First woman to be executed in US state in over 200 years shares fear before she dies

Christa Pike is the only woman currently on Tennessee's death row, and just days before her death date, she has spoken out about the impact it has had on her.

Pike was turned into the youngest woman to be sentenced to death in American history after being sentenced in the death of Colleen Slemmer, 19 in 1996.

At the time, Pike was just 18 years old and was handed a death sentence for the torture and killing of the teen.

Having spent 30 years behind bars, the 50-year-old's execution date has been set for September 30, where – if all goes to plan – she'll die via lethal injection.

At that point, Pike will be the first woman to be executed in Tennessee for 200 years.

And Pike has admitted to her one major fear about it.

Christa Pike is set to be executed on September 30 (YouTube/WKRNNews2)

In the new documentary, Dead Woman Walking: Pike Vs Tennessee, Pike explained her worries about being executed.

“I know I said I believed a date would never be set, but now that one has been set, it’s like a roulette wheel of thought and your actual brain is the ball bouncing around,” she said in the doc.

“My nerves are shredded. When I do sleep, my brain eats itself. I have the most horrible nightmares, but I think what has been worse is that they told me a year ahead of time. And so, every day I’ve woken up and lived that thought all day, every day, every waking moment.”

Pike said ahead of the looming death date: “I have the most horrible nightmares. But I think what has been worse is that they told me a year ahead of time. And so every day, I have woken up and lived that thought all day, every day, every waking moment.”

The fear, she said, focuses on not being able to establish an IV line after the botched attempt of death row inmate, Tony Carruthers, in May of this year.

He has since been granted a one-year reprieve from death after his execution was called off for being unable to find a suitable vein.

“The only place they can draw my blood is in my hands with a very tiny needle, and I know from reading our protocol that they aren’t allowed to put the IV in my hands,” Pike explained. “So I don’t know what they’re going to do, and I’m so scared that what just happened to Tony Carruthers will happen to me.”

Pike will be put to death for the murder of Colleen, who she lured into an isolated spot on the University of Tennessee campus on January 12, 1995.

There, she tortured and killed her with the help of then-boyfriend Tadaryl Ship, with friend Shadolla Peterson, witnessing the crime.

Upon the discovery of satanic symbols engraved on the teen’s body, Pike was branded a devil worshipper, which she has refuted.

Once found guilty, Pike was convicted of murder and conspiracy to commit murder and was sentenced to death, Shipp received a life sentence with the possibility of parole, and Peterson received six years of probation after pleading guilty to being an accessory.

While Pike's lawyers tried to delay the execution and failed, they have been able to ensure Pike is injected by an all-female team after petitioning that due to her past history of sexual abuse, would be put through more harm to be injected by men.