Full Breakdown
Christa Pike Set for Tennessee’s First Female Execution in Over Two Centuries
By Drooid · · How we work
Core Event
Christa Gail Pike is scheduled to be executed at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, September 30, 2026 at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. Pike, 50, was convicted of first-degree murder for the 1995 killing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a fellow Job Corps participant. The state will use lethal injection and has arranged an all-female transport team and additional privacy measures for the procedure.
Background & Context
On January 12, 1995 Pike, then 18, lured Slemmer to a woodland near the University of Tennessee’s agricultural campus. Pike and her boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp tortured Slemmer, carving a pentagram into her chest and delivering a fatal blow with a chunk of asphalt. Pike kept a piece of Slemmer’s skull as a “souvenir.” She was sentenced to death in 1996, becoming the youngest woman on death row in the modern era. Shipp, 17 at the time, received a life sentence without parole and is eligible for parole in 2030 or 2031 (sources differ).
Data & Statistics
- Women account for roughly 1 % of all U.S. executions since 1976.
- Pike would be the 19th woman executed nationwide since 1976 and the first in Tennessee since 1820.
Official Statements & Responses
- The U.S. Supreme Court denied Pike’s petition for a stay on September 29, 2026, leaving the execution schedule intact.
- The Tennessee Attorney General’s Office said Pike’s childhood abuse, while “tragic,” does not provide a legal basis to overturn a “lawfully imposed and exhaustively reviewed” death sentence.
Criticism & Opposition
- Justin Mazzola, deputy director of research at Amnesty International USA, called it “unthinkable” that Governor Lee would allow the execution to proceed.
- Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, noted that contemporary science on adolescent brain development would likely preclude a death sentence for an 18-year-old today.
Conflicting Reports & Gaps
- Sources differ on the exact year Shipp may become eligible for parole: 2030 or 2031.
- The state confirmed female guards will transport Pike but has not pledged an all-female execution team; the physician overseeing the injection is expected to be male.
Verbatim Quotes
- “I was a mentally ill 18-year-old kid. It took me numerous years to even realize the gravity of what I’d done. Even more to accept how many lives I affected. 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,” — Christa Pike
- “It is unthinkable that Governor Lee would even consider moving forward with this execution,” — Justin Mazzola, Amnesty International USA