Health & Fitness
Lucky Leroy Martin Calls The Gaffney Ledger
Multiple Misogynist Sentenced to Life In Prison Without the Possibility of Parole, Lucky Leroy manages to escape the sentence after just four years.
On Feb. 8, 1968 Leroy Martin called Bill Gibbons the editor of The Gaffney Ledger. Martin gave Gibbons a list of names and locations of the 3 women he had killed so far and dumped in the South Carolina woods. He threatened to kill more women until he was shot down like a dog. Leroy Martin was the man who would come to be known as the Gaffney Strangler. Martin abducted and killed four people in 1967-1968 ending with a 14 year old girl and he was arrested three days after he killed his final victim.
When the Newspaper reporter and the local police went to the locations they found the strangled remains of three of Martin's victims.
Nancy Carol Parris, who was 20 years old, was first on the list and her body was found beside a bridge. He husband had reported her missing.
Nancy Christine Rhinehart, who was 14 years old, was second on the list and her body was found buried under a brush pile.
The last name on the list was Annie Lucille Dedmond's. Dedmond’s husband had been tried and convicted of her murder. Four days later Martin called Gibbons again and gave a warning that there would be more killings. Four days later Martin, who would come to be known as the Gaffney Strangler, called the Gaffney Ledger Newspaper Reporter Gibbons and told him that it was only beginning.
The next day 14 year old Opal Buckson was abducted from her school bus stop near her Gaffney South Carolina home while her sister watched. She was to be the final victim of the Gaffney strangler. Martin stuffed 14 year old Opal Buckson into his car and drove away. Later he even put in a appearance at the Buckson home offering to help volunteer to look for Opal even though he had already strangled her as well. The sister of Opal tried to tell her family that Martin was the man who had abducted her sister but no one believed her at that time.
Police Investigators spotted Martin and the car Opal's sister had described in the woods a day after Opals disappearance but Martin was able to get away. Two days later Opal Buckson's strangled body was found near where the police had spotted him in his car. Martin was arrested that day at the Mill where he worked. Later when he was tried he was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole but his sentence was cut short when another inmate killed Lee Roy Martin in prison. Martin was stabbed to death by Kenneth Rumsey, who was another inmate, on May 31, 1972.
