Background
When the killings began in 1967, Martin was employed at a textile mill in Cherokee County. He was married and had three children.History and victims
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. Nine months later, in February 1968, Nancy Carol Parris, 20, was abducted. Her husband had reported her missing when she took 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 February 8, 1968, Lee Roy Martin anonymously called Bill Gibbons, then-editor of ''TheInvestigation, arrest, and trial
After learning of Opal Buckson's abduction on the morning of February 13, local residents Henry Transou and Lester Skinner were patrolling the area, looking for a car that matched the description given over the radio by local police. Within hours of the abduction, they saw a car backing down a dirt path in a heavily wooded area and a man standing beside it. When they drove by, the man quickly got inside and drove away. They wrote down the vehicle's plate numbers and reported what they'd seen to police. Investigators later found Buckson's body nearby, where Martin's car had been spotted. 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. While the popular conception of Martin's motive was that he was "after young women," in prison interviews and in discussions with his mother, Martin himself said he had a split personality, including a violent side that took control of him.Aftermath
On May 31, 1972, while incarcerated at Central Correctional Institution in Columbia, Martin was stabbed to death by fellow inmate Kenneth Marshall Rumsey. Rumsey killed himself in prison five years later.In popular culture
The case was the subject of the Season 3 premiere ofSee also
*References
Further reading
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Lee Roy 1937 births 1972 deaths 20th-century American criminals American male criminals American murderers of children American people convicted of murder American people who died in prison custody American rapists Deaths by stabbing in the United States People convicted of murder by South Carolina Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by South Carolina Prisoners who died in South Carolina detention Serial killers from South Carolina Serial killers murdered in prison custody Violence against women in South Carolina