Joseph Metheny was born in Baltimore Maryland on March 2, 1955. His father was an alcoholic who abused his family and died in a car accident when Joseph was only six years old. Joseph Metheny’s mother worked a series of jobs and was rarely home due to her working double shifts. Metheny claimed his mother was dead, and she sent them off to live with relatives. However, Joseph’s mother was very much alive and she denied sending off her children.

Joseph joined the US Army when he turned eighteen years old in 1973. According to him, he served time in Vietnam but this was never proven. After his time in the army, Metheny became addicted to drugs and alcohol. He was living in a series of homeless camps in the Baltimore, Maryland area, as all his money was spent on drugs and alcohol. However, he was able to keep a job as a forklift operator at a wooden pallet company.

In 1994, Joseph Metheny murdered a woman named Cathy Ann Magazine, who was buried in a shallow grave on a wooden pallet company where the body remained for over two years. Methany said he later dug her up, put her head in a box, and threw it in the trash.

In 1995, Joseph Metheny attacked and murdered two homeless men with an ax. Apparently, there was a dispute between two groups of homeless people that escalated to violence. Another homeless man Larry Amos stole the ax and murdered another man. Amos was later convicted of manslaughter and Joseph Metheny would not be convicted due to a lack of evidence. Joseph later confessed to both of the murders.

In 1996, Joseph Metheny murdered Kimberley Lynn Spicer with a knife. Joseph would continue to sexually assault other women. A month later, Metheny would ask a friend to help bury Kimberely. However, her friend went to the police, and Metheny was then arrested. He was sentenced to 50 years in prison for sexual assult anmd kidnapping in 1997.

In 1998, Metheny was sentenced to death for the murder of Kimberely Spicer. This would later be reduced to life in prison without parole. At the age of 62, Metheny was found dead in his prison cell on August 5, 2017. He died from natural causes.