Edward Lamar Dooley was born on December 12, 1977, in Ashburn, Georgia. His father, William, was a part-time farmer, part-time odd-job schemer. His mother, Edith, was a homemaker, raising Eddie and his two older brothers, Jack and Terrance.

William scraped by, growing a few crops and raising a handful of scraggly pecan trees. He spent more time playing poker and drinking with the boys than actually working, so money was always a scarcity in the Dooley home.

Whenever the family inevitably got into a money bind, William would take handyman work in nearby towns to bail them out of trouble. Friends and neighbors could never understand why he chose jobs an hour or two away. Didn't Ashburn houses need painting or a new porch?

According to local law enforcement, the reason was clear. William was suspected of stealing items from the houses he worked on. Sometimes he allegedly persuaded a homeowner to buy additional supplies, which William then resold to other construction crews.

Edith also knew how to turn a quick buck when she needed to. She earned a reputation in the county as a government red tape facilitator who could help you fill out government forms to get extra assistance. She knew how to create an extra dependent or claim higher medical bills. She knew which agencies talked to each other and which didn't. Edith could help a person wring money out of the city, county, state, and federal governments all in the same day.

Occasionally, Edith would pull off some scam herself, but usually, she just guided other people through the labyrinth of paperwork in exchange for a healthy percentage of their take.

Jack and Terrance grew tired of their father's lack of ambition that kept them in poverty. As adults, they went in different directions—Jack to the pecan tree business and Terrance to the burglar business—but both distinguished themselves in their intelligence, ability, and drive. Neither wanted to continue William's hardscrabble life.

Eddie, however, did inherit his father's indolence and slow-moving mind. He dropped out of high school and made his way on construction jobs, stealing supplies and tools.

He drifted to the nearby town of Fitzgerald and worked at the AC Delco plant. He thought a bogus worker's compensation claim would set him up for a while, but of course, the money immediately disappeared, and Eddie was back to work soon enough.

Over the years, he wandered west through Georgia, Alabama, and into Mississippi. He managed to avoid any serious jail time, just a weekend here and there in county lockup. He always slipped out of town in the middle of the night with eviction notices still tacked to the door and signs in all the local businesses not to accept checks from Edward Dooley.

Eventually, Eddie landed in Oxford. The small town suited him, and the college allowed plenty of opportunity for his lazy method of crime. Fraternity houses and convertible BMWs were always had valuables in easy reach.

Eddie has been arrested for petty theft a handful of times, but recently hasn't attracted attention from the campus police and the sheriff's department.

At the time of Andy Fine's death, Eddie was working part-time for the University of Mississippi Physical Plant.