Tennessee is set to become the first state to execute a female death row inmate in nearly 200 years. The case involves Christa Gail Pike, whose crime dates back more than 30 years. An official announcement has scheduled her execution for September 30, 2026.
She will become Tennessee’s first woman to be executed in nearly two centuries. The last execution of a woman in the state took place in 1820, when Martin Eve was put to death. Pike was identified as the primary perpetrator in a gruesome murder case.
Christa Pike is the only woman currently held on state’s death row. She has been behind bars for more than three decades. The use of the death penalty against women has historically been rare in the U.S. Nationwide, only 18 women have been executed since 1976.
Pike was arrested in 1995, and her crime is considered one of the most notorious in the state’s history. She was 18 at the time she murdered her victim, 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer.
At the time, Christa Pike was enrolled in the Knoxville Job Corps, a federal job training program. The motive behind the killing was later determined to be jealousy.
Next year, Tennessee plans to execute the only woman on the state’s death row. Christa Gail Pike would be the first woman executed in the state of Tennessee in 200 years, as well as the 19th woman executed in modern U.S. history. pic.twitter.com/qfMwV3M2Cs
— VICE (@VICE) November 26, 2025
According to court documents, Pike developed jealousy toward Slemmer after she became suspicious that Slemmer was romantically involved with her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp. On the day of the crime, Christa lured Colleen to a wooded area near the agricultural campus of the University of Tennessee. She then tortured and killed the 19-year-old and mutilated her body.
Court records show that Pike’s exceptionally violent attack on Slemmer involved weapons such as a box cutter and a meat cleaver. She carved a pentagon into the victim’s body and ultimately bludgeoned Colleen’s skull with a heavy piece of asphalt. The crime was carried out over more than an hour, highlighting the prolonged and violent nature of the attack.
Prosecutors revealed that Christa Gail Pike retained a piece of her victim’s skull, which she kept as a trophy. According to a USA Today report, she bragged about killing Slemmer to fellow students. Court records show Pike told another student how she murdered the 19-year-old, including slashing her throat six times with a box cutter.
She also revealed that she cut open Slemmer’s back with a meat cleaver and carved a pentagon on her chest and forehead. Pike admitted she continued mutilating her victim despite the teenager begging for mercy. Pike believed Colleen was trying to steal her 17-year-old boyfriend, who was enrolled in the same program. Prosecutors said her final act, throwing a large piece of asphalt onto the victim’s skull, was meant to ensure she was dead.
This was one of the most brutal cases ever recorded in the state. Christa was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. Her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, was also convicted but sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole. Inmate records show he is eligible for parole in November next year. Another accomplice, Shadolla Peterson, who acted as a lookout during the attack, was sentenced to probation.
Pike continued her violent behavior while incarcerated. In 2004, she attempted to strangle another inmate, resulting in an additional 25 years added to her sentence. Over the years, her defense attorneys pursued multiple appeals, arguing that the now 49-year-old woman endured years of abuse and neglect during childhood, leading to diagnoses of bipolar disorder and PTSD.
In a statement to USA Today, Pike’s legal team said, “Christa’s childhood was fraught with years of physical and se**** abuse and neglect … With time and treatment for bipolar and post-traumatic stress disorders, which were not diagnosed until years later, Christa has become a thoughtful woman with deep remorse for her crime.”
