US3 min(s) read
Christa Pike’s emotional final words, spoken before being taken to her jail cell, are now resurfacing just days before she is set to be executed.
Pike was 20 when she stood trial in Knox County, Tennessee, in March 1996 over the murder of fellow Job Corps student Colleen Slemmer.
She was just 18 when she killed Slemmer, who was only 19, making Pike the youngest woman ever to receive a death sentence in the United States.
Now 50, Pike has spent decades on death row, awaiting her fate, and is scheduled to be executed by the state of Tennessee at the end of September.
Her final moments in court following her conviction were particularly emotional. After pleading not guilty, Pike was found guilty by a jury of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.
As she was about to be taken away, Pike turned to Judge Mary Beth Leibowitz and made a heartbreaking request. “Can I please hug my mum before I go?”, she asked.
Her request was denied, but Pike continued pleading with the judge despite the initial rejection: “Please, let me just hug my mum.”
According to court records, Pike wailed as she was escorted from the courtroom and taken towards her cell, while her mother attempted to comfort her.
Slemmer had been studying at the Job Corps Center, where she knew Pike and Pike's boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp.
Prosecutors alleged that Pike had become intensely jealous of Slemmer and believed the teenager was attempting to take Shipp away from her.
On January 12, 1995, Pike, Shipp, and another student reportedly persuaded Slemmer to accompany them to an isolated location. According to evidence presented at trial, Slemmer was led there under the impression that they were going to smoke marijuana and resolve their differences.
Court records state that Pike and her accomplices attacked Slemmer for an extended period, with evidence indicating that Pike kicked and beat her before using a box cutter to cause fatal injuries.
Slemmer was ultimately killed during the assault, with Pike later reportedly telling a friend that she had kept part of Slemmer's skull as a souvenir.
The court also heard evidence that satanic symbols had been carved into Slemmer's body after it was discovered in January 1995 by a University of Tennessee employee.
The witness later described the condition of the body in deeply disturbing terms, telling the court he had initially “first mistaken it for the corpse of an animal”.
Pike was subsequently arrested and charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, and her case has remained in the legal spotlight for decades as she has pursued appeals and attempts to avoid execution.
She is now due to face the death penalty in Tennessee on September 30, almost 31 years after Slemmer's death.
