This undated photo released by the Tennessee Department of Corrections shows Harold Wayne Nichols, who was put to death by injection. Read more Uncredited / AP

by Travis Loller , Associated Press Published Dec. 11, 2025, 1:44 p.m. ET

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee executed Harold Wayne Nichols by injection Thursday in Nashville for the 1988 rape and murder of Karen Pulley, a 20-year-old student at Chattanooga State University.

Nichols, 64, had confessed to killing Pulley as well as raping several other women in the Chattanooga area. Although he expressed remorse at trial, he admitted he would have continued his violent behavior had he not been arrested. He was sentenced to death in 1990.

“To the people I’ve harmed, I’m sorry,” Nichols said in his final statement. Before Nich

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