Eugene Victor Britt was born on November 4, 1957, in Gary, Indiana, into an impoverished and highly dysfunctional family. One of several siblings, he grew up in a home dominated by alcohol abuse and domestic violence. His father regularly beat his mother, and the resulting trauma defined much of Eugene's early life.

By the age of 14, Britt had dropped out of school and run away from home. Homeless, addicted to drugs, and intellectually limited, he began drifting through street life. His cognitive difficulties would later be noted in psychiatric evaluations, suggesting the presence of an intellectual disability, though he was never formally declared incompetent to stand trial.

In April 1978, Britt committed his first known violent offense: the rape and robbery of a 17-year-old girl walking home from Roosevelt High School. He was arrested and sentenced to 30 years in prison. After serving roughly half his sentence, he was paroled in August 1993 and returned to Gary.

Reentry into society was difficult. Britt had no stable income, no home, and no long-term relationships. He lived in homeless shelters, worked occasional low-skill jobs, and rode a bicycle around the city during the day. He spent his nights in shelters or outdoors. Residents and shelter staff described him as quiet, withdrawn, and odd—often pacing or muttering to himself.

His final breaking point came in early autumn 1995, when Britt was struck by a train and severely injured. According to his later confession, the incident was a suicide attempt. He survived, but the injuries left him temporarily in a wheelchair. It was during his recovery that his killing spree either began or escalated.

Eugene Victor Britt was arrested on November 3, 1995, under suspicion of killing 8-year-old Sarah Lynn Paulsen. Her body had been discovered on August 22, 1995, near her home in Portage, Indiana. During the investigation of her death, police found fibers from blue polyester yarns and green colors that matched the uniforms worn by employees of Hardee's, where Britt had worked. He had been seen riding his bicycle near the crime scene. Authorities confiscated his uniform for examination.

Just three days after his arrest, Britt confessed to the murder of Sarah Paulsen and claimed he had killed nine other victims. He told Clyde Smith, the head of the homeless shelter where he had lived, about the murders. Smith persuaded him to turn himself in to the police. After an extensive eight-hour interrogation, Britt admitted to committing ten murders between May 9 and September 12, 1995, and showed officers where he dumped the bodies on a map. Investigators were surprised to find that some victims had been labeled as non-homicidal in earlier reports.

Most of Britt's victims were young girls and women, with one male among the victims. During questioning, he described how he attacked his victims in secluded areas and admitted to raping and strangling them. He also detailed the killing of the one male victim, which was linked to a robbery attempt against him. In this case, he claimed that he was seeking revenge after the attempt on his bicycle.

Police were able to locate bones and clothing based on Britt’s confessions. One of the identified victims was Tonya Dunlap, who was discovered in December 1995. Over time, investigators confirmed the identities of seven victims, despite his claims of ten.

Britt faced trial for the murder of Sarah Paulsen and, in May 1996, he agreed to a plea bargain that spared him the death penalty. He received a life sentence plus 100 additional years. Following this, further investigations led to charges for six more murders and the rape of a 13-year-old girl.

In 2000, defense attorneys argued that Britt was criminally insane, but psychiatric evaluations proved he was sane and fit to stand trial. After delays, he pleaded guilty on October 6, 2006, to several murders, including those of Nakita Moore, Tonya Dunlap, and others, and received an additional 245 years in prison.

Britt was transferred to Indiana State Prison, where he remains as of January 2021, still serving his lengthy sentence.