The terrifying story of the serial killer who murdered 14, told to The Crime Desk by Alex Murdaugh’s lawyer… the man who sent him to the electric chair

The sight of the diminutive, five foot five, 130 pound roofer driving around in a hearse was something of a joke in Florence, South Carolina.

A sign hung in the back window for all to see, reading: ‘We Haul Anything, Living or Dead.’

The driver would laugh that he needed the bizarre vehicle because he had killed so many people he needed to transport their bodies to his own private cemetery.

Except it was no joke after all.

Pee Wee Gaskins was, in reality, one of the most prolific serial killers in American history.

Pee Wee Gaskins points officers to an area where some of his victims are buried in Florence, South Carolina

Attorney Dick Harpootlian with Alex Murdaugh, who he represented during his 2023 murder trial

In 1976, the remote sunflower field he had transformed into his human graveyard was discovered. The remains of more than a dozen victims – toddlers, teenage girls, pregnant women, and men – were found buried. Some had been stabbed, some strangled, some poisoned, some shot.

But Gaskins’s taste for murder didn’t end with his confession to 13 murders and string of convictions and life sentences.

For Dick Harpootlian, the veteran attorney best known for representing Alex Murdaugh and who prosecuted Gaskins for his 14th murder, it was a case that tested his position within the justice system – and completely transformed his views on the death penalty.

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