Irene Schroeder was born Irene Crawford on February 17, 1909, in Benwood, West Virginia. She grew up in a small town during a time when life was often difficult for many families. At the young age of 15, she got married to Homer Shrader. A year after their wedding, they had a son named Donnie. However, the marriage did not last long. Irene soon decided to leave Homer and moved to Wheeling, West Virginia. After leaving her husband, Irene took a job as a waitress to support herself. It was there that she met Walter Glenn Dague, who became her lover. 

On December 27, 1929, Irene Schroeder, along with her brother Tom Crawford and Walter Glenn Dague, was involved in a grocery store robbery in Butler, Pennsylvania. After they committed the crime, they tried to escape but were stopped by two police officers, Brady Paul and Ernest Moore. A shootout broke out between the group and the officers. During this shootout, Officer Paul was killed, and Officer Moore was wounded. After the incident, Schroeder, Crawford, and Dague fled the scene and went into hiding, leaving Irene's four-year-old son, Donnie, with a family member.

Irene changed the spelling of her last name from Shrader to Schroeder to confuse the police. Donnie was later interviewed by police, and his statement was crucial in the case against his mother. He mentioned that he saw her shoot a police officer and that Uncle Tom shot another officer.

After a lengthy manhunt, Irene and Dague were captured following another shootout in Arizona. They were brought back to Pennsylvania for trial. Tom Crawford was never caught; authorities believed he might have died in a different shootout in Texas. In the trial, both Irene and Dague were convicted and sentenced to death by electrocution.

Irene was executed on February 23, 1931. At 7:05 a.m., she faced her execution wearing a gray dress and other specific clothing items. Her executioner noted that she appeared calm and fearless. Before her execution, she spoke to her son, telling him she was not afraid and to be a good boy. On the same day, Dague was also executed.