Christa Pike’s First Words After Waking From the Failed Execution Revealed — Her Lawyer Details Her Health Struggles
Posted by Team - October 8, 2026
NASHVILLE — Christa Pike asked “where am I?” when she woke up from a botched execution attempt, which left her suffering from a blood clot in her arm, pneumonia and not being able to eat, her lawyer said.
Pike, 50, was set to become the first woman executed in Tennessee in over 200 years on September 30 — but instead became the first prisoner ever to survive a lethal injection in the US.
Her first words when she woke up on Tuesday were “Where am I and who are you?” before asking about her victim Colleen Slemmer’s family, her attorney, Randy Spivey, told a press conference Wednesday.
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Christa Pike suffered a blood clot in her arm, has pneumonia and can’t eat following her botched execution, her lawyer said.USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
Pike was sentenced to death for brutally torturing and killing her 19-year-old classmate Slemmer in a jealous rage in Jan. 1995, when she was 18.
She was rushed to hospital after receiving two doses of lethal injection drug pentobarbital at Riverbend Maximum Security Insтιтution in Nashville last week and was initially said to be unconscious and in a critical condition.
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Chancellor I’Ashea L. Myles speaks during a hearing requesting the Tennessee Department of Corrections to preserve all evidence related to the failed execution of Christa Pike, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn.George Walker IV/Pool AP via AP
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Tennessee ᴀssistant Attorney Generals Cody Brandon and John W. Ayers confer during a court hearing, as attorneys for Christa Pike request the Tennessee Department of Corrections to preserve all evidence related to her failed execution, in Nashville, Tennessee, October 7, 2026.via REUTERS
“Christa has a long road to recovery,” Spivey said. “She has a blood clot in one of her arms, she has pneumonia. She is not able to swallow yet, so she has not eaten.”
Spivey said that Pike also suffered “extraordinary” swelling to her hands, adding that they “looked like if you were to blow up a surgical glove.”