Mom of Christa Pike's victim speaks out as US state prepares for first execution of a woman in over 200 years
Warning: This article contains descriptions of violence which some readers may find distressing.
The only woman on Tennessee's death row is set to be put to death for a crime she committed in 1995, with the mother of her victim speaking out ahead of her execution date.
On September 30, 2026, Christa Pike is scheduled to become the first woman to be executed in the state in over 200 years.
The 50-year-old is currently the only woman on the state's death row, following being convicted of first-degree murder in 1996 at the age of 18 and sentenced to death for the murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a fellow Jobs Corps worker from Knoxville, Tennessee.
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Pike was convicted alongside her then-boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp, aged 17 at the time, who received a life sentence, now eligible for parole. Shadolla Peterson, then 18, testified against Pike and Shipp and received probation.
On August 24, 2001, while incarcerated, Pike was also convicted of attempted first degree murder of a fellow inmate, named Patricia Jones.
And May Martinez, mother of Colleen Slemmer, has since spoken out ahead of Pike's execution.
In an interview with WBIR Channel 10, Martinez said without hesitation: "She did the crime. I think she should pay for it."
She continued: "She'd given her lethal injection or hung or whatever way she wanted it, it's too easy. I feel that she should have been cut over 30 times the alphabet like Colleen was.
"I think somebody should have held her down and put a pentagram in her chest while she was alive."
Martinez added: "That way, I would feel better. That she felt the pain that Colleen did."
Indeed, in 1995, Pike, Shipp, and Peterson are reported as having lured Slemmer into the woods where they then proceeded to beat, torture, and kill her.
Pike had been working alongside Slemmer as part of the Job Corps program and began dating Shipp.
It's reported Shipp - who was heavily into witchcraft - was allegedly abusive towards Pike, and cheated on her with Slemmer.
After the trio lured Slemmer into the woods, Pike and Shipp attacked her while Peterson acted as a lookout, a pentagram - paganism symbol - carved into her chest.
Pike is reported as having delivered the final blow and kept a piece of Slemmer's skull, later confessing her role in the murder to authorities but insisting they had just planned to scare Slemmer.
Martinez's comments follow Pike filing a lawsuit in Davidson County Chancery Court challenging the state's lethal injection protocol, claiming it violates her constitutional rights as well as her religious beliefs.
Pike's lawsuit challenging Tennessee's lethal injection protocol
The state's limitation on clergy means Pike's Buddhist spiritual advisor won't be able to be present at her execution or see her for 12 hours before, which she's argued restricts her 'sincerely held religious belief of Buddhism'.
In challenging the protocol, she's required to provide a 'plausible alternative method of execution,' the Death Penalty Information Center notes.
However, Pike argued it would go against her beliefs to 'participate in any process leading to her own death'.
The lawsuit also questions the method of her execution - Tennessee's new execution protocol relying solely on pentobarbital rather than a three-drug mix.
It argues the new protocol 'is plagued with the same issues that have marked botched executions for decades: secrecy, intentional omission, inattention to detail, and untrained and unlicensed prison personnel attempting to fill a medical role'.
The lawsuit also argues Pike's existing health conditions are not accounted for within the new protocol either and that there 'is a substantial risk Pike will experience unnecessary superadded pain and suffering, terror, and disgrace'.
It follows Pike's attorneys trying to get her sentence reduced, citing the alleged physical and sexual abuse and neglect she experienced as a child, alongside her 'severe mental illness at the time of her crime'.
Which states have the death penalty?
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, 27 US states have the death penalty, though it is not actively carried out in all of them.
- Alabama
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California (executive hold on executions since 2019)
- Florida
- Georgia
- Idaho
- Indiana
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- North Carolina
- Ohio (executive hold on executions since 2020)
- Oklahoma
- Oregon (executive hold on executions since 2011)
- Pennsylvania (executive hold on executions since 2015)
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Wyoming
Which states have abolished the death penalty?
- Alaska (1957)
- Colorado (2020)
- Connecticut (2012)
- Delaware (2016)
- Hawaii (1957)
- Illinois (2011)
- Iowa (1965)
- Maine (1887)
- Maryland (2013)
- Massachusetts (1984)
- Michigan (1847)
- Minnesota (1911)
- New Hampshire (2019)
- New Jersey (2007)
- New Mexico (2009)
- New York (2007)
- North Dakota (1973)
- Rhode Island (1984)
- Vermont (1972)
- Virginia (2021)
- Washington (2023)
- West Virginia (1965)
- Wisconsin (1853)
Topics: Death Row, True crime, US News
Poppy Bilderbeck