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Death row inmate Christa Pike set to be executed in days breaks silence to reveal terrifying thought keeping her awake at night
A death row inmate, who is set to be executed in a few days, has revealed the terrifying thought keeping her awake at night.
Christa Gail Pike was sentenced to death in 1996 after she, her boyfriend Tiddell Shipp, and friend Shadolla Peterson were convicted of murdering 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in a case that became known locally as the "Job Corps Murder".
Pike and Slemmer were both enrolled in a Knoxville job-training program for troubled teens.
Prosecutors argued Pike believed Slemmer was trying to steal her boyfriend.
According to court filings and trial testimony, Pike struck Slemmer with a piece of asphalt before dragging her into nearby woods, torturing her, and slitting her throat with a box cutter.
She was also accused of keeping a piece of Slemmer's skull as a souvenir following the killing.
Nearly three decades later, Pike, now 50, is due to be executed by lethal injection on Wednesday, September 30.
Pike's attorneys are asking Gov. Bill Lee to commute her sentence to life without parole while also seeking relief from the US Supreme Court.
If the execution goes ahead, the inmate will be the first woman put to death in Tennessee since 1819.
Now, in the new documentary Dead Woman Walking: Pike Vs Tennessee, Pike opened up about the killing, her traumatic childhood, and her looming execution.
"I've always felt bad for her mother, that I took someone’s child, someone’s sister, someone’s friend away," she said. "I feel remarkably remorseful for what I did."
Pike, Shipp, and Peterson were all arrested within about 36 hours after the horrific murder.
Police discovered a satanic Bible and an altar in Shipp's room, while a piece of Slemmer’s skull was uncovered among Pike's belongings, per the Investigation Discovery series Mean Girl Murders.
The inmate has since disputed the "devil worshipper" label attached to her after the killing.
"The media painted me as being an evil person, as being a devil worshipper. Tadaryl was into Satanism and demonology. That’s where that stems from. I was never into those things," she said.
Pike reveals nightmare over execution
Pike said thoughts of the execution have dominated her life since the date was set a year ago.
"I have the most horrible nightmares," she said in the documentary. "But I think what has been worse is that they told me a year ahead of time. And so every day, I have woken up and lived that thought all day, every day, every waking moment."
One fear centers on whether the execution team will be able to establish an IV line.
"The only place they can draw my blood is in my hands with a very tiny needle, and I know from reading our protocol that they aren’t allowed to put the IV in my hands," Pike said.
"So I don’t know what they’re going to do, and I’m so scared that what just happened to Tony Carruthers will happen to me," she added.
Tennessee called off Carruthers' execution in May after personnel spent more than an hour attempting to establish the required intravenous lines.
Childhood and mental health raised in appeals
Court documents have described Pike's childhood involving physical violence, sexual abuse, drug abuse, and neglect.
The inmate was diagnosed with PTSD and bipolar disorder after her arrest.
She revealed in the documentary that she was awake for three days after she killed Slemmer.
"You take a problem, give it to a teenager who is suffering with bipolar disorder and who’s been awake for three days, and it’s come to a boiling head," she said. "I felt as if I was walking around with no skin on my body. My nerves were so raw, and that is the explosion that occurred on the night that I committed my crime."
Her unsuccessful appeals have alleged ineffective assistance of counsel and argued that executing her would be unconstitutional because of her mental illness.
The Tennessee Supreme Court declined on Wednesday, September 23, to stay her execution.
Slemmer's mother, May Slemmer Martinez, supports the Pike execution and rejects arguments that her age and traumatic childhood should spare her.
"Most kids go through a lot of stuff, and they don’t go out and kill," she said.
The mom said that she fought Tennessee officials for 16 years to recover her daughter’s skull and later, without warning, received the additional remains in separate packages.
"I didn’t get any warning... I got a little brown box. I opened it up, and it was just pieces," she said.
Martinez continued: "When I get into the courtroom, here I see my daughter’s skull in front of me... That’s a little hard to take."
Martinez revealed that she plans to attend Pike’s execution and hold up a photograph of her late daughter. "It’s never about the victims," she said. "It’s like Colleen was never there."
Meanwhile, Pike is asking Tennessee to allow her to spend the rest of her life behind bars.
"If I can stop someone else from making the mistakes that I made, that’s what I’m going to do," she said. "I’m asking the state of Tennessee to allow me to live out the rest of my natural life inside of their penal facilities, doing the things that I can do to help other people."