Christa Pike is scheduled to be executed in Tennessee on September 30, 2026, nearly three decades after she was sentenced to death for the 1995 killing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer.
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Add BollywoodShaadis on GoogleChrista Pike, who became the youngest woman in the United States to get a death sentence when she was only 18, is now facing execution, nearly 31 years after the cold-blooded killing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer.
Pike, now 50, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Wednesday, September 30, 2026. If the execution proceeds, she would become the first woman to be executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years.
But what could an 18-year-old have done to be sentenced to death? Here's her disturbing story.
Pike was convicted of killing Colleen Slemmer, a 19-year-old student at Knoxville Job Corps and Pike's classmate. On January 12, 1995, Slemmer was found in a gnarly state in a secluded, wooded area of the University of Tennessee campus. She had more than 300 slashes and lacerations across her body, with a pentagram deeply carved into her chest. Reports say Pike was driven by a jealous, mistaken belief that Slemmer was a romantic rival trying to steal her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp.
Slemmer lay lifeless behind a steam plant on the university campus, near Tyson Park in Knoxville. Her skull was severely crushed, which an investigation later revealed was from when Pike bashed her head with a huge chunk of asphalt. What was more disturbing was that Pike had taken out a portion of Slemmer's skull, physically carved it, and later showed it off as a trophy to other students at the Job Corps.
Pike has never denied her role in Slemmer's killing. In a statement included in her clemency petition, she expressed remorse and acknowledged the lasting impact of what she did. She said in a statement in her clemency petition:
"I was a mentally ill 18-year-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 I had the ability to commit such a crime."
Pike was the only one of the three to receive a death sentence. Her accomplices included Tadaryl Shipp (17) and Shadolla Peterson (18). Shipp was a minor at the time of the murder, so Tennessee law didn't allow a death penalty. He is now serving a life sentence in a Tennessee state prison after his first parole was denied recently.
Peterson never served prison time and is out of custody because she acted as the lookout during the murder and turned state's evidence. She cooperated fully with the prosecutors and testified against both Pike and Shipp.
Christa Pike was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Her attorneys have asked Tennessee officials to reconsider the death sentence, citing her young age at the time of the crime, her childhood abuse, mental health, and circumstances surrounding her original trial.
Pike allegedly experienced severe sexual abuse, violence, and neglect throughout her childhood. Her lawyers have also pointed to changes in scientific understanding of adolescent brain development over the past three decades. International human rights experts and organizations, including Amnesty International, have also urged Tennessee to halt the execution.
However, on Monday, September 28, 2026, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee denied Pike's clemency request, saying in a statement:
"After deliberate consideration of Christa Gail Pike's request for clemency and after a thorough review of the case, I am upholding the sentence of the State of Tennessee and do not plan to intervene."
Pike's attorneys said they were "deeply saddened and heartbroken" by the decision, arguing that the state had failed to adequately account for the trauma and mental illness they say shaped Pike's life before the 1995 crime.
The Tennessee Department of Correction has confirmed that Pike's execution is scheduled for September 30, 2026, at 10 a.m. CDT.
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