Christa Pike: The 18-Year-Old Who Helped Kill a 19-Year-Old Classmate—And Is Now Facing Execution 31 Years Later

Christa Gail Pike was only 18 when she and two other Job Corps students lured 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer away from their campus in Knoxville, Tennessee, in January 1995. What happened next became one of Tennessee’s most notorious murder cases. Now, more than three decades later, Pike is scheduled to be executed.

Christa Pike’s name is once again attracting international attention as Tennessee prepares for an execution scheduled for September 30, 2026.

Pike, now 50, is the only woman currently on Tennessee’s death row. If the execution proceeds, she would become the first woman executed by Tennessee in more than 200 years. 

But behind the scheduled execution is a murder that began with a dispute involving a teenage relationship and ended with the death of a young woman who had been Pike’s fellow student.

Who was Colleen Slemmer?

Colleen Slemmer was 19 years old and, like Pike, was enrolled at the Job Corps Center in Knoxville.

According to the Tennessee Supreme Court’s account of the case, Pike had told another student on January 11, 1995, that she intended to kill Slemmer, saying that she had “just felt mean” that day. The following evening, Pike, her boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp, and another student, Shadolla Peterson, left the Job Corps Center with Slemmer. 

Slemmer never returned.

Her body was discovered the following morning on the University of Tennessee’s agricultural campus.

Why did they kill her?

The motive has often been described as a romantic conflict involving Pike’s boyfriend.

In her statement to police, Pike said she and Slemmer had been having problems and accused Slemmer of trying to get her boyfriend and “running her mouth.” Pike told investigators that she believed Slemmer had deliberately provoked her.

Pike claimed that she had intended to fight Slemmer rather than kill her.

But the evidence presented at trial showed that Pike had taken a box cutter and a miniature meat cleaver with her when she left the Job Corps Center with Slemmer. Tennessee court records also describe the case as stemming from a romantic conflict. 

The situation escalated dramatically once the group reached an isolated area.

A brutal attack lasting up to an hour

According to Pike’s own statement to police, the attack lasted approximately 30 minutes to an hour.

She described beating Slemmer, kicking her, cutting her with a box cutter, and repeatedly striking her head.

Court records say Slemmer attempted to escape several times and begged Pike and the others to stop.

Pike told investigators that Slemmer repeatedly asked why they were doing this to her and pleaded for her life.

Despite this, the attack continued.

The medical examiner later determined that Slemmer died from blunt-force injuries to her head. She had suffered extensive skull fractures as well as numerous cuts and other injuries. 

A pentagram was also carved into Slemmer’s chest.

That detail became one of the most sensational aspects of the case. However, later court records indicate that Tadaryl Shipp admitted he had carved the pentagram, rather than Pike, something that is important to distinguish from some older accounts of the murder. 

What happened after the murder shocked investigators

The Tennessee Supreme Court record describes Pike returning to the Job Corps Center after the killing.

She told fellow students that she had killed Slemmer and showed one of them a piece of the victim’s skull, which she described as a souvenir.

One witness testified that Pike laughed, danced and sang as she described what had happened.

She also told another student that the stains on her shoes were Slemmer’s blood and showed her a piece of bone that she said came from the victim’s skull. 

The court later pointed to these actions as evidence of a profound lack of remorse at the time.

Pike also wrote a letter to her boyfriend and co-conspirator, Tadaryl Shipp, discussing the murder and her sentence. In its 1998 decision, the Tennessee Supreme Court said the letter demonstrated what it characterized as a “total lack of remorse.” 

But there is an important twist in the story today.

Pike’s current legal team presents a very different picture of her.

Her lawyers are asking Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to commute her death sentence to life imprisonment without parole.

Their clemency petition focuses heavily on Pike’s childhood, alleging repeated sexual abuse, rape, physical violence and neglect. Her lawyers also argue that she suffered from serious psychological problems and that her youth and traumatic background were not adequately presented to the jury during the original sentencing proceedings. 

The Death Penalty Information Center reports that the state does not dispute the core factual allegations concerning the abuse described in the clemency petition. 

Pike’s current supporters also point to her age at the time of the murder.

She was 18 years old.

Her attorneys argue that her age, traumatic childhood and untreated conditions should be considered when determining whether the death sentence should now be carried out.

What happened to the other two people involved?

Pike was not alone when Slemmer was killed.

Tadaryl Shipp, Pike’s boyfriend, was 17 years old at the time. Because he was under 18, he was not eligible for the death penalty. He received a life sentence and is now eligible for parole. 

Shadolla Peterson, who was 18, testified against Pike and Shipp and received probation, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. 

Pike was the only one of the three to receive a death sentence.

From death sentence to September 30, 2026

Pike was convicted in 1996 of first-degree premeditated murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.

She was sentenced to death by electrocution.

The Tennessee Supreme Court upheld her conviction and death sentence in 1998. 

More than three decades after Slemmer’s death, Pike remains on death row.

Her execution is currently scheduled for 10:00 a.m. Central Daylight Time on September 30, 2026, unless the date is changed or a stay is granted. 

Her legal team continues to pursue avenues that could prevent the execution, including the clemency request.

A case that continues to divide opinion

The Christa Pike case has become about more than the murder itself.

It now raises questions about age, childhood trauma, accountability, punishment and the death penalty.

There is no question that Colleen Slemmer was brutally murdered. The Tennessee courts upheld Pike’s conviction and death sentence after reviewing the evidence.

At the same time, Pike’s lawyers argue that the person who committed the crime at 18 should be considered alongside the history of abuse and psychological trauma that preceded it.

And there is another striking part of the story: the way Pike’s attitude has been described has changed over the decades.

The original court record contains evidence that prosecutors and the Tennessee Supreme Court regarded as demonstrating extreme lack of remorse at the time of the crime. 

Today, however, Pike’s own clemency materials say she accepts responsibility and regrets what happened, stating that she does not use her traumatic childhood as an excuse for the killing. 

That contrast is part of why the case continues to attract attention as her execution date approaches.

Christa Pike is scheduled to die on September 30, 2026.

The question now is whether the state will carry out the sentence imposed more than 30 years ago, or whether her death sentence will ultimately be changed to life imprisonment.