The Disappearance of Opal: A Community in Turmoil

In the winter of 1968, reporter Bill Gibbons got an anonymous call from a man who wanted to confess to three murders in the small town of Gaffney, South Carolina. Gibbons thought the call was a prank, but he took it to the sheriff and the two men travel out to the first of three locations where the caller claimed to have left the bodies. After searching casually through the underbrush for a short time, the men discover the nude body of twenty-year-old Nancy Carol Paris, who’d been strangled to death. At the second location, they discovered the body of fourteen-year-old Tina Rhinehart, who appeared to have been killed in the same manner as Paris. Investigators soon learned that the third location the caller gave was where police had discovered the body of Annie Dedmond six months earlier.

In the days that followed, the “Gaffney Strangler,” as the press would come to call him, would contact Gibbons several more times, demanding that he print stories about the murders in the newspaper. He also insisted that Gibbons and the sheriff’s department needed to do something about the fact that Annie Dedmond’s husband, Roger, was sitting in jail for Annie’s murder. Then, a week later, the strangler struck again, this time kidnapping fifteen-year-old Opal Buckson in broad daylight, throwing her in the trunk of his car while her sister watched helplessly. Opal’s body would be discovered a week later, dead like the others.

A few days after the discovery of Opal’s body, police arrested Lee Roy Martin, a local mill worker and father of three who’d been born and raised in Gaffney. The arrest shocked the local residents and left everyone wondering, in a town as small as Gaffney, how could they have lived their entire lives with a violent psychopath and never known it?

Thank you to the incredible Dave White of Bring Me the Axe Podcast for research!

References

Charlotte Observer. 1972. "About Roger Dedmond, convicted of killing his wife." Charlotte Observer, November 7: 30.

2015. A Crime to Remember. Directed by Christine Connor. Performed by Christine Connor.

Dalton, Robert, and Craig Peters. 2009. Gaffney Strangler terrorized town 40 years ago, murdering 4 women. July 5. Accessed July 29, 2024. https://www.goupstate.com/story/news/2009/07/05/gaffney-strangler-terrorized-town-40-years-ago-murdering-4-women/29885910007/.

Fuller, Bill, and Jack Horan. 1968. "Dog only murder witness?" Charlotte Observer, February 10: 1.

Gaffney Ledger. 1968. "Attorneys ask court transcript of trial." Gaffney Ledger, February 21: 1.

—. 1968. "Officers search well; find Opal's clothing." Gaffney Ledger, February 28: 1.

Howe, Claudia. 1968. "Grim mystery, violent deaths engulf Gaffney." Charlotte Observer, February 14: 10.

Jones, Mark R. 2007. Palmetto Predators: Monsters Among Us. Charleston, SC: The History Press.

Martin, Tommy. 1988. "Lives of golf pro, texile worker crossed paths on February 13, 1968." Gaffney Ledger, February 5: 4.

—. 1968. "Martin sentenced to life in prison." Gaffney Ledger, September 19: 1.

McCuen, Sam E. 1968. "Crank telephone calls plague Gaffney police." The State, February 16: 19.

—. 1968. "Gaffney girl is kidnapped." The State, February 14: 1.

—. 1968. "Mother convinced her son innocent." The State, February 9: 1.

Skipp, Catherine. 2009. "Gaffney, S.C. haunted by murderous memories ." Newsweek, July 8.

The Gaffney Ledger. 1968. "Martin is charged in 3 stranglings." Gaffney Ledger, February 19: 1.

The State. 1968. "2 bodies found after phone call." The State, February 9: 1.

—. 1968. "Suspect attempts suicide." The State, February 21: 15.

Truluck, Jack. 1968. "In-laws believe Dedmond is guilty." Gaffney Ledger, February 21: 1.

United Press International. 1968. "Lee Roy Martin indicted in 4 Gaffney stranglings." Greenville News, May 21: 1.

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