Christa Pike survived Tennessee’s attempt to execute her by lethal injection late on Wednesday, prison officials said.

Pike, convicted of murdering a schoolmate three decades ago, was taken to an off-site medical facility after both syringes of lethal chemicals were injected and she remained alive. Her condition was not immediately known.

The execution at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville would have been Tennessee’s first of a woman in more than 200 years. Pike’s lawyers filed a federal motion during the process seeking to halt it.

Pike, 50, was 18 in January 1995 when she and two companions lured 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a classmate at their Knoxville Job Corps center, into a wooded area where they tortured and killed her.

Her clemency petition, which cited childhood trauma and sexual abuse, was denied by Governor Bill Lee. The US Supreme Court had rejected a stay bid, and a brief appeals-court halt was lifted.

Why it matters: the failed execution raises fresh questions about lethal injection protocols, after witnesses reported Pike was still alive and snoring after both syringes.