UPDATED: Remains of Pee Wee Gaskins’ final victim rediscovered in Charleston closet after 47 years; Sumter coroner meeting with suspected kin soon

The remains of Martha Ann Dicks, the last unclaimed victim of infamous South Carolina serial killer Donald Henry “Pee Wee” Gaskins, were rediscovered nearly 50 years later in a college anthropologist's closet, according to Sumter County Coroner Robbie Baker.

Baker sat down with The Sumter Item on Thursday, June 12, and discussed that he came into possession of the remains while attending a conference in Charleston last week. He was aware he would be receiving remains but didn’t know whose.

When he was handed the long, tan-colored box, he took it to be secured in his vehicle. He decided to open the box to see what he had been given, only to find out he was now in possession of Pee Wee Gaskins' last unclaimed victim.

According to The Item archives, Dicks was reported missing between 1971 and 1972. At the time, she was 17 years old and was last seen on Brand Street in the South Sumter area, Baker said. Her sister, Minnie Jean Williams, told law enforcement at that time that Dicks had left to go to a club and never returned home.

Six years later, in 1977, Gaskins confessed on the witness stand during his trial in Newberry County to killing Dicks, referring to her by her nickname, Clyde.

Dicks’ remains were recovered from a drainage ditch in the Concord section of Sumter County that same year in April. Her remains were taken to the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. She was identified through an examination of the skeleton and a piece of jewelry given to Dicks by her partner, according to Baker.

However, because of unforeseen circumstances where things "fell through the cracks," Dicks’ remains would sit in an anthropologist's closet on the College of Charleston campus for 47 years; the remains were stored there and rediscovered once renovations to the specific building began. In total, Dicks has been missing and unclaimed for 53 years. She would be 71 years old today.

Baker is looking to return Dicks’ remains, hoping to give the family closure.

“It's really sad that we're sitting here having to talk about Pee Wee Gaskins 50-something years later. These remains should have been returned to the family years ago,” Baker expressed. “But now it's in my court, and I'm going to do everything I can possibly do to give this family some closure.”

Dicks was known to frequent the Manning Avenue area. The Item archives stated she may have left a night club on the avenue the night she was killed.

Alongside her sister, Minnie, Dicks also had a younger brother, Leroy Dicks, and an older brother, Thomas Dicks, who served in the United States Army and was away when Dicks went missing. Dicks could have multiple nieces and nephews, Baker said. 

Baker recounted court records of Gaskins’ deposition where he confessed that he would have killed Dicks sooner, but she left to visit relatives in Washington, D.C.

Many leads have come in since the initial publishing of this article. Next, Baker must meet with the suspected next of kin to confirm, which he hopes to do in the coming days.