Earle Nelson suffered many losses as a child, seeing the death of his mother, father, grandmother and grandfather, all by the age of 10. Then, after a head injury that left him in a coma for 6 days, Earle became the complete opposite of himself and a troublesome kid for his aunt, who was left to care for him.

After being kicked out of the home and joining both the Army & Navy and deserting immediately, Earle decided to find housing in San Francisco, California.

But every female landlord in his 60s that he visited to try and rent an apartment ended up dead by strangulation...an issue that curiously followed him throughout his travels in the US.