Alton Coleman was born on November 6, 1955, in Waukegan, Illinois. Raised primarily by his 73-year-old grandmother while his mother worked multiple jobs, Coleman had a troubled upbringing. Between 1973 and 1983, he was charged with sex crimes six times; two cases were dismissed, he pleaded guilty to lesser charges in two, and was acquitted in the remaining two. He was awaiting trial for the rape of a 14-year-old girl when he fled and began his killing spree. Psychological evaluations diagnosed him with mixed personality disorder, exhibiting antisocial, narcissistic, and obsessive features.

In 1984, Alton Coleman, along with his accomplice Debra Brown, embarked on a brutal crime spree across six Midwestern states—Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio—that lasted from May to July. Their first known victim was 9-year-old Vernita Wheat from Kenosha, Wisconsin, whom Coleman abducted and murdered on May 29.​

The duo's subsequent crimes included the sexual assault and murder of 7-year-old Tamika Turks in Gary, Indiana, and the murder of 25-year-old Donna Williams in Detroit, Michigan. In Toledo, Ohio, they killed Virginia Temple and her 9-year-old daughter Rachelle on July 5. They continued their spree with the murder of 15-year-old Tonnie Storey in Cincinnati on July 12 and the brutal killing of Marlene Walters in Norwood, Ohio, on July 13. Their final known victim was 75-year-old Eugene Scott in Indianapolis, Indiana, on July 17.​

Coleman and Brown were apprehended on July 20, 1984, in Evanston, Illinois. Coleman was convicted in multiple states and received death sentences in Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana. He was executed by lethal injection in Ohio on April 26, 2002. Brown's death sentences were later commuted to life imprisonment without parole in Illinois and 140 years in Indiana.​