Christa Pike reportedly asked a disturbing question moments after lethal injection began during an execution that quickly turned chaotic. According to WKRN journalist Tori Gessner, who witnessed the procedure, Pike said at around 7:34 p.m., “My arm feels like it’s about to burst open,” before asking, “Does this happen like that?” The 50-year-old Tennessee death row inmate had been scheduled to die at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. Pike had spent roughly three decades on death row. Her execution had already faced uncertainty after a federal appeals court temporarily paused the procedure while considering arguments from her lawyers about her history of childhood abuse and neglect. The U.S. Supreme Court later lifted the stay, allowing Tennessee to proceed. After the first injection, witnesses reported that Pike continued moving and making sounds. Some said she blinked, smiled, laughed and complained about pain in her body.

The procedure ultimately lasted more than two hours, with witnesses describing an unusual and confusing scene. WVLT reporter Will Puckett said he saw a tear roll down Pike’s face and heard her complain that “one spot is really throbbing.” He later described her taking deep breaths, lifting her head and repeatedly moving her feet beneath the sheet. After the curtain closed, witnesses reportedly continued hearing sounds resembling snoring. They were eventually escorted from the witness area around 8:53 p.m., while an ambulance later left Riverbend with Pike inside and transported her to an outside medical facility. Tennessee officials said the Department of Correction followed the state’s established execution protocol. The protocol permits a second round of injections if an inmate is not declared dead after the first, but does not clearly explain what should happen if that attempt also fails. Before the injection, Pike had delivered a markedly different final statement, saying she would leave the world “in love” and declaring, “I’m at peace. I’m ready to be free.”