Tadaryl Shipp, the accomplice of Christa Pike in the murder of Colleen Slemmer, has spent his life behind bars after avoiding the death penalty. While Pike was sentenced to death for the killing, Shipp received a life sentence, according to People Magazine.
Pike, now 50, survived two lethal injections last Wednesday and remains unconscious in hospital. She was sentenced to death in 1996 for the murder of classmate Colleen Slemmer in January 1995. However, Pike did not act alone, carrying out the fatal attack in Tennessee woodland with her then-boyfriend, Shipp.
Why Shipp avoided the death penalty
Shipp was sentenced to life in prison in 1997, more than two years after the murder. He was 17 at the time of the offence, while Pike was 18, meaning he was considered a minor. In his trial, jurors were told that Shipp, Pike, and another accomplice, Shadolla Peterson — who accepted a plea deal to testify against the others — lured Slemmer from their dorm rooms at the Knoxville Job Corps. They then took her to nearby woodland, tortured her with a box cutter, and killed her, leaving her in the woods.
The trio returned to their dorms and were arrested 36 hours later. In their trials and subsequent interviews, it has been suggested that Satanic worship played a role in the motive for the killing, as has a theory that Slemmer was a love rival for Shipp's affections. Pike and Shipp were in a relationship at the time.
Shipp's current imprisonment and parole eligibility
Shipp is currently jailed in the Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville, Lake County, Tennessee, per inmate records. He was first eligible for parole last year, but it was denied. He will next be eligible for parole in 2031.
Pike is now on a ventilator after a last-minute court hearing ruled she could be the first woman executed in Tennessee for 200 years, but the procedure failed in horrifying circumstances. The failure has left people on both sides of the death penalty debate demanding answers, and the state's governor has ordered an independent review. In an interview with NBC News on Thursday, Colleen's mother, May Martinez, described the failed execution as a "mess".
