When I posted links to those 2 old articles from The Item on the Mystery Couple thread (I guess I should have posted them here), there was another article I had in my files about the Mystery Couple and Peggy Cuttino. I didn't know if that would be of interest so I didn't post it with them.
Since someone posted the Crime Library story on Peggy Cuttino, here is the other article from The Item that discusses both.
http://www.theitem.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040217/NEWS01/102170051
It's a really interesting article.
Cambria, Yes, another good article.
I found the following statement in the article quite interesting and eye opening.
QUOTE:
The Cuttino case is fascinating, but it's also a tragic story, Bardsley said.
"What really surprises me is, it seemed like there was something amiss in Sumter justice at that time," she said.
"It seemed that law enforcement was so anxious to put the case to bed, that they ignored all the major facts of the case.
The fact that the person they wanted to pin this on had an airtight alibi 200 miles away in Georgia didn't seem to matter.
"I don't think Junior Pierce is any model of humanity," she added, "but they wasted their time with him."
As for Gaskins, who in 1978, claimed under truth serum that he killed Cuttino, Bardsley doesn't buy his confession either. She believes he was trying to grandstand.
The Cuttino case has the mark of a serial killer, she said, but not Gaskins.
"It is the signature of the crime. The display of the girl points to a different killer than Gaskins," she said. "He never wanted his victims found.
He hid them. He wasn't into displaying victims at all."
The story is an example of "a miscarriage of justice that everybody in Sumter knew about," Bardsley said.
"It's an injustice to this Pierce guy.
Even worse, it takes the heat off of whoever did it. I guarantee you, this person did it again, and again.
Maybe not in South Carolina, but somewhere else," she said. "Mrs. Lenoir is to be congratulated for her bravery and diligence." ..............
