The state of Tennessee is set to execute Christa Gail Pike on Wednesday, making her the first female inmate to face the death penalty in the state in at least 200 years.
Pike, now 50, was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a fellow student at a Job Corps training centre in Knoxville.
She was just 18 when she and her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, lured Slemmer into a wooded area on January 12, 1995. Prosecutors stated that Pike attacked Slemmer because she feared the victim was trying to steal her boyfriend.
During the attack, Slemmer was cut with a box cutter and beaten with a piece of asphalt. Prosecutors noted that a pentagram was carved into Slemmer’s chest and part of her skull was removed after the killing.
While Shipp admitted to carving the symbol and was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole, Pike was the only defendant given the death sentence. A third person, who acted as a lookout, received probation after testifying for the prosecution.
The execution is moving forward after the US Supreme Court rejected a last-minute request by Pike’s lawyers to halt the process on Tuesday. This decision came just a day after Tennessee Governor Bill Lee denied her request for clemency.
Pike’s defence team had asked the governor to change her sentence to life in prison. They pointed to her young age at the time of the crime, her mental health struggles, and a history of severe childhood trauma. Her lawyers also argued that her mother’s heavy drinking during pregnancy affected her brain development and impulse control.
Despite these pleas, the victim’s family has waited nearly three decades for this moment. Slemmer’s mother, May Martinez, has publicly stated that she supports the execution and has waited years for the sentence to be carried out.
Pike has admitted her role in the killing and expressed regret. In a statement submitted for her clemency request, she said it took her years to truly understand the gravity of her actions and the deep pain she caused Slemmer’s family.
If the execution is carried out as scheduled, Pike will become the only person in Tennessee’s modern history to be executed for a crime committed at the age of 18.
Promise Idoko is Junior Reporter working with moderncrux He covers global politics and international affairs. Based in Nigeria,
