Curtis Chillingworth was born October 24, 1896[1] to a prominent family in West Palm Beach, Florida.

During World War II, he was stationed in London and Plymouth, England, where he participated in planning the occupation and recovery of Germany.

[7] In June 1955, municipal judge Joseph Peel was slated to appear in court to answer charges of unethical conduct in a divorce case, for which he faced possible disbarment.

Peel had used his elected position to protect bolita operators and moonshiners by giving them advance warnings of raids in return for financial compensation.

Disbarment would mean the loss of his position and therefore his lucrative illegal racket and, according to The New York Times, thwart his "scheme to become governor of Florida.

[9] Peel hired Floyd "Lucky" Holzapfel, a known criminal and carpenter's apprentice, to murder Chillingworth and his wife.

Unbeknown to Holzapfel, a member of the Florida Sheriff's Bureau, tipped off by Yenzer and Wilber, was in an adjacent room in the hotel capturing his comments on tape.

[8] Having denied any guilt throughout, Peel delivered a deathbed confession after his release, a week before his demise, in 1982, admitting to unchecked ambition and to greedily accepting bribes from gambling bosses and moonshiners, and that Judge Chillingworth was a roadblock to his schemes, stating: "I was to go from state attorney to attorney general to governor".

[11] However, he claimed that, with regards to the murders, he was guilty only of knowing what was going to happen and failing to stop it, accusing Barney Barnett, one of his criminal contacts who had died in 1960, of being the mastermind of the crimes.