Christa Pike is to be executed on September 30, 2026. This is the first such execution women in Tennessee for over 200 years. In 1995, as an 18-year-old, she and two friends brutally murdered 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. The case shook public opinion not only with cruelty but also with the young age of perpetrators.
Violent Crime of Jealousy
In January 1995, Christa Pike, her boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp and their friend Shadolla Peterson took Colleen Slemmer to a wooded area of the Job Corps campus in Knoxville. The motive was Pike's alleged jealousy for the boy's attention. The victim was beaten, tortured for about half an hour, and a pentagram was cut off on her body. Pike smashed Colleen's head with a piece of asphalt and then cut off a fragment of the skull that she took as a "memory".
Slemmer was found the next day. Pike and Shipp confessed. Shadolla Peterson agreed to testify against them in exchange for a mild sentence.
Sentence and flies in the corridor of death
Christa Pike was sentenced to death in 1996, as one of the youngest women in U.S. history to whom such a sentence was pronounced. Her boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp has been sentenced to life (today he is already entitled to parole exemptions) and Peterson – just a trial period. Pike remains the only woman in the Tennessee death corridor.
For three decades in prison, Pike fought for appeals. In January 2026 she filed a lawsuit against the execution protocol, arguing that a lethal injection could be cruel and violate her religious rights. The case is still pending, but the date of execution remains unchanged.
Controversy surrounding the case
History Christy Pike wakes up mixed emotions today. On the one hand – unthinkable suffering victims And the desire for justice for the Colleen Slemmer family. On the other hand, a discussion about the death penalty for people who committed a crime at a very young age, often with the history of trauma and mental problems.
Many observers point out that 30 years of waiting to execute a sentence is a typical example of delays in the system. Family victims waits for the case to be closed, while organizations against the death penalty collect signatures under petitions for pardon.
