oba chandler was born in cincinnati in the state of ohio. he was the fourth of five children. his parents were oba chandler sr. and margaret johnson. at the age of 10, chandler's father oba chandler senior hanged himself in the chandler family's basement. this upset oba so much that he jumped into his father's grave during the funeral in 1957 while gravediggers were covering the coffin with dirt. afterwards, oba's life spun out of control and he was arrested many times and had been arrested 20 times by the time he was a teenager. as an adult, he was charged with a long list of crimes, including theft, having fake money, burglary, kidnapping and armed robbery. chandler would also father a total of eight children before his arrest, the latest one being whitney born in february, 1989 with his wife at the time debra chandler. between may and september of 1991 chandler worked as an informant for the us customs tampa office, at the same time as tampa police investigated the rogers family triple murder.