Tennessee is preparing to execute a woman for the first time in more than two centuries, after the state’s Supreme Court set the execution date for Christa Gail Pike, the only woman on Tennessee’s death row.

The State of Tennessee filed a motion on Sept. 30 to set an execution date for Pike, 49, per documents seen by Fox News Digital. She is scheduled to be executed on Sept. 30, 2026. 

If the execution goes ahead, Pike looks to be the first woman executed in Tennessee since 1820 and only the fourth in the state’s history. 

Records from the Death Penalty Information Center note that Martin Eve, listed as a woman, was executed by hanging in 1820 for accessory to murder.

Christa Gail Pike was 18 when she tortured and killed 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)

Defense attorneys have argued that Pike’s young age, history of abuse, and later diagnoses of bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder should exempt her from execution. 

“Christa’s childhood was fraught with years of physical and sexual abuse and neglect,” her attorneys said in a statement. 

“With time and treatment, she has become a thoughtful woman with deep remorse for her crime,” Wednesday’s statement read.

Tennessee recently carried out an execution in 2025, after resuming capital punishment following a three-year pause to review lethal injection drug testing.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Christa Pike’s attorney for further comment.