Lorenzo Fayne was born on April 2, 1971, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He grew up in a large family with several brothers and sisters. His early childhood was spent in the northwestern part of Milwaukee, an area known for its poverty and crime. Lorenzo's family life was unstable. His parents struggled with legal issues and had problems with alcohol and drugs. This environment led to frequent beatings, which caused Lorenzo significant psychological trauma.

At the age of seven, Lorenzo experienced a traumatic event when he was sexually assaulted by a neighbor boy. As he reached his teenage years, he often spent time on the streets. He skipped school frequently and struggled academically, eventually dropping out of school altogether. From 1984 to 1989, he was in trouble with the law several times. He was arrested for crimes such as robbery, burglary, assault, and auto theft. During this period, he spent years in juvenile prisons. Unfortunately, while in these facilities, he was also a victim of physical and sexual assault by other inmates.

While in juvenile detention, an IQ test was administered, revealing that Lorenzo's IQ was between 68 and 75 points. This range classified him as borderline intellectually disabled. After he was released from prison in 1989, Lorenzo moved to East St. Louis, Illinois. He went to live with his grandmother, Nelly Willis.

Lorenzo Fayne first attracted the attention of the police after the murder of 17-year-old Faith Davis on July 23, 1993. Davis was attacked in her apartment, where she was raped and stabbed. The murderer attempted to destroy the crime scene by setting fire to the apartment. Witnesses at the scene identified Lorenzo Fayne as the person who was seen fleeing the area. The police found blood stains on his clothes and in his home. During questioning, Fayne confessed to robbing Davis' apartment but denied killing her.

After analyzing fingerprints found at the crime scene, police linked Fayne to the murder of 6-year-old Aree Hunt, who had been raped and strangled on July 14, 1989. Faced with this evidence, Fayne confessed to murdering both Aree Hunt and Faith Davis. He explained that his desire to feel better about himself motivated the killings. Later, his grandmother spoke to him, and he admitted to three more murders: 14-year-old Latondra Dean, 9-year-old Fallon Flood, and 17-year-old Glenda Jones. All these murders occurred close to his grandmother’s house.

Fayne was arrested on July 24, 1993. In early 1994, he went on trial for the murder of Aree Hunt and was found guilty. Despite a jury recommending the death penalty, Fayne was instead given a life sentence without parole due to the lack of a unanimous decision. Afterward, he faced another trial for the murders of Dean, Flood, Jones, and Davis, where he was sentenced to death in 2001. However, in January 2003, the Governor of Illinois commuted his death sentence.

In September 2009, Fayne was connected to the murder of Rita Scott, a 32-year-old woman found beaten to death in Milwaukee in 1989. During interrogation, he confessed to that murder as well. He remained a suspect in the case of Nicole Willis until DNA tests cleared him of involvement. Lorenzo Fayne is currently serving his sentence at Menard Correctional Center.