The Murder of Colleen Slemmer
Pike was 18 when Colleen Slemmer, a 19-year-old fellow student at the Knoxville Job Corps, was killed in January 1995.
According to court records and subsequent reporting, Pike, her boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp, and another young woman, Shadolla Peterson, were involved in luring Slemmer to a secluded area near the University of Tennessee’s agricultural campus.
Slemmer was beaten and stabbed during the attack. A pentagram was carved into her chest, and Pike later retained part of Slemmer’s skull.
The brutality of the killing attracted significant attention during a period when fears surrounding so-called “satanic” crimes were prominent in the United States.
Pike was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in 1996.
Her co-defendants received different sentences. Shipp was 17 when Slemmer was killed and was sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole. Peterson received a substantially shorter sentence after cooperating with prosecutors.
Pike’s Attorneys Focused on Her Childhood and Mental Health
Pike’s legal team has spent years arguing that her background should be considered when determining whether her death sentence should be carried out.
Her clemency petition described a childhood marked by sexual abuse, rape, and neglect. Her attorneys also cited diagnoses of bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder that emerged during her incarceration.
The defense has argued that these experiences, along with Pike’s age at the time of the murder, provide important mitigating context.
They requested that Gov. Lee commute the death sentence to life imprisonment without parole.
The petition did not dispute the fact that Pike was convicted of Slemmer’s murder. Instead, it argued that her background, development, mental health, and subsequent conduct in prison should be considered when deciding whether execution remains appropriate.
Pike’s lawyers have also argued that she has expressed remorse and changed significantly during more than three decades of incarceration.
Governor Bill Lee Denied Clemency
The clemency request ultimately did not succeed.
On September 28, Gov. Bill Lee announced that he would not intervene in Pike’s case and would allow the state’s sentence to stand.
Pike’s attorneys expressed disappointment following the decision.
The governor’s decision left the courts as the remaining avenue for a last-minute intervention.
The Supreme Court Rejected Pike’s Final Stay Request
Pike’s attorneys also challenged Tennessee’s lethal-injection procedures.
Their legal filings argued that the state’s execution protocol could create an unconstitutional risk of severe suffering, including because of Pike’s psychological conditions and history of trauma. They also raised constitutional challenges concerning how Tennessee handles litigation over execution procedures.
The Tennessee Supreme Court had already declined to halt the execution.
Pike then sought relief from the U.S. Supreme Court.
On September 29, the Supreme Court denied her application for a stay and denied her petition for a writ of certiorari. The ruling left the scheduled execution in place.
Unless another last-minute order intervenes, Tennessee is therefore proceeding with the execution scheduled for Wednesday morning.
Pike Requested Changes to the Execution Procedure
The legal dispute has also involved the way the execution would be carried out.
Pike’s attorneys requested that female corrections personnel be used in the execution chamber because they argue that being physically handled by male staff could trigger traumatic memories associated with the sexual abuse she experienced as a child.
Her attorneys have also challenged Tennessee’s lethal-injection procedure more broadly. Trauma experts who supported her legal arguments warned of what they described as a substantial risk of retraumatization.
The state has made some accommodations concerning Pike’s transportation and confinement before the execution, but it has not guaranteed that only women will be present in the execution chamber.
Pike had also requested hanging as an alternative method of execution, a request that has not replaced the state’s scheduled lethal-injection procedure.
Slemmer’s Family Has Supported the Execution
For Colleen Slemmer’s family, the case has never been only a legal proceeding.
Slemmer’s mother, May Martinez, has continued to speak publicly about her daughter’s death and has said she plans to attend the execution.
Martinez has rejected calls for leniency and has expressed the view that Pike should remain accountable for what happened to her daughter. She has also questioned Pike’s claims of personal change over the decades since the murder.
For the Slemmer family, the scheduled execution represents the latest chapter in a case that began in 1995 and has remained part of their lives for more than 30 years.
A Case That Raises Difficult Questions About Age and Punishment
Pike’s case has drawn attention beyond Tennessee because she was 18 when she committed the crime.
The U.S. Supreme Court has prohibited the death penalty for crimes committed by people under 18. Pike’s case falls outside that constitutional prohibition because she was legally an adult at the time of the murder.
Her attorneys nevertheless argue that her age and developmental circumstances should be considered as mitigating factors.
They also point out that other people sentenced to death in Tennessee for crimes committed at age 18 have subsequently had their death sentences vacated. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Pike is now the only person remaining on Tennessee’s death row who was 18 at the time of the offense.
The case therefore sits at the intersection of several longstanding issues: capital punishment, the treatment of young offenders, mental health, childhood trauma, victims’ rights, and the possibility of rehabilitation.
The Final Hours
Pike’s execution is scheduled for 10 a.m. CDT on September 30 at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution.
The Tennessee Department of Correction has prepared for media coverage and selected official media witnesses for the execution.
Pike’s legal options have narrowed dramatically following the governor’s clemency decision and the Supreme Court’s rejection of her final stay request.
For Slemmer’s family, the day represents a moment they have anticipated for decades.
For Pike, it represents the culmination of a death sentence imposed after a murder committed when she was 18.
And for observers of the case, the scheduled execution has brought renewed attention to difficult questions about punishment, rehabilitation, trauma, and the consequences of committing a capital offense at the very beginning of adulthood.
As of September 30, 2026, Christa Pike remains scheduled to be executed by lethal injection at 10 a.m. CDT in Nashville.
