Gerald Ross Pizzuto Jr. was born on January 11, 1956, in Orland, California. He had at least two sisters. His childhood was difficult and marked by family issues. Pizzuto was a victim of severe abuse by his stepfather. When he was around five or six years old, his stepfather would wake him up in the middle of the night with a flashlight and a hunting knife. He would take Pizzuto to a garage, tie him up with extension cords, and sexually abuse him. Pizzuto’s stepfather even charged other men money to abuse him, which further deepened the trauma.

Pizzuto's stepfather did not only abuse him sexually. He also physically hurt him, using various objects like a cattle prod and a horse crop. These beatings caused Pizzuto to suffer from childhood brain damage. Pizzuto's mother did not step in to protect him from this mistreatment, according to his sisters who witnessed the abuse.

As he grew up, Pizzuto faced challenges in his personal life. He eventually got married, but he was reportedly abusive towards his wife. On one occasion, he knocked her teeth out, and he even assaulted her when she was pregnant, resulting in the loss of the fetus.

In 1975, Pizzuto was charged with kidnapping and raping a woman at gunpoint in Michigan. He was sentenced to 20 to 40 years in prison for this crime. Pizzuto served nine years before being released on parole in 1984. However, he broke the terms of his parole and moved to Seattle, Washington.

In March and July of 1985, Gerald Pizzuto committed four murders in Washington and Idaho.

On March 16 or 17, 1985, Pizzuto and an accomplice named John Rodewald entered the home of 51-year-old Rita Drury in Seattle. They attacked Drury, who was babysitting her granddaughter. The men robbed her of $200 and strangled her to death before leaving the scene with the money.

Two weeks later, on March 30, 1985, Pizzuto went to the trailer of 31-year-old John Roy Jones in Seattle. After an argument over cocaine, Pizzuto shot Jones. Pizzuto claimed the shooting was accidental, but the prosecution disputed this during his trial. He was later convicted in Washington of first-degree murder for Drury and second-degree murder for Jones, receiving over 69 years combined in Washington courts.

On July 25, 1985, Pizzuto, along with accomplices William Odom and James Rice, confronted 58-year-old Alberta "Berta" Herndon and her 37-year-old nephew, Delbert "Del" Herndon, at their cabin in Idaho. The trio held the victims at gunpoint, tied their wrists and legs, and stole money from them. Later, Pizzuto used a hammer to kill both victims. Rice shot Delbert in the head, and Odom helped bury the bodies before they all escaped with the stolen money.

After fleeing the murder scene, Pizzuto stole a tourist’s vehicle and coerced a man to drive him to Montana, where he was arrested on July 29, 1985, at his sister’s house. Using the alias "Jerry Gilbertson," Pizzuto tried to avoid identification, but was soon unmasked. Authorities in Idaho and Washington debated jurisdiction, ultimately agreeing to try him first in Idaho.

On March 27, 1986, he was found guilty in Idaho for the Herndon murders. Two months later, on May 23, he was sentenced to death twice—once for each murder. He also received life and additional sentences for robbery and theft. He received an overall sentence of nearly 70 years in Washington.. His co-defendants took plea deals and testified against him in exchange for reduced sentences. Both were released in the late 1990s.

Since 1988, Gerald Pizzuto's execution has been repeatedly scheduled, delayed, and legally challenged. Numerous appeals were denied at both state and federal levels. In 2007, his legal team argued that he was mentally disabled due to childhood brain damage and low IQ (measured at 72), but the Idaho Supreme Court dismissed these claims in 2008.

In 2021, Pizzuto's failing health came to the forefront. Diagnosed with terminal bladder cancer, severe diabetes, and heart disease, he was moved to hospice care. A clemency hearing was held, and the parole board recommended commutation to life without parole. Governor Brad Little overruled this, stating Pizzuto’s crimes were too egregious.

A legal back-and-forth ensued. A judge temporarily commuted the death sentence in 2022, but the Idaho Supreme Court overturned the decision in August that year. A new death warrant was issued for December 15, 2022, but again, the execution was delayed due to a lack of lethal injection drugs.

In 2023, Idaho attempted once more to execute Pizzuto but again failed to obtain necessary drugs. A third death warrant was signed for March 23, 2023, but the execution was stayed. Idaho then passed a law authorizing firing squads as an alternative method. Meanwhile, in August 2023, a judge granted Pizzuto an indefinite stay to allow a federal lawsuit to proceed, alleging that repeated execution attempts constituted psychological torture.

As of 2025, Pizzuto remains at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution, terminally ill, and still under an indefinite stay of execution.