and ask her out.

She said she always refused him.

The night of Sept. 28, she said, Rogers was in a good mood. Dressed in his customary neat jeans, matching boots and belt and collared shirt, he ordered several rounds of drinks for the crowd while consuming glasses of his regular drink, Miller Genuine Draft. He told Keener he would be leaving soon on a long trip, which he said was part of his job as a federal official.

Keener said Rogers later “got fresh,” grabbing her and kissing her hand. About 1:30 a.m. Rogers asked her to give him a lift home. At that moment, a group of friends asked Keener to join in a game of darts, and after it finished she rebuffed Rogers, saying, “You know, I really don’t know you that well.”

Rogers glowered and told her she’d regret her decision, Keener said. “ ‘I always get what I want,’ ” she said he told her.

A few minutes later, Keener said, Rogers was gone. She saw Sandra Gallagher leaving with a couple Rogers knew. She said she asked Gallagher if she was OK to drive home. Gallagher replied: “You know me, I never leave with anyone I don’t know.”

Keener added that the owner of McRed’s has offered a $1,000 reward for information leading to Rogers’ capture and conviction.

Rogers remains at large, but federal agents who are coordinating the manhunt have received numerous tips, authorities said. Police officials compare Rogers to a serial killer, saying he uses looks and charm to seduce his victims.

In Mississippi, Carolyn Wingate--mother of Linda Price, the woman killed in Jackson--said that after her daughter’s body was discovered, she received a phone call from a man who identified himself as Rogers’ brother.

The man told Wingate his brother could not have killed her daughter. But because his family has ties to organized crime, those associating with Glen Rogers usually ended up dead, she quoted him as saying.

Wingate said she believes the caller was Glen Rogers.

She said the call may help explain a cryptic message found written on the mirror in the bathroom where her daughter’s body was found.

It read: “We found you Glen.”

Tamaki is a Times staff writer and Riccardi is a correspondent.