Inmate's chilling reason why she shouldn't be put to death as US state prepares to execute first woman in over 200 years

A woman who has been given her execution date has given a chilling reason why she should be spared.

Christa Gail Pike became the youngest person to go to death row at the age of 20 after a jury found her guilty of torturing and murdering her classmate.

Pike's victim was Colleen Slemmer, whom she lured to her brutal death in a remote woodland in Knoxville in 1995.

The 19-year-old victim was beaten, stabbed, bludgeoned and had a pentagram carved into her chest in the violent attack.

Pike, 18 at the time of the crime, allegedly thought Slemmer was trying to steal her boyfriend and reportedly delivered the killing blow to her skull.

A court heard Slemmer's body was so badly beaten a groundskeeper initially thought it was the corpse of an animal.

The convicted killer also reportedly kept a fragment of Slemmer's skull as a trophy and showed it to others around the University of Tennessee campus.

Christa Gail Pike has been behind bars for 30 years (Tennessee Department of Correction)

Now, her execution date has finally been set for September 30, 2026, where Pike will be the 19th woman to be executed in the US since 1976 and the first in Tennessee in 200 years.

Pike has been quite vocal about the verdict, stating she knows she 'deserves' to be behind bars 'for the rest of my life.'

"I know I don't deserve to be out walking around with everybody else in normal society. I did something horrible that is unacceptable and I realize that," she said from her prison cell in a documentary filmed by WEtv.

However, Christa says she doesn't 'deserve' to die for the crime she committed more than three decades ago and for what she says is 'the action of three individuals.'

She was just 20 when she was sentenced to death row (WEtv)

"I'm only one person," Christa reiterated.

Her chilling claim comes as Pike did not act alone in the murder, with her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, convicted of first-degree murder for his role in the crime, too.

Shipp was sentenced to life in prison, dodging the death penalty due to being 17 at the time of the murder, and will become eligible for parole in November.

Pike's friend, Shadolla Peterson, was also involved in the crime though claimed she only watched it happen and testified against Pike in court. She was ultimately sentenced to probation.

Attorneys representing Pike have long argued for her execution date to be delayed indefinitely, stating she ought to serve life in prison without the possibility of parole instead.

They further argue had Pike been tried now, a jury would not be in favor of the death penalty for an 18-year-old.

Her team further allege Pike's crime stemmed from a 'horrific childhood' which wasn't heard in court during her sentencing in 1996.

They state her younger years were 'fraught with years of physical and sexual abuse and neglect.'