In the winter of 1968, the town of Gaffney, South Carolina, was gripped by a series of terrifying events that would leave a lasting scar on the community. Among the victims of this reign of terror was a 20-year-old woman named Nancy Carol Parris. Her disappearance and subsequent death were part of a string of murders committed by a man who would come to be known as the 'Gaffney Strangler.'
Nancy's husband reported her missing on February 7, 1968, after she failed to return from walking
their dog. The following day, a chilling phone call to Bill Gibbons, the editor of The Gaffney Ledger, would lead investigators to the grim discovery of her body. The anonymous caller, who would later be identified as Lee Roy Martin, a local textile worker, directed authorities to a bridge on Ford Road. There, they found Nancy's nude body, partially submerged in the water and sand beneath the bridge. She had been strangled and raped. Her small dog was also found dead nearby.
The call to the newspaper was a crucial break in what was becoming a perplexing and frightening series of events. Martin, in his calls, not only revealed the location of Nancy's body but also that of another victim, 14-year-old Nancy Christine Rhinehart. His taunting communications with the press and law enforcement created an atmosphere of fear that permeated the small town. He even claimed responsibility for a murder from the previous year, for which another man had been wrongfully convicted.
The investigation intensified, and through descriptions of a car seen near the abduction site of another victim, Opal Diane Buckson, authorities were able to identify Lee Roy Martin as the primary suspect. He was arrested in February 1968. Following his arrest, Martin was charged with and convicted of the murders of Nancy Carol Parris and three other young women. He received four life sentences for his crimes. His reign of terror came to an end, but the memory of the fear he instilled and the lives he took would not be so easily erased. Lee Roy Martin was later killed in prison by another inmate in 1972.
