Larry Gene Heath was born on October 5, 1951, in the United States. Details about his early life are sparse, but by 1981, he was residing in Russell County, Alabama, with his wife, Rebecca McGuire Heath, who was nine months pregnant at the time.

In August 1981, Heath orchestrated a plan to murder his pregnant wife, Rebecca. He hired two men, Charles Owens and Gregory Lumpkin, agreeing to pay them $2,000 for the act. On August 31, 1981, Heath met with the hired men in Georgia and then returned with them to his home in Alabama. After providing them with keys to his house and car, Heath left the premises. Owens and Lumpkin entered the home, kidnapped Rebecca, and transported her to Troup County, Georgia, where they fatally shot her in the head. Her body was discovered later that day in an abandoned car.

Heath was arrested on September 4, 1981, by Georgia authorities. He confessed to hiring the men to kill his wife. On February 10, 1982, he pleaded guilty to malice murder in Georgia and was sentenced to life imprisonment. However, Alabama authorities pursued their own charges, arguing that the kidnapping began in Alabama. On January 12, 1983, Heath was convicted in Alabama for murder during a kidnapping and sentenced to death.

Heath appealed the Alabama conviction, citing double jeopardy, but the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the conviction in a 7-2 decision, stating that separate states could prosecute the same individual for the same act under the dual sovereignty doctrine. Heath was executed by electrocution on March 20, 1992.