Prior to the murders he had a criminal record. Humphries was arrested in 1984 for two counts of breaking and entering and was placed on probation. He received more probation after being suspended from school for fighting on several occasions. At fifteen he was sent to a state facility in Columbia for thirty days. In January 1989 he was arrested after breaking into a church while looking for food, as he was homeless at the time. His first jail term was in Alabama from stealing a car. He received two years in prison followed by four years of probation.