Karla Faye Tucker was born on November 18, 1959, in Houston, Texas. She was the youngest of three sisters in her family. Her father, Larry, worked as a longshoreman. Karla's parents had a troubled marriage, which eventually led to their divorce when she was ten years old. During this difficult time, Karla found out that her birth was the result of an extramarital affair.

As a child, Karla started smoking cigarettes with her sisters at the age of eight. By the time she was twelve, she had begun using drugs and became sexually active. Karla dropped out of school when she was just fourteen. She followed her mother, Carolyn, who was known as a rock groupie, into prostitution. This lifestyle led Karla to travel with several famous rock bands, including the Allman Brothers Band and the Eagles.

At the age of sixteen, Karla briefly married a handyman named Stephen Griffith. In her early twenties, she began associating with bikers. During this time, she met a woman named Shawn Dean and her husband, Jerry Lynn Dean. In 1981, they introduced Karla to a man named Daniel Ryan Garrett, who was fourteen years older than her. She started a relationship with Garrett when she was twenty-one years old.

After spending the weekend using drugs with Daniel Ryan Garrett and his friends, Karla Faye Tucker and Garrett entered Jerry Dean's apartment in Houston, Texas, around 3 a.m. on June 13, 1983. They intended to steal a motorcycle that Dean was restoring. A friend named James Liebrandt went with them. Liebrandt was looking for Dean's vehicle while Tucker and Garrett used a set of keys that Tucker claimed belonged to Shawn Dean.

While inside the apartment, Tucker and Garrett went into Dean's bedroom. Tucker sat on Dean to restrain him. In response, Dean grabbed Tucker's arms. Garrett then intervened by striking Dean multiple times in the back of the head with a ball-peen hammer he found in the room. After that, Garrett left to carry motorcycle parts out of the apartment. Tucker stayed in the bedroom. Dean made a gurgling sound as a result of the blows, prompting Tucker to want to silence him. She picked up a three-foot pickaxe from against the wall and struck Dean with it. Garrett returned and delivered a final blow to Dean's chest.

Garrett left the room again to continue loading the motorcycle parts. Tucker then noticed a woman, Deborah Ruth Thornton, who had been hiding under the bed covers. Thornton had spent the night in Dean's bed after attending a party. When Tucker saw her, she grazed Thornton's shoulder with the pickaxe. They began to struggle, but Garrett came back and separated them. Tucker then began hitting Thornton with the pickaxe repeatedly and embedded the pickaxe in her heart. Later, Tucker said she felt intense pleasure with each blow.

The following morning, one of Dean's co-workers entered the apartment and discovered both victims' bodies. The police investigation led to the arrests of Tucker and Garrett five weeks later. In September 1983, they were indicted for murder and tried separately. Tucker was charged with the murders of both Dean and Thornton. After she testified against Garrett, the charge for Thornton's murder was dropped, and Tucker entered a plea of not guilty.

After being jailed, Tucker read a Bible she got from prison ministries and experienced a religious conversion. In 1984, both Tucker and Garrett received the death penalty. Garrett died of liver disease in 1993 while awaiting execution. Tucker remained on death row, where she became known as a model prisoner.

In the years following her conviction, Tucker's supporters appealed for a commutation of her sentence, arguing that she had reformed and would not have committed the murders had she not been on drugs. Despite significant public support, her appeal was denied, and she was executed by lethal injection on February 3, 1998.

Her last meal request included a banana, a peach, and a garden salad. Tucker chose four people to witness her execution, including her sister and her husband. She expressed remorse in her final words and asked for peace for the victims' families. Tucker was pronounced dead shortly after the lethal injection was administered. She was buried in Houston, Texas.