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Graphic simulation shows how the lethal injection works on the body ahead of Christa Pike's expected execution tomorrow
A graphic simulation has shown how lethal injection affects the body ahead of Christa Gail Pike's scheduled execution tomorrow.
The only woman currently on Tennessee's death row is due to be executed on September 30.
The 50-year-old was sentenced to death in 1996 after she, her boyfriend Tadaryl 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, she struck the victim 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 after the killing.
Now, more than three decades later, Pike is set to be executed on Wednesday.
Graphic simulation shows how lethal injection works
Dr. Wealz on YouTube posted a simulation that reveals what exactly happens when an inmate is given the lethal injection.
The narrator explains that the inmate is first secured to a gurney before intravenous lines are inserted into their arms.
The first drug administered is pentobarbital, a barbiturate sedative that is used to cause drowsiness.
"As it enters the bloodstream, it acts on neurotransmitters in the brain, slowing down communication between brain cells. This impairs the brain's control over the respiratory and cardiovascular systems, leading to a decrease in breathing and heart rate," he said.
Dr. Wealz then explains that the second drug is pancuronium bromide, a paralytic agent that causes complete skeletal muscle paralysis, including the muscles needed for breathing, ultimately leading to respiratory arrest.
The final drug is potassium chloride, which disrupts the heart’s ionic balance, causing cardiac arrhythmia and arrest.
"The brain, already starved of oxygen from respiratory failure, quickly succumbs to catastrophic irreversible damage. The heart stops within about a minute of the potassium chloride injection," the narrator explained.
Pike reveals nightmare over execution
In the new documentary Dead Woman Walking: Pike Vs Tennessee, Pike opened up about the horrific murder, her traumatic childhood, and 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 found a satanic Bible and an altar in Shipp's room, while a piece of Slemmer’s skull was uncovered among Pike's belongings.
The 50-year-old said thoughts of the execution have consumed 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 of her biggest fears is 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.
Slemmer's mother, May Slemmer Martinez, supports the Pike execution and rejects the idea that her age and traumatic childhood should spare her.
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.
Martinez also shared that she plans to attend Pike’s execution and hold up a picture of her late daughter.
"It’s never about the victims," she said. "It’s like Colleen was never there."