Death row killer Christa Pike refuses last meal ahead of historic execution

A condemned woman set to become the first female executed in Tennessee in more than two centuries has declined to request a final meal ahead of her scheduled lethal injection on Wednesday morning.

Christa Pike, 50, is scheduled to be put to death at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, closing the chapter on one of the state's most notorious capital murder cases.

While death row inmates are traditionally permitted to select a customized final meal before their execution, the Tennessee Department of Correction confirmed that Pike chose not to submit any request.

Pike was sentenced to death for the savage January 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer.

Pike, who was 18 years old at the time, joined her then-boyfriend and another female acquaintance in luring Slemmer to an isolated woodland area on the University of Tennessee’s Knoxville campus, where they tortured and beat her to death.

Christa Pike is due to be executed on Wednesday

Her violent behavior continued behind bars. In August 2001, Pike was convicted of attempted murder and had 25 years added to her sentence after attempting to strangle fellow inmate Patricia Jones with a shoestring.

Years later, in March 2012, law enforcement thwarted an elaborate escape conspiracy involving a rogue corrections officer and an outside personal trainer who had been in regular correspondence with the inmate.

Her legal defense team spent years seeking to overturn the death sentence, highlighting severe trauma and abuse during Pike's childhood.

Those efforts culminated in a formal clemency petition submitted to Tennessee Governor Bill Lee. On Monday, Governor Lee formally shut down the effort, confirming he would not intervene to halt the execution.

In a letter sent to NBC News shortly before learning her clemency had been officially denied, Pike stated that she had accepted her fate.

“Whether my clemency is granted or not, I am at peace,” Pike wrote. “I am not afraid to die. I’m only nervous about the process.”

Colleen Slemmer was murdered at the age of 19 (First Coast News)

In recent interviews, Pike drew parallels between her legal trajectory and other high-profile female defendants, telling the Times of London she felt a "kinship" with Lindsay Clancy and was pleased Clancy received a mistrial.

“We are both females who got into trouble because of uniquely female issues,” Pike told the outlet. “I was a mentally ill 18-year-old girl who committed a crime with two other individuals and I was the only one to receive this sentence. There are so many women who don’t get the help they need: me and others.”

Ahead of Wednesday's scheduled execution, Pike formally petitioned prison authorities for an all-female execution team to administer the lethal injection, arguing that the presence of men during the procedure could cause severe psychological trauma.

State corrections officials confirmed they are considering the accommodation as final preparations move forward.