Additional Coverage:
- Female death row inmate makes unusual request ahead of execution (themirror.com)
Christa Pike is set to become the first woman executed in Tennessee in over two centuries, and she has requested that an all-female execution team oversee her final moments.
Pike has been on death row since 1996, convicted for the brutal 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer. Pike, then 18, along with her 17-year-old boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp and friend Shadolla Peterson, 18, lured 19-year-old Slemmer to an abandoned steam plant near the University of Tennessee. They deceived her by suggesting they wanted to make peace by smoking marijuana together in the woods.
Once there, Pike and Shipp attacked Slemmer while Peterson acted as a lookout. Shipp carved a pentagram into Slemmer’s chest with a box cutter as she was still alive, and Pike ultimately delivered a fatal blow by smashing her skull with a chunk of asphalt. In a disturbing act, Pike kept a piece of Slemmer’s skull as a macabre trophy, showing it to fellow students at their Jobs Corps program in Knoxville.
The three perpetrators were arrested within 36 hours. Investigators confirmed all four had signed out of their dormitories that night, but only three returned. Pike quickly confessed but claimed their intent had been to scare, not kill, Slemmer.
Charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy, Pike was sentenced to death at age 20, making her one of the youngest women in the U.S. to receive such a sentence. Her execution is currently scheduled for September 30, 2026.
Because executions of women are rare in Tennessee, correctional officials have agreed to accommodate Pike’s requests aimed at minimizing psychological distress. These include having a female guard transfer her from the Nashville women’s prison to the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution within 24 hours of the execution and employing an all-female execution team.
Pike has cited past sexual abuse and resulting PTSD as reasons for these requests. She will also have privacy screens during dressing, showering, and restroom use.
Despite these accommodations, a male physician, Dr. Mark Fowler, will be present to administer the lethal injection.
Dr. Fowler was involved in a recent failed execution earlier this year when medical staff could not locate a suitable vein.
Pike has made several unsuccessful attempts to overturn her conviction or have her sentence commuted to life imprisonment. Nonetheless, she has expressed acceptance and calm about her impending execution.
In a recent letter, she thanked those who have supported her, writing, “I am at peace. I am not afraid to die.”
Meanwhile, Colleen Slemmer’s mother, May Martinez, is preparing to witness Pike’s execution as a form of closure and justice. Holding a photo of her late daughter, Martinez stated, “As she gets hooked up to a needle to go to sleep, she can look at the picture.”
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- Female death row inmate makes unusual request ahead of execution (themirror.com)