Christa Pike, 50, is set to become the first woman executed in Tennessee in over 200 years on 30 September, following decades of legal battles over her 1995 murder conviction for torturing and killing 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. The Tennessee Supreme Court rejected her final appeals this week, clearing the way for the execution despite her legal team’s arguments about her traumatic childhood and mental health struggles.
Pike, now 50, was 18 when she and her boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp murdered Colleen Slemmer, a 19-year-old student at a job-training camp in Knoxville in January 1995. Slemmer’s body was found with a pentagram carved into her chest, and Pike was sentenced to death in 1996. Shipp, who was 17 at the time of the murder, received a life sentence. The crime took place on 12 January 1995, and occurred on the University of Tennessee’s Agricultural Campus.
A History of Abuse and Legal Challenges
Time running out for Tennessee killer Christa Pike who
Pike’s legal team has long argued that her childhood trauma—including repeated sexual abuse, neglect, and abandonment—significantly influenced her actions. A 1995 report by forensic psychologist Dr. Diana McCoy documented Pike’s abuse by multiple family members and boyfriends, including rapes at ages 11 and 17. However, McCoy’s findings were not presented at Pike’s trial, and a 2023 assessment by Dr. Bethany Brand highlighted her untreated bipolar disorder and PTSD, which Brand said absolutely influenced her perception of threat during the murder. A federal appeals court determined that the jury was aware of her challenging childhood and that additional evidence would not have altered the verdict.
Victim’s Family Supports Execution
Colleen Slemmer’s mother, May Martinez, has consistently supported the execution, stating, She did the crime. I think she should pay for it.
The Justice Coalition, a victims’ rights group, has raised funds to help Martinez travel to Tennessee to witness the execution. Robert Bracewell, the group’s executive director, emphasized that the sentence was determined by a jury and reflects the family’s desire for justice. We stand firm with the family that on the 30 September her execution ought to proceed,
Bracewell said.
Pike’s friend Ashlee Sellars, who met her in prison, described the conflict between recognizing Pike’s humanity and the gravity of her crime. When I think about reconciling who you see on TV or the horrible tragedy that happened with Colleen, the only thing that makes sense to me is around mental health and trauma,
Sellars said. Pike recently told Sellars she did not want loved ones present during the execution, saying, She doesn’t want us to experience that.
Legal and Medical Controversies
Pike’s legal team challenged Tennessee’s single-drug lethal injection protocol, citing her thrombocytosis, a condition affecting her veins, and PTSD.
Pike’s lawyers have also highlighted that if she were tried today, her history of abuse and mental illness might prevent a death sentence.
Who Is Christa Pike? First Woman Set To Be
The Final Days
Despite her legal team’s efforts, Governor Bill Lee has not granted clemency, and the execution proceeds as planned. Her final words, shared with Sellars, reflected her plea for her life to matter: Christa in this moment, I think she is fighting much more for her life to matter than she is to actually live.
Pike’s execution is scheduled for 30 September, following the Tennessee Supreme Court’s denial of a stay on 23 September. The court ruled that Pike’s legal team’s arguments about the lethal injection protocol did not meet the threshold for halting the execution. Her legal team has filed a 226-page clemency petition, highlighting a documented history of childhood sexual abuse, abandonment, and neglect, along with later diagnoses of bipolar disorder and PTSD. Two other camp residents later gave testimony that Pike had recounted the murder both before and after, and displayed a fragment of Slemmer’s skull to them.
The execution would make Pike the first woman Tennessee has executed in more than 200 years. The state’s Department of Correction has confirmed the date, and the Justice Coalition has reiterated its support for the family’s desire for justice.