Richard Edwin Fox was born on February 3, 1956, in Bowling Green, Ohio. 

In 1983, Richard Edwin Fox's estranged wife, Kim Swinehart Fox, was found dead in her apartment in Oregon. She was discovered with her arms and head over the bathtub, and her wrists were slit. However, the coroner stated that the actual cause of death was asphyxiation due to neck compression, not blood loss.

On September 14, 1989, 18-year-old Leslie Renae Keckler applied for a waitress job at a restaurant in Bowling Green, Ohio, where Fox worked as a grill cook. Fox noticed Keckler and remarked to a coworker that he would "like to have some of that." He obtained her phone number from her job application and invited her for a supposed job interview.

On September 26, Keckler went to a local motel for this interview. Her boyfriend saw her before she left and was informed that she might be gone for a couple of hours. When she did not return, her boyfriend and mother reported her missing. A few days later, her body was found in a rural drainage ditch, still in her dress and leather jacket.

The autopsy revealed that Keckler died from ligature strangulation and had multiple stab wounds on her body. She had been stabbed six times in the back, with three wounds penetrating her lungs. There were signs of a struggle, including defensive wounds on her wrist and bruises on her face.

Following public news of Keckler's murder, another woman came forward who had experienced a similar encounter with Fox. She had also applied for a job at a restaurant and received an invitation from a man named "Jeff Bennett," later identified as Fox, to meet him at a motel for a job discussion. During their meeting, he made inappropriate comments, leading her to jump from his car to escape.

Investigators linked Fox to both women after discovering he worked at the restaurants where they applied for jobs. A sketch of the man who approached the second woman resembled Fox, leading police to investigate him. They searched his car and found suspicious items. When questioned, Fox admitted he had met Keckler at the restaurant and arranged to meet her for a "date."

After his arrest, Fox detailed that when Keckler tried to leave his car, he became aggressive. He admitted to stabbing her and then strangling her to ensure she was dead. He led police to the location where he had dumped her belongings.

In the years that followed, Fox's case went through various appeals as he was sentenced to death for his crimes. His clemency hearing revealed that he had written a letter expressing remorse for his actions. Despite his pleas, he was executed by lethal injection on February 12, 2003, after spending over twelve years on death row. The execution procedure lasted 13 minutes before he was pronounced dead.