Christa Pike, on January 12, 1995, at just 18 years old, brutally murdered 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in a forest where she and two others had lured her. Slemmer was beaten and bludgeoned when she was ultimately killed by Pike who repeatedly smashed Slemmer’s head with a large chunk of asphalt.
During Pike’s trial, she rejected a plea deal that would have had her plead guilty and face life imprisonment. Instead, Pike was found guilty of first-degree murder and was initially sentenced to death by electrocution and 25 years in prison for conspiracy. Christa Pike had just become the youngest woman in the United States to be on death row.
In 2004, Pike attempted to strangle another inmate, Patricia Jones, with a shoestring. Later, in 2012, she was caught bribing individuals to help her escape from prison.
Over the course of Pike’s wait on death row, her legal counsel made multiple attempts to overturn the death sentence, yet all were denied. On September 30, 2025, the Tennessee Supreme Court issued a date for Pike’s execution to be on September 30, 2026, but Pike had the option between death by electrocution or lethal injection. A lot of people active on the internet believe that Pike should not have had the choice about how she would die since Slemmer, the young girl that she killed, did not.
On September 30, 2026, Pike was set to be executed, but the U.S. The Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit stayed her execution, as her attorney had “serious concerns.” However, the movement to prevent the execution failed with The U.S. Supreme Court overturning the motion and allowing the execution to go as planned that day.
At 7:26 pm, the dose was administered, and at 7:34, Pike complained that the vein in her arm “felt like it was going to bust.” At 7:41, the lethal injection was pushed through her IV lines. Pike did not lose consciousness, and Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol notes that if an individual remains alive five minutes after a first dose, a second dose is to be administered. At 8:05, they administered a second dose, but at 8:53, they heard Pike snoring.
After the botched execution attempt, Pike was transported to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where she remains in critical condition, intubated on a ventilator. When asked by community members about their thoughts, Senior Valentina Neyra said, “I am very surprised that she survived two injections. I wonder if they messed up during the administration process. Her crime was very disgusting, and I feel really bad for the victim’s family. It’s been many years, and the family still hasn’t received justice.”
This is the second failed execution this year in Tennessee. Senior Kalianna Stockbridge adds, “Although both lethal injections failed, I believe that when she recovers, she needs to do life in prison if they can’t execute her again. Her crime was deplorable, and she is a safety risk to others.”
Following public outrage, Department of Corrections Commissioner Frank Strada, head of the Tennessee prison system, announced his resignation. Strada was the department head who oversaw the lethal drugs in both failed executions. An investigation was launched regarding the failure. Slemmer’s mother, May Martinez, believes that the state owes her an apology and is considering pursuing legal action against them. Martinez believed she was finally receiving justice for her daughter, but said that after the failed execution, she believes the state is “laughing in her face, again.”
If Pike would have been executed successfully, she would be the 19th woman in America and the first in Tennessee in over 200 years to face the death penalty.
