Before his convictions for murder, Gaskins had a long history of criminal activities resulting in prison sentences for assault, burglary, and statutory rape.
[2] During their search for the missing girl, police discovered eight bodies buried in shallow graves near Gaskins' home in Prospect, South Carolina.
In May 1976, a Florence County jury took only 47 minutes before finding Gaskins guilty for the murder of one of the eight victims, Dennis Bellamy, and sentenced him to death by the electric chair.
[3] That death sentence was overturned by the South Carolina Supreme Court in February 1978, and rather than face a new trial, Gaskins pled guilty to the murders of Bellamy and eight other friends and associates.
[4] He was given 10 concurrent life sentences, to be served at Central Correctional Institution (CCI) prison in Columbia, South Carolina.
Just before his execution Gaskins said he killed 110 people but, with few exceptions, these statements have been discredited by law enforcement and journalists who allege this was his attempt to gain notoriety.
[7][8][9] In his sworn testimony as part of a plea agreement to avoid trial for the murder of John Henry Knight, Gaskins was confirmed to have killed thirteen people between 1970 and 1975.
[14] Gaskins was often described as a great manipulator and con artist who was "street smart" and had "a keen sense of humor and a friendly, entertaining personality.
In adolescence, Gaskins engaged in a violent crime spree with a group of fellow delinquents which included burglaries, assaults, and a gang rape.
At 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.
[25] In November 1970, Gaskins committed the first of a series of confirmed murders, primarily people whom he knew and killed for personal reasons.
[18][26] Gaskins claims to have poisoned Martha Ann Dicks, Jr. (also known as "Clyde"), 20, in March 1971 or 1972,[27] either because of a rumor Pee Wee was the father of her unborn child (she generally dated only women but was known to “mess around” with men from time to time) or out of revenge because she was an alleged drug dealer who supplied Kirby and Allsbrook or because she got married and left for Texas to be with her wife.
Gaskins had befriended Doreen Dempsey several years prior and was angry upon hearing she had become pregnant a second time with an African American man.
Upset that Doreen was having a second biracial child, Gaskins responded by walking her to his backyard pond where he drowned both the mother and her toddler.
On April 10, 1975, Gaskins stabbed to death Dianne Bellamy and shot dead her boyfriend Avery Leroy Howard, age 34.
Avery Howard was murdered because he asked for money to pay attorneys and cover legal expenses following his arrest for fraud and auto theft.
John Henry Knight was directed to the same area, allegedly to meet his brother, but was also murdered to ensure he could never speak of the crimes.
[25] Rudolph Tyner, age 23, was on death row in CCI prison for a March 1978 double-murder[29] when he was murdered by Gaskins on September 12, 1982.
[35] Neeley confessed to police that Gaskins had confided in him that he had killed several people listed as missing during the previous five years and had indicated to him where they were buried.
While incarcerated in the high-security block at the South Carolina Correctional Institution, Gaskins killed a death row inmate named Rudolph Tyner, who had received his sentence for killing an elderly couple during a bungled armed robbery of their store in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina.