09/30/2026
SHE WAS NOT EXECUTED THIS MORNING...I definitely did not see this coming. Christa Pike was supposed to be executed by lethal injection THIS MORNING after spending approximately 30 years on Tennessee’s death row. Yesterday the United States Supreme Court denied her request for a stay, Governor Bill Lee had already denied clemency, and at that point it really looked like there was nothing left standing between Christa Pike and the ex*****on chamber.
Then, about ONE HOUR before she was scheduled to die, a federal appeals court stepped in and HALTED her ex*****on.
For anyone who doesn’t know why Christa Pike is on death row, this case goes all the way back to January 1995. Christa was 18 years old and attending Job Corps in Knoxville when she became convinced that another student, 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, was trying to get with her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp. Colleen was lured away from the Job Corps center and taken into a secluded wooded area where she was attacked for approximately 30 to 45 minutes.
And this was an absolutely horrific murder. Colleen was beaten and repeatedly cut while she was still alive. She tried to escape during the attack but was prevented from getting away. She was gagged, her clothing was removed, and Shipp carved a pentagram into her chest. Christa repeatedly struck Colleen in the head with a large piece of asphalt, even describing later that she could hear Colleen “breathing blood in and out.” After Colleen was dead, Christa took a piece of her skull from the scene and later showed it to another student.
Christa was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. Shipp, who was 17 at the time, received life in prison with the possibility of parole. A third person involved, Shadolla Peterson, cooperated with prosecutors and received probation. Christa was the only person sentenced to death.
Fast forward more than 30 YEARS and Christa is now 50 years old and was supposed to die this morning. Her attorneys have spent years arguing that the jury that sentenced an 18-year-old Christa to death did not have the full picture of the severe sexual abuse, r**e, childhood trauma and mental illness she experienced before this crime.
And THAT is now part of what the federal appeals court wants to review.
The timing of this is insane. Witnesses had already gathered at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution for the ex*****on when the order came down at around 9 AM. Christa was scheduled to be executed at 10 AM.
So as of right now, Christa Pike is STILL ALIVE and her ex*****on is officially on hold. It is not yet clear how long this will last or what happens next.
Had the ex*****on happened this morning, Christa Pike would have become the first woman Tennessee executed in more than 200 years.
I’ll keep y’all updated because clearly this story is NOT over.
