Donald Henry Gaskins American serial killer Date of Birth: 13.03.1933 Country: USA

Biography of Donald Henry Gaskins

Donald Henry Gaskins Jr., commonly known as "Pee Wee" Gaskins, was born on March 13, 1933, in Florence County, South Carolina. He spent a significant part of his youth in a juvenile correctional facility. Due to his small stature, he earned the nickname "Pee Wee" and became a target for physical and sexual violence in prison.

During his youth, Gaskins did not excel academically but was skilled in petty theft. In the course of one robbery, he struck a woman on the head with an axe, leaving her for dead. However, his victim survived, and Gaskins was sent to a reform school for the first time.

In 1951, at the age of 18, Gaskins married for the first time, and a year later, he became a father to a daughter. After his release from the correctional facility, he continued his criminal path and was arrested and charged with attempted murder after attacking a teenage girl with an axe, claiming she had insulted him. He was sentenced to six years in the Central Correctional Institution, and his wife divorced him during his incarceration.

Gaskins committed his first murder in 1953 while serving his sentence. He slashed the throat of his cellmate, Hazel Brazell, in an attempt to establish himself as a notorious criminal and instill fear in other inmates. However, his crime was deemed self-defense, and three additional years were added to his sentence.

In 1955, Gaskins managed to escape from prison in a garbage truck and worked at a carnival for some time in Florida. Eventually, he was recaptured, taken into custody, and conditionally released in August 1961. Upon his release, Gaskins married for the second time but soon resumed his criminal activities. Two years after his conditional release, he was arrested for the rape of a 12-year-old girl. He escaped but was apprehended in Georgia and sentenced to eight years in prison. In November 1968, Gaskins was released again, this time on parole. He moved to Sumter, where he found employment in a construction company. However, a quiet life was not suitable for him.

In September 1969, Gaskins began a series of murders, targeting hitchhikers he picked up while traveling along the coastal highways of the southern United States. Often, he killed both men and women for pleasure, approximately once every six weeks, when he went on "hunting" to quell his animalistic restlessness. He referred to these killings as the "Coastal Kills" in his autobiography. Gaskins tortured and mutilated his victims, aiming to prolong their lives as much as possible. He confessed to using various methods of brutality, including stabbing, strangling, dismembering, and even cannibalism. The number of Gaskins' victims ranged from 80 to 90, although these figures were never officially confirmed.

In November 1970, Gaskins committed his first murder in a series he referred to as the "Serious Murders." This time, he targeted individuals he knew personally for various personal reasons. His first victims were his own niece, 15-year-old Janice Kirby, and her friend, 17-year-old Patricia Ann Alsbrook. Gaskins bludgeoned them to death after attempting to sexually assault them in Sumter, South Carolina. Other victims of the "Serious Murders" series lost their lives due to different reasons, such as tormenting Gaskins, attempting to blackmail him, or failing to repay debts.

Gaskins also occasionally accepted payment for killing specific individuals. Unlike the "Coastal Kills," in this new series, he used firearms to "dispose" of his victims before burying their bodies in coastal areas of South Carolina. Gaskins was arrested on November 14, 1975, after his accomplice, Walter Neeley, confessed to witnessing Gaskins kill two young men, Dennis Bellamy, 28, and Johnny Knight, 15. Neeley reported that Gaskins had informed him about several murders of missing persons listed for the past five years and disclosed the burial locations.

On December 4, 1975, Gaskins led the police to the burial site, where the bodies of eight victims were discovered. He was convicted of eight murders on May 24, 1976, and found guilty on May 28. Gaskins received the death penalty, which was later commuted to life imprisonment.

On September 12, 1982, while incarcerated in a high-security prison in South Carolina, Gaskins committed another murder, earning him the title of "the meanest man in America." Despite the strict security measures, he managed to kill fellow inmate Rudolph Tyner. Tyner was imprisoned for the murder of an elderly couple, Bill and Myrtle Moon, during a robbery attempt. Tony Cimo, the son of the elderly couple, hired Gaskins to kill Tyner. Gaskins initially attempted to poison Tyner but failed. He then constructed a makeshift explosive device resembling a portable radio and gave it to Tyner, claiming it would allow them to communicate without leaving their cells. When Tyner followed Gaskins' instructions and brought the device to his ear, Gaskins detonated it, killing Tyner instantly. Gaskins later revealed that the last sound Tyner heard before his death was Gaskins' laughter. For this murder, Gaskins received another death sentence.

In his final years on death row, Gaskins claimed to have committed between 100 and 110 murders, including the killing of 12-year-old Margaret "Peg" Cuttino, the daughter of Senator James Cuttino Jr. In his autobiography, "Final Truth," the killer wrote that he possessed a "special mind" that gave him the "ability to kill."

Gaskins was executed on September 6, 1991, at 1:10 am, becoming the fourth person to be executed by the electric chair after South Carolina reinstated the death penalty in 1977. His last words were, "I'll let my lawyers talk for me. I'm ready."