Carl Junior Isaacs was born on August 9, 1953, in Fawn Grove, Pennsylvania. He was the third of seven children of Betty Isaacs and George Archie Isaacs. His early years were marked by instability: abandoned by his father, bouncing between foster care, reform schools, and juvenile detention for crimes like burglary and petty theft.

By adolescence, Carl had a serious criminal record. At fifteen, he was convicted of car theft and breaking into homes. Between the ages of 16 and 19, he was arrested multiple times for burglary. In February 1973, the nineteen-year-old was sentenced to four years at the Metropolitan Transition Center in Baltimore. A violent prison riot on March 29 led to his transfer to Poplar Hill Prison Camp—where he befriended Wayne Coleman and George Dungee. Meanwhile, his younger brother, Billy (15), was sent to a reform school and escaped in April 1973.

On the night of May 5, 1973, Carl, Coleman, and Dungee broke out of Poplar Hill by crawling through a bathroom window. They stole a car and picked up Billy. While fleeing through Pennsylvania on May 10, they kidnapped and murdered 19-year-old Richard Miller in McConnellsburg to steal his Chevrolet Chevelle.

On May 14, 1973, the group stopped at Ned Alday’s farm in Donalsonville, Georgia, seeking gas but instead found a mobile home. Carl and Coleman broke in; when Alday family members returned, they were forced inside at gunpoint. Jerry and Ned were shot in their bedrooms—Jerry by Carl, Ned by Coleman and then shot again by Carl after he survived the first shot. Soon after, Carl shot Jimmy, and Coleman shot Chester. Carl and Dungee raped Mary Alday; Carl later raped her again before Dungee fatally shot her in the woods.

The fugitives fled south but were captured on May 19, 1973, in West Virginia following a car chase and rifle confiscation . In January 1974, Carl faced trial in Seminole County. His brother Billy testified for the state and avoided the death penalty. Carl’s trial—over in a week—ended with death sentences for six counts of murder.

In 1985, Carl’s convictions were overturned due to excessive pretrial publicity in Georgie. He was retried from January 4–30, 1988, in Houston County and again sentenced to death. His appeals were denied, and on May 6, 2003, he was executed by lethal injection.