Christa Pike is the only woman on Tennessee’s death row — one of 42 inmates awaiting execution in the state — and she is scheduled to be put to death on September 30, 2026, for a 1995 murder she committed as a teenager.
If the execution proceeds, Pike will become the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. She is also slated to be the only person put to death in Tennessee “for a crime committed at age 18, 19 or 20 in the modern death penalty era,” the center reports.
Here’s a closer look at the crime, the case and Pike’s final legal battles.
Christa Pike Murdered Colleen Slemmer in 1995
Pike was 18 years old in January 1995 when she was accused of murdering 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a fellow student at the Job Corps Center in Knoxville, according to court filings. Prosecutors said Pike, who was dating a 17-year-old at the Job Corps, viewed Slemmer as a “romantic rival,” USA Today reported.
On January 12, 1995, Pike, her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, and a friend led Slemmer into the woods. According to court records, Pike slashed Slemmer’s throat, beat her and threw pieces of asphalt at her. Pike also allegedly told her friend she used a meat cleaver to slash Slemmer’s back and carved a pentagram into her forehead and chest.
Investigators said Pike kept a piece of Slemmer’s skull. Before the killing, Pike had allegedly revealed the plan to a friend, then later showed that same friend a piece of Slemmer’s skull, court records say.
Inside the Christa Pike’s Trial and Verdict
Pike and Shipp ultimately admitted to the murder. Pike was found guilty in Slemmer’s killing in March 1996 and sentenced that same month to death.
Shipp, who was 17 at the time of the murder, was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole because he was a minor. He remains in custody after most recently being denied parole in October 2025.
The friend who accompanied them received a sentence of probation in exchange for testimony against Pike and Shipp, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Christa Pike’s Legal Fight Against Her Death Sentence
Pike’s attorneys have argued against the death sentence in recent years. In a June 2021 motion cited by the Death Penalty Information Center, her attorneys wrote, “Life imprisonment is a proper punishment for Christa, just as it is for the nearly 200 women convicted of first degree murder who did not receive death in Tennessee since 1978.”
In 2023, Pike wrote in a letter to The Tennessean that she has “changed drastically” since the killing.
“Think back to the worst mistake you made as a reckless teenager. Well, mine happened to be huge, unforgettable and ruined countless lives,” Pike wrote to the newspaper. “I was a mentally ill 18 yr. old kid. It took me numerous years to even realize the gravity of what I’d done. Even more to accept how many lives I [affected]. I took the life of someone’s child, sister, friend. It sickens me now to think that someone as loving and compassionate as myself had the ability to commit such a crime.”
In January 2026, Pike filed a lawsuit arguing that Tennessee’s execution method — lethal injection — violates her religious rights, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. In a March 19, 2026, response viewed by USA Today, the state said Pike had not sufficiently argued that her execution would be unconstitutional.
Christa Pike’s Request for an All-Woman Execution Squad
As her execution date approaches, Pike has asked to be killed by an all-female execution squad rather than by lethal injection. Her lawyers said she is “terrified” of dying a “painful” death by lethal injection and reportedly wants witnesses to the shooting to include members of Slemmer’s family, according to the New York Post.
Pike’s legal team said lethal injection will be “prolonged and agonizing” because she has a rare blood disorder that could make it difficult to find a vein and could affect how she reacts to the drug.
The firing squad request is not the first time Pike has tried to prevent being killed by lethal injection. In August 2026, she took the state to court and asked to be hanged instead.
“(Lethal injection administered by men) will increase the likelihood that an 8th Amendment violation will occur,” Pike’s lawyer, Stephen Ferrell, said of the execution method, per the Post. “There is an increased risk of pain and suffering.”
While Pike’s ultimate goal is to be given a life sentence instead of death, the state has argued that she has not demonstrated a legitimate reason to have her sentence changed.
“It was Ms Pike’s burden to come forth with scientific evidence (to overturn execution); she has completely failed to do that,” the state said.
Her only remaining path to avoid execution is intervention from Governor Bill Lee. Her lawyers previously filed a 226-page clemency petition but have not received a response about a last-minute reprieve.
Christa Pike Opens Up About Her Execution Fears
Pike opened up about her fears in the September 2026 documentary Dead Woman Walking: Pike vs. Tennessee.
“I know I said I believed a date would never be set, but now that one has been set, it’s like a roulette wheel of thought and your actual brain is the ball bouncing around,” she said of her execution. “My nerves are shredded. When I do sleep, my brain eats itself.”
She added that she had the “most horrible nightmares, but I think what has been worse is that they told me a year ahead of time.”
“And so, every day I’ve woken up and lived that thought all day, every day, every waking moment,” Pike said.
Christa Pike and Women on Death Row in America
Pike’s case stands out in part because so few women face execution in the United States. Out of all the individuals on death row in the U.S., about 2 percent of the inmates are women, the Death Penalty Information Center reported in February 2026.
Only 18 women have been put to death since 1976, according to the center. The state with the highest number of executions involving women is Texas, where six women have been executed since 1976, according to data published by the center.
If her September 30, 2026, execution proceeds as scheduled, Pike will become the first woman to be executed in the state of Tennessee in 200 years.
This story was compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists.
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