Serial Killer. Although not proven, he claimed to have killed 181 persons. He was executed for his crimes, which terrorized South Carolina between 1969 and 1975. Born to an unwed mother, he grew up with the nickname "Pee Wee" due to his small size. His mother eventually married one of his many "step-fathers," and he proved to be a rigid disciplinarian, often beating Gaskins and his half-siblings just for the practice. Dropping out of school, he joined two other dropouts in a crime spree that included burglaries and one gang rape, which ended when one of his former classmates turned him in to police. Sentenced to reform school, he was gang-raped in lockup, then became the sex object of older boys who would protect him. Released in 1951, he worked on a tobacco farm, until he figured out he could make more money stealing the tobacco and setting the barn on fire to cover up the theft. In 1952, he was convicted of assault on a woman, getting six years in prison. Early into his arrival in prison, another prisoner raped him, and Gaskins slit his rapist's throat one night, adding nine years to his sentence for manslaughter. In 1961, he was paroled back to Florence, South Carolina, where the next year he was convicted of statutory rape of a 12-year-old girl and escaping custody, receiving 8 years in prison. In November 1968, he was paroled again, and beginning in September 1969, he began a series of rapes and murders. He divided his slayings into what he called two groups: coastal kills (raping and killing for the sadistic pleasure of it), and serious kills (personal acquaintances). By November 1970, he had 10 sadistic kills and one serious kill, including his own niece, 15-year-old Janice Kirby and her girlfriend, 17-year-old Patricia Alsbrook. His slayings went on a monthly basis, with the worse case in 1973, when he raped and killed 23 year-old Doreen Dempsey, who was 8 months pregnant, and her 20 month-old daughter, Robin. In 1975, an accomplice of his in several serious murders, Walter Needy, "got religion" and turned himself in to police, showing them the graves of 8 victims. Convicted on 9 murder counts, and sentenced to death, he plea-bargained with police to show them where the bodies were, in exchange for life sentences. But in 1982, he murdered another prisoner, and again, received the death penalty. This time, he was electrocuted in the Columbia, South Carolina prison on September 6, 1991, after exhausting all appeals. Police confirm 31 serious murders and 80-90 coastal kills. His daughter had his body cremated and she scattered the ashes into a nearby swamp, so that no one would be able to turn his grave into a shrine.