Alton Coleman was born in Waukegan, Illinois under imperfect circumstances. He was born to a prostitute who previously had two other children. Coleman never knew the identity of his father, and was mainly raised by his grandmother. Coleman, all through his school age years, was teased by other children, who would call him "pissy", because he wet his pants.

As a teenager, Coleman became involved with a black street gang and dropped out of the ninth grade. He then began to build up an enormous rap sheet. When Coleman was eighteen he was arrested for raping and robbing an elderly woman in Waukegan, Illinois. Coleman was able to bargain the charge down to just simple robbery. He spent time in Joliet penitentiary.

While in prison, Coleman was not a model prisoner. He sexually accosted several other inmates until his parole. After his parole he began right where he left off. Coleman was willing to rape or kill virtually anyone or anything that moved, and carried little concern for the consequences. From an early age, Coleman had the fantasy of sexually dominating, and controlling other people. Like so many other serial rapists, these acts were what gave him pleasure and the most satisfaction in his life. With his dysfunctional background, and psychological makeup, Coleman seemed to have no conscience, no concern for the rights, feelings, or pain of others. Coleman perceived that nothing was given to him and nobody cared, and therefore, he was entitled to take whatever he wanted without caring what any one else thought. In 1984, Coleman and his girlfriend, Debra Denise Brown, led a spree killing rampage throughout the Midwest.