Harvery Glatman was decidedly strange almost from the start. He had begun torturing himself at a very young age, reportedly tying strings around his genitals and then to strudier objects, deriving great pleasure when he would lean backwards and the string would cinch tight around his organ. By the time he was in high school Glatman was practicing autoerotic asphyxiation to achieve sexual gratification. Despite these serious problems he managed to maintain excellent grades and was not a major disciplinary problem as a boy.

That all changed in 1945 when Glatman was arrested in Boulder, Colorado, for pulling a toy gun and ordering a woman to take off her clothing. He was set free on bond but decided to run, heading to New York where he was soon arrested for burglary. He was sentenced to five years in Sing Sing prison and ordered to recieve psychiatric counsleing.

Released in 1951 and relocated in Los Angleles, Glatman was far from cured of his sexual appetites. If anything he was now much worse. On August 1, 1957, his urges took over completely and he killed Judy Ann Dul, who he had met duringa house call for is TV repair shop. She had accepted his impromptu offer to pose for some detective magazing pictures and left her apartment with Glatman, never to return. Instead of taking her to his fictitious studio, Glatman drove her into the desert at gunpoint, forced the terrified woman to pose for the pictures while bound and then raped and strangled her with his favorite length of rope.

The bedroom walls in Glatman's apartment were soon adorned with pictures of Dull and he wanted more. Shirley Bridgford met Glatman through a lonely hearts club. Instead of a date, she was taken into the desert and photographed, raped, and strangled just like Dull. Glatman abducted Ruth mercado from her home after he answered her ad wanting modeling jobs. He followed his successful pattern with her also.