Story summary
Christa Pike, now 50, is set for execution by lethal injection in Tennessee on Wednesday, marking the first time a woman will be executed in the state since the early 19th century. When she was 18 years old, Pike and her boyfriend killed Colleen Slemmer, a fellow student at Knoxville Job Corps, in a jealous rage, torturing and murdering her before carving a satanic symbol into her body.
Pike's attorneys argue that a death sentence is inappropriate given the context of her crime, citing her childhood abuse and untreated mental illness. They have requested clemency from Governor Bill Lee but were denied. Her legal team has also filed a petition with the US Supreme Court to halt the execution due to potential psychological trauma Pike may suffer.
Pike's mother, Robin M. Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, believes that if Pike were tried today, she would not receive a death sentence given her documented history of abuse and neglect during childhood. However, Slemmer’s mother is advocating for the execution to proceed after waiting decades for justice.
The case has garnered significant attention due to its brutality and the involvement of young people in such an act, highlighting broader issues related to juvenile justice and capital punishment. If carried out, Pike's execution will be only the second time a woman has been executed since 1976 in the United States, with just 18 women executed compared to 1,663 men over the same period.
Written for “Tennessee Woman Execution” on 2026-10-06,
grounded in this article and the 147 other(s) covering the same event.
'We could all hear her breathing': Witnessing the failed execution of Christa Pike
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her → hear → Pike
Last week, I was one of the seven media witnesses who observed Tennessee fail to execute convicted murderer Christa Pike, the first woman to face the death penalty in the state in almost 200 years.
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Tennessee → observe → years
From our previous reporting, each of us had an inkling that the lethal injection process might not go according to plan.
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process → have → plan
Pike's attorneys had asked the Tennessee Supreme Court to allow her to be hanged instead, citing concerns that a platelet disorder and small veins would make the actual injection not only painful but ineffective.
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injection → ask → concerns
And Tennessee had already botched an execution attempt in May, when healthcare workers failed to establish complete IV access into Tony Carruthers, who was sentenced to death after being convicted for his involvement in the kidnapping and murders of three people in 1994.
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who → botch → 1994
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said after the failed execution of Carruthers, who has maintained he is innocent, the state wouldn't try again to kill him for at least a year.
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state → say → year
After Pike left the execution chamber in an ambulance on Sept. 30
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Pike → leave → Sept.
, Lee announced he would suspend lethal injections for the rest of the year.
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he → announce → year
The morning of Pike's scheduled execution, I and the other media witnesses arrived at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville by 8:30 a.m. and waited to be ushered into the prison with nothing but our driver's licenses in hand.
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I → schedule → hand
The plan was to wait inside until Pike began her journey to the death chamber at 10 a.m.
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Pike → wait → a.m.
But we didn't make it that far.
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we → make → it
Before the Department of Correction's staffers began moving us away from the outdoor media tent and our belongings, the reporters' phones all went off.
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phones → begin → tent
A federal circuit court had stayed the execution.
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court → stay → execution
This was my fifth stint as a media witness to an execution, and I'd never seen a stay issued.
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stay → see → execution
We didn't know what that would mean.
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that → know → what
It turned out to mean waiting for nine hours at the prison, barred from leaving the grounds.
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It → turn → grounds
We spent most of it in the boardroom where parole hearings take place.
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hearings → spend → place
Throughout the wait, the victim's family often came up in conversation.
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family → come → conversation
In 1995, Pike, then 18 years old, killed Colleen Slemmer, who was 19.
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who → kill → Slemmer
Slemmer's family lives in Florida and traveled to Tennessee for the execution with money raised through crowdfunding.
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family → live → crowdfunding
It's unclear where they waited while the last-minute legal wrangling played out.
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wrangling → wait → ?
Sometime around 6 p.m., the prison system's communications director, Dorinda Carter, told us: "It's a go."
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It → tell → us
Tennessee had asked the U.S. Supreme Court to lift the stay, and it did.
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it → ask → stay
Carter read the ruling aloud to us.
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Carter → read → us
For unknown reasons, it took another hour or so for the security team to usher us into the witness bay, an all-white cinderblock room with black pleather chairs in two rows and a big window overlooking the death chamber.
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team → take → chamber
A loudspeaker pipes sound into the room from the chamber when the microphones are on.
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microphones → pip → chamber
A black curtain hangs in front of the window inside the death chamber.
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curtain → hang → chamber
Department of Correction workers open it once IV lines are inserted into the condemned prisoner.
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lines → open → prisoner
The curtain is there to obscure the workers who place the IVs, in order to shield their identities as required by state law.
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who → obscure → law
That process is enshrined in the "Lethal Injection Execution Protocol," which is the guidebook the Department of Correction writes for itself.
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Department → enshrine → itself
My employer, the Nashville public radio station WPLN, is a party in a lawsuit challenging the state's concealment of the IV insertion.
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employer → challenge → insertion
When executions are botched, it's often due to something going wrong while IVs are placed — or with the subsequent step if IVs fail, placing a central line in a deeper vein through the chest, neck, or groin.
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IVs → botch → chest
A lower court ruled in favor of WPLN and other media plaintiffs in January, but the state appealed the order, and it has been halted while higher courts consider the case.
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courts → rule → case
The American Medical Association officially bars doctors from participating in executions, and many other health professionals also consider assisting an execution to be unethical.
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assisting → bar → execution
Outside of prison staffers and the execution team, only the prisoner's spiritual adviser and attorney are allowed in the room with the prisoner while the IVs are inserted.
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IVs → allow → prisoner
Under normal circumstances, witnesses sit in the bay for 10 or 15 minutes with the curtain closed.
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curtain → sit → minutes
That's how long it tends to take for the IV team to place a line and start running saline, to prepare for the 5 grams of the sedative pentobarbital that will be pumped in to kill the prisoner.
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that → tend → prisoner
Once the lines are set, the execution team enters an adjacent, concealed room.
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team → set → room
The IV lines run through the wall into that hidden chamber, from which the drugs are administered.
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drugs → run → which
But at Pike's execution, we sat in the bay for 45 minutes with the curtain closed and the microphone turned off.
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microphone → sit → minutes
…and 69 more, not listed.
The Aporia
