A Serial Killer and His Prosecutor

 by Paula Gail Benson

When I was growing up in South Carolina, the name Donald “Pee Wee” Gaskins was known and feared as a serial killer who charmed his victims and had no remorse for the atrocities he committed against them. When his death penalty conviction was overturned (due to the state’s statute being held unconstitutional), he pled guilty to dozens of murders to receive life sentences.

Later, when the death penalty was statutorily reinstated, he was serving time in the state’s Central Correctional facility. He took a bribe to kill another prisoner. When poisoning did not work, he smuggled in an explosive. That death was the crime for which he was executed.

Prior to his own death, he wrote with Wilton Earle, Final Truth: The Autobiography of Pee Wee Gaskins. Gaskins told reporters and others that he killed more than one hundred people. That number has not been proven.

Gaskins’ crimes and trials are examined in Richard A. Harpootlian’s Dig Me a Grave: The Inside Story of the Serial Killer Who Seduced the South (written with Shaun Assael) (released December 16, 2025, with the audio version read by Harpootlian). You may recognize Harpootlian’s name. He’s a lawyer in Columbia, S.C., and recently served in the State Senate. He began his career as a prosecutor, then became a defense attorney, most recently representing Hunter Biden and Alex Murdaugh.

Harpootlian prosecuted Pee Wee Gaskins and, in doing so, found himself in a unique relationship with the killer. Pee Wee, known to be a master manipulator, called Harpootlian by name and greeted him when they were together. Following the trial, Pee Wee continued the relationship by sending Harpootlian Christmas cards. As Pee Wee’s execution neared, he tried to have Harpootlian’s four-year-old daughter kidnapped.

What is so fascinating about Dig Me a Grave is that it is not only Pee Wee’s story, but also Harpootlian’s. The chapters change the viewpoint from one to the other, contrasting their backgrounds and their approach to the trial.

Harpootlian spoke to the Capitol Crimes Chapter of Sisters in Crime about the book and his experience with Pee Wee. He talked about how the killer could display a very likable personality. One day when they were eating lunch together, Pee Wee had been teasing him. Harpootlian took the opportunity to tease Pee Wee back, and saw a change occur in his face and eyes. Suddenly, the congenial companion had angered. Harpootlian knew he had to get Pee Wee to display that anger in the courtroom so that the jury members would understand why they needed to convict him.

If you have an interest in true crime and history, this is a book you do not want to miss. It contains difficult scenes but gives real insight into how a serial killer’s mind works and how a prosecutor prepared for the trial.

Richard A. Harpootlian

What true crime books do you recommend?

First Ask Who, Then Why

 

Immediately after the Boston Marathon bombing, a television reporter asked a detective, not associated with the case, why someone would commit such a terrible act. The detective replied that at this point “why” doesn’t matter because when they find out “who” then they will know why.

I recalled this advice during a recent murder trial in my area.

Last year I wrote a blog about a mysterious and unsolved death of a young woman:  http://writerswhokill.blogspot.com/2012/06/unsolved-murder-mystery.html

On the afternoon of June 27, 2010, nineteen year old Vanessa Pham was found dead behind the wheel of her crashed car just off a busy highway. She had been stabbed to death. Thirty minutes earlier she had stopped by a beauty salon at a shopping center and there was video tape of her driving away. Who did this and why?

The truth was more shocking than anything I could imagine.

About two and a half years after the murder, police arrested a suspect, Julio Miguel Blanco-Garcia, at his construction job not far from where the murder took place. He had a short history of misdemeanor offenses and had recently stolen bottles of Moet & Chandon from a grocery store. When police ran his fingerprints from this latest theft, they made a match to prints taken from Vanessa Pham’s car. 

After his arrest, Blanco-Garcia confessed and told his version of what happened. He had smoked PCP the morning of the murder and stopped Pham in the Fairfax Plaza shopping center. He was holding his infant daughter and said he wasn’t feeling well. He asked Pham to drive them to a nearby hospital. She agreed and they all got into her car. She began driving to the hospital, but made a wrong turn. Scared she would call the police or harm the baby, (I read two different accounts) he stabbed her repeatedly. Her car ran into a ditch and crashed. Garcia exited the car via the sunroof then reached down for his baby and ran off.

I never would have guessed correctly how or why this murder was committed or that a baby was at the scene. Outside experts who theorized she was killed by a female friend, were clearly wrong too.

On August 22, 2013 a jury found Julio Miguel Blanco-Garcia guilty of first degree murder and sentenced him to 30 years of jail time. They added 19 additional years—one year for each year of Vanessa Pham’s life.  In November, a judge will formally sentence him. The judge can’t reduce the sentence the jury recommended, but can add years to it.

What fictional or real crime has surprised you?