Christa Gail Pike, the convicted killer whose brutal murder of a teenage classmate shocked the nation, is set to become the first woman executed in Tennessee in roughly 200 years. The 50-year-old is scheduled to receive a lethal injection at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville at 10am local time on Wednesday (3pm BST), after the US Supreme Court rejected a last-ditch attempt to halt the execution.
Murder of Colleen Slemmer
Pike was 18 when she received a death sentence for the killing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in 1995. Prosecutors alleged that she and her then-boyfriend subjected the teenager to a prolonged and savage attack after accusing her of pursuing him, according to The Mirror.
Pike accused Colleen of trying to steal her boyfriend before enticing her to a location near the University of Tennessee, where she was beaten and attacked with a box cutter. Colleen's body was later discovered with a pentagram carved into her chest and her skull crushed by a large piece of asphalt, according to investigators. Pike, now 50, is said to have kept a fragment of Colleen's skull as a macabre trophy, which she later displayed to fellow pupils at her school.
Legal history and execution protocol
Pike faced charges of first-degree murder and was sentenced to death on 30 March 1996, about a year after Colleen's killing. Shipp, who was 17 at the time of the crime, received a life sentence with the possibility of parole. At the time of her conviction, Pike became the youngest individual on death row, according to the Tennessee Department of Corrections.
State protocol requires that preparations for lethal injection begin 48 hours before scheduled executions, with all non-legal visits and telephone contact ceasing. On the final day, prison staff prepare the lethal injection along with reserve syringes and saline solution. Witnesses may observe the execution, typically arriving between 8.30am and 9.15am.
Final moments and confirmation
At 10am, the prisoner is restrained and escorted to the chamber, where intravenous lines are attached, before officials, legal representatives, and religious advisers enter. By 10.10am, the warden contacts the commissioner to confirm that no last-minute stays or reprieves have been issued. After four syringes are delivered, the special operations team signals the warden, starting a five-minute waiting period. Then all witness blinds and privacy curtains are closed.
The warden then asks a doctor to enter the chamber and assess the prisoner to determine whether death has occurred. If the inmate remains alive, the procedure is partially repeated. Should the execution proceed, Pike will become the first woman put to death in Tennessee in about two centuries, and the 19th woman executed in the United States since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976.
