Unsolved Mysteries Wiki
Unsolved Mysteries Wiki
Unsolved Mysteries Wiki
1,945
pages
in: South Carolina, 1992, Murder,
and 4 more

Joseph Gardner

Edit
Joseph Gardner

Joseph Gardner

Real Name: Joseph Martin Luther Gardner
Aliases: Joseph M.L. Gardner, Joe Gardner
Wanted For: Murder, Rape, Abduction
Missing Since: December 30, 1992

Melissa McLauchlin

Melissa McLauchlin

Case[]

Details: Twenty-three-year-old Joseph Gardner is wanted for his involvement in the kidnapping, rape, and murder of twenty-five-year-old Melissa “Missi” McLauchlin. She lived with her fiancé and his family in North Charleston, South Carolina. On the night of December 30, 1992, she got into an argument with her fiancé while they were at a nightclub. She stormed out and began walking home. Along the way, she was picked up by police officers who gave her a ride. However, after discovering that she was locked out of her home, she decided to set out on foot for another club.
Gardner and his friends Matthew Mack and Matthew Williams were driving around that night when they spotted Melissa walking along Rivers Avenue. They pulled up and started a conversation with her. They apparently convinced her to come with them, reportedly offering her drugs in exchange for sex. They then headed to Gardner and Mack’s trailer on Stall Road.
While there, Gardner, Mack, and Williams beat and raped Melissa at gunpoint. They told other people in Gardner’s trailer park about Melissa. Three other men from the trailer park came to Gardner’s trailer, and two of them raped her as well. Two women who were girlfriends of two of the men were in another room of the trailer at the time but did nothing to stop the attack.
Following the rape, the men soaked Melissa in bleach and hydrogen peroxide and scrubbed her under the shower with a nylon brush. Afterward, they handcuffed her, blindfolded her, and put a heavy coat over her head. Gardner and two of the other men took her to a car and forced her to lie down on the floorboards in the back. After they had driven for some time, she was able to free herself from her handcuffs and began to struggle with one of the men.
Gardner, sitting in the front passenger seat, shot Melissa twice in the face. The driver pulled over to the shoulder of U.S. Highway 78 near Summerville, South Carolina, fourteen miles outside of Charleston. Gardner shot her three more times in the face and once in the arm. The men then dumped her on the side of the road. After that, they returned to the trailer and then went nightclubbing. A motorist later found Melissa alive on the side of the road. Sadly, she died before help could arrive.
Gardner’s seven alleged accomplices were all captured within a week, and Gardner was identified as the apparent triggerman. After his arrest, Mack told investigators that on the day before the murder, he, Gardner, and Williams had watched movies about interracial sex and murder, along with a television program about the attack on Rodney King. After watching it, Gardner told his friends that he wanted revenge for “400 years of oppression” and that he had made a New Year’s resolution to “kill a white [woman].”
Mack was reportedly angry at his white girlfriend and said he wanted to stab her but noted that “any white would do.” Police also found a “racial diatribe” in the trailer, which stated that black people were “justified in seeking revenge.” However, some, including Melissa’s family, are not sure if the murder was racially motivated.
Gardner was a U.S. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class on leave at the time of the murder and is currently A.W.O.L. He should be considered armed and dangerous. He was last spotted in his hometown of Detroit, Michigan. A bloody shirt believed to be his was found in his family’s home. He may be in South Carolina, Michigan, or Canada.
Extra Notes:

  • This case first aired as a part of a rapist roll call on the January 12, 1994 episode, following a segment about Danny Piñeda. Also featured were Dr. George Desmond Graham and Ronald Oglesby.
  • It later aired as a part of an FBI special alert on the May 25, 1994 episode, along with Floyd Travers, Ora Prince, Heather Tallchief and Roberto Solis.
  • Gardner was added to the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list on the same day as the second broadcast.
  • It was excluded from the FilmRise release of the Robert Stack episodes.
  • It was also profiled on the Montel Williams show.
  • In a tragic irony, when Melissa was a child, her parents, Clair and Pat, had started a neighborhood watch program and given presentations on child safety after a young girl was raped and murdered in their neighborhood.
  • Some sources spell Melissa’s last name as “McLaughlan” or “McLaughlin” and state she was walking to the grocery store when she encountered Gardner and his friends.
  • It is not known whether Melissa went with the men voluntarily or if they abducted her.
Gardner after his 1994 arrest

Gardner after his 1994 arrest

Results: Captured - On October 18, 1994, a woman saw Gardner’s photograph on an “FBI’s Most Wanted” poster at a post office in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and recognized him as an employee of a corner grocery store that was located on Cecil Street in West Philadelphia. She immediately called the FBI.
On October 19, Gardner was arrested while working at the store. He had been working there for about a year and was using the name “Anthony Dawkins.” When he was arrested, he claimed he was Dawkins. However, fingerprints confirmed that he was Gardner.
In December 1995, Gardner was convicted of Melissa's murder and sentenced to death. On December 5, 2008, he was executed by lethal injection. He was thirty-eight.
Mack and Williams were also convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Four of the other accomplices were sent to prison and have since been released.
Links:

Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.