Tennessee is set to execute Christa Pike on Wednesday, September 30, after Governor Bill Lee refused clemency. Her lawyers have asked the US Supreme Court for a stay. The case has drawn attention for two reasons. Pike was 18 when she killed, and a woman has not been put to death in the state for more than two centuries. Here is what happened, and why it still divides people.
Two Students at Job Corps
Job Corps is a federally funded program that gives young people education and career training. In 1994, Pike and Colleen Slemmer were both enrolled at the Knoxville center. Slemmer studied computers and often wore a “Computer Geek” shirt. Pike was training in nursing.
Slemmer was 19 and from Florida. Her mother, May Martinez, says she volunteered with the Special Olympics and wanted a career in technology.
Pike had joined the program after spending time in a juvenile facility. There she began dating Tadaryl Shipp, a year younger than her. Reports say the couple dabbled in the occult. Pike now says she was not a Satanist. Investigators said the motive was jealousy. Pike believed Slemmer was interested in Shipp.
The Night of January 12, 1995
On the day of the killing, Pike, Shipp and a third student, 18-year-old Shadolla Peterson, asked around about where Slemmer was. Reports say they openly made threats about what would happen when they found her.
Slemmer spoke to her mother on the phone around 6 p.m. and said three students were bothering her. It was their last conversation.
That evening, the group persuaded Slemmer to leave the dorm. They said they wanted to smoke marijuana and make peace. They took her to a wooded area behind a steam plant on the University of Tennessee agricultural campus. The spot was isolated.
Once there, Pike and Shipp attacked her while Peterson acted as a lookout. Court records say Pike cut Slemmer’s throat with a box cutter and hit her with a meat cleaver. They say Pike carved a pentagram into her chest and crushed her skull with a piece of asphalt. Reports describe the attack as lasting close to an hour.
The Discovery and the Arrests
A university grounds worker found the body about 8 a.m. the next morning. He first thought it was an animal. Slemmer was face down in the debris with severe head and neck injuries.
Pike did not hide what she had done. Prosecutors said she kept a fragment of Slemmer’s skull as a souvenir and showed it to classmates. Police arrested her on January 14, 1995, two days after the killing.
Trial and Sentences
A jury convicted Pike of first-degree murder in March 1996 and sentenced her to death. Prosecutors argued the killing was planned and torturous. She was the youngest woman on death row in modern US history.
The three participants received very different outcomes:
- Pike received the death penalty.
- Shipp, who was 17, received life with the possibility of parole. He was denied parole in 2025 and cannot be reviewed again until 2031.
- Peterson testified against Pike and received probation.
Pike has never denied her role. Her lawyers argue the death sentence ignores her age, her history of childhood sexual abuse, and her later diagnoses of bipolar disorder and PTSD. They say the jury never heard that background at sentencing.
Prison and the 2001 Attack
Pike’s record behind bars is a central point for supporters of the execution. In 2001, she attacked another inmate at a Nashville prison. She was later convicted of attempting to strangle the woman, which added 25 years to her sentence.
Her lawyers say she has changed over three decades. They describe a remorseful woman who receives treatment and helps other inmates.
The Women Tennessee Has Executed Before
Pike’s execution would be the first of a woman in Tennessee in more than 200 years. The historical record is thinner and less certain than the headlines suggest.
Records compiled by the Death Penalty Information Center list a woman named Martin Eve, also written as Eve Martin, as the last woman executed. She was hanged in Hawkins County in 1820 as an accessory to murder. This is the record the Guardian and many outlets repeat.
Pike’s attorneys dispute it. They argue that Martin was included in the database by mistake. They cite a 2016 book on women and capital punishment and a 2008 legal paper. The paper says Martin was actually the victim of a murder in 1820, not the person who was hanged. A 19th-century county history also describes a killing of a woman named Eve Martin that year.
If Martin is removed from the list, the last woman executed would be an unnamed enslaved Black woman hanged in Sumner County in 1819 for murder. That is why some outlets say 1819 and others say 1820. Either way, the gap is over two centuries.
The same records list earlier executions of women in Tennessee. A woman named Molly was hanged in 1807 in Williamson County for murdering her child. Another unnamed Black woman was hanged in 1808 in Jefferson County. Records from that era are incomplete, especially for enslaved people, so historians treat the details with caution.
Women are rarely executed anywhere in the US. They make up only about 2% of death row populations. Recent examples include Georgia in 2015, the federal government in 2021 with Lisa Montgomery, and Missouri in 2023 with Amber McLaughlin.
What Happens Next
The execution is set for Wednesday at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. It depends on whether the Supreme Court grants a stay. Pike has also challenged Tennessee’s new single-drug lethal injection protocol as unconstitutional.
Slemmer’s mother and stepfather plan to attend.
FAQ
What did Christa Pike do?
She and her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, lured 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer into woods near the University of Tennessee’s agricultural campus on January 12, 1995. They killed her. Pike was 18.
Why did she do it?
Investigators said the motive was jealousy. Pike believed Slemmer was interested in Shipp.
What happened to the other people involved?
Shipp received life with the possibility of parole and was denied parole in 2025. Shadolla Peterson testified against Pike and received probation.
Who was the last woman executed in Tennessee?
Records list Martin Eve in 1820. Pike’s lawyers say that entry is an error, in which case the last would be an unnamed woman in 1819.
Is Pike the youngest woman ever sentenced to death?
She is described as the youngest woman sentenced to death in the modern era. That is different from all of US history.
When is the execution?
Wednesday, September 30, 2026, unless the Supreme Court grants a stay.
