Lee Roy Martin

Case record

Name: Lee Roy Martin

Status and outcome

Lee Roy Martin was sentenced to four life sentences in 1969. He was stabbed to death by another inmate, Kenneth Rumsey, on May 31, 1972.

Timeline

• March 1, 1967 — Ann Lucille Dedmond took off after several drinks, stranding her husband Roger outside a doughnut shop in Gaffney, South Carolina.
• March 2, 1967 — Roger learned his wife Ann Lucille Dedmond had been found dead in the center of the highway between the towns of Union, South Carolina and Spindale, North Carolina.
• 1967 — Roger Dedmond was tried and convicted of Ann Lucille Dedmond’s murder and sentenced to 18 years; he was sent to Union County Prison Camp.
• February 8, 1968 — Bill Gibbons, managing director of The Gaffney Ledger, received a phone call giving instructions where two bodies could be found.
• February 8, 1968 — Police followed the instructions and discovered Nancy Parris, 26, near the People’s Creek bridge.
• February 8, 1968 — Police searched for a second body and found 14-year-old Nancy Rhinehart where the caller had described.
• February 13, 1968 — Opal Buckson, 15, was abducted near the bus stop about a quarter mile from her home; her brother and sister Gracie trailed behind her.
• February 15, 1968 — Police searching for Opal Buckson discovered her strangled body with cigarette burns near a back road.
• 1968 — Lee Roy Martin, 30, was traced through a license plate number; he was tried and found guilty of four counts of murder and received four life sentences.
• 1969 — Roger Dedmond was released after a year in prison.
• May 31, 1972 — Lee Roy Martin was stabbed to death by another inmate, Kenneth Rumsey.

Background

Ann Lucille Dedmond often took off after drinking, and on March 1, 1967, she stranded her husband Roger outside a doughnut shop in Gaffney, South Carolina after several drinks.

Roger was not very concerned because Dedmond often did this after drinking.

The offence

Ann Lucille Dedmond

Ann Lucille Dedmond was found dead in the center of the highway between the towns of Union, South Carolina and Spindale, North Carolina. Roger Dedmond clung to his innocence during his trial.

Nancy Parris and Nancy Rhinehart

Nancy Parris was 26 years old when her nude body was discovered near the People’s Creek bridge. She had been missing for one day and had last been seen walking her poodle. There were cigarette burns on her back.

During the same search, police found a second body: 14-year-old Nancy Rhinehart. Rhinehart had been missing for ten days, last being seen walking her poodle is not stated, but her body was found where the caller described. Because both victims had been killed within a day of discovery, Rhinehart had to have been held captive for those 10 days before being killed. Her body also had cigarette burns, and she had been strangled.

Opal Buckson

On February 13, 1968, Opal Buckson, 15, was on her way to the bus stop about a quarter mile from her home when a man grabbed her and forced her into the trunk of his blue Sedan. Gracie and Opal’s sibling Gracie trailed behind her and noticed the abduction with 50 yards between them. Opal and Gracie screamed while Emanual Buckson ran home to tell their father.

Emanual Buckson then discovered Opal’s books sprawled over the highway.

Investigation

Phone calls to the newspaper

Bill Gibbons, managing director of The Gaffney Ledger, received a phone call on February 8, 1968. The caller gave detailed instructions where two bodies could be found and claimed he had killed Ann Lucille Dedmond, insisting it was no joke. Gibbons was unconvinced but passed the information along to police.

Gibbons and police followed the instructions and found Nancy Parris near the People’s Creek bridge. After more officers arrived, they searched for the second body and found Nancy Rhinehart where the caller described.

Abduction leads and threats

The day before Opal Buckson’s abduction, Bill Gibbons received another phone call. The caller threatened that if they did not catch him, there would be more deaths. He claimed he had killed Ann Lucille Dedmond and said this was connected to getting “that other boy out of prison,” specifying that the boy was serving his sentence.

Gibbons asked about Parris’ poodle to keep the caller talking. The killer had exterminated the dog but refused to give the location.

With respect to Dedmond, the caller said he had stopped her because she was erratically driving down the road. He also said he had been following the couple since they left the nightclub that evening and described details of Dedmond and the murder that only the killer could know.

The caller told Gibbons: “It's no use. I'm psycho and I'd get the chair. They'll have to shoot me like the dog I am. The only reason I'm telling you all this is to get that other boy out of prison. He's serving my sentence.”

To try to convince him to turn himself in, Gibbons tried to persuade him.

Discovery of Opal Buckson’s body

On February 15, two days after Opal’s abduction, citizens of Union County were searching for her. Theodore Lang and Frank Henders saw a man beside a vehicle; the man promptly drove away. They took down the license plate number and notified police.

Police drove to the site and discovered fresh pine needles protruding from under a log. Under it lay the strangled, cigarette burned body of Opal Buckson.

The license plate number was traced to Lee Roy Martin, 30.

Captured evidence described through Martin’s explanations

Martin led police to clothing from the victims and the remains of Parris’ poodle.

Martin claimed he heard voices and said it was not him who killed the women but “another Martin, a darker Martin.”

Arrest and prosecution

Police arrested Martin after tracing a license plate number and suspected that he was responsible for the murders.

Martin was tried and found guilty of four counts of murder. He received four life sentences.

Sentencing

Appeals

No appeals were described.

Aftermath

Death in prison

Three years into his sentences, Martin was killed by another inmate, Kenneth Rumsey, on May 31, 1972.

Roger Dedmond’s release

Roger Dedmond was released in 1969 after serving a year in prison. He lived and worked in North Carolina.

Additional quoted material (verbatim)

Bill Gibbons relayed that he had been told: “Take out three sheets of paper,” and that the caller said he would give him three stories.

Bill Gibbons relayed that, at the end, the caller told him: “You take the sheriff with you. Don't you go by yourself.”

Bill Gibbons quoted the caller warning about consequences and his motives: “No, they are going to have to kill me like the dog that I am.”

Bill Gibbons quoted the caller after describing his attitudes about victims: “fat and ugly women, they don't need to fear me, and the men don't need to fear me either.”

Other details

Victims and relationships mentioned

Roger Dedmond was Ann Lucille Dedmond’s husband.

Gracie was Opal Buckson’s sister.

Emanual Buckson was Opal Buckson’s brother.

Bill Gibbons was the managing editor of The Gaffney Ledger at the time he received calls about bodies.

The timeline also included reference to a nightclub that evening when Dedmond and Roger left.

Perpetrator descriptions and methods included in the narrative

The narrative described that Martin picked up his first victim, strangled and raped her, then months later attacked Nancy Christine Rhinehart by taking her to a wooded area, choking and raping her, and then killing Nancy Carol Parris and strangling and raping victims described as “females age 14-32.”

The narrative also described that Martin stabbed Opal Diane Buckson to death after she fought back, and that he strangled the other victims with his belt.

Names, ages, and places referenced in the narrative

Gaffney, South Carolina was referenced as the location of the doughnut shop and where the town had later been discussed.

Union, South Carolina and Spindale, North Carolina were referenced as the locations between which Ann Lucille Dedmond was found dead.

People’s Creek bridge and Ford Road (Jerusalem Road on March 9, 1967) and Union County were referenced in the investigative account.

Opal Diane Buckson was described as 15 in the primary event narrative; other parts described her as 14 in relation to a car description put out by the paper.

The narrative named the victims as Nancy Carol Parris, Nancy Christine Rhinehart, and Opal Diane Buckson.

Quoted remarks unrelated to the core case outcome

State Sen. Harvey Peeler’s remarks included: “eerily similar to that time.”

Peeler also said: “It brings out three emotions all at once: saddness, fear and anger,” and: “It's just unbelievable. There's no rhyme or reason.”

Clyde P. Thomas’s remarks included: “There's an indelible memory in my mind of going to the bus stop, and parents being there with shotguns in their hands,” and: “There's an indelible memory in my mind of going to the bus stop, and parents being there with shotguns in their hands,” was stated once in the narrative.

Glenn Fuller’s remarks included: “very similar,” and: “We both lived through the Leroy Martin era when we were younger,” and: “...People were afraid to go to school, afraid to go shopping. They kept their children locked in the house.”

Gibbons’s remarks included: “shooting at shadows,” “People really don't know what to do,” “They're armed, which is what happened 40 years ago,” and: “If you step up on somebody's porch, you don't know whether you'll get shot or welcomed.”

The Newsweek interview included brackets with exchange context and included: “The [manhunts] were both about the same length,” and: “But the old one seemed longer to me.”

The Newsweek interview included: “We knew what (Martin's) motive was. He was after young women,” “This fellow here has killed men, women, young and older, all in different parts of the county,” and: “We don't know that much about Burris yet, but he had a 25-page rap sheet from Maryland, Florida, West Virginia, North Carolina—all those places.”