Toni Jo Henry was born Annie Beatrice McQuiston on January 3, 1916, in Shreveport, Louisiana. She was the third of five children in her family. During her early years, she lived with her grandmother while her mother was ill with tuberculosis. Tragically, her mother passed away when Toni was just six years old. After her mother’s death, Toni moved in with her father and stepmother but often wished to return to her grandmother's home.

At the age of thirteen, Toni worked part-time in a macaroni factory. However, she lost this job when the manager discovered that tuberculosis ran in her family. Afterward, her father punished her for losing the job. This event caused Toni to leave home. She then became involved in street hustling and prostitution, adopting the name Toni Jo Hood. She later worked in a brothel in Shreveport's red-light district. During this time, she also became addicted to cocaine and traveled to different areas in Louisiana and South Texas to continue her work.

In 1939, while in Austin, Texas, Toni met a man named Claude Henry, who was one of her customers. Claude was a struggling prize fighter known as Cowboy, and he fell in love with Toni. They got married on November 25, 1939, and went on a honeymoon in Southern California. 

Toni Jo Henry, along with an accomplice named Harold "Arkie" Burks, planned to rob a bank to find a way to break her husband out of prison. They recruited two teenagers to steal guns and ammunition. While hitchhiking, they were picked up by Joseph P. Calloway, who was not aware of their intentions. As they drove through Louisiana, Toni Jo and Arkie robbed him at gunpoint. They locked him in the trunk of his car and drove to a remote area.

Once there, they pulled the car over and ordered Calloway out. He was told to strip, as Toni Jo needed his clothes for her husband. Afterward, Calloway was shot in the head with a .32 caliber revolver, killing him instantly. Following the murder, Arkie left Toni Jo and the car while they were in Camden, Arkansas.

After the crime, Toni Jo returned to Shreveport by bus and confided in her aunt about the murder. Her aunt reported this to the authorities, leading to Toni Jo's arrest. During her police interview, she confessed and showed them where to find Calloway's body.

Toni Jo's first trial garnered significant media attention. Despite claiming that Arkie was the one who shot Calloway, she was convicted and sentenced to death by hanging. She successfully appealed for a new trial due to concerns about the influence of media coverage on the jury.

In the second trial, Arkie testified against her, and once again, she was convicted and sentenced to death. She appealed yet again, resulting in a third trial, which also ended in a conviction. This time, her appeal was denied.

While imprisoned, Toni Jo formed a friendship with Father Wayne Richard, a local priest, who later baptized her. Over time, Louisiana changed its execution method from hanging to electrocution. On November 28, 1942, Toni Jo was executed in the electric chair in the basement of the Calcasieu Parish courthouse. She was the first woman to be executed in Louisiana's electric chair. Four days before her execution, her husband escaped from prison to see her but was soon recaptured. He later died from a shooting in Dallas while on parole.