Tennessee Prepares for First Female Execution in Two Centuries as Christa Pike's Date Nears

Christa Pike, the sole woman awaiting execution on Tennessee's death row, is slated to become the first female inmate put to death in the state in over two hundred years. Her execution is scheduled for September 30, 2026, stemming from the 1995 torture and murder of her fellow Knoxville Job Corps classmate, Colleen Slemmer. Pike received her death sentence in March 1996, at the tender age of 18.

Despite her legal team submitting a comprehensive 226-page clemency petition, no decision regarding a potential last-minute reprieve had been communicated at the time of this publication. The only individual with the authority to halt the execution is Governor Bill Lee, who, on September 28, 2026, confirmed his decision not to intervene. In a statement released then, Governor Lee affirmed, "After deliberate consideration of Christa Gail Pike's request for clemency, and after a thorough review of the case, I am upholding the sentence of the State of Tennessee and do not plan to intervene."

According to data from the Death Penalty Information Center, Pike is also set to be the only person executed in Tennessee for a crime committed between the ages of 18 and 20 within the contemporary death penalty era. She is one of just 42 individuals on the state's death row, and notably, the only woman among them.

The crime occurred in January 1995 when Pike, then 18, was accused of killing 19-year-old Slemmer at the Job Corps Center in Knoxville. Prosecutors revealed that Pike's relationship with 17-year-old Tadaryl Shipp led her to perceive Slemmer as a "romantic rival," as reported by USA Today. Court records indicate that prior to the murder, Pike confided her intentions to a friend and later displayed a piece of Slemmer's skull to the same individual.

On January 12, 1995, Pike, accompanied by Shipp and another friend, lured Slemmer into a wooded area where Pike launched her assault. Court documents detail that Pike brutally slashed Slemmer's throat, subjected her to a severe beating, and pelted her with chunks of asphalt. She further confessed to her friend that she used a meat cleaver to slash Slemmer's back and carved a pentagram into her forehead and chest. Investigators later confirmed that Pike retained a fragment of Slemmer's skull following the killing. Both Pike and Shipp eventually admitted their involvement in the murder. Pike was convicted and sentenced to death in March 1996.