Weeks Before Her Failed Execution, Christa Pike Called Botched Executions Her “Worst Nightmare”

Posted by Team - October 4, 2026

Christa Pike described how a botched lethal injection was her “worst nightmare” in a prison recording just weeks before her failed execution.

Pike, 50, revealed fears she would suffer the same fate as Tony Carruthers, another Tennessee death row inmate whose lethal injection execution had to be called off in May.

Christa Gail Pike appears remotely via video conference. — Christa Pike told how a botched lethal injection was her “worst nightmare” in a recording made in prison just weeks before her failed execution.USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

“The concerns I have on our lethal injection method are simply that I do not have good veins, and I’m worried about our physician not being qualified to start a central line on me,” Pike said in a recording obtained by the New York Times.

“Tony Carruthers lived out my worst nightmare. Detail for detail. And I don’t want to go through that.”

Pike was expected to become the first woman executed in Tennessee in over 200 years Wednesday, but was instead rushed to hospital after two attempts to administer the drugs failed.

Her lawyers have said she is in a critical condition and receiving lifesaving care and suggested she may have suffered brain damage during the bungled execution.

<ʙuттon class="ʙuттon ʙuттon--modal-trigger" aria-label="Open the image in a modal." data-modal-image="41106609"> An injection gurney and an electric chair stand inside the death chamber at Riverbend Maximum Security Insтιтution.

Pike was expected to become the first woman executed in Tennessee in over 200 years Wednesday, but was instead rushed to hospital after two attempts to administer the drugs failed.USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

In the recordings, Pike added that her fear was made even worse because the drugs used in the lethal injection had been likened to chemical drain cleaner Drano.

“The drug… supposedly burns very bad. And so that sounds scary to me because they used the word Drano in speaking about this drug, and the thought of suffocating and drowning on my own bodily fluid and blood isn’t very appealing to me.”

She also spoke of her remorse for the brutal torture and murder of her 19-year-old Job Corps classmate Colleen Slemmer in Jan. 1995.

“I’m very remorseful now. I wasn’t in the beginning when I first caught this charge. I didn’t care what I had done or who I had done it to,” Pike said.

“The horror of the pain that I caused her family, my family, my co-defendant’s families, I have affected this world in such a negative way when all I ever wanted to do was care for people and leave love. I have done the opposite of that and that pains me.”

Carruthers’ lawyer, Maria DeLiberato, told The Post in a statement Thursday that Pike’s failed execution had put her “right back in that room with Tony” during his execution attempt last May.

“We are joining the calls for a commutation for Christa, so she never experiences this torture again,” DeLiberato said.

“Moreover, we continue to ask the same for Tony, who is still recovering from his botched attempt and fighting to prove he was wrongfully convicted – all while he remains at risk of another execution attempt.”

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Christa Pike described how a botched lethal injection was her “worst nightmare” in a prison recording just weeks before her failed execution. Pike, 50, revealed fears she…

Weeks Before Her Failed Execution, Christa Pike Called Botched Executions Her “Worst Nightmare”

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