Tennessee is preparing for its first execution of a woman in more than 200 years after the state Supreme Court approved moving forward with the death sentence for Christa Gail Pike. Pike, now 49, has been on death row since she was convicted of killing 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in 1995, when she was just 18. Both were part of the Knoxville Job Corps program, but jealousy over Pike’s boyfriend, 17-year-old Tadaryl Shipp, led to a deadly attack.

Investigators say Pike, Shipp, and another student lured Slemmer into the woods, where Pike “used a box cutter to slash Slemmer’s throat,” struck her, carved a pentagram into her chest, and crushed her skull. One of the most shocking details was that Pike kept a piece of Slemmer’s skull. A detective recalled that “she was very giddy, laughed, very cooperative. She wanted to tell us all about it,” even showing how the fragment fit into the wound “like a puzzle.”

Pike was sentenced to death in 1996; Shipp received life without parole, and Shadolla Peterson got probation for testifying. Pike later received 25 more years for attempting to strangle an inmate in 2004. After decades of appeals, the state requested an execution date, now set for September 30, 2026.

Her attorneys argue that “Christa’s childhood was fraught with years of physical and sexual abuse and neglect,” and say she has shown remorse and become “a thoughtful woman.” They cite diagnoses including bipolar disorder and PTSD.

If carried out, Pike’s execution will be Tennessee’s first of a woman since 1820, following the state’s recent resumption of executions after updating its lethal injection protocols.