Christa Pike, the only woman on Tennessee’s death row, is set to become the first female inmate executed in the state in more than 200 years — and her legal team is racing against the clock to change that.
Pike is scheduled to be put to death on September 30, 2026, for the 1995 torture and murder of her fellow Knoxville Job Corps classmate Colleen Slemmer. She was sentenced to death in March 1996 when she was just 18 years old.
Her looming execution has drawn national attention — not only because of its historic nature, but because of Pike’s unusual request in her final weeks: she wants to be shot by an all-female firing squad rather than face death by lethal injection.
Everything to know about Pike’s execution, below.
What Is Christa Pike’s Scheduled Execution Date?
Pike’s execution is planned for September 30, 2026, making her the first woman executed in Tennessee in over two centuries. Her legal team filed a 226-page clemency petition, but have not received a response about a possible last-minute reprieve at the time of publication. The only person who could halt the execution is Governor Bill Lee, who shut down the possibility on September 28, 2026.
“After deliberate consideration of Christa Gail Pike’s request for clemency, and after a thorough review of the case, I am upholding the sentence of the State of Tennessee and do not plan to intervene,” Lee said in a statement at the time.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Pike is also slated to be the only person to undergo the death penalty in Tennessee “for a crime committed at age 18, 19 or 20 in the modern death penalty era.” She is one of just 42 people on the state’s death row — the only woman among them.
Christa Pike and the 1995 Murder of Colleen Slemmer
Pike was 18 years old in January 1995, when she was accused of murdering 19-year-old fellow student Slemmer at the Job Corps Center in Knoxville. At the time, Pike had been dating 17-year-old Tadaryl Shipp — a relationship that prosecutors said made her view Slemmer as a “romantic rival,” USA Today reported.
Before the killing, Pike revealed the plan to a friend, then later showed that same friend a piece of Slemmer’s skull, court records say.
On January 12, 1995, Pike, Shipp and a friend led Slemmer into the woods, where Pike attacked her. Court records state that Pike slashed Slemmer’s throat, beat her and threw pieces of asphalt at her. She also told her friend that she used a meat cleaver to slash Slemmer’s back and cut a pentagram into her forehead and chest. Investigators said Pike kept a piece of Slemmer’s skull after the killing.
Pike and Shipp ultimately admitted to the murder. She was found guilty in March 1996 and sentenced to death that same month.
Shipp, a minor at the time of the crime, was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole. He remains in custody after most recently being denied parole in October 2025. The friend who testified against Pike and Shipp received a sentence of probation.
Inside Christa Pike’s Fight Against Lethal Injection
In the weeks leading up to her scheduled execution, Pike’s legal team has argued aggressively against lethal injection. Her lawyers said she is “terrified” of dying a “painful” death and reportedly wants to be shot by an all-woman firing squad in front of witnesses that would include members of Slemmer’s family, according to the New York Post.
Pike’s attorneys say lethal injection would be “prolonged and agonizing” because she has a rare blood disorder, which could make it difficult to find a vein and could affect how she reacts to the drug.
The firing squad request is not the first time Pike has tried to prevent her death by lethal injection. In August, she took the state to court and asked to be hanged.
“[Lethal injection administered by men] will increase the likelihood that an 8th Amendment violation will occur,” Pike’s lawyer, Stephen Ferrell, said of the execution method, per the outlet. “There is an increased risk of pain and suffering.”
Pike also filed a lawsuit in January 2026, arguing that Tennessee’s execution method violates her religious rights, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. In a March 19 response viewed by USA Today, the state said Pike has not sufficiently argued that her execution would be unconstitutional.
While her ultimate goal is to have her sentence changed to life in prison, the state has pushed back on that argument as well.
“It was Ms Pike’s burden to come forth with scientific evidence (to overturn execution); she has completely failed to do that,” the state said.
Christa Pike Spoke About Death Row in Documentary
Pike opened up about the mental toll of awaiting execution in the September 2026 documentary Dead Woman Walking: Pike vs. Tennessee.
“I know I said I believed a date would never be set, but now that one has been set, it’s like a roulette wheel of thought and your actual brain is the ball bouncing around,” she said. “My nerves are shredded. When I do sleep, my brain eats itself.”
She added that she had the “most horrible nightmares, but I think what has been worse is that they told me a year ahead of time.”
“And so, every day I’ve woken up and lived that thought all day, every day, every waking moment,” Pike said.
In a 2023 letter to The Tennessean, Pike said she has “changed drastically” since the killing.
“Think back to the worst mistake you made as a reckless teenager. Well, mine happened to be huge, unforgettable and ruined countless lives,” she wrote. “I was a mentally ill 18 yr. 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 that someone as loving and compassionate as myself had the ability to commit such a crime.”
Her attorneys have echoed that argument. In a June 2021 motion cited by the Death Penalty Information Center, they wrote that “Life imprisonment is a proper punishment for Christa, just as it is for the nearly 200 women convicted of first degree murder who did not receive death in Tennessee since 1978.”
This story was compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists.
