Christa Pike, a woman who carved a pentagram into a love rival's chest before bludgeoning her to death with a chunk of asphalt, is set to be executed on Wednesday. The execution is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. (CDT) on September 30, 2026.
Murder of Colleen Slemmer
Pike was 18 years old when she brutally killed classmate Colleen Slemmer, 19, after becoming jealous of her. Pike, from West Virginia, USA, was described as becoming convinced Slemmer was trying to "steal" her partner Tadaryl Shipp while all three were undertaking a jobs programme at the University of Texas.
Pike, along with Shipp and another accomplice, lured Slemmer to an abandoned steam plant on the premise of smoking marijuana and making peace. Instead, Pike and Shipp savagely attacked her. In a thirty minute period, Slemmer was slashed, beaten and taunted, while a pentagram was carved into her chest. Then, her head was smashed in using a piece of asphalt.
Horrifically, Pike even kept a fragment of the victim's skull, and reportedly showed it to several other students in the 24 hours after the killing. She was arrested two days later.
Sentencing and Further Convictions
Pike was sentenced to death in 1996, becoming one of the youngest ever women to receive the death penalty in America. Shipp, who was 17 at the time of the killing, received life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Despite being incarcerated until now, the 1996 murder charge would not be Pike's only conviction. Six years later, while behind bars, she was found guilty of attempted first degree murder, for which she was sentenced to another 25 years.
In August 2001, Pike and another inmate were accused of attacking and attempting to strangle Patricia Jones with a shoestring, with Pike being convicted. In 2012, Pike was found to have been involved in plans to escape prison while on death row, with two men including one prison officer also being found to have helped with the attempt.
According to reports, the plan involved a prison key being duplicated, and saw corrections officer Justin Heflin bribed with money and gifts by Donald Kohut, who had become acquainted with Pike during her time behind bars. Kohut was sentenced to seven years for his involvement in the attempt, which was thwarted by police, while Heflin was fired from his job at Tennessee's department of corrections.
Appeals and Clemency Efforts
While behind bars, numerous attempts have been made to remove Pike from death row, with many revolving around her deeply troubled childhood and young age at the time of the killing. Lawyers have used the fact Pike was neglected and sexually abused throughout her childhood, leading to a suicide attempt aged 12, to push for a more lenient sentence, especially as she required psychiatric treatment and psychological care throughout her youth.
Most recently, lawyers have argued that the electric chair would count as 'cruel and unusual punishment', as it may bring back traumatic memories of Pike's experience of sexual abuse and rape as a minor. A letter written by several women's advocacy organisations in a court brief filed at Tennessee Supreme Court read: "She will relive the sounds, the smells, and the pain. She will feel it now as she did then. And it will be as horrific for her now as it was then. ... (We) have very little doubt that Christa Pike will go to her death believing and feeling that she is being raped yet again."
Pike has shown remorse for her involvement in the killing of Slemmer. In a recent clemency petition, she wrote: "Think back to the worst mistake you made as a reckless teenager. Well, mine happened to be huge, unforgettable and ruined countless lives. I was a mentally ill 18-year-old kid. ... I took the life of someone’s child, sister, friend. It sickens me now to think I had the ability to commit such a crime."
