The Independent
· collected 2026-09-29 · by Kim Chandler and Kristin M. Hall
Story summary
Christa Pike, 50, is set to be executed by lethal injection on Wednesday in Tennessee, marking the first time a woman will be put to death in the state in over 200 years. Pike was convicted of murdering Colleen Slemmer, her 19-year-old classmate at Knoxville Job Corps, in January 1995 when she herself was only 18. Prosecutors claimed Pike feared Slemmer as a romantic rival and tortured and killed her alongside her boyfriend.
Pike’s attorneys argue that the death penalty is inappropriate given Pike's troubled childhood of sexual abuse and neglect, which they claim would influence a modern jury to not sentence her to death. However, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has denied Pike’s request for clemency, stating he will uphold the state's sentence.
Slemmer's mother supports the execution after waiting decades for justice. The case garnered significant public attention due to its brutality and because of satanic symbols carved into Slemmer's body. As of now, only 18 women have been executed in the U.S. since the 1970s compared to 1,663 men. Pike’s legal team is still seeking a last-minute reprieve from the Supreme Court due to her PTSD and concerns over psychological trauma during execution.
Written for “Tennessee Woman Execution” on 2026-10-04,
grounded in this article and the 133 other(s) covering the same event.
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Tennessee will carry out its first execution of a female prisoner in 200 years, on Wednesday.
Christa Pike, 50, faces death.
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Pike → log → death
Pike was 18 when she was sent to death row following a murder committed in a jealous rage, making her one of the youngest women to receive a capital sentence.
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her → send → sentence
Pike and her boyfriend were convicted over the 1995 killing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a classmate at Knoxville Job Corps.
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Pike → convict → Corps
Prosecutors stated that Pike feared Slemmer was a love rival and lured her to a secluded area, where the pair tortured and killed her.
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pair → state → her
The case attracted widespread attention owing to the brutal nature of the killing, the ages of those involved, and the fact that a satanic symbol was carved into the victim’s body.
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symbol → attract → body
Pike does not deny her guilt, but her attorneys and supporters argue that a death sentence is not appropriate for a crime committed at that age by a teenager suffering from untreated mental illness after a childhood of brutal sexual abuse and neglect.
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sentence → deny → abuse
However, Slemmer’s mother wants the execution to go forward, stating she has waited decades to see Pike’s sentence carried out.
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sentence → want → decades
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee announced on Monday that he would not grant clemency.
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he → announce → clemency
Pike’s legal team has asked the Supreme Court to stay the execution.
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team → ask → execution
Pike's attorneys said she experienced an exceptionally traumatic and abusive childhood.
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she → say → childhood
Assistant Federal Defender Stephen Ferrell said Pike was sexually abused starting from when she was a toddler and that she was raped at ages 11 and 17.
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she → say → ages
He said Pike's lawyers at the penalty phase of her trial did not present the jury with what he said was critical information about her past or argue that her age should be a consideration.
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age → say → past
Pike was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.
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Pike → diagnose → disorder
Pike told police she initially only wanted to fight Slemmer but ended up killing her in a frenzied attack.
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she → tell → attack
In her clemency petition, Pike’s attorneys said her untreated mental illness and background made her unable to “put the brakes on.
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her → say → brakes
It took me numerous years to even realize the gravity of what I’d done.
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I → take → what
Even more to accept how many lives I affected.
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I → accept → lives
I took the life of someone’s child, sister, friend.
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I → take → friend
It sickens me now to think I had the ability to commit such a crime,” Pike said in a statement included in her clemency petition.
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Pike → sicken → petition
Ferrell said more today is known about adolescent brain development and that Pike's death sentence is an outlier.
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sentence → say → development
He noted that Pike's boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, who was 17 at the time, was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole because of his age.
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who → note → age
He was denied parole last year.
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He → deny → parole
A third teen admitted to being an accessory and received probation.
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teen → admit → probation
In the modern death penalty era, Ferrell said, other 18-year-olds who were sentenced to death in Tennessee have since had their sentences reduced.
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sentences → say → Tennessee
The Death Penalty Information Center said 275 people nationwide have been executed for crimes they committed at age 18, 19 or 20 in the modern death penalty era, but that death sentences for those in that age group have become increasingly rare.
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sentences → say → group
“If Christa Pike was tried today, I do not believe a jury that knew about the documented sexual abuse and neglect she experienced as a child would sentence her to death,” Robin M. Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said.
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Maher → try → Center
Speaking by telephone from Florida, Slemmer’s mother, May Martinez, also pointed to her daughter's age and said Slemmer never got a chance to grow up.
“Every time I think about it, I think about Colleen feeling that pain and trying to get up and run,” Martinez said.
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Martinez → speak → pain
Martinez said her daughter volunteered with the Special Olympics, loved roller skating and wanted to pursue a career in computers.
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daughter → say → computers
She was a computer geek to begin with.
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She → begin → ?
She and my husband would build and tear apart the computers constantly,” Martinez said.
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Martinez → build → computers
“She trusted everybody, and that was her downfall.”
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that → trust → everybody
She said her daughter called her from Job Corps on the night of the murder, but the call was dropping because of bad reception.
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call → say → reception
When Martinez called back, her daughter had already gone out.
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daughter → call → ?
“Not a day goes by, or a minute goes by that I do not think about Colleen.
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I → go → Colleen
She would have been 51,” Martinez said.
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Martinez → say → ?
The slaying rocked the city of Knoxville.
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slaying → rock → Knoxville
Prosecutors said Pike cut Slemmer with a box cutter and beat her with a large chunk of asphalt.
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Pike → say → asphalt
Elements of the crime stoked fears of Satan worship during the “satanic panic” of the 1980s and 1990s.
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Elements → stoke → 1980s
Shipp, Pike's boyfriend, has admitted that he was the one who carved a pentagram, a star-shaped symbol associated with Satanism, into her body.
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who → admit → body
If Pike’s execution proceeds as scheduled, it would be Tennessee’s first execution of a woman since 1820, Maher said.
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Maher → proceed → 1820
…and 4 more, not listed.
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