The one lady on Tennessee’s loss of life row has been scheduled for execution greater than 30 years after she brutally killed a teenage romantic rival and confirmed off a bit of the sufferer’s cranium to schoolmates.
The Tennessee Supreme Court docket scheduled the execution of 49-year-old Christa Gail Pike on Sept. 30, 2026. Pike was simply 18 years outdated when she and two others lured 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer to the woods in Knoxville on Jan. 12, 1995, and carried out the assault that made nationwide headlines for its brutality.
When a groundskeeper discovered Slemmer’s physique the subsequent day, the teenager had been crushed, stabbed, and bludgeoned, and had a pentagram carved into her chest, courtroom data say.
If Pike’s execution is carried out, she would change into the primary lady executed in Tennessee in 200 years and simply the nineteenth lady executed in fashionable U.S. historical past.
“That may be a very, very small quantity,” mentioned Robin Maher, government director of the Washington, D.C.-based Loss of life Penalty Info Heart, a nonprofit that tracks the usage of the loss of life penalty within the U.S. with out taking a place on it.
“Solely 18 girls have been executed since 1976,” Maher added. “It is extraordinarily uncommon.”
Pike’s execution date has been set amid an increase in executions in 2025 and an growth of the execution strategies used. To date this yr, states have executed 34 inmates − a determine that hasn’t been seen in a decade − and one other 9 are scheduled to be put to loss of life.
This is what to know the case, and girls on loss of life row within the U.S.
What was Christa Gail Pike convicted of?
Christa Gail Pike and Colleen Slemmer have been each college students on the Knoxville Job Corps, a career-training program, when Pike started relationship a 17-year-old boy in this system and later got here to worry that Slemmer was making an attempt to steal him, prosecutors informed jurors at trial.
Pike, a pal and the boyfriend lured Slemmer away from the Job Corps heart and into the woods earlier than the assault, largely carried out by Pike over an hour-long interval on Jan. 12, 1995, in keeping with courtroom data.
Christa Gail Pike is pictured.
Pike later bragged about killing Slemmer, telling one other scholar on the heart that she had lower {the teenager}’s throat six occasions with a field cutter, lower her again with a meat cleaver, carved a pentagram into her brow and chest, and continued the violence regardless that Slemmer “begged” her to cease, in keeping with courtroom data.
Pike mentioned she had “thrown a big piece of asphalt on the sufferer’s head,” believed to be a deadly blow, and saved a cranium fragment, later displaying it off to fellow college students, courtroom data say.
Pike was convicted of first-degree homicide and sentenced to loss of life. Pike’s boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, was convicted of first-degree homicide, sentenced to life in jail and can change into eligible for parole in November, in keeping with inmate data. Pike’s pal, Shadolla Peterson − who prosecutors say saved watch throughout the assault − testified in opposition to Pike and was sentenced to probation.
What does Christa Gail Pike say concerning the crime?
In a letter she wrote to The Tennessean − a part of the USA TODAY Community − Pike mentioned she takes accountability for the homicide and that she has “modified drastically” since she was a young person.
“Suppose again to the worst mistake you made as a reckless teenager. Effectively, mine occurred to be big, unforgettable and ruined numerous lives,” she wrote. “I used to be a mentally ailing 18 yr. outdated child. It took me quite a few years to even notice the gravity of what I would executed. Much more to just accept what number of lives I effected (sic). I took the life of somebody’s baby, sister, pal. It sickens me now to assume that somebody as loving and compassionate as myself had the power to commit such a criminal offense.”
Pike spent 27 years in what her attorneys say was successfully solitary confinement as the one lady on Tennessee’s loss of life row earlier than she gained the power to work together with different inmates throughout meals, courses, and non secular companies.
Her attorneys argue that had Pike been tried right now, she by no means would have gotten the loss of life penalty given her younger age and psychological well being struggles on the time of the crime. They consider she deserves life in jail with out the opportunity of parole as a substitute of the loss of life penalty.
Christa Pike, the one lady on Tennessee’s loss of life row, was convicted within the 1995 torture loss of life of fellow Knoxville Job Corps scholar Colleen Slemmer, 19.
“Christa’s childhood was fraught with years of bodily and sexual abuse and neglect,” her authorized crew mentioned in a press release to USA TODAY. “With time and remedy for bipolar and post-traumatic stress problems, which weren’t recognized till years later, Christa has change into a considerate lady with deep regret for her crime.”
To study extra about Pike, together with background about her childhood, go to right here.
Clemmer’s mom, Could Martinez, has been steadfast in her assist of the loss of life penalty for Pike.
“I simply need Christa down so I can finish it, relieve my daughter, so she lastly could be resting,” Martinez informed WBIR-TV in 2021. “There’s not a day goes by that I do not take into consideration Colleen or how she died and the way tough it was.”
What number of girls have been executed within the U.S.?
Simply 18 girls have been executed within the U.S. since 1976, in comparison with 1,623 males, in keeping with the Loss of life Penalty Info Heart. Which means girls symbolize simply 1% of all fashionable U.S. executions.
Pike isn’t solely the one lady on Tennessee’s loss of life row, however she’s amongst simply 48 feminine loss of life row inmates within the nation. That is in comparison with a male inhabitants just below 2,100 − roughly 2 %.
The final execution of a girl within the U.S. was that of Amber McClaughlin in 2023. McClaughlin, who was the primary transgender individual execution within the nation, was convicted as a person of raping and fatally stabbing 45-year-old Beverly Guenther on Nov. 20, 2003. Guenther was McLaughlin’s ex-girlfriend.
The final execution in Tennessee was that of Byron Black on Aug. 5 for the 1988 homicide of his girlfriend and her two younger daughters.
What number of girls has Tennessee executed?
Citing the Loss of life Penalty Info Heart, Pike’s attorneys say that solely three girls have ever been executed in Tennessee, with all of them taking place between 1807 and 1819.
They record the hangings of three Black girls in 1807, 1808 and 1819, although did not establish their crimes. Solely one of many girls’s names is thought: that of Molly Holcomb in 1807. Two of them are listed as slaves by deathpenaltyusa.org, which names the crimes as homicide, although many slaves have been unjustly killed themselves over false accusations or for no motive in any respect.
Contributing: Evan Mealins, The Tennessean
Amanda Lee Myers is a senior crime reporter who covers executions for USA TODAY. Comply with her on X at @amandaleeusat.
This text initially appeared on USA TODAY: Tennessee units Christa Pike’s execution 30 years after rival’s homicide