Emerson Raymond Broyles was born in 1968 in Canada. By the age of 16, he had experienced a tumultuous upbringing. After being expelled from his mother's home in early 1984, he lived with various individuals, eventually residing with his grandmother, Lorraine Briggs, in Edmonton, Alberta.

On June 26, 1984, 58-year-old Lorraine Briggs failed to appear at work, prompting concern. Repeated calls to her home went unanswered. On July 3, her decomposing body was discovered under the stairwell of her residence, wrapped in green plastic garbage bags. She had been strangled with two coils of thick rope still around her neck.​

Investigators found Broyles' palm print on one of the garbage bags. Additionally, he had been seen driving his grandmother's van on the morning of her disappearance and continued to use it until his arrest. Broyles provided inconsistent statements regarding the events surrounding Briggs' disappearance.​

In a pivotal moment during the investigation, police enlisted Broyles' friend, Todd Ritter, to wear a recording device and converse with him. During their conversation, Broyles admitted knowledge of his grandmother's death on the day she went missing, stating, "But the cops don't know that I knew she was downstairs. Only my [lawyer] knows that. And now you do."​

Broyles was convicted of second-degree murder in 1985 and received a life sentence with no eligibility for parole for ten years.​

In 1996, Broyles committed a second murder, strangling his girlfriend. He was subsequently sentenced to 20 years in prison for second-degree murder in 1998.​