William Wickline was born on March 15, 1952, in Grove City, Ohio. He had a difficult childhood, marked by constant fighting between his parents, which made his home life stressful. To cope, William often spent time alone, wandering the streets and getting into mischief. Even though he was intelligent and clever, he didn't always use his smarts in the right way.

As a teenager, William started committing small crimes like stealing from stores and breaking into houses. His actions quickly got him noticed by the police, leading to frequent run-ins with the law. Instead of learning from these experiences, William's behavior only got worse, as he got involved in more serious and dangerous activities. His early years showed a glimpse of the darker path he would eventually take.

Without positive role models or guidance, William continued to make poor choices. His troubled childhood and teenage years set the stage for a future filled with crime and violence. Despite his intelligence and potential, William Wickline's early life decisions led him down a path that would eventually bring harm to many and shape his notorious reputation.

On November 11, 1979, the body of Charles Morgan Marsh, a 34-year-old construction worker, was found in a hotel room in Parkersburg, West Virginia. His head had been decapitated and placed on the nightstand beside his bed. His headless body was handcuffed behind his back. The autopsy revealed that Marsh had been strangled with a telephone cord, and his head was severed with precision, suggesting that the killer was skilled with a knife. The murderer even combed the hair on the severed head, adding a chilling detail to the gruesome crime. Marsh was a known drug dealer, so investigators suspected this might be a contract killing by a rival dealer. However, no suspects were identified at that time.

On August 14, 1982, William Wickline and his girlfriend Teresa Kemp went to Columbus, Ohio, to settle a $6,000 drug debt with Christopher and Peggy Lerch, a couple involved in drug trafficking. During an argument, Wickline lured Christopher to the bathroom, pretending to need help with a clogged drain. When Christopher looked inside the tub, Wickline slit his throat. Realizing Peggy could be a witness, Wickline forced Kemp to help him kill her by holding her legs while he strangled her with a rope. Wickline then decapitated and dismembered their bodies, placing the remains in plastic garbage bags and disposing of them in various dumpsters across Franklin County. He kept Peggy's wedding ring as a grim souvenir. The Lerches' bodies were never found.

After the Lerches disappeared, Wickline was arrested for breaking into a drug store and sentenced to a year and a half in prison. In December 1984, his girlfriend Kemp confessed to the murders, leading to his indictment. Wickline was also linked to Marsh's murder and suspected of other dismemberment crimes, but he was only tried for the Lerch murders. Found guilty on two counts of aggravated murder, Wickline was sentenced to death for Peggy's murder and life imprisonment for Christopher's. 

He showed no emotion at his sentencing. Wickline spent the rest of his life in prison appealing his conviction, but all appeals were denied. On March 30, 2004, he was executed by lethal injection. His last meal included filet mignon, potato salad, buttered rolls, strawberries, shortcake, and butter pecan ice cream. His final words expressed a hope for wiser and less political courts.

Wickline was suspected in several other murders involving dismemberment. These included the 1978 disappearance of gambler Tory Gainer, the 1983 murder of an unidentified man in Miami, and the 1983 murder of 15-year-old John A. Muncy in Delaware County. For a time, he was considered a suspect in the 1984 murders of Annette Cooper and Todd Schultz. However, in 2008, two other men were convicted of those crimes, and Cooper's stepfather, who had been wrongfully convicted, was exonerated. In 2020, authorities identified Muncy's killer as Daniel Alan Anderson, a violent sex offender who had died in 2013.