
The Serial Homicide Case
of the Day, from
"Hunting Humans, the Encyclopedia of 20th Century Serial Killers"
, by
Michael Newton
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Gaskins, Donald H.
Known as "Pee Wee" to his friends, South Carolina's premier serial killer liked to mix business with pleasure. Authorities believe that some of his nine victims were killed to cover the tracks of an auto theft ring, but others -- including the girl whose disappearance led to Pee Wee's downfall -- were slain for the pure thrill of it. Even behind prison walls, he could not be restrained. Born in 1937, Gaskins earned his nickname from the fact that he stood only five-feet-two in stocking feet. Ferocity cannot be judged by size, however, and where Pee Wee was concerned, sheer bloodlust made up for a lack of altitude. Convicted of ten murders so far, he has hinted at other victims, yet unnamed, their identities held in reserve against the day when he may need to bargain for a stay of execution. Pee Wee's world began unraveling with the disappearance of 13-year-old Kim Ghelkins, in 1975. Investigation led authorities to property owned by Gaskins in a remote portion of northeastern South Carolina. By the time Ghelkins was unearthed, in January 1976, eight other victims had been discovered and Gaskins was facing trial on capital charges. The dead included Doreen Geddings and her two -year-old daughter, drowned together in 1973; Johnny Sellers, missing since June 1974; Kim Ghelkins and Dennis Bellamy, murdered in 1975; and Barnwell Yates, brutally knifed to death in an altercation with Gaskins. Sentenced to die at his trial in May 1976, Gaskins later won commutation of his sentence, settling for ten life terms on nine counts of murder and one of burglary. Technically eligible for parole in 1985, Pee Wee never got the chance to bring his case before the board. On September 12, 1982, he booby-trapped a radio belonging to a death row inmate, Rudolph Tyner, killing his target with a homemade explosive charge. Gaskins denied the murder, but convict eyewitnesses testified against him, and authorities produced tapes of telephone conversations between Gaskins and relatives of a Tyner victim who commissioned the murder. Convicted of yet another slaying, Gaskins was once again sentenced to die. This
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