Pike, now 50, has been locked up since 1995 for killing her former classmate, Colleen Slemmer, that same year. Court records show the two were students together at the Job Corps Center in Knoxville when Pike, then 18, tortured and killed Slemmer, 19, allegedly over comments Slemmer made about Pike's relationship.
Pike's boyfriend and another friend helped carry out the attack, according to the records. The case has drawn attention well beyond Tennessee.
If the execution goes forward as scheduled, it closes out a three-decade legal saga that started with a killing between two teenagers at a job training center. Historians note the state has not executed a woman since the early 1800s, a span covering wars, statehood changes and generations of criminal justice reform.
The case highlights how uncommon female executions remain in the United States, even as the death penalty itself continues to draw legal challenges and public scrutiny nationwide.