Nicholas Lee Ingram was born on November 20, 1963, in Cambridge, England, to a British mother, Ann, and an American father, Johnny Ingram, a U.S. Air Force serviceman. At the age of one, his family relocated to Georgia, USA. In 1974, his parents separated, and his mother returned to the UK, leaving Nicholas and his siblings with their father in Georgia. This separation led to a strained relationship between Nicholas and his mother, with minimal contact for nearly a decade. During his adolescence, Ingram struggled with substance abuse, including alcohol and LSD, and had multiple encounters with the law, including burglary charges.

On June 3, 1983, 19-year-old Nicholas Ingram, under the influence of drugs and alcohol, armed himself with a pearl-handled .38 caliber revolver and approached the home of J.C. and Mary Sawyer in Marietta, Georgia. Claiming he needed to use the phone, he forced his way into their home, demanded money and car keys, and threatened them with violence. After obtaining $60 and the keys to their pickup truck, Ingram forced the couple into the woods behind their home. There, he tied them to a tree, gagged them with pieces of his shirt, and shot both in the head at point-blank range. J.C. Sawyer died instantly, while Mary Sawyer survived by feigning death and later identified Ingram as the assailant.

Following the crime, Ingram fled across several states, eventually reaching California, where he was arrested in Nebraska for driving under the influence. During questioning, he confessed to the murder in Georgia. Ingram was tried and convicted of malice murder, armed robbery, and aggravated assault, receiving a death sentence on his 20th birthday.

His case garnered international attention, with numerous appeals for clemency from British officials and human rights organizations, including the Archbishop of Canterbury. Despite these efforts, Georgia authorities proceeded with the execution. On April 7, 1995, Ingram was executed by electrocution at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison in Jackson, Georgia. Witnesses reported that he declined a final meal, requested a last cigarette (initially denied due to health concerns but later granted), and showed defiance until the end.