Kelly Renée Gissendaner (née Brookshire; March 8, 1968 – September 30, 2015) was an American woman who was executed by the U.S. state of Georgia.

[3] According to sworn affidavits by friends and family members, she was molested by her stepfather and other men during her childhood and adolescence.

[6] On February 7, 1997, Gregory Bruce Owen (born March 17, 1971) hid near the couple's home in Auburn.

When Kelly arrived at the scene moments later, the two set fire to her husband's car and hid the body in the woods.

[3] Before trial, prosecutors offered both Owen and Gissendaner a plea deal of life in prison and no chance of parole for 25 years.

[1] Owen told a jury that Gissendaner had first approached him about "a way to get rid of" her husband three months before the murder.

[10] During theology studies, she became a student of Christian thinkers like Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Rowan Williams.

[7] Gissendaner's execution was scheduled for February 25, 2015, when a winter storm delayed it until March 2, 2015.

[1] Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, on behalf of Pope Francis, urged the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles to spare Gissendaner's life.

[12] Gissendaner's clemency application to the Board of Pardons included support from a number of correctional officers whom she had met while in prison.

[7] Norman S. Fletcher, the former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia, urged clemency because capital punishment was not proportional to her crime.

That amazing man lost his life because of me and if I could take it back, if this would change it, I would have done it a long time ago.