SPARTANBURG -- A scattering of bones around a rotted
corpse, a pistol and a wristwatch are all that’s left of suspected serial
killer Leroy Martin, officials said Wednesday.
Although a comparison of Martin’s dental
records and the dead man’s teeth was incomplete, FBI agents appear certain the
body found by a Gaffney High School
student is Martin.
Officials speculated Martin, 68, murdered
several women in Gaffney back in the 1960’s. Dubbed “The Gaffney Strangler”,
Martin dumped the bodies of his victims in various locations around the
county. Martin apparently killed himself shortly after parking his van.
The van was found near just off of Ross Road, early Sept. 20, the day after someone claiming to be the
“Gaffney Strangler” contacted Chief John F. O’Donald.
Martin was charged with six murders,
however he was never apprehended and has remained at large for almost 40
years. Chief O’Donald speculates that Martin returned to an area where he had
buried or hid a majority of his victims back in 1967.
In 1993, a nationwide manhunt for Martin,
featured twice on Fox TV’s “America’s Most Wanted,” focused on Gaffney, where
police had chased dozens of tips that year on what proved to be false sightings.
“I saw the ribs
sticking out”
FBI agents searched a wooded area along
the road where the van was found and recovered some identification belonging to
Martin. Agents had planned to return to look more this week.
As the sightings decreased after years
went by, police began to think he was dead. Chief O’Donald said, “For someone
without much of an education, he’s a pretty good fugitive.”
Then Wednesday, the body was found by a
high school student sent home from class by the school nurse. Katreena Miller,
15, said she was walking along the side of the road when she caught a foul
odor, then saw clothing.
Under a tree on a small, sandy craggy
hill appeared to be a body “wrapped up in a blanket,” Miller said. The smell
grew stronger as she walked closer.
“I saw the ribs hanging out,” she said.
With that, Miller said, she turned and ran. “I was running down the road as I
was calling police,” she said.
Soon the area was swarming with police,
crime lab technicians, deputy coroners and FBI agents, who combed the area
collecting bones and looking for additional evidence.
A .22-caliber Colt handgun that belonged
to Martin was found near the body.