For the first time in over two centuries, the state of Tennessee is preparing to execute a woman.
The Tennessee Supreme Court has approved a request to proceed with the death sentence of Christa Gail Pike, now 49 — the only woman currently on the state’s death row. Pike was just 18 years old when she carried out one of the most disturbing murders in Tennessee history.
The crime occurred on January 12, 1995. Pike and the victim, 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, were both enrolled in the Knoxville Job Corps program. Investigators say Pike became convinced that Slemmer was romantically interested in her boyfriend at the time, 17-year-old Tadaryl Shipp. What began as jealousy quickly turned into a calculated plan.
Pike lured Slemmer into a wooded area near the University of Tennessee’s agricultural campus. There, Pike, along with Shipp and another student, Shadolla Peterson, carried out a brutal attack. Slemmer’s throat was slashed with a box cutter. She was struck with a meat cleaver. A pentagram was carved into her chest. Her skull was ultimately crushed with a piece of asphalt.
The violence shocked both investigators and the public.
One of the most unsettling details emerged during Pike’s interrogation. She led detectives to a fragment of Slemmer’s skull that she had kept as a souvenir. Retired detective Randy York later recalled that Pike appeared disturbingly upbeat while speaking with police, even demonstrating how the skull fragment fit into the wound “like a puzzle.”
In 1996, Pike was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. Shipp received life in prison without the possibility of parole. Peterson, who cooperated with authorities, was granted probation.
Pike’s time in prison has not been without further violence. In 2004, she attempted to strangle another inmate, resulting in an additional 25-year sentence.
After decades of appeals, the state has now scheduled Pike’s execution for September 30, 2026.
Her attorneys continue to fight the sentence, arguing that her young age at the time of the crime, a history of severe childhood abuse, and long-standing mental health conditions — including bipolar disorder and PTSD — should be considered mitigating factors. Her legal team also claims Pike has expressed remorse in the years since her conviction.
If the execution proceeds as planned, it would mark Tennessee’s first execution of a woman since 1820, highlighting both the rarity of the case and the ongoing debate surrounding capital punishment.
More than 30 years after the crime, the case continues to raise difficult questions about justice, punishment, mental illness, and whether the passage of time changes how society views accountability.
