The US state of Tennessee may soon carry out its first execution of a woman in more than 200 years after the state’s Supreme Court approved the sentence handed down to Christa Gail Pike.
Pike — currently the only woman on Tennessee’s death row — was 18 when she lured 19‑year‑old Colleen Slemmer into a wooded area near the University of Tennessee’s agricultural campus in Knoxville on January 12, 1995.
According to Fox News, both Pike and Slemmer were enrolled in the Knoxville Job Corps, a career‑training program. Pike allegedly convinced herself that Slemmer was interested in her boyfriend, 17‑year‑old Tadaryl Shipp, and in a jealous rage became the ringleader of a shocking plan.
With the help of Shipp and a third accomplice, Shadolla Peterson, Pike lured Slemmer into the woods, slashed her throat with a box cutter, attacked her with a meat cleaver, carved a pentagram into her chest, and ultimately crushed her skull with a piece of asphalt.
Pike even kept a piece of Slemmer’s broken skull as a grisly trophy, reportedly showing it to classmates before her arrest.
Retired detective Randy York, who worked the case, recalled: “During the interview, she was very giddy, laughed, very cooperative. She wanted to tell us all about it.” He added, “She had a piece of the skull wrapped up in a napkin in her coat pocket. That’s a trophy. It showed that that piece she had fit exactly as a piece of puzzle in the skull.”
Pike was convicted of first‑degree murder in 1996 and sentenced to death. Shipp received life without parole — his most recent bid for release was denied earlier this year — while Peterson, who testified against the pair, was given probation.
In 2004, Pike received an additional 25‑year sentence after being convicted of attempting to strangle another inmate.
For nearly three decades, Pike’s case has been tied up in appeals, but according to court documents filed on September 30, the State of Tennessee has now requested an execution date for the 49‑year‑old. That date has been set for September 30, 2026.
Pike’s legal team continues to fight her sentence, arguing that her age at the time of the crime, along with her history of childhood trauma, abuse, and untreated mental illness, should be considered. Psychological evaluations conducted after the murder diagnosed her with bipolar disorder and post‑traumatic stress disorder.
“Christa’s childhood was fraught with years of physical and sexual abuse and neglect,” her defense team said, via CBS News. “With time and treatment, she has become a thoughtful woman with deep remorse for her crime.”
If her execution proceeds, Pike will become the first woman executed in Tennessee since 1820, and only the fourth in the state’s history.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, the last recorded execution of a woman in Tennessee occurred in 1820, when Martin Eve was hanged for being an accessory to murder.
In May 2022, Tennessee paused executions after Governor Bill Lee ordered an independent review into the testing of lethal injection drugs. A revised protocol was later implemented, with executions resuming in May 2025.
