Leslie Leon Burchart was born on August 3, 1949, in Richmond, Virginia. He was the middle child in a family with two other siblings. When Burchart was a child, his mother was diagnosed with schizophrenia. This led to his father divorcing her and remarrying. After the divorce, Burchart and his siblings were raised by their father and stepmother. Neighbors described the home as mostly happy, but some said that Burchart's stepmother was unkind to him and his siblings. There were instances where she would lock them out of the house during bad weather.

In the late 1960s, Burchart's father found a job at the Hunter Holmes McGuire Veterans Administration Medical Center. The family moved to Richmond, Virginia, for this new job. During his teenage years, Burchart led an ordinary life and did not show any signs of criminal behavior. After finishing school, he worked various jobs. However, during the 1970s energy crisis, his mental health started to decline. He began to take on lower-skilled jobs to get by. From 1977 to 1982, he worked at the Richmond Reference Desk.

In 1978, Burchart was diagnosed with a mental illness. He received treatment at the Richmond Mental Health Clinic, which continued until his final arrest in 1996. By the mid-1980s, his mental health worsened, causing him to leave his job, lose his home, and become homeless. He then began living a vagrant lifestyle, spending time with others who were also without homes. In 1992, he was arrested for trespassing and indecent exposure after a report from a student at the University of Richmond. He was sentenced to six months in jail, which he served at Richmond County Jail.

While in jail, Burchart suffered from hallucinations and claimed he heard voices. After assaulting a security guard, he was moved to the Richmond Psychiatric Hospital. There, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and given medication. A later evaluation found him not fit to return to normal society, which led to his transfer to a nursing home for those with mental illnesses. He managed to escape from that facility a few months later. For two years, he lived on the streets, making money by selling scrap metal and committing small thefts.

In July 1996, Leslie Leon Burchart was arrested for trespassing. During questioning, he confessed to three murders and several assaults. The first murder he mentioned was of Montaque Dewitt Winston, a 35-year-old homeless man, whom Burchart killed in June 1994. He claimed to have strangled Winston because Winston did not pay him back money for marijuana.

Burchart's second victim was Gary Wayne Shelton, a 46-year-old homeless man. He murdered Shelton on June 14, 1996, by beating him and then crushing his skull with a blunt object inside an abandoned cart. Later, on June 29, Burchart met John Wade Pleasants, a 42-year-old carpenter. After drinking together at Pleasants' apartment, they got into an argument. Burchart claimed that he then beat and strangled Pleasants to death.

In addition to these three murders, Burchart also confessed to a severe assault on a homeless woman in early 1996. This woman survived but had severe injuries, including 36 skull fractures.

Burchart was quickly convicted of these crimes and received a sentence of 105 years in prison. While serving his sentence, he contacted the police and confessed to killing four elderly women. These women were Jane Foster, Elizabeth Seibert, Mamie Verlander, and Lucille Boyd. They were part of a larger series of murders known as the "Golden Years Murders," where numerous elderly women were killed in Richmond from 1990 to 1996. Burchart described details that suggested he had firsthand knowledge of each murder. He later pleaded guilty to these four murders and received five additional life sentences.

After his conviction, Burchart was sent to Wal lens Ridge State Prison. Over the years, he developed various health issues and was diagnosed with multiple cardiovascular diseases. He was transferred to Lonesome Pine Hospital in Big Stone Gap, where he died on August 1, 2002, just days before his 53rd birthday.

In 2013, a retired detective voiced concern that Burchart possibly killed more people than he was convicted for. Some of these included Rachel Henshaw, an 81-year-old woman, and William R. Merrill, a 47-year-old homeless man, whom Burchart reportedly killed. The Richmond Police Department stated that there was no evidence linking Burchart to these deaths, and both were ruled as not related to foul play. As of September 2022, many of the cases Burchart confessed to remain unsolved, and his claims about the additional murders are still in question.