Elaine Antoinette Parent was born in 1942 in the United States. Not much is known about her early life. There are no public records of her birth or childhood, which has led to some mystery about her background. She had claimed to have South African roots at one point.

As a young woman, Elaine became skilled at taking on different identities. She used various names and disguises throughout her life. This ability to change her appearance and assume new identities earned her the nickname "the Chameleon Killer."

Elaine Parent was known to have traveled extensively. She roamed around using different personas and often disguised herself as other people. Her actions included stealing identities of others, which made it hard for the authorities to track her down.

Elaine struggled with her identity and history. Although she claimed to be American, no official documents like a birth certificate have been found to prove her nationality. 

Elaine Antoinette Parent was wanted for the murder of Beverly McGowan in 1990. Beverly was a 34-year-old bank clerk who had placed an ad seeking a roommate. Parent, using the name "Alice," answered the ad. Soon after moving in, Beverly disappeared. On July 19, 1990, her remains were discovered in a rural canal in St. Lucie County, Florida. The remains had been mutilated, including the removal of a tattoo from her stomach, decapitation, and severing of hands to prevent identification. Investigators noted that despite these actions, a small tattoo and teeth from the severed head allowed for positive identification of McGowan.

Parent was known as a master of disguise and had traveled around the world using over 20 identities. She received the nickname "Chameleon Killer" after sending police a photograph of an oil painting of herself with the message "Best wishes: your Chameleon." She was found to have used McGowan's credit cards after the murder and often stole identities of her victims. To gather personal information, she would search graveyards for names and pretend to be a numerologist to collect Social Security numbers, driver's licenses, and birth certificates from potential roommates.

On April 6, 2002, Florida police tracked Parent down to Panama City, Florida. She committed suicide by shooting herself in the heart as police waited outside her bedroom door. Concerns were raised that she may have committed additional crimes while evading capture. There were ongoing questions about her true identity, nationality, and whether "Elaine Parent" was her real name, since no birth certificate for her has ever been found. At one point, she even claimed to be South African.