True Crime Friday: Donald Henry Gaskins, The South Carolina Serial Killer
Donald Henry Parrott Jr aka Donald “Pee Wee” Gaskins was an American serial killer and rapist from South Carolina. Gaskins stabbed, shot, drowned, and poisoned more than a dozen people. He was a career criminal starting at an early age. He raped and killed 13-year-old Kim Gehlken, who went missing in September 1975. During their search for the missing girl, police discovered eight bodies buried in shallow graves near Gaskins’ home in Prospect, South Carolina.
The Early Childhood of Donald Henry Gaskins
Donald Henry Gaskins was born in South Carolina to Eulea Parrott. He was born to a single mother and in those day children were considered illegitimate. Gaskins was small for his age. He lacked confidence and was bullied throughout school. He was so small that he gained the nickname “Pee Wee.” His height was 5-4 which was considered small for a man. Gaskins’ was neglected by his mother. He was also sexually abused by a male relative. He had a very sad life, he actually found out his real name when he appeared in court for the first time. Gaskins was often described as a manipulator who was "street smart." It was said that he had a good sense of humor.At the age 13, Gaskins was convicted of assaulting a young woman by hitting her in the head with an axe when she caught him breaking into her family home. He was sentenced to five years in reform school. The South Carolina Industrial School for White Boys, where he was regularly sexually assaulted by his fellow inmates. Gaskins had a series of arrests and imprisonment throughout his life. Gaskins escaped from reform school. He then got married but he had to return to the school to complete his sentence. After his release at the age of 18, he worked at a tobacco plantation. He was arrested in 1953 for attacking a teenage girl with a hammer over an alleged insult.
Gaskins was sentenced to six years in prison for this assault. Gaskins was determined not to be raped again in prison so he decided to kill the most feared man in the prison, Hazel Brazell by cutting his throat. He received an additional three years for this crime but he earned the respect of his fellow inmates and he was no longer raped while in prison. Gaskins escaped from prison in 1955 by hiding in the back of a garbage truck and fled to the Sunshine State. He took employment with a traveling carnival but was eventually arrested again. He was paroled in August 1961. He then killed Doreen Hope Dempsey and her baby Robin Michelle Dempsey. He told his daughter that Doreen would have to be killed because she slept with a Black man and had his child. In Gaskins mind this was unacceptable and Dempsey and her child had to pay the price. After killing Dempsey, he raped the baby and drown her afterwards.
The Victims of Donald Henry Gaskins
- Patricia Ann Alsbrook 17
- Janice Kirby 15
- Horace Jones 40
- Martha Ann Dicks JR 22
- Doreen Hope Dempsey 22
- Robin Michelle Dempsey 2
- Jessie Ruth Judy 22
- Johnny Sellers 36
- Silas Barnwell Yates 45
- Dianne Bellamy Neeley 25
- Avery Leroy Howard 34
- Kim Gehlken 13
- Dennis Bellamy 27
- John Henry Knight 15
- Rudolph Tyner 23
Lady Justice
Rudolph Tyner was on death row in the same prison as Gaskins. Gaskins was hired by the son of a husband and wife that owned a grocery store in which Tyner robbed and killed the couple. Tyner was African American and the couple were white. The son was upset that a Black man had killed his white mother and father and wanted revenge. Gaskins was hired and obtained plastic explosives with a blasting cap, a long wire, and a radio speaker to create an imitation intercom speaker. He then gave the speaker to Tyner to test it out. They were in a cell next to each other and Gaskin had befriended Tyner.Tyner put the speaker to his ear to test it. Gaskins then detonated the makeshift bomb by plugging the wire into a prison cell power outlet killing Tyner instantly. The authorities were embarrassed because they had been warned that Gaskins was planning to kill Tyner but they ignored the warning because they felt nothing like that could happen in their prison. This was the first time a white man was sentenced to death for killing a black man in South Carolina. Gaskins was executed on September 6, 1991. His last words were: "I'll let my lawyers talk for me. I'm ready to go.”
Reference
Donald Henry Gaskins - WikipediaList of white defendants executed for killing a black victim
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