Nashville, Tennessee: At 18, Christa Pike became one of the youngest women in the United States to be sentenced to death. Nearly three decades later, the 50-year-old is scheduled to be executed in Tennessee, in what would be the state’s first execution of a woman in 200 years.
Pike was convicted in the 1995 killing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a fellow student at Knoxville Job Corps. The case drew widespread attention because of the brutality of the crime, the young ages of those involved and a satanic symbol carved into the victim’s body.
Pike does not dispute her role in the killing. However, her attorneys and supporters argue that her death sentence should be reconsidered in light of her traumatic childhood, untreated mental illness and age at the time of the crime.
The case has once again brought attention to the circumstances surrounding the killing, the treatment of young offenders in the criminal justice system and the use of capital punishment.
Who is Christa Pike?
Christa Pike was an 18-year-old student at Knoxville Job Corps when she and her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, were convicted of killing Slemmer in 1995.
Prosecutors said Pike believed Slemmer was a romantic rival and lured her to a secluded area, where the two tortured and killed her.
Pike later told police that she had initially intended only to fight Slemmer but ended up killing her in a frenzied attack.
Shipp, who was 17 at the time, was sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole because of his age. He was denied parole last year.
A third teenager admitted to being an accessory to the crime and received probation.
What happened to Colleen Slemmer?
Slemmer was 19 when she was killed at the Knoxville Job Corps in 1995.
Prosecutors said Pike attacked her with a box cutter and a large piece of asphalt. Shipp later admitted that he carved a pentagram, a star-shaped symbol associated with Satanism, into Slemmer’s body.
The crime occurred during a period when fears surrounding Satanism, often described as the “satanic panic” of the 1980s and 1990s, were widespread in the United States.
The brutality of the killing, the ages of the people involved and the symbol carved into the victim’s body brought national attention to the case.
Why is Christa Pike facing execution?
Pike was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death for Slemmer’s killing.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee announced Monday that he would not grant her clemency. Her attorneys have since asked the US Supreme Court to stay the execution.
If carried out as scheduled on Wednesday, the execution would mark Tennessee’s first execution of a woman since 1820, according to Robin M. Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center.
What do her lawyers say about her childhood?
Pike’s attorneys argue that her childhood trauma and mental health conditions were not adequately presented during the sentencing phase of her trial.
Assistant Federal Defender Stephen Ferrell said Pike experienced severe sexual abuse beginning in early childhood and was raped at the ages of 11 and 17.
Pike was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Her lawyers contend that the combination of untreated mental illness, childhood abuse and neglect affected her ability to control her actions at the time of the crime.
In her clemency petition, her attorneys said her untreated mental illness and background made her unable to “put the brakes on.”
Pike acknowledged the consequences of her actions in a statement included in the 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 said.
Ferrell argued that advances in the understanding of adolescent brain development have changed how young offenders are viewed in the justice system.
He also pointed out that Shipp, who was 17 at the time of the killing, received a life sentence with the possibility of parole, while Pike was sentenced to death.
In the modern death penalty era, other people sentenced to death in Tennessee for crimes committed at 18 have since had their sentences reduced.
Why are her lawyers challenging the death sentence?
Pike’s legal team argues that her age, mental illness and traumatic childhood should have been considered more fully during sentencing.
The Death Penalty Information Center said 275 people nationwide have been executed for crimes committed at ages 18, 19 or 20 in the modern death penalty era. However, death sentences for people in that age group have become increasingly rare.
Maher said the circumstances of Pike’s childhood could have affected the jury’s decision.
“If Christa Pike was tried today, I do not believe a jury that knew about the documented sexual abuse and neglect she experienced as a child would sentence her to death,” Maher said.
What does Colleen Slemmer’s family say?
Slemmer’s mother, May Martinez, has called for Pike’s execution to proceed, saying she has waited decades for the sentence to be carried out.
Speaking by telephone from Florida, Martinez recalled her daughter’s age and the life she never got to experience.
“Every time I think about it, I think about Colleen feeling that pain and trying to get up and run,” Martinez said.
She said Slemmer volunteered with the Special Olympics, enjoyed roller skating and wanted to pursue a career in computers.
“She was easygoing. She was a computer geek to begin with. She and my husband would build and tear apart the computers constantly,” Martinez said. “She trusted everybody, and that was her downfall.”
Martinez said her daughter called her from Job Corps on the night of the murder, but the call kept dropping because of poor reception. By the time she called back, Slemmer had already gone out.
“Not a day goes by, or a minute goes by, that I don’t think about Colleen. Holidays are the worst. Colleen’s birthday was last week. She would have been 51,” Martinez said.
How rare are executions of women in the US?
Executions of women remain uncommon in the United States.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, 18 women have been executed in the country since 1976, accounting for about 1% of all executions.
Missouri executed Amber McLaughlin, a transgender woman, in 2023 for a 2003 killing. The execution is believed to have been the first of a transgender woman in the United States.
In 2021, the federal government executed Lisa Montgomery, marking the first time in nearly seven decades that the US government had put a female inmate to death.
Georgia executed a woman in 2015.
If Pike’s execution proceeds as scheduled, Tennessee would carry out its first execution of a woman since 1820.