Harvey Glatman was born on December 10, 1927, in New York City. He moved to Denver, Colorado, with his family when he was young. Harvey showed troubling behaviors from a very young age. He would tie a string around his private parts to get a strange thrill, and he later began putting a rope around his neck, tightening it to feel the same excitement. His mother took him to a doctor, but the doctor thought he would grow out of it.

As Harvey grew older, his behavior did not improve. As a teenager, he started breaking into women's homes and stealing random items like lingerie. This escalated to stalking and assaulting women. In 1945, he was caught kidnapping and assaulting a woman, leading to a prison sentence of 5 to 10 years. During his time in prison, doctors diagnosed him with a severe personality disorder. He was released in 1948 but continued to struggle with his dangerous tendencies.

Harvey Glatman, a notorious serial killer, committed his crimes in the late 1950s. He posed as a professional photographer to lure young women with promises of modeling jobs. Once he gained their trust, he would take them to his apartment, where he tied them up, sexually assaulted them, and took photographs. Glatman then murdered his victims by strangling them and disposed of their bodies in the desert.

His known victims include Judith Dull, Ruth Mercado, and Shirley Ann Bridgeford. He met Bridgeford through a "Lonely Hearts" ad, which led to her tragic end. Glatman was also a suspect in the murder of Dorothy Gay Howard, whose body was found in Boulder, Colorado, in 1954, although her identity was not confirmed until 2009.

Glatman's reign of terror ended on October 31, 1958, when he was caught in the act of kidnapping Lorraine Vigil. A patrolman saw him struggling with Vigil on the side of the road and arrested him. Glatman confessed to the murders and led police to evidence, including photographs of his victims.

In court, Glatman was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and was sentenced to death. He accepted his fate without protest and was executed in the gas chamber at San Quentin State Prison on September 18, 1959.