Eddie Mosley was born on March 31, 1947, as the third of ten siblings in Fort Lauderdale. Due to complications at birth, he developed acute respiratory disease during childhood, leading to various health issues. From an early age, Eddie exhibited signs of intellectual disability and mental instability, struggled with learning, and experienced anterograde amnesia. These challenges caused him to repeat his second year of elementary school multiple times. By 1960, at the age of 13, he left school permanently as a third-grade student.

Throughout his teenage years, Eddie lived in poor conditions and began to display antisocial behavior. Due to his lack of formal education, he was limited to low-skilled jobs. However, financial hardships eventually pushed him towards a life of crime. Since 1965, he had been arrested nine times for various offenses, including indecent behavior, robbery, assault, attempted rape, and murder. His criminal activities led to over five and a half years in prison and nearly six years in different psychiatric institutions.

Between November 1971 and July 1973, nearly 150 rapes of girls and women were reported in the northwest region of Fort Lauderdale. The assailant was consistently described as a young, tall black man with an athletic build and a scar on his left cheek. He would lure his victims to secluded areas under threats of violence, where he would then assault them.

On July 23, 1973, three victims identified Eddie Mosley as the perpetrator. His appearance matched the composite sketch of the rapist. Following his arrest, more than 40 women identified Mosley from photographs as their attacker. He was also a suspect in the rape-murders of two girls in early 1973, but there was insufficient evidence to charge him with those crimes. Mosley was charged with the assaults and rape, but a mental evaluation deemed him insane, leading to his commitment at the Florida State Hospital for five years. During his incarceration, no similar crimes were reported.

Mosley was transferred to the South Florida State Hospital in Pembroke Pines on February 1, 1979. After five months of treatment, he was released in the summer of that year, deemed no longer a threat, and required to continue outpatient treatment. Mosley moved back in with his parents, and over the next seven months, seven young girls were found raped and murdered near his home. Fearing law enforcement attention, Mosley relocated to Lakeland, where he was linked to the disappearances of two girls, but was released due to a lack of evidence.

Returning to Fort Lauderdale, Mosley was arrested on April 12, 1980, for attempting to rape a young girl. He was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison. While incarcerated, the bodies of the missing girls were discovered near Lakeland. Mosley exhibited aggressive behavior in prison, which led to his family appealing his conviction. The Appellate Court found procedural flaws and ordered a new trial, resulting in a shorter sentence, and Mosley was paroled on December 15, 1983.

In January 1984, Mosley became a suspect again after the bodies of two women were found raped and suffocated. On May 17, 1984, he was arrested for raping a 22-year-old woman but was acquitted at trial. After two more murders, the FBI profiled Mosley, matching him to the crimes. He was arrested for theft on May 17, 1987, and his blood matched semen samples from murder victims. Mosley eventually confessed to multiple murders but was ruled incompetent to stand trial and committed to the Florida State Hospital.

In 2000, DNA testing linked Mosley to additional murders, proving the innocence of wrongly convicted individuals. Despite attempts to connect him to other murders, insufficient evidence prevented further charges. Mosley remained in psychiatric care, earning a reputation as a model patient.

In the 2010s, due to declining health, Mosley was moved to the Sunland Center in Marianna. He was diagnosed with pneumonia in the spring of 2020 and died on May 28, 2020, at age 73, after testing positive for COVID-19.