James Douglas Latham was born on April 21, 1942, in the United States. Not much is publicly known about his childhood or formative years, but by the time he was a teenager, Latham had joined the United States Army. In 1959, at the age of 17, he underwent basic training at Fort Carson, Colorado, completing it between May and July that year.

It was during his military service that he met George Ronald York, another private in the U.S. Army, at Fort Hood, Texas. The two bonded over shared frustrations and racial prejudices, York and Latham reportedly did not want to share their barracks with Black soldiers. This racism, combined with personal dissatisfaction and immaturity, reportedly fueled their decision to go AWOL (Absent Without Leave) from the Army in May 1961.

The spree began on May 26, 1961, when York and Latham, on the run from Fort Hood, encountered Edward J. Guidroz in Mix, Louisiana. They beat him severely and stole his truck. Guidroz survived.

Just three days later, on May 29, they met two women from Georgia, Althea Ottavio and Patricia Hewett, in Jacksonville, Florida. After spending the day shopping, both women were strangled to death with their own stockings. The men stole their money and dumped the women's car.

On June 6, the duo attempted to rob a man near Aiken, South Carolina. They fired shots, but missed. The man escaped, surviving the encounter. The following day, June 7, they murdered John Whittaker in Tullahoma, Tennessee, stole his car, and dumped the stolen truck from Louisiana.

On June 8, they abandoned Whittaker's vehicle near Troy, Illinois, and hitched a ride with Albert Reed. The pair killed Reed, dumped his body in a creek, and took his car. Later that same day, they murdered Martin Drenovac, a gas station owner near Edwardsville, Illinois. They stole gas and cash from the station before fleeing.

Their rampage continued into June 9, when they shot and killed 62-year-old Otto Ziegler in Wallace, Kansas. Ziegler was gunned down, and his wallet taken. On June 10, they killed Rachel Moyer, an 18-year-old motel maid in Craig, Colorado. Her body and a few belongings were dumped in a ravine.

Later that same day, York and Latham were arrested in Tooele County, Utah for violating the National Motor Vehicle Theft Act, a federal crime involving stolen vehicles transported across state lines. During questioning on June 11, the duo bragged to investigators about killing “eight or nine people.” Ultimately, authorities confirmed that nine people had been attacked during their spree, seven were murdered, two survived.

York and Latham cited their dissatisfaction with being placed in a mixed-race military unit as their motivation for desertion. Their crimes shocked the nation with their randomness, racial overtones, and the sheer speed and brutality of their spree.

Though they could have been tried in multiple states, including Florida, Tennessee, Illinois, or Colorado, all of which had active death penalty laws, they were extradited and tried in Kansas, where they were prosecuted for the murder of Otto Ziegler.

Their trial culminated in a conviction and death sentence on November 8, 1961, presided over by Judge Benedict P. Cruise. While on death row, York and Latham were housed in the same facility as Richard Hickock and Perry Smith, the killers famously documented in Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood. Capote even mentioned York and Latham in his book, characterizing them as flippant and unrepentant.

Both men were executed by hanging on June 22, 1965, at Kansas State Penitentiary (now Lansing Correctional Facility). Latham was hanged first. His final words were: "I'm not mad at anybody."