Christa Gail Pike, 49, is set to become the first woman executed in Tennessee in over 200 years after the state’s Supreme Court confirmed her execution date for September 30, 2026. Pike was convicted in 1996 for the brutal murder of her classmate, Colleen Slemmer, when she was just 18.

Prosecutors said Pike, along with her boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp and friend Shadolla Peterson, lured Slemmer into the woods “under the pretence that they would squash a conflict around a boy.” Instead, Slemmer was “savagely beaten, stabbed, and bludgeoned to death,” and a pentagram was carved into her chest. Pike reportedly kept part of her victim’s skull as a trophy.

During her sentencing, Pike broke down in tears, pleading, “Can I please hug my mom before I go? Please, can I hug her? I love you,” before being led away. She was sentenced to death by electrocution and 25 years for conspiracy.

Since her conviction, Pike has remained the only woman on Tennessee’s death row. Her lawyers now seek a life sentence, citing her abusive childhood and later-diagnosed bipolar and PTSD conditions. Pike wrote from prison that she has “changed drastically,” admitting, “I took the life of someone’s child, sister, friend. It sickens me now.”