Daniel Lee Corwin was born on September 13, 1958, in Orange County, California, to Phil and Nancy Corwin. He was one of two children in the family, having a sister named Debbie. At some point during his childhood, the family relocated to Temple, Texas. During his youth, Corwin appeared outwardly well-adjusted. He was active in the Boy Scouts, worked as a Sunday School teacher, and was regarded as a capable student.

Despite this seemingly stable upbringing, Corwin experienced significant physical trauma during his formative years. He suffered at least two severe head injuries caused by accidents. In later evaluations, psychologists suggested that these injuries may have resulted in brain damage, potentially contributing to his later violent behavior.

As Corwin entered adolescence, signs of serious criminal behavior began to emerge. His ability to maintain a socially acceptable façade contrasted sharply with the violent sexual aggression that would later define his criminal record. By the mid-1970s, his conduct escalated into a major violent offense that foreshadowed his later crimes.

In 1975, while still a teenager, Daniel Corwin abducted a female classmate at knifepoint from a high school parking lot. He drove her to a remote area in her own vehicle, raped her, and attempted to kill her by slitting her throat and stabbing her multiple times. He left her buried under dirt and debris in a pit, believing her to be dead. The victim survived and was able to reach help. Corwin was convicted of aggravated rape and sentenced to forty years in prison. He was released early after serving approximately nine years.

After his release, Corwin resumed his violent behavior. On February 13, 1987, he abducted seventy-two-year-old Alice Martin in Normangee, Texas. He drove her to a field in Robertson County, where he raped, gagged, and stabbed her to death. The crime shocked the community, and despite significant public attention and a large reward, investigators were unable to identify a suspect at the time.

On July 10, 1987, Corwin kidnapped twenty-six-year-old Debra Lynn Ewing from her workplace in Huntsville, Texas. He drove her to Montgomery County, where he raped and fatally stabbed her. Although witnesses provided descriptions of the attacker, Corwin was not immediately identified.

On October 31, 1987, Corwin attempted to abduct thirty-six-year-old Mary Carrell Risinger at a car wash in Huntsville. When she resisted, he stabbed her in the throat, killing her.

His final known attack occurred on October 20, 1988, when he abducted twenty-one-year-old college student Wendy Gant from a parking lot at Texas A&M University. He bound, raped, beat, and stabbed her, then tied her to a tree and slit her throat. Gant survived and later helped investigators create a composite sketch of her attacker by communicating in writing due to her injuries. A corrections officer recognized the sketch and identified Corwin, who was on parole at the time.

Corwin pleaded guilty in 1989 to attempted capital murder and was sentenced to ninety-nine years in prison. Shortly afterward, he confessed to the murders of Ewing, Risinger, and Martin. In March 1990, he was tried under Texas’ newly enacted serial killer statute. On March 17, 1990, he was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death, becoming the first individual successfully convicted under that law.

After spending eight years on death row, Daniel Lee Corwin was executed by lethal injection on December 7, 1998, at the Huntsville Unit in Texas. In his final statement, he expressed remorse to the victims’ families and questioned the use of capital punishment. His case later appeared in multiple true crime documentaries and remains a landmark prosecution in Texas criminal law.