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.
Christa Pike was scheduled to be executed.
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Pike → schedule → ?
But after two injections, she kept breathing.
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she → keep → injections
She made snoring sounds, she talked, she said her arm was hurting.
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arm → make → sounds
Doctors are now trying to save her life.
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Doctors → try → life
She was critically ill and receiving "life-saving medical care" in a Nashville hospital on Thursday hours after she survived two attempts by Tennessee to execute her with lethal injections, her lawyers said, renewing scrutiny of capital punishment in the US.
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lawyers → receive → US
Pike, 50, was sentenced to death in the 1990s after being convicted of a murder she carried out as a teenager.
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she → sentence → teenager
Her botched execution on Wednesday at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, the second this year in Tennessee, highlights the difficulties US states face in carrying out lethal injections and finding suitable alternative methods of capital punishment.
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states → botch → punishment
Pike said as her scheduled lethal injection began that she was at peace.
Strapped to a gurney around 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Pike, who was allowed to give a final statement, said she was leaving the world with love.
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she → say → love
“I’m ready to be free,” she said.
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she → ’m → ?
Pike, now 50, was 18 when she committed the murder and would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years.
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she → commit → years
But instead she survived two doses of the pentobarbital meant to kill her.
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she → survive → her
She left the prison in an ambulance instead of a hearse.
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She → leave → ambulance
An Associated Press journalist was among those who witnessed her failed execution.
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who → witness → execution
She was already strapped to the gurney, with IV inserted in her arm, when prison officials raised the curtain to the execution room at 7:27 p.m.
Her spiritual adviser was standing beside the gurney near her head.
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adviser → strap → head
He spoke to her.
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He → speak → her
They sang a song.
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They → sing → song
The lyrics were not audible, but included repeating the phrase — "I love you.”
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I → include → you
The spiritual adviser stroked her forehead.
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adviser → stroke → forehead
Minutes ticked by.
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Minutes → tick → ?
She raised her head and looked around; she smiled.
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she → raise → head
Then she said her arm was hurting and asked a prison official in the room if it was supposed to feel that way.
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it → say → room
Ten minutes in, at 7:37 p.m., she sighed, the IV in her arm fed from a control room adjacent to the death chamber, separated by a ledge.
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IV → sigh → ledge
At 7:41 p.m., a rock or paper weight about the size of a golf ball was placed on the ledge.
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weight → place → ledge
Prison officials have not confirmed what it means, but its placement appeared to coincide with a direction in the protocol that says after the drugs are administered, a five-minute countdown begins until the curtain is closed.
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curtain → confirm → protocol
At 7:46 p.m., officials closed the curtain, blocking the witnesses’ view of the death chamber.
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officials → close → chamber
Pike’s spiritual adviser left the chamber and sat briefly with her attorney in the media witness room.
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adviser → leave → room
The curtain rose again three minutes later.
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curtain → rise → ?
The Tennessee lethal injection protocol calls for a second round of pentobarbital if the inmate is not deceased after the first round.
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inmate → call → round
An hour-plus of what sounded like snoring
Her spiritual adviser returned to the chamber and stood beside Pike with his hands folded.
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hands → sound → Pike
Pike appeared to begin to lose consciousness at some point and started making a sound like snoring.
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Pike → appear → snoring
She continued to do so for the next hour, a sign that she was alive long after she was expected to be dead.
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she → continue → hour
Her head raised slightly off the gurney and turned to the side at about 7:56 p.m.
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head → raise → p.m.
She kept breathing.
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She → keep → ?
Officials closed the curtain again at 8:06 p.m.
For the next 40 minutes, Pike could be heard from behind the curtain.
uncertain
Pike → close → curtain
She sounded like she was snoring, a rhythmic, regular breathing pattern.
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she → sound → ?
Inside the prison, Pike's attorney, Randy Spivey, later told the media that at about 8:22 p.m. he demanded access to a telephone to contact other lawyers on the team.
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he → tell → team
He said he demanded the execution be halted and that life-saving medical care be given to Pike.
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care → say → Pike
He said he received confirmation at about 8:50 p.m. that an ambulance was on the way.
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ambulance → say → way
At 8:53 p.m., an announcement came: “Will witnesses please exit the area.”
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witnesses → come → area
The media was escorted out, and a prison spokesperson said she had no information to provide about what had happened.
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what → escort → information
…and 50 more, not listed.
The Aporia
