During the day, Harold Wayne Nichols appeared to be a loving husband beloved by his wife. He was a serial predator who attacked and raped women at night when they were most vulnerable.
Harold Wayne Nichols’ last words before his execution
After his execution, Harold Wayne Nichols’ last words were recounted by Tennessee reporter Kirsten Ficus.
Tennessee has executed a serial rapist known as the “Red-Headed Stranger” for brutally attacking and murdering a promising young college student in her bed.
Harold Wayne Nichols, 64, was executed on Thursday, December 11th, for the rape and murder of 20-year-old Karen Pulley, who he beat, raped, and left for dead in 1988. This is the 46th execution this year in the United States, a figure not seen since 2010, and the third in Tennessee.
“To the people I hurt, I’m sorry,” Nichols said in his final words as he was strapped to the execution stretcher. “Family, please know that I love you…I know where I’m going and I’m ready to come home.”
Nichols was pronounced dead at 10:39 a.m. CT, shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his appeal.
Pulley’s brother-in-law, Jeff Monroe, said after the execution that Pulley’s family had been waiting for justice for 37 years.
“There were many victims, but they were carefully followed and attacked,” he said. “The crimes, and many of them, were premeditated, violent and horrific. On a September night in 1988, our family was destroyed by evil. Karen was raped and brutally beaten to death in her bedroom, left to die alone, horribly injured, broken, bleeding and terrified.”
He added that no punishment can make up for the harm done to Pulley’s murder or Nichols’ surviving victims.
“But this is a start,” he said. “We are relieved that the nightmare is over and we take comfort in knowing he will never be able to hurt another person again.”
Nichols was living a double life in Chattanooga at the time of his arrest. By all accounts he was a loving husband, and his wife loved and doted on him during the day. He was a serial predator who would relentlessly attack women at night when they were most vulnerable, including his own wedding anniversary.
According to an archived Associated Press article, Nichols admitted to attacking the woman, saying he felt a “strange energy-filled feeling” when he attacked her.
Nichols’ lawyers have argued that he deserved a pardon because he pled guilty and rehabilitated himself in prison, but in a statement they said the only purpose of his execution was “retribution.”
“At this point, we should not seek solace in the empty excuse that Wayne’s execution somehow served justice,” they said. “Instead, our country sent a message that we cannot overcome the crimes we committed decades ago and that we do not deserve mercy for salvation.”
Here’s what you need to know about executions, crimes, and who Karen Pooley is.
USA TODAY Network reporter talks about executions
When the death chamber blinds opened Thursday morning, Nichols’ executioners had already strapped him to a stretcher, had an IV line in his right arm and a sheet up to his belly button, reported media witness Kristen Ficus of The Tennessean, part of the USA TODAY Network.
After the last words were spoken, deadly chemicals began flowing into Nichols’ body. With tears in his eyes, he repeated Psalm 23 and the Lord’s Prayer with his spiritual director. Ficus said that by 10:30 a.m., Nichols was breathing rapidly and was moaning, and by 10:31 there were no more obvious signs of breathing. She said his face turned red during the execution and turned purple by 10:36 a.m.
Ficus reported that Nichols’ sister was in the witness room and very emotional.
What was Harold Wayne Nichols’ last meal?
Nichols’ last meal was beef brisket, baked potatoes, onion rings, coleslaw, deviled eggs, cheese biscuits and fruit tea, The Tennessean previously reported.
What was Harold Wayne Nichols convicted of?
On September 30, 1988, 20-year-old Karen Pooley was in bed when Nichols climbed through her bathroom window, hit her over the head with a 2-by-4-inch piece of wood, and then raped her.
“Mr. Nichols then struck her several more times in the head with the two-by-four, shattering her skull and leaving her on the floor bleeding and unconscious,” the federal appellate opinion said.
Pulley’s roommate found him the next morning lying in a pool of blood, but still alive. She died later that day at a nearby hospital.
This was the first of at least a dozen attacks by Nichols in Chattanooga from September 1988 to early 1989. Police said Nichols stalked women who were single or simply home alone.
About a month after Pulley’s murder, Nichols struck again, attacking a 23-year-old woman who had left her door unlocked for her husband at night. Nichols came and hit her over the head with a candlestick and raped her.
On November 1, 1988, his second wedding anniversary with his wife, Nichols attacked another woman, forced her to wear clothes of his own choosing, then raped her at knifepoint.
On January 3, 1989, he raped three women separately, including two single mothers who threatened their children, and attempted to rape a fourth woman, all within four hours of each other, according to court records.
Prosecutors charged Nichols with murder, rape, robbery and assault. He was sentenced to death for Pulley’s murder and 200 years in prison for other crimes.
Killer’s wife says she knew nothing about the attack
Nichols’ wife said she was “obsessed” with her husband before his arrest, according to court records.
She said Nichols, an assistant manager at Godfather’s Pizza, began staying up all night in the summer of 1988 and suspected he was having an affair.
When police questioned her, she initially said there was no way she could have committed the rape on Memorial Day because Nichols was with her. “However, she later discovered that he had left in the middle of the night,” according to the federal appellate opinion.
According to court records, Nichols gave various excuses for his absence, including telling his wife he was going to buy hamburgers.
His wife testified for the defense and said Nichols eventually confessed his guilt to her. He admitted to her that he was dangerous and “shouldn’t be on the streets,” according to court records.
Nichols testified that she knew the rape was wrong but felt she had no choice. “Under cross-examination, Nichols acknowledged that had he not been arrested, he would have continued to prowl at night and continue to rape women,” the federal judge wrote.
Who is Karen Pooley?
Pulley, a former high school cheerleader, had just graduated from Bible school and was studying to become a paralegal at Chattanooga State Community College when she was killed.
Karen Pooley’s sister and last living relative, Lisette Monroe, was 23 years old at the time and living in Colorado with her husband, Jeff Monroe. The couple had planned a trip to Chattanooga to introduce their 18-month-old daughter to her aunt.
“She was a young, innocent, good Christian woman,” Lisette Monroe told The Tennessean. “A girl who would never hurt anyone.”
Jeff Monroe told reporters Thursday that Pulley was “bubbly, happy and selfless.”
“She was looking forward to life in front of her,” he says.
Lisette Monroe recalled that as girls, the sisters often fought over makeup and hairbrushes, but they were always close. Growing up, they exchanged dozens of handwritten letters while she and Jeff were stationed in the Philippines in the Air Force. Pooley discussed the boy she was dating and the early stages of her studies at Chattanooga State University.
If she could write another letter to her sister, she said, she would start with “I love you.”
“And I miss you more than I know how to express,” she continued. “I wish I had been here to see your nieces grow up and follow in her footsteps and see what beautiful and strong women they have become.”
The process to bring Nichols to justice was slow due to numerous appeals over several decades, she said, adding that her parents had died long before her execution. Her father passed away in February 1995 and her mother passed away on Christmas Day 2012.
Jeff Monroe said the family will now “focus on happy memories with Karen and never be traumatized by this monster again.”
Who is Harold Wayne Nichols?
Harold Wayne Nichols had a turbulent childhood in Tennessee. His mother died of cancer when he was 10, and his father was a “mean, abusive and downright despicable man,” according to a federal judge’s order.
According to court records, Nichols and her sister were repeatedly physically abused by their father. The children were eventually placed in a church-run orphanage, where they experienced abuse at the hands of foster parents, according to court records.
After Nichols’ arrest, clinical psychologist Eric Engham diagnosed him with intermittent explosive disorder, largely due to his childhood.
On the day he was sentenced to death, Nichols explained in a pardon video how Pooley’s mother, Anne, asked to speak with him on the phone and gave her a Bible with a prayer for salvation.
“She told me, ‘I forgive you because I don’t want to carry that around with me. Karen doesn’t want that either,'” he said, adding that she told him he could prove he deserved forgiveness by changing his life.
“Being given the opportunity to be forgiven will be a part of me forever,” Nichols said through tears as she held a Bible in her hand.
Nichols’ lawyers said she took that message to heart and was “inspired by his great spirit.”
“After years of difficult self-effort and coming to terms with his own trauma and the pain he caused others, Wayne, against all odds, emerged as a trustworthy, responsible and caring person, greatly respected and loved by many,” they said. “He has transformed into the kind of man Karen Pooley’s mother, Ann Pooley, challenged him to be 35 years ago.”
They added: “Wayne will forever remain in our hearts.”
When is the next execution?
Two more executions are scheduled this year, both next week.
Georgia is scheduled to execute Stacey Humphries on Wednesday, Dec. 17, for the murders of two real estate agents who were forcibly stripped, robbed and shot to death in 2003.
And on Thursday, Dec. 18, the state of Florida is scheduled to execute Frank Asen Walls, a teenage serial killer who murdered four women and one man between 1985 and 1987, but police say it was sexually motivated.
If these executions go ahead, the United States will put to death 48 people this year, a number not reached since 2009. Death penalty experts believe the increase is due to the political climate under pro-death penalty President Donald Trump and a more conservative U.S. Supreme Court.
