Donald Leroy Evans was born on July 5, 1957, in Watervliet, Michigan. He grew up in a small town, but not much is known about his family life or childhood. Details about his early years and education are limited.

Donald Leroy Evans committed a number of serious crimes between 1985 and 1991. His known crimes started with the rape of a woman in Texas in 1986, for which he was sentenced to fifteen years in prison but served only five years before being paroled in 1991.

After his release, he returned to Texas but soon ran into trouble again. He was arrested for the kidnapping and murder of a 10-year-old girl named Beatrice Louise Routh in Mississippi. Evans kidnapped her from a park, assaulted her, and then killed her. He was arrested shortly after and confessed to the crime. In 1993, a jury convicted him of murder and sexual battery, sentencing him to death.

While in prison, Evans made claims about killing more than 70 people across the United States. Authorities were initially skeptical, but some of his accounts matched unsolved cases. In 1995, he pleaded guilty to another murder in Florida from 1985 in exchange for a life sentence.

Evans managed to escape from jail in 1993 but was caught hiding shortly after. He remained in prison until he was killed in 1999 by another inmate named Jimmie Mack, who stabbed him while they were both in the shower. Mack received additional time for the attack.