Living in the rural mountains of Western North Carolina, Holbert's family owned and managed a small apple orchard and cattle ranch.

[citation needed] From 2003 to 2005, Holbert led the Southern National Patriots, a militia and fledgling political party based in Western North Carolina.

[3] Six years after his confession for the killing of five people in Panama, the Superior Court of Chiriquí Province set a trial date for December 5, 2016.

[15] In October 2010, an episode of Dateline NBC entitled "Stealing Paradise" investigated the disappearances of Cher Hughes and Bo Icelar, residents of Bocas del Toro, Panama,[16][17] whose bodies were discovered on Holbert's property.

[18] In 2016, a detailed account of Holbert's crimes written by Nick Foster, The Jolly Roger Social Club: A True Story of a Killer in Paradise, was published.

[19] In January 2019, the Daily Mirror published an exposé on Holbert's supposed existence inside the New Chiriqui Public Prison.

The online edition alleged that Holbert enjoys liberal privileges, has access to firearms inside the prison, and feasts on fast food daily.

[20] In 2021, Holbert published a controversial memoir about his life in prison, Long Live the King Wild Bill (The Hero is a Villain).

In February 2020, Holbert was appointed Pastor and Mediator to the approximately 150 inmates of the super-maximum security wing of the most notorious prison in the Republic of Panama, La Joya.