Tennessee has executed a serial rapist, dubbed the "red-headed stranger," for the brutal murder of a young college student attacked in her bed.
Harold Wayne Nichols, 64, was executed by lethal injection on Thursday, Dec. 11, for the 1988 rape and murder of 20-year-old Karen Pulley, who was bludgeoned, raped, and left for dead. It's the 46th execution in the U.S. this year −a number not seen since 2010 − and the third in Tennessee.
Nichols was pronounced dead at 10:39 a.m. CT just after the U.S. Supreme Court denied his final appeal.
"To the people I've harmed, I'm sorry," Nichols said as part of his last words. "To my family, know that I love you ... I know where I'm going so I'm ready to go home."
Jeff Monroe, Pulley's brother-in-law, said on behalf of the family after the execution that they've been waiting for justice for 37 years.
