Daniel Patrick Wozniak was born on March 23, 1984, in Long Beach, California. He pursued a passion for acting, becoming a community theater actor in Costa Mesa, California. Wozniak was engaged to fellow actress Rachel Mae Buffett, and both were involved in local theater productions. At the time leading up to the crimes, Wozniak was unemployed, facing eviction, and deeply in debt, with impending wedding and honeymoon expenses. He and Buffett lived in the same apartment complex as Samuel "Sam" Herr, a 26-year-old Afghanistan War veteran. Wozniak learned that Herr had saved approximately $62,000 from his combat pay, which led him to devise a plan to acquire these funds to alleviate his financial burdens.

On May 21, 2010, Daniel Wozniak shot and killed his neighbor, Private First Class Samuel Herr. Wozniak wanted to take Herr's savings, which he had from his time in the military. After killing Herr, Wozniak texted Juri Kibuishi, a college student who had been tutoring Herr, using Herr's phone. He lured her to Herr's apartment and also shot and killed her.

Wozniak staged the crime scene to make it look like Herr had attacked Kibuishi. Later that same night, Wozniak performed in a local theater musical. After the murders, he dismembered Herr's body and hid the torso in the attic of the theater.

Authorities began searching for Herr, believing he had fled after killing Kibuishi. Investigators soon became suspicious of Wozniak when they learned he had directed a teenager to withdraw money from Herr's bank account. Wozniak was arrested by U.S. Marshals while at his bachelor party just two days before his wedding.

After lying to the police during questioning, Wozniak eventually confessed to both murders. He led police to the area where most of Herr's dismembered body was found at El Dorado Nature Center in Long Beach. Wozniak went to trial and was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder in September 2016. He was sentenced to death, but a moratorium on capital punishment was later declared in California.

In November 2012, Wozniak's fiancée, Rachel Mae Buffett, was also arrested and charged with lying to the police about the murders. In 2018, she was convicted on two felony counts related to the case and received a sentence of 32 months in prison. She was released in 2019.