Town file
Gastonia, North Carolina
Gastonia, North Carolina (Gaston County, North Carolina) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 587, "Confessions Of A Monster" (10 April 2025). In the autumn of 2009 Gastonia, North Carolina, was a textile town of about 50,000 people, thirty minutes from Charlotte.
- Town
- Gastonia
- County
- Gaston County
- State
- North Carolina
- Country
- USA
- Episodes
- 587
- Approximate location
- 35.249, -81.186
Episode 587 / 10 April 2025 / 182 min / full
Confessions Of A Monster
"Gastonia, North Carolina, in south-central North Carolina near the South Carolina border; county here is Gaston County" about 0:04:38
The case: Murder of Heather Marie Catterton (October 2009); Murder of Randy Saldana (November 2009); Murder of Marissa Denise Ratchford (August 1992). Read the case file.
The figures, as told in 2025
- Population
- about 79,000
- Median age
- about 38
- Median household income
- $52,990
- Median home value
- $272,700
- Two-bedroom rent
- about $1,090
- Cost of living
- $89,000
- Religious
- 58.1%
- Property crime
- ▲ about double
- Violent crime
- ▲ about a third above
- Cost of keeping an inmate on death row
- $90,000 more per year
- Saving if North Carolina stopped the death penalty
- $63 million a year
History, in brief
- Named for William Gaston, a congressman from North Carolina; the town and the county were both named after him. about 0:06:17
- Railroads came through, and where two railroads crossed the textile industry began, with factories built around the junction. about 0:06:30
- The original town had a population of only about 200 and covered less than a square mile. about 0:06:42
The reviews read out
5 stars
"The town helped the reviewer recover from many problems in the past, and the reviewer looks forward to spending their teenage years there and is engrossed by the community and nature."about 0:07:17
4 stars
"A small town outside Charlotte with a safer, less hectic atmosphere, not much entertainment but growing, and new developers want it to be the next Charlotte."about 0:08:04
1 star
"The reviewer grew up there and could not wait to leave; calls it a small, nasty, boring town and would never recommend anyone live there."about 0:08:52
1 star
"Says Gastonia is terrible and unsafe, people get shot in front of your house in broad daylight, it is dirty, and if you care about your family you should not move there."about 0:09:06
Nearest Small Town Murder towns
- Kings Mountain, North Carolina9.3 miles
- Cherryville, North Carolina14 miles
- Rock Hill, South Carolina23 miles
- Gaffney, South Carolina29 miles
- Chester, South Carolina38 miles
- Roebuck, South Carolina51 miles
Everything here is as told in the episode, on the date it went out; figures and places may have changed since. Endings are covered: open an episode and use the spoiler switch to read them.