The Truth About Murderer James Wood's Childhood

James Edward Wood was born on December 9, 1947. By the time he was two years old, his father was incarcerated in a federal prison and his mother, Hazel, moved herself and her son to Pocatello, Idaho. As reported by the Radford University Department of Psychology, Wood began rebelling against authority figures when he was 6. By the time he was 9, he reportedly began having "violent sexual fantasies."

With his father already in prison, James lost his mother to a workplace fire when he was only eight years old. The Radford University Department of Psychology reports he was left in the custody of his step-father, who reportedly physically, psychologically, and sexually abused him.

Six years after his mother's death, James Wood officially became a ward of the state. Throughout his teens, James Wood committed a number of increasingly serious crimes including stealing cars, setting fires, and escaping incarceration after threatening a corrections officer with a knife.

The Radford University Department of Psychology reports James Wood committed his first rape at the age of 22. Although he was twice married (to the same woman), and the two had two children, his wife filed for divorce when he was, once again, sentenced to prison for a violent crime.

Between his release from the Angola State Penitentiary in 1986, and his arrest for the murder of Jeralee Underwood in 1993, James wood committed at least three rapes, including a 14-year-old and a 15-year-old. He also committed at least two robberies.