Nashville, TN – The Tennessee Supreme Court this week authorized the first execution of a female inmate in more than 200 years, setting a September 30, 2026 date for the death of Christa Gail Pike, who was convicted nearly three decades ago in one of the state’s most brutal killings.
Pike, now 49, was sentenced to death for the 1995 torture and murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a fellow participant in the Job Corps program in Knoxville. Prosecutors said Pike, then 18, lured Slemmer into a wooded area with the help of two others before carrying out a prolonged assault that ended in Slemmer’s death. The attack included the carving of a pentagram into Slemmer’s chest and Pike keeping a piece of her skull as a souvenir.
The high court rejected Pike’s latest appeal for clemency, ruling she had not demonstrated circumstances that would justify halting her punishment. The order directs the execution to be carried out at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, where Tennessee houses its death row population.
Court records describe a chilling lead-up to the crime. On the night before the murder, Pike told another student in the Job Corps program that she was planning to kill a classmate.
Witnesses later testified they saw Pike, her boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp, and friend Shadolla Peterson walk into the woods with Slemmer. Hours later, the group returned without her. The next morning, a University of Tennessee groundskeeper discovered Slemmer’s battered remains.
Shipp, who was 17 at the time, received a life sentence. Peterson cooperated with prosecutors and was sentenced to probation. Pike remains the only woman on Tennessee’s death row.
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The execution would mark the first time the state has put a woman to death since the early 19th century.