Harvey John Collins was born on October 5, 1925, in Portland, Oregon. He was one of several children in the Collins family. His parents were Alfred and Mable Collins. When Harvey was still young, his family moved to Spokane, Washington. Harvey grew up there in a stable and loving home. His sister said that he was a mama's boy and got along well with everyone.

As he grew older, Harvey decided to join the Marine Corps. He served bravely during World War II in the Pacific Theatre. He fought in the Battle of Iwo Jima and even brought home a katana, a sword he took from a Japanese soldier he killed. Because of his bravery and good service, he was promoted to the rank of Captain. People saw him as a respectable and honorable person.

After the war, things started to change for Harvey. He began to show signs of psychological distress. This might have been due to PTSD from the war or the death of his father in a workplace accident. In 1953, he was sent to Fort Knox, Kentucky, for Army artillery training. This period marked the beginning of some struggles for Harvey.

On May 15, 1953, Harvey Collins was eating at a roadhouse when he got into a fight with the escort of a waitress named Edna Iona Hall. After the fight, Collins offered to drive Edna home. On the way, he stopped on an isolated road and tried to make sexual advances toward her. When Edna rejected him, Collins became furious. He kicked her out of the car, beat her, and stabbed her in the head with a screwdriver.

Even though Edna was still alive, Collins put her in the back of his car. He even asked for help from a passing car to move his vehicle when it got stuck in the sand. After freeing the car, Collins drove further down the road. He dragged Edna into the nearby woods and buried her alive in a foxhole, covering it with dirt and sheet metal. Collins then returned to Fort Knox and burned his clothes. When questioned later by the FBI about Edna's disappearance, Collins was cleared because some of her friends claimed they saw her that night. Her body was found eight months later, but the murder remained unsolved for a while.

In January 1954, Collins tried to commit suicide. He stole a plane from Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and crashed it near some train tracks in Temple. He was found two days later in Dallas, Texas, and after an investigation, he was returned to Fort Sill. Collins claimed he wanted to commit suicide but didn’t remember what happened after the crash. As a result, he was dishonorably discharged and moved to Washington to live with relatives.

On February 7, Collins shot and killed a gas station attendant named Edward Morley during a robbery. A few weeks later, on March 21, he attacked Anna Stolen, a motel owner, with a knife and a sword. After killing her husband, Andrew, who tried to help her, Collins tried to run Anna over with his car but missed. Anna gave a description of Collins and part of his license plate number, leading to his arrest. In his car, the police found the murder weapon and blood-stained clothes, linking him to the crime.

After his arrest, Collins admitted to killing Morley and attacking the Stolens. He denied killing Edna Hall but later confessed, providing details only the killer would know. The Kentucky prosecutor chose not to charge him for Edna's murder if Washington sought the death penalty for the Stolen murders. In court, Collins was found guilty and sentenced to death. He escaped from jail with six others but surrendered two days later. Despite appeals, his sentence was upheld, and Collins was executed on December 3, 1957. His last words were, "I ask forgiveness for everything I've done."