Andrew Grant DeYoung was born on May 12, 1974. He grew up in Georgia, though not much is known about his early childhood. DeYoung was the youngest child in his family. He had two siblings, a brother named Nathan and a sister named Sarah. His parents were Gary and Kathryn DeYoung. By the age of 19, Andrew had dropped out of school and was living at home.

On June 14, 1993, Andrew Grant DeYoung killed three family members. He attacked his mother, Kathryn, while she was sleeping. She woke up and screamed, which alerted his father, Gary. Gary tried to fight Andrew but was also killed. In the hallway, Andrew then fatally stabbed his 14-year-old sister, Sarah. Andrew had planned to kill his 16-year-old brother, Nathan, but Nathan escaped. He got away through a bedroom window and ran to a neighbor's house for help.

After the murders, Andrew DeYoung was arrested and tried. On October 13, 1995, he was found guilty of first-degree murder for the deaths of his parents and sister. The prosecution argued that Andrew killed his family to collect their inheritance, estimated to be around $480,000. He was sentenced to death and incarcerated on Georgia’s death row at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison. Throughout his years in prison, DeYoung pursued a limited number of appeals, though he remained largely in the background of the public spotlight until a major legal development occurred in 2011.

Later, Andrew DeYoung was executed on July 21, 2011, in Georgia. His execution was significant because it was the first in the United States in nearly 20 years to be videotaped. This was done to gather evidence on whether lethal injection caused unnecessary suffering.