Christa Pike, the only woman currently on Tennessee’s death row, is scheduled to be executed on September 30, 2026, which would make her the first woman put to death in the state in more than two centuries.
Pike was convicted of the brutal 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a fellow student at the Knoxville Job Corps. Pike was just 18 years old at the time. According to prosecutors, Pike, her boyfriend, and a friend lured Slemmer into the woods on January 12, 1995. Witness testimony described a savage attack in which Pike struck Slemmer’s head with asphalt, tortured her, and cut her throat. Pike’s boyfriend was later sentenced to life in prison for his role in the killing. A third participant received probation after testifying against the two.
Now 50, Pike is fighting her scheduled execution in court. In a lawsuit filed in January, she argues that Tennessee’s lethal injection method violates both her constitutional rights and her Buddhist faith. She contends that she would be prevented from communicating with her spiritual advisor before the execution, which she says conflicts with her sincere religious beliefs.
The legal situation is complicated further by a state rule requiring inmates who challenge the lethal injection method to select an alternative form of execution. Pike’s attorneys argue that choosing any method of execution would make her a participant in her own death, something her Buddhist faith prohibits.
Tennessee updated its lethal injection protocol in December 2024, switching from a three-drug combination to a single drug, pentobarbital. Pike’s legal team is challenging that change as well, arguing it creates serious risks due to her unique medical conditions and raises concerns about secrecy, lack of training among prison personnel, and a history of botched executions nationwide. Her attorneys wrote in court filings that the updated protocol is “sure or very likely to result in unnecessary and superadded pain and suffering, terror, and disgrace.”
The state pushed back in its March 19 response, arguing Pike has not adequately demonstrated that lethal injection would violate her constitutional rights.
Court records also note that Pike’s early life included significant trauma, poverty, neglect, and sexual assault. In a 2023 letter, Pike wrote that she has “changed drastically” and expressed remorse, saying it sickens her to think someone as loving and compassionate as she now considers herself capable of such a crime.
If her execution proceeds as scheduled, it will mark a significant and somber moment in Tennessee’s legal history.