Tennessee is preparing to execute a woman for the first time in over 200 years, setting an execution date for Christa Gail Pike, the only woman on the state’s death row.
The Tennessee Supreme Court has scheduled Pike’s execution for September 30, 2026, more than 30 years after she brutally killed a teenage romantic rival, Colleen Slemmer, in a case that drew national attention for its horrific details. Pike was just 18 years old when the crime was committed, and her case continues to raise questions about capital punishment, mental health, and the rarity of women facing execution in the United States.
Christa Gail Pike’s conviction stems from the January 12, 1995, murder of 19-year-old Slemmer. Both were students at the Knoxville Job Corps, a career-training program, when Pike grew jealous and paranoid that Slemmer was trying to steal her 17-year-old boyfriend. Alongside her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, and friend Shadolla Peterson, Pike lured Slemmer away from the Job Corps center into the woods. According to court records, what followed was an hour-long assault largely carried out by Pike, which left Slemmer beaten, stabbed, and bludgeoned. Her chest was carved with a pentagram before Pike delivered the fatal blow by throwing a piece of asphalt at her head. In a disturbing aftermath, Pike kept a fragment of Slemmer’s skull and later showed it off to other students.
The brutality of the crime stunned the public, and prosecutors said Pike bragged about her actions, telling another student she had cut Slemmer’s throat multiple times with a box cutter and carved symbols into her body even as Slemmer begged for mercy. A groundskeeper discovered the body the following day, sparking widespread media coverage. Pike was swiftly convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. Shipp was also convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison, with the possibility of parole in November. Peterson, who prosecutors said kept watch during the attack, cooperated with authorities and received probation.
If her execution proceeds, Christa Pike would become the first woman executed in Tennessee in two centuries and only the 19th woman executed in modern U.S. history. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, women make up a tiny fraction of those put to death in America, just 18 women since 1976, compared to more than 1,600 men. Currently, there are only 48 women on death row nationwide, compared to about 2,100 men. “It’s extremely rare,” said Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center.
Pike’s case is being carried out amid a national increase in executions. In 2025 alone, states executed 34 inmates, the highest figure seen in a decade, with several more executions scheduled for the near future. Tennessee last carried out an execution in August 2025, when Byron Black was put to death for the 1988 murder of his girlfriend and her two young daughters.
Christa Pike has since expressed regret and acknowledged responsibility for the crime. In a letter to The Tennessean, she described herself as a “mentally ill 18-year-old kid” at the time of the murder and said it took her years to fully comprehend the gravity of what she had done. “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,” she wrote.
Her attorneys have long argued that Pike’s childhood, marked by abuse, neglect, and undiagnosed mental health issues, played a role in her violent actions. They say she was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder, conditions that were not recognized during her trial. Her legal team maintains that, if tried today, Pike would likely have been spared the death penalty and sentenced instead to life in prison without parole. For nearly 27 years, Pike was held in solitary confinement as Tennessee’s only female death row inmate, until recent changes allowed her some interaction with other prisoners during meals, classes, and religious services.
The family of Colleen Slemmer, however, has remained firm in its support for the death penalty. Slemmer’s mother, May Martinez, has said she will only feel a sense of closure when Pike is executed. “There’s not a day goes by that I don’t think about Colleen or how she died and how rough it was,” Martinez told local media.
Historically, Tennessee has executed very few women. According to Pike’s attorneys, only three women have ever been executed in the state, all between 1807 and 1819. Records show these women, two of whom were Black and enslaved, were hanged, though details surrounding their crimes are scarce. The last known case was that of Molly Holcomb in 1807.
The rarity of Pike’s case makes it a grim milestone for Tennessee and the U.S. at large. With just 1% of modern executions involving women, her scheduled death highlights broader debates about justice, gender, mental health, and whether capital punishment should apply to individuals who commit crimes as troubled teenagers.
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