Christa Gail Pike

Christa Gail Pike was born prematurely on March 10, 1976, in Beckley, West Virginia, to Carissa Hansen and Emil Glenn Pike. Her early life was shaped by profound instability. Her parents had a volatile relationship, marrying and divorcing twice, and Pike’s upbringing was marked by neglect, poverty, and exposure to violence. Testimonies from family members described her childhood environment as unhygienic and chaotic, and Pike reportedly suffered from severe seizures as a toddler. Her paternal grandmother provided sporadic support, and Christa later expressed that she felt her grandmother was the only person who ever truly loved her.

Pike experienced early signs of psychological distress. She reportedly attempted suicide multiple times during childhood and adolescence, including a known overdose attempt in third grade. Following the death of her grandmother in 1988, her emotional state further deteriorated. As a teen, Pike moved between unstable households and was both a victim and perpetrator of violence. She was accused of inappropriate behavior toward a younger half-sister and claimed multiple instances of sexual abuse, though these allegations were questioned by family members who described her as a compulsive liar.

Despite showing intellectual promise as a child, Pike’s schooling was erratic due to frequent moves and behavioral issues. She was eventually placed in a juvenile facility, where she learned about the Job Corps program. Seeing an opportunity for a new start, she joined the Job Corps Center in Knoxville, Tennessee, in late 1994, aspiring to become a nursing assistant. While there, she began a romantic relationship with Tadaryl Shipp, a younger student. Together, they became involved in occult beliefs and what others described as a fascination with devil worship.

On January 12, 1995, Christa Pike, along with her boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp and their friend Shadolla Peterson, lured 19-year-old Job Corps classmate Colleen Slemmer to a secluded, abandoned steam plant in Knoxville, Tennessee. Pike was jealous of Slemmer, whom she believed was trying to steal Shipp from her—a claim that Slemmer’s friends later denied. The trio told Slemmer they wanted to make peace and offered her marijuana, but it was a trap.

Once isolated, Pike and Shipp launched a vicious assault on Slemmer, while Peterson acted as a lookout. For over thirty minutes, Slemmer was taunted, tortured, and physically brutalized. According to court records, Pike carved a pentagram into Slemmer’s chest before finally killing her by smashing her skull with a chunk of asphalt. In a grotesque postscript to the murder, Pike kept a piece of Slemmer’s skull as a trophy and later bragged about the killing to others.

The group’s return to the Job Corps center without Slemmer quickly raised suspicion. Within 36 hours, all three were arrested. Pike confessed to the murder and was found to have the piece of Slemmer’s skull in her jacket pocket. Investigators also found matching entries in the center’s log book showing the four students had signed out together.

Pike was charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. At her trial, the prosecution presented her confession and other damning evidence. On March 22, 1996, Pike was found guilty on both counts, and on March 30, 1996, she was sentenced to death by electrocution and given 25 years for the conspiracy charge. She became the youngest woman on death row in the United States at that time. Shipp, who was 17 during the murder, was convicted and sentenced to life with the possibility of parole after a jury could not agree on life without parole. Peterson, who cooperated with prosecutors, was sentenced to probation for being an accessory.

Pike’s time on death row has been eventful. In 2001, she attempted to strangle fellow inmate Patricia Jones using a shoelace and was convicted of attempted first-degree murder in 2004, receiving an additional 25-year sentence. In 2012, Pike was linked to an attempted prison escape plan involving a New Jersey man and a corrupt correctional officer, though she was not formally charged in that case.

Despite numerous appeals, all of Pike’s efforts to overturn her sentence or gain a new trial have been unsuccessful. In 2016, a federal court denied her request for commutation on the grounds of mental illness and ineffective counsel. In August 2023, her attorneys attempted to reopen her case using a 2022 Tennessee Supreme Court ruling related to juvenile sentencing, but the request was denied in October 2023 as Pike was legally an adult at the time of the murder.

On September 30, 2025, the Tennessee Supreme Court issued a death warrant scheduling her execution for September 30, 2026. If carried out, Christa Pike will become the first woman executed in Tennessee in nearly two centuries.