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Pee Wee Gaskins

Pee Wee Gaskins. Paige Scherer. Donald Henry Gaskins Born in Florence County, South Carolina Youngest in a long line of illegitimate children Faced a neglectful and abusive early childhood Was regularly beaten by his many stepfathers Very small for his age, giving him the nickname

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Pee Wee Gaskins

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  1. Pee Wee Gaskins Paige Scherer

  2. Donald Henry Gaskins • Born in Florence County, South Carolina • Youngest in a long line of illegitimate children • Faced a neglectful and abusive early childhood • Was regularly beaten by his many stepfathers • Very small for his age, giving him the nickname “Pee Wee” • Dropped out of middle school • Only learned his real name when it was read out loud during his first court appearance Background:

  3. Started in early childhood with a brief crime spree: • Gang raped a friend’s sister • String of robberies • Sent to reform school • Was regularly raped and beaten by fellow inmates • Released from reform school at 18 Early Arrests:

  4. Was raped again, but he fought back and cut the attackers throat • He received an additional three years • Escaped from prison and worked for a traveling carnival • Began working on a tobacco plantation, but was fired after being arrested for and charged with attempted murderafter using a hammer to attack a teenage girl • Charged with six years in prison In prison: Continued…

  5. Most Recent Crimes: Costal Killings- male and females Donald killed purely for pleasure • Murdered and tortured a hitchhiker then drowned her body in a swamp “All I could think about was how I could do anything I wanted to her.” • Confessed to killing 80-90 people, however this number was never proven • Tortured and mutilated his victims • Tried to keep them alive as long as possible • Stabbing, suffocation, and cannibalized (some) of his victims

  6. Serious Killings- victims were killed for a variety of reasons: because they had mocked Gaskins, attempted to blackmail him, owed him money, they had stolen from him, or because Gaskins had been paid to kill his victim ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ • Usually killed these victims by shooting them in the head • Raped and murdered two of his neighbors: Doreen Dempsey, aged 23 and 8 months pregnant, and her one-year-old daughter. • Exact number of serious killings are unknown

  7. Final Arrest: Gaskins was arrested when a criminal associate, named Walter Neeley, confessed to police that he had witnessed Gaskins having killed two young men named Dennis Bellamy, aged 28, and Johnny Knight, aged 15. Neeleyconfessed to police that Gaskins had confided in him to having killed several people who had been listed as missing persons over the previous five years Gaskins led police to land he owned in Prospect, where police discovered the bodies of eight of his victims.

  8. While in prison, Gaskins committed one final murder; Rudolph Tyner Gaskins rigged a device similar to a radio in Tyner's death row cell and told Tyner this would allow them to "communicate between cells".When Tyner followed Gaskins' instructions to hold a speaker (laden with C-4 plastic explosive, unknown to him) to his ear at an agreed time, Gaskins detonated the explosives in his cell and killed Tyner Gaskins later said, "The last thing he [Tyner] heard was me laughing." Gaskins was tried for the murder of Rudolph Tyner and sentenced to death. He is the only man to have ever killed an inmate on death row.

  9. Sentence: Gaskins was executed on September 6, 1991, at 1:10 a.m. He was the fourth person to die in the electric chair after the death penalty was reinstated in South Carolina in 1977. Only hours before he was escorted to the electric chair at Broad River Correctional Institution, Gaskins tried to commit suicide by slitting his wrists with a razor blade he had swallowed the previous week, then coughed up. His last words were, “I’ll let my lawyers talk for me. I’m ready to go.”

  10. Theory of Deviance: The Anomie Theory Pee Wee’s deviance can be expressed through the Anomie theory. Pee Wee grew up in a very rough life. He accepted his role as an outcast and chose to live his life as a criminal. Pee Wee never tried to pursue the goal of success. This is because he had so little opportunities, and a sense of personal inadequacy. Pee Wee never had the support of a strong family to steer him in the right direction. Although he was sent to reform school, it had an inverse affect on him. He chose not to clean up his act. Pee Wee’s refusal to conform to society and lead a normal life are examples of retreatism. Pee Wee had it rough from the beginning. This however, does not justify his criminal acts. He took his built up anger out on innocent victims. Pee Wee also rebelled from society by escaping prison. He was always trying to beat the system. Up until his last hours of life, he tried to rebel and kill himself. Pee Wee’s deviant behavior can be classified under the Anomie Theory.

  11. Cultural References: Autobiography, Final Truth, Gaskins wrote that he had "a special mind" that gave him "permission to kill.“ Pee Wee from SCETV's Carolina Stories television series And many other short TV specials

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