CHRISTA GAIL PIKE TO BE EXECUTED NEXT YEAR ON SEPT. 30, 2026
The State of Tennessee has set September 30, 2026, as the execution date for Christa Gail Pike, the only woman on the state’s death row, convicted in the 1995 torture and murder of Colleen Slemmer, known as the “Job Corps Murder.”
Pike, along with her boyfriend Tiddell Shipp and Shadolla Peterson, was found guilty of killing Slemmer by striking her head with a piece of asphalt, and she reportedly kept a fragment of the victim’s skull as a souvenir. At 18 during the crime, Pike’s defense argued for a lesser sentence due to her youth and undiagnosed mental health conditions, including bipolar and post-traumatic stress disorders, stemming from a childhood marked by severe physical and sexual abuse.
Her legal team expressed disappointment with the Tennessee Supreme Court’s decision, advocating for her death sentence to be commuted, citing her remorse and mental health treatment progress. A 2023 motion to reopen her case was denied, and Pike’s execution would be Tennessee’s first execution of a woman in over 200 years.
