Carey Dale Grayson was born on August 31, 1974, in Alabama. While his early life has not been widely documented in the media, it is known that he faced personal struggles and exhibited behavioral issues prior to his involvement in one of Alabama’s most brutal and disturbing crimes. During his trial, a forensic psychologist testified that Grayson had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and was in a “manic state” during the killing.

On the night of February 21, 1994, Vicki Lynn DeBlieux was last seen alive after being dropped off by a friend near Chattanooga, Tennessee. She started hitchhiking toward her mother’s house in Louisiana. While she was in Jefferson County, Alabama, she met a group of four young men. They offered her a ride but instead took her to a wooded area under false pretenses.

Once in the forest, the group began drinking and threw beer bottles at DeBlieux. When she tried to escape, they restrained her and physically assaulted her. Grayson and one of his friends stood on her throat until she died early the next morning.

After the murder, they stored her luggage and body in the back of a pickup truck. They drove to Bald Rock Mountain, where they robbed her and sexually abused her corpse before disposing of it off a cliff. Later, they cleaned the truck to remove bloodstains and discarded her luggage in the woods.

The group then returned to Birmingham. They mutilated DeBlieux's body, stabbing and cutting it numerous times. They spent the night sleeping in the truck covered in mud and blood. When Grayson’s girlfriend found him, he lied about the bloodstains, claiming it was from a dog.

On February 26, 1994, climbers discovered what remained of DeBlieux’s body. An autopsy revealed she died from blunt force trauma and asphyxiation. By April 1994, all four young men were arrested and charged with her murder.

From November 1995 to February 1996, Grayson and the others were tried separately. Grayson was convicted of capital murder on February 2, 1996. The jury recommended a death sentence for him, along with two of the other offenders. The fourth, Mangione, received a life sentence without parole.

In 2005, two of Grayson’s co-defendants had their death sentences commuted to life sentences due to a Supreme Court ruling against executing minors. Grayson remained on death row.

After several years of appeals, his conviction was upheld. Grayson was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection, but the date was postponed multiple times. In 2024, Alabama announced they would execute him using nitrogen gas, and on November 21, 2024, his execution is set to take place.