Silas Barnwell Yates was a 45-year-old white farmer found to have been murdered on February 12, 1975, in Florence County, South Carolina. The killing was not random: according to authorities, it was carried out as part of a murder-for-hire plot after a relationship with his ex-girlfriend soured. The plotters allegedly included Suzanne Kipper Owens and her husband, John Owens, who offered payment to have Yates killed.

Donald Henry Pee Wee Gaskins carried out the attack with associates John Powell and John Owens after Yates was lured from his home by Diane Neely, who asked for help with a car. Yates was killed, transported to a remote site, and buried. Walter Neely later cooperated with investigators and led them to Yates’s burial site. Gaskins was convicted in April 1977 of Yates’s murder and received a life sentence; Suzanne Owens was later brought to trial for her role in the plot.

Does anyone have memories of Yates, his farm, or the people named who were in Florence County in 1975?