Lee Roy Martin

The case was the subject of the Season 3 premiere of Investigation Discovery's series A Crime to Remember in 2015 ("Lock Up Your Daughters"). Subject of episode #176 in the podcast "Small Town Murder".Episode 176

Lee Roy Martin (April 25, 1937 — 31 May 1972), known as The Gaffney Strangler, was an American serial killer from Gaffney, South Carolina. He murdered 4 people, 2 women and 2 girls between 1967 and 1968.

On May 31, 1972, while incarcerated at Central Correctional Institution in Columbia, Martin was stabbed to death by fellow inmate Kenneth Marshall Rumsey. Rumsey later died by suicide in prison.

Nine months later in February, 1968, Nancy Carol Parris, 20, was abducted. Her husband had reported her missing when she had taken their dog for a walk at night and never returned. Her nude body was later found on a riverbank beneath a bridge. She had been strangled and raped.

Nancy Christine Rhinehart, 14, was killed on February 8, 1968. Her body was found buried under a brush pile with one foot sticking out. She had been strangled and raped.

On Feb. 8, 1968, Lee Roy Martin anonymously called Bill Gibbons, then-editor of The Gaffney Ledger. Martin gave Gibbons directions to locate two bodies. He insisted that he was responsible for the murder of Annie Dedmond, not her husband. Gibbons reported the information to police, who then found the bodies of Parris and Rhinehart. Four days later Martin contacted Gibbons again, warning that there would be more killings.

On February 13, 1968, 15-year-old Opal Dianne Buckson was abducted and thrown in the trunk of a car while walking to a school bus stop with her sister. Her sister was able to give a description of the vehicle to authorities. Police found Buckson's nude body in a wooded area several days later. There were indications of a struggle and she had been strangled and stabbed to death.

Martin was arrested on February 27, 1968. The Sheriff took evidence from Martin and questioned him. Martin directed them to the location of bodies. However, in the process, Martin was not given adequate right to counsel, and so authorities did not seek the death penalty. Martin was convicted of first-degree murder in the deaths of Dedmond, Parris, Rhinehart, and Buckson. He received four life terms.

After Martin's arrest, Roger Dedmond, who was three months into his prison sentence, was released from Union County Prison Camp on March 1, 1968. All charges against him in the murder of his wife were dropped.

When the killings began in 1967, Martin was employed at a textile mill in Cherokee County. He was married and had three children.

On May 20, 1967, 32-year-old Annie Lucille Dedmond was murdered. She had been strangled and raped. Her husband, Roger Dedmond, was arrested and convicted of her murder. He was sentenced to 18 years in prison.