Larry was adopted shortly after his birth on September 27, 1940 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His adoptive family moved around quite a bit because of his father's work in aircraft factories. They lived in Pennsylvania, Florida, Ohio, and California while Lawrence was growing up.
He quit high school in 1957 after a number of run-ins with the police. Shortly afterward, he was picked up on several offenses: auto theft, a hit-and-run, and evading arrest. He was imprisoned in California until he was 19. Just after his release, he was re-arrested in Louisiana by the FBI for violating the Interstate Motor Vehicle Theft Act. He was convicted in August 1959 and sentenced to 18 months in a federal reformatory in Oklahoma. He was soon transferred to a medical center in Missouri because of his behavior. After serving six months, he was released.
In December 1960, he was arrested in Los Angeles and was sentenced the following May to a prison term of 1-15 years. During this term, Lawrence Bittaker was determined by a psychiatrist to be paranoid, borderline psychotic, and to have severely impaired impulse control. Despite this, he was released after serving only 2 years. Only 2 months later, Bittaker was arrested for a parole violation and suspected robbery, and was picked up again in October 1964. While in prison this time, his evaluation confirmed the earlier diagnosis as a borderline psychotic.
Then, in July 1967 he was arrested and convicted of theft and leaving a hit-and-run. He was sentenced to five years, but was released in April 1970. In March 1971, Lawrence was picked up again for burglary and parole violation. That fall, he was sentenced to six months to 15 years and only served three years.
He was again arrested for stabbing a supermarket employee in the parking lot of the business. The whole incident stemmed from Bittaker's attempt to steal a steak by stuffing it in his pants. The employee had followed him outside in an attempt to stop the theft. The man survived and Bittaker was convicted of attempted murder. While in prison at California's Men's Colony in San Luis Obispo, he met Roy Norris. During this stint, the earlier diagnoses of borderline psychosis were rejected and Lawrence was reclassific as a sociopath. Despite the new warnings of psychiatric professionals, Bittaker was released in November 1978. At this time, he moved to Los Angeles.
At the age of 17, Roy Norris dropped out of school and joined the Navy, where he spent most of his service time stationed in San Diego. He did serve four months in Vietnam, but saw no combat action. Norris was arrested in San Diego in November of 1969 for attempted rape. He was released on bail and three months later and arrested again for attacking a woman in her home. Police had thankfully arrived before he was able to harm the woman. Norris then received a psychological discharge from the Navy.
Still out on bail in May of 1970, Roy Norris attacked a female student at San Diego State College. He had jumped the woman from behind, hit her in the head with a rock, and then slammed her head several times on the concrete. The woman survived, so Roy was only charged with assault with a deadly weapon. He was sent to Atascadero State Hospital as a sex offender and spent five years there. He was released with the blessing of the professionals there who deemed him to no longer be a danger to others.
Three months after his release, Norris attacked a woman who was walking home after having had an argument with her boyfriend. Norris offered her a ride, but she refused. Not deterred by this, Norris got off his motorcycle and attacked th woman. He strangled her into unconsciousness with her own scarf and then dragged her behind a hedge and raped her. She could only give a vague description of her attacker, but a month later she saw him and took down his license plate number.
This forcible rape conviction and Roy's subsequent term in prison would bring he and Bittaker together. NOrris was released on January 15, 1979 and moved in with his mother in Los Angeles. Bittaker and Norris got in touch on the outside.