Richard Lee Tabler was born on February 5, 1979, in Tulare County, California. His early life was marked by family troubles. His parents, Lorraine and Robert, had a difficult marriage. According to court documents, Robert wanted Lorraine to have an abortion when she was pregnant with Tabler, but she did not go through with it. As a result, there were tensions in the household during Tabler's early years. Robert was often busy with work and personal issues, which kept him away from home. Lorraine also struggled to provide care, as she had a demanding job and often left Richard in the care of his older siblings.

By the time Tabler was ten years old, his mother left the family for good. After that, he lived with his father for most of his childhood. Tabler moved around during his adolescence, spending time in both Florida and Nevada with his mother and siblings, but mainly staying in California.

In school, Tabler found it challenging to keep up with his studies. He had trouble focusing and even had to repeat the third grade. He was often lonely and had only one friend during his childhood. When he was 12 years old, he was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Although his family said that he had a good nature, he also had a quick temper.

As he grew older, Tabler became engaged to a woman who had a daughter from a previous relationship, but their engagement ended before he was arrested. Throughout much of his adult life, Tabler faced legal issues, including charges of burglary, escape, and assault on a police officer. He served three years in prison for these offenses and had a history of threatening law enforcement officials and fellow inmates.

In 2003, Tabler was caught violating his parole. He even managed to escape from a patrol car while he was handcuffed at one point. After he was re-arrested, he threatened his parole officer, saying he would "take care" of him and his family.

Richard Tabler committed four murders in Killeen, Texas, between November 26 and November 28, 2004. His first set of victims were Mohamed-Amine Rahmouni and Haitham Frank Zayed. On Thanksgiving Day, Tabler and his accomplice, Timothy Doan Payne, shot Rahmouni, who was the manager of a nightclub where Tabler had previously worked. They also shot Zayed, a friend of Rahmouni. After the shootings, Tabler dragged the bodies out of their vehicle and shot Rahmouni again while he was still alive. Tabler stole items from the car and later bragged about the murders.

Two days later, on November 28, 2004, Tabler killed Amanda Benefield and Tiffany Loraine Dotson, both of whom were teenage dancers at the same club. He lured them by promising drugs and took them to a lake. There, he shot both girls multiple times. Tabler believed that they had implicated him in the earlier murders of Rahmouni and Zayed. After these killings, Tabler called the Sheriff's Office to taunt them and threatened further violence against others connected to the nightclub.

Tabler was arrested on November 28, 2004 for unrelated theft charges, but while in custody, he confessed to the four murders. Payne was also arrested after Tabler identified him as an accomplice in the Thanksgiving murders.

• 2005: Tabler and Payne were indicted for the Rahmouni and Zayed murders. Tabler was separately indicted for the Dotson and Benefield murders.
• 2007: Tabler’s trial for the Thanksgiving double murders began. On March 21, 2007, he was convicted of two counts of capital murder. On April 2, 2007, the jury sentenced him to death by lethal injection.

Payne was tried separately in November 2007, convicted of capital murder, and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole until 2044. Prosecutors had opted not to seek the death penalty for Payne. After his conviction, Tabler was housed on Texas Death Row at Allan B. Polunsky Unit. He attempted suicide in 2008 and was briefly transferred to a psychiatric unit. He repeatedly wrote letters asking courts to withdraw his appeals so he could be executed, though his lawyers argued he was not competent to make that decision. He made threats against law enforcement, corrections officers, and fellow inmates. Over nearly 18 years, his legal appeals were repeatedly denied at state, federal, and U.S. Supreme Court levels.

On February 13, 2025, at age 46, Richard Lee Tabler was executed by lethal injection at the Huntsville Unit in Texas. He was pronounced dead at 6:25 p.m.