Credit: Tennessee Department Of Corrections
Chilling Reason Why Inmate Claims She Shouldn’t Be Put To Death As US State Prepares To Execute First Woman In Over 200 Years
- Disturbing crimes of Christa Gail Pike
- Execution makes US state history
- Pike makes eerie plea as execution approaches
- Chilling reason inmate shouldn’t be put to death
There’s a chilling reason why the first woman to be executed by a US state in over 200 years claims she shouldn’t be executed.
Tennessee is preparing to make history in a way few states ever have, by executing its first woman in more than two centuries.
Christa Gail Pike, now 49, sits on death row awaiting her scheduled execution date of September 30, 2026, for a crime so brutal it shocked the nation three decades ago, per NWA Online.
As the date approaches, Pike has broken her silence with a chilling plea for her life, while the victim’s family continues to demand justice.
Disturbing crimes of Christa Gail Pike
The crime that landed Pike on death row remains one of the most heinous in Tennessee’s criminal history.
On January 12, 1995, the then-18-year-old Pike lured her classmate, 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, to a secluded wooded area near the University of Tennessee’s agricultural campus.
The motive was as old as it was deadly: jealousy over a boyfriend.
Pike believed Slemmer was romantically interested in her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, who was 17 at the time.
What followed was an hour-long torture session that prosecutors described as exceptionally violent and calculated. Pike used a box cutter to slash Slemmer’s throat and struck her repeatedly with a meat cleaver.
In a particularly disturbing detail, she carved a pentagram into the young woman’s chest before ultimately crushing her skull with a piece of asphalt.
The brutality didn’t end with the murder itself. Pike reportedly kept a fragment of Slemmer’s skull as a trophy, showing it to classmates with apparent pride in what she had done.
When a groundskeeper discovered the body, it was so mutilated that he initially believed it belonged to an animal rather than a human being.
In 1996, Pike was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death, making her the youngest woman ever sentenced to death in the United States at that time.
Her violent tendencies didn’t cease behind bars, as in 2004, she was convicted of attempting to strangle another inmate, earning her an additional 25-year sentence.
Execution makes US state history
If Pike’s sentence is carried out as scheduled, she will become the first woman executed in Tennessee since 1820, more than 200 years ago.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, a woman named Martin Eve was the last to be executed in the state, hanged for her role as an accessory to murder.
Pike would also become only the 19th woman executed in the United States since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.
Women represent just 2% of death row inmates nationwide, despite accounting for a larger percentage of murder convictions.
Currently, only 48 women sit on death row across the country, compared to approximately 2,100 men.
The execution is scheduled to take place at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, Tennessee’s death chamber. The state must inform Pike of the execution method by August 28, 2026.
Eerie plea as execution approaches
From her prison cell, Pike has acknowledged the gravity of her actions while simultaneously arguing against her own execution.
In a documentary filmed by WEtv, she made a chilling statement about her perceived culpability, Newsner reports.
“I know I don’t deserve to be out walking around with everybody else in normal society. I did something horrible that is unacceptable and I realize that,” Pike said.
However, she emphasized what she sees as a crucial distinction: “I’m only one person.”
Pike insists that the death penalty is too extreme for her role in what she characterizes as a crime involving multiple perpetrators.
Her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, was convicted of first-degree murder alongside her but avoided the death penalty because he was 17 at the time.
He will be eligible for parole in November. Meanwhile, Shadolla Peterson, who participated but testified against Pike, received probation in exchange for her cooperation.
In a letter to The Tennessean, Pike reflected on her crime with apparent remorse: “I think back to the worst mistake you made as a reckless teenager. Mine happened to be huge, unforgettable and ruined countless lives… It sickens me now to think that someone as loving and compassionate as myself had the ability to commit such a crime.”
Chilling reason inmate shouldn’t be put to death
Pike’s legal team has mounted an extensive campaign for clemency, presenting what they believe are compelling reasons their client should be spared.
Their central argument revolves around factors that were never fully considered during her original 1996 trial.
“Christa’s childhood was fraught with years of physical and s**ual abuse and neglect,” her attorneys stated.
They argue that Pike endured severe trauma throughout her youth, experiences that profoundly shaped her development and mental state but were inadequately addressed at trial.
Perhaps most significantly, Pike was not diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder until years after her conviction.
Her defense team contends that these undiagnosed mental health conditions affected her culpability and that she never received adequate representation regarding these issues.
“With time and treatment for bipolar and post-traumatic stress disorders, which were not diagnosed until years later, Christa has become a thoughtful woman with deep remorse for her crime,” her legal team argues.
They emphasize the transformation Pike has undergone during nearly three decades on death row, portraying her as someone who bears little resemblance to the troubled teenager who committed murder in 1995.
Her attorneys also point to evolving legal standards regarding youth sentencing, arguing that in today’s legal climate, with greater understanding of adolescent brain development, trauma, and mental health, Pike would likely not receive a death sentence.
However, for Colleen Slemmer’s family, particularly her mother May Martinez, there is no room for leniency. Martinez has been vocal in demanding that Pike’s sentence be carried out.
“I just want Christa down so I can end it,” she told reporters. “There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about Colleen or how she died and how rough it was.”
Unless Pike’s remaining appeals succeed or Tennessee’s governor grants clemency, she will make history as a grim milestone: the first woman executed by Tennessee in over two centuries, closing a tragic chapter that began nearly 30 years ago.
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