Emilia Lily Carr was born on August 4, 1984, and her original name was Emilia Yera. She was the second of three sisters in her family. There was a psychologist who estimated her IQ to be 125, which is considered above average.

When Emilia was 15 years old, she reported that her father had abused her. However, she later withdrew her statement, and the details surrounding this incident remained unclear. In February 2004, her father was convicted for trying to solicit the murders of his family, including Emilia, her mother, and one of her sisters. He was sentenced to four years in prison.

Throughout her life, Emilia was married twice. She faced issues with domestic violence and even filed a restraining order against one of her ex-husbands. In a separate legal matter, she was sentenced to two years of probation for her involvement in her ex-husband’s theft of exotic birds. At this time, she had three children, one of whom was with her then-boyfriend, Jamie Acome.

In November 2008, Emilia became engaged to Joshua Damien Fulgham. However, Fulgham married Heather Strong just one month later. Emilia maintained contact with them, and she even babysat for Strong’s two children according to her family. In January 2009, Fulgham was arrested for threatening Strong with a shotgun. Afterward, the charge of aggravated assault was dropped.

Soon after, it came to light that Emilia had threatened Strong with a knife to have her withdraw a criminal complaint. During this period, Carr and Fulgham tried to rekindle their relationship while Strong began seeing someone else. This led to a legal dispute over the custody of their children.

In February 2009, Heather Strong, a 26-year-old woman from Florida, went missing after finishing her shift at an Iron Skillet restaurant. She was reported missing on February 15. Her body was found on March 19, buried in a shallow grave near a storage trailer in Boardman, Florida. Emilia Lily Carr was arrested on March 24, after police noticed suspicious behaviors, including her repeated statements to investigators.

Carr was pregnant at the time and had tricked Strong into coming to a storage trailer behind her mother’s house. Once there, Carr attempted to break Strong's neck but failed. Instead, she used duct tape to bind Strong to a computer chair and placed a plastic bag over her head. Strong died from asphyxiation.

Carr and her co-defendant, Joshua Fulgham, who was Strong's estranged husband, faced serious charges. Fulgham was arrested before Carr for using Strong’s credit cards after her disappearance. During the investigation, Carr made ten statements to police without a lawyer present and was later recorded discussing the crime with Fulgham's sister.

In December 2010, after a trial, Carr was found guilty of first-degree murder and kidnapping. The jury recommended the death penalty, which Carr received in February 2011. Her trial included testimonies about her troubled past and experiences of abuse but ended with a conviction that led to her being sentenced to death.

Fulgham’s trial took place later, where he was also found guilty and sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison without the possibility of parole. In May 2017, Carr was re-sentenced to life without parole. At one point, she was recognized as the youngest woman on death row in America and became a subject in a documentary about women in prison.