Christa Pike Survived Tennessee’s Failed Execution — But the 1995 Murder Case Behind Her Death Sentence Remains at the Center

Christa Pike was supposed to become the first woman executed by Tennessee in more than 200 years.

Instead, she survived.

On September 30, Tennessee attempted to execute Pike, 50, at Riverbend Maximum Security Insтιтution for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer.

Officials administered two doses of pentobarbital, but Pike remained alive. She was eventually taken by ambulance to a hospital. Nearly a week later, her attorneys say she has regained consciousness, is speaking and continues to receive critical medical care. Her prognosis remains unclear.

But behind the extraordinary execution story is the crime that placed Pike on death row.

Pike and Colleen were students at the Knoxville Job Corps when Colleen was killed in January 1995. Prosecutors said Pike, then 18, participated in a planned and prolonged attack on the 19-year-old after the group took her to an isolated area.

Pike was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy and sentenced to death in 1996. She has remained under that sentence for nearly three decades.

Colleen’s mother, May Martinez, traveled to Tennessee expecting to witness the sentence finally being carried out after waiting more than 30 years. Instead, she watched an execution attempt that failed.

Now Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has ordered a comprehensive third-party review into what happened and halted the state’s remaining execution scheduled for 2026. Pike’s attorneys are also seeking records and evidence from the failed procedure.

My take: The failed execution has created an unprecedented new chapter in Pike’s case, but it should not overshadow why she was on death row. At the center of this story remains Colleen Slemmer, a 19-year-old whose life ended in 1995 and whose family has now spent more than three decades waiting for closure.