Dig Me a Grave: The Inside Story of the Serial Killer Who Seduced the South

Dig Me a Grave tells the true story of Donald "Pee Wee" Gaskins, a South Carolina serial killer, rapist, and manipulator who claimed to have killed over 100 people and is known to have murdered over a dozen victims, including a toddler and his own teenage niece. The account is written by Dick Harpootlian, the prosecutor who brought Gaskins to justice. Gaskins killed using various methods—stabbing, shooting, poison, suffocation, and drowning—sometimes to avenge minor slights and sometimes for pleasure. Evidence suggested he forced at least one victim to dig his own grave before shooting him. He murdered acquaintances, friends, family members, and strangers with escalating callousness. While on Death Row, he committed his most audacious crime: killing another inmate with a military-grade explosive. Despite his brutality, Gaskins was well-liked in his North Charleston community as a charming family man who took neighborhood children to the beach and hosted cookouts. He joked with judges, reporters, and Harpootlian, yet plotted to kidnap the prosecutor's daughter to extort an escape. The book explores Gaskins's life, crimes, conviction, and execution, as well as questions of justice and the death penalty.