May Martinez, mother of Colleen Slemmer who was murdered by Christa Pike in 1995, expressed her frustration over Pike's botched execution earlier this week at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, Tennessee. During the failed execution process, Pike received two doses of pentobarbital but survived and required medical attention. Martinez revealed she wanted to harm Pike herself after witnessing the event. The state may attempt another execution if Pike recovers from her critical condition.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-02,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
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.
The mother of the woman murdered by death row inmate Christa Pike has spoken of her frustration at the killer’s botched execution and admitted: “I want to go kill Christa.
asserted
I → murder → Christa
How’s that?”
asserted
that → ’ → ?
Pike, 50, was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer but the attempt to end her life at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, Tennessee, dramatically failed earlier this week.
asserted
attempt → sentence → Nashville
When the prisoner survived two doses of pentobarbital she was raced to hospital to receive “life-saving measures”.
asserted
she → survive → measures
May Martinez – who was in the witness room with her husband, Raul Martinez Jr, expecting to see justice served on her daughter’s behalf 31 years on – has since told People: “If I could have gotten in that room, I would have taken the box cutter and cut her up like she did Colleen.”
uncertain
she → expect → Colleen
With Pike still receiving medical care and in a critical condition, according to her lawyers, it is unclear what will happen next.
uncertain
what → receive → lawyers
Assuming she survives, the state could attempt to execute her for a second time at a later date.
uncertain
state → assume → date
The Martinezes have since returned to Florida to await developments and told the outlet what they had seen as they observed Pike, strapped to a gurney in the execution chamber, react to the twin lethal injections she was given.
asserted
she → return → injections
“She just lay there,” the stepfather recalled.
asserted
stepfather → lie → ?
“She moved her toes a lot.”
asserted
She → move → toes
“Picked her head up,” May Martinez added.
uncertain
Martinez → pick → head
They said it became clear that something was amiss when the executioners drew the curtains to shield Pike from view around 15 minutes after the first dose was supplied.
asserted
dose → say → view
“We waited about three minutes and they said, ‘We’re going to give her another dose,’” Raul Martinez.
asserted
We → wait → Martinez
“They opened another bag and she was still picking up her head and moving around.”
asserted
she → open → head
However, even with the curtain closed, he said the witnesses could “hear the sounds of her snoring or gurgling” via a microphone in the room.
uncertain
witnesses → close → room
They were subsequently asked to leave.
asserted
They → ask → ?
Their account tallies with the comments of media witnesses present, who gave a press conference outside the facility Wednesday night and reported Pike complaining of a feeling in her forearm as though it were about to explode and asking whether it was normal.
asserted
it → tally → forearm
May Martinez had previously expressed a determination to see the death penalty administered to Pike and had told the Associated Press the killer had denied her daughter, who was just 19 when she was murdered, the chance to grow up.
uncertain
she → express → chance
“Every time I think about it, I think about Colleen feeling that pain and trying to get up and run,” she said.
asserted
she → think → pain
Martinez told the AP her daughter had volunteered with the Special Olympics, loved roller skating and wanted to pursue a career in computers.
asserted
daughter → tell → computers
“She was easygoing,” Martinez recalled.
asserted
Martinez → recall → ?
“She was a computer geek to begin with.
asserted
She → begin → ?
She and my husband would build and tear apart the computers constantly.
asserted
She → build → computers
She trusted everybody, and that was her downfall.”
asserted
that → trust → everybody
She said her daughter called her on the night of the murder, but the call was dropping because of bad reception.
asserted
call → say → reception
When she called back, her daughter had already gone out for what proved to be her fatal rendezvous with Pike and her boyfriend and accomplice Tadaryl Shipp in some nearby woodland.
asserted
what → call → woodland
“Not a day goes by, or a minute goes by that I do not think about Colleen,” she concluded.
asserted
she → go → Colleen
The Aporia
