Michael Darnell Harris was born on March 7, 1963, in Muskegon Heights, Michigan. He was the eldest of five children. Harris spent most of his childhood in Muskegon, where he described his family as a good one. In 1973, his mother got a job at a veterans hospital in Ann Arbor. The family moved to live with a stepfather there.

After the move, Harris often had arguments with his stepfather. This man became more aggressive and physically abusive over time. In the late 1970s, Harris decided to drop out of school. He began spending a lot of time on the streets. He would often sleep at friends' houses or stay in homeless shelters.

In 1980, Harris left Ann Arbor and moved to Lansing. There, he met a woman and had a daughter with her. For the next two years, Harris faced many financial struggles. He worked at low-skilled jobs and lived a vagrant lifestyle during this time.

On December 7, 1982, Michael Darnell Harris was arrested at a homeless shelter in Jackson. He was accused of breaking into the home of 68-year-old Lenora Nayrhardt, where he allegedly beat and raped her. After his arrest, police linked him to several murders of elderly women. Two of those women, 85-year-old Margorie Upson and 84-year-old Louise Koebnick, were found raped and strangled in Ypsilanti in late September 1982.

Harris was also a suspect in other related crimes in Lansing. This included the rapes and murders of Edna Ryckaert, Edith Crossette, Ula Curdy, and Denise Swanson, all elderly women killed between 1980 and 1981. The body of 91-year-old Florence Bell was discovered with her throat cut in January 1982, further connecting Harris to these cases as he lived in the area at the time.

On December 14, Harris was positively identified as Nayrhardt's attacker. He pleaded not guilty, claiming he had been in the shelter during the incident. However, on January 12, 1983, he was charged with the murder of Ula Curdy after his fingerprints were found on a chair in her home. He was later charged with Denise Swanson's murder as well.

In March 1983, Harris went on trial for the assault and rape of Nayrhardt. Evidence presented during the trial included blood type matches to Harris and hair fibers that matched the victim's cats. Nineteen people, including Nayrhardt, identified Harris. On April 4, 1983, he attempted suicide in jail but survived. By May, he was found guilty of the crimes against Nayrhardt and was sentenced to 60 to 90 years in prison.

Later that year, he was tried for the murders of Curdy and Swanson. He was convicted in both cases and received life sentences without the possibility of parole. After serving time, DNA testing in the late 1990s matched him to the murders of Upson, Koebnick, and Bell, resulting in two more life sentences in 2001.

Harris continued to claim his innocence throughout the years, arguing that evidence against him was fabricated. In 2015, he requested new DNA testing on evidence from Curdy's murder. In 2016, results showed that the DNA did not match Harris, leading to public outrage. This prompted an investigation into the case and new scrutiny of the evidence used in his trials. However, further DNA tests later confirmed his involvement, and attempts to have his convictions overturned were denied. Harris remains in prison, maintaining his innocence.