Joseph Ernest Atkins was born in 1947 and was eventually adopted by the Atkins family in North Charleston, South Carolina. It was reported that Joseph endured child abuse in his early years, but Atkins would be sent to fight in Vietnam in the late 1960s, fighting on the border of Cambodia and Laos.
The war life took a toll on Atkins, who witnessed people being killed and mutilated and heard fellow soldiers being tortured. In October 1969, Atkins returned to the U.S. and was awarded a Vietnam Campaign Medal, a Vietnam Service Medal, and a National Defense Service Medal.
It wouldn’t be long after his return to American soil that Atkins would snap. Joseph Atkins would not be remembered for his service to his country, but for going on a killing spree that would leave three people dead in South Carolina…
Just before the New Year in 1970, Joseph and Charles Atkins visited a friend’s house when the two got into a physical altercation. Joseph returned to his adoptive father’s house and retrieved a shotgun. Not long afterwards, Atkins returned to the friend’s house and fatally shot Charles Atkins to death, then shot out the windows.
Joseph was indicted for murder in March 1970, with both sides agreeing to a guilty plea of manslaughter in the case. On May 29, 1970, Joseph appeared in court and said, “he [Charles] reached back like this in his back pocket where he had his gun, and I was scared he was going to shoot.” The judge said he could not prosecute him if he acted in self-defense, and the plea deal fell through.
The case went to trial, and the jury rejected Joseph’s claim of self-defense, and Atkins was found guilty of murder. On March 14, 1980, Benjamin Atkins pleaded for his adoptive son’s release, and Joseph was paroled on March 14, 1980. He then returned to North Charleston to live with his girlfriend at the time.
Atkins would find steady work by working several odd jobs, but by the spring of 1985, his alcoholism problems took over his life. Atkins and his girlfriend lived in a duplex owned by Atkins’ father at the time. On October 27, 1985, after a night of heavy drinking, Joseph returned to the duplex, dressed in military fatigues and armed with a machete, revolver, and a sawed-off shotgun. The couple that lived next door saw Atkins and tried to call Joseph’s father, 75-year-old Benjamin Atkins, but Joseph had cut the phone lines to the property.
The next-door neighbor’s wife, Fatha, left to notify Benjamin Atkins. Fatha’s husband, Aaron, stayed back with the couple’s daughter. Joseph entered the room where the daughter, Karen, was sleeping, firing a shot, killing the little girl. Joseph left and chased Aaron, firing several rounds at the man.
Benjamin and Fatha called the police and made their way back to the duplex. When Fatha opened the door, she saw Joseph pointing his shotgun at her. As Fatha backed away, Joseph walked out onto the porch and shot his adoptive father in the shoulder. Benjamin Atkins stumbled back inside, where he collapsed and died from his injuries.
Joseph Atkins was convicted of the two murders, sentenced to death, and was executed by lethal injection at the Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia on January 23, 1999.
Written By: John G. Clark Jr.