Marie Dean Arrington was born on August 8, 1933. Her early life details are not widely known, but she grew up in Florida. As a young woman, she became a mother and had two children: a son named Lloyd Dean and a daughter.

In 1967, her son, Lloyd Dean, committed a robbery at a gas station in Florida when he was 18 years old. He was sentenced to life in prison for this crime. Arrington was upset with the lawyer who represented her son, as she felt he did not defend him properly. Her daughter also faced legal trouble for unrelated fraud charges, which resulted in jail time. These events greatly influenced Arrington's feelings toward the legal system and the people involved in her family's legal issues.

Marie Dean Arrington's first major crime occurred on July 4, 1964, when she killed her husband, Lester "Jack" Arrington, at Bethune Beach. She shot him during an argument while they were in their car. After the incident, she turned herself in and confessed the next day. During her trial, Arrington claimed the shooting was an accident. Her lawyer argued that she acted in self-defense as Jack had been violent towards her. Witnesses testified they saw Jack choking her. Arrington was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to twenty years in prison.

While out on appeal for her manslaughter conviction in April 1968, Arrington attempted to kill her attorney, Bob Pierce, because she felt he did not represent her son well during his trial. When she discovered he was not in his office, she abducted his secretary, Vivian Ritter. This led to panic in the town, and there were extensive searches for Ritter. Two days later, her bloodstained car was found. Ritter's body was discovered three days later in the woods, and she had been shot and run over with her own vehicle.

Following Arrington's arrest, investigators uncovered threats she had written against the judge who sentenced her son and against Ritter. During her trial for first-degree murder, several witnesses linked Arrington to the crime. A taxi driver reported seeing her near Pierce's office the day of the abduction. Arrington's landlady mentioned that she had lent Arrington a .22 caliber gun, which was later confirmed to be the weapon used to kill Ritter. On December 6, 1968, she was sentenced to death.

On March 1, 1969, Arrington escaped from prison. She cut a window screen and fled in her pajamas. This act led to her being placed on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List in May 1969. She remained a fugitive for three years before being captured in March 1972. At the time of her capture, she was living in New Orleans and working as a waitress. After her escape, she received an additional ten years to her sentence. In August 1972, her death sentence was commuted to life in prison due to a Supreme Court ruling against capital punishment.

Marie Dean Arrington passed away from heart problems on May 10, 2014, at the age of 80, while still in prison.