Donald Henry Gaskins, or Pee Wee as he was nicknamed due to his small stature, was an American serial killer from South Carolina who stood just a whisper over 5 ft 4 inches tall. Despite his small size, he was convicted and sentenced to life for 13 known murders, and eventually sentenced to death after committing his 14th known murder while serving his life sentence. There’s a lot about Pee Wee’s life that is shrouded in mystery, mostly because, depending on who you ask, everyone will tell you a different story. After Pee Wee committed his final murder and was awaiting his meeting with the electric chair, he spent 15 months of his life telling his story, or his “Final Truth” as he called it, to author Wilton Earle. His life story was recorded on a series of cassette tapes and later published in a novel that was of course titled, “The Final Truth”. As Pee Wee tells it, the murders he was serving time for weren’t even the tip of the iceberg in his 5 year killing spree, and that there are somewhere between 80 or 90 more bodies out there that have yet to be discovered. However, if you ask law enforcement and those who knew Pee Wee, the “Final Truth” contains nothing but a bunch of lies and exaggerations. In this episode, we talk about Pee Wee's early life and the events that led to him committing his ghastly crimes.
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Sources
https://www.newspapers.com/article/florence-morning-news-pee-wee-escapes-fr/141133912/
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The Final Truth By Pee Wee Gaskins and Wilton Earle
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-item/137890969/
https://youtu.be/8J_pyF5vZv4?si=BmLbqC7oKqs4e5g_
https://youtu.be/_memXVttIw0?si=aXj8TG4rjQab3Cj8
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-press-and-standard-pee-wee/141880830/