

For a brief period of time Maniscalco considered becoming a forensic psychologist, going as far as to take Criminal Justice and Science courses. Maniscalco studied Fine Art at a college in New York City before later transferring into Communication Design at F.I.T.

Maniscalco credits her father's anatomy books and sculptures for her interest in forensics, which later led to her inspiration for Stalking Jack the Ripper. Her father, a retired chiropractor, is Sicilian, and her mother is of "Irish descent with Eastern European and distant Spanish and Jewish roots." Maniscalco is third-generation American, and she celebrates Italian American traditions.

She was raised by her parents in Hudson Valley, New York. Kerri Maniscalco is the best-selling author of the young adult Stalking Jack the Ripper a quartet, and the young adult fantasy series, Kingdom of the Wicked.
