Zachary Hawthorne was a high school dropout and factory worker in a meat processing plant in Franklin Tennessee. The youngest son of a working class family, Hawthorne's single father was a truck driver and his older brother was a marine. His mother passed away in 2010 after an accident with a drunk driver. He met his best friend Joshua Masterson in 2009 at Cookville High School. Both were boy scouts and members of the wrestling team. In 2014, Masterson converted Zachary to Islam.
In 2016, the two friends became ICO sympathizers and abducted James and Caroline Miller and their teenage daughter Susan in Knoxville, holding them hostage in a remote cabin in the woods. President Frank Underwood and Republican Nominee Will Conway were able to successfully negotiate the release of Caroline and Susan. While the FBI searched for the two terrorists, Underwood attempted to persuade them into releasing Jim Miller by bringing the imprisoned leader of ICO Yusuf al Ahmadi to the white house and compelling him to plead for the release of the last hostage. Sensing the deception, Masterson and Hawthorne proceeded to execute Jim Miller live on social media. The two were hunted down by the FBI and Zachary was killed in a firefight while his friend was successfully captured.
His interests include military history, hunting, auto repair, graphic novels and sketching.