Donald Henry Gaskins

Serial Killer

Donald Henry Gaskins: Crimes, Victims, and Convictions

Early Life and Criminal History

Donald Henry Gaskins was born on March 31, 1933, near Prospect in Florence County, South Carolina. Because of his small stature, he became widely known by the nickname "Pee Wee." His childhood and adolescence were marked by repeated delinquency, violent behavior, reform-school commitments, escapes, theft, and later imprisonment. By adulthood, Gaskins had accumulated a long criminal record and had spent substantial periods of his life in South Carolina correctional institutions. An early prison killing became associated with Gaskins in the 1950s. In 1953, fellow inmate Hazel Brazell was killed at the South Carolina Penitentiary in Columbia. Gaskins was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the death. Years later he claimed that he personally killed Brazell, but contemporary reporting indicated that he may instead have supplied the weapon to another inmate. Because of that conflict, Brazell's death should not be described with the same certainty as Gaskins's later murder convictions and confessions.

The Murders of the 1970s

After returning to civilian life, Gaskins lived and traveled through communities in eastern South Carolina, particularly around Sumter, Florence County, North Charleston, Prospect, Lake City, Johnsonville, and Williamsburg County. During the first half of the 1970s, a succession of people connected to him disappeared. Some were acquaintances, some were people who became inconvenient or threatening to him, and at least one killing was connected to payment for murder. Several victims were eventually discovered in shallow graves in the rural Prospect and Ropers Crossroads area. Gaskins later portrayed himself as an extraordinarily prolific roaming serial killer and claimed responsibility for roughly one hundred deaths. Those claims greatly exceeded the number of killings that authorities could substantiate. His descriptions of what he called his "coastal" murders were largely uncorroborated, and many supposed victims were never identified. The strongest historical record therefore comes from bodies recovered by investigators, court proceedings, guilty pleas, and Gaskins's confessions to specifically named victims. ...

Confirmed Victims: (13)

Janice Kirby Age: (15), Date of Death: 1970-11-10

Suspected Victims:

Martha Ann Dicks Age: (20), Date of Death: 1971-03-29

Donald Henry Gaskins - Wikipedia