Country United States Name Lee Martin | Victims 4 Date apprehended 1968 Span of killings 1967–1968 | |
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Died May 31, 1972, Columbia, South Carolina, United States | ||
Other names The Gaffney Strangler | ||
Lee Roy Martin, (around 1937 — 31 May 1972) also known as the "Gaffney Strangler", was an American serial killer from Gaffney, South Carolina. He murdered 4 girls in 1967-1968.
Contents
The case was the subject of the Season 3 premiere of Investigation Discovery's series A Crime to Remember in 2015 ("Lock Up Your Daughters").
Background
On May 20, 1967. Annie Lucille Dedmond was murdered. Her husband was arrested and convicted of that murder. Martin, around 30 at the time, a mill worker, married and the father of three children, was not suspected of the crime.
History and Victims
Nancy Carol Parris, 20, was killed on February 7, 1968, and found beside a bridge. Her husband had reported her missing. She had been raped and strangled.
Nancy Christine Rhinehart, 14, was killed and her body was found buried under a brush pile, with one foot sticking out. She also had been raped and strangled.
On Feb. 8, 1968 Lee Roy Martin called Bill Gibbons the editor of The Gaffney Ledger. Martin gave Gibbons a list of names and locations of the 3 women he had killed so far. The last name on the list was Annie Lucille Dedmond's. Martin wanted to make sure it was known that the husband was innocent. He was ultimately released from prison.
Four days later Martin called Gibbons again and gave a warning that there would be more killings. On February 13, 1968, Opal Diane Buckson -- listed as either 14 or 15 years old in both contemporary and historical coverage of the case -- became his last victim. She was grabbed and thrown into the trunk of a car while walking to a school bus stop with her sister. The police found her body in a wooded area several days later.
Investigation, arrest, and trial
After Buckson's abduction local residents Henry Transou and Lester Skinner saw Martin in a wooded area near Cowpens Battlefield. They reported it to police, and a girl's body was later located near the spot. Martin was then arrested. The Sheriff took evidence from Martin and questioned him. Martin directed them to the location of bodies. However, in the process, Martin was not given adequate right to counsel, and so authorities did not seek the death penalty. Martin was convicted and received four life terms.
While the popular conception of Martin's motive was that he was "after young women," in prison interviews and in discussions with his mother Martin himself said he had a split personality, including a violent side that took control of him.
Aftermath
Martin was stabbed to death by another prison inmate, Kenneth Rumsey of Anderson, South Carolina on May 31, 1972. Rumsey later took his own life in prison.