Who was Colleen Slemmer? The 19-year-old murdered by Christa Pike in 1995 as a failed execution puts the case back in the spotlight

Colleen Slemmer was only 19 when she was killed in Knoxville, Tennessee, on January 12, 1995. She was a student in a Job Corps program, where she had met Christa Pike, Tadaryl Shipp and Shadolla Peterson.

More than three decades later, Slemmer's name is back in the headlines after Pike survived an attempted execution in Tennessee. Pike received two doses of pentobarbital but remained alive and was later taken to an outside medical facility.

Who was Colleen Slemmer?

Slemmer was a 19-year-old Job Corps student who, according to her mother May Martinez, had plans for her future. Martinez told U.S. media that her daughter volunteered at the Special Olympics, enjoyed skating and was interested in a career involving computers.

Slemmer had also called her family on the night she was killed. Her mother later recalled that the call was interrupted because of poor coverage. When Martinez tried calling back, Slemmer had already left, as per a report by Marca.

According to Tennessee court records, Slemmer was taken to a secluded area near University of Tennessee facilities. Prosecutors said the attack was linked to a romantic dispute involving Pike and Shipp.

The Tennessee courts found that Slemmer suffered multiple injuries during the attack. Court records describe cuts from a box cutter and small butcher knife, along with blows to the head from a rock or piece of asphalt. A pentagram was also marked on her chest.



Pike was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy in 1996. She received a death sentence and remained on Tennessee's death row for decades.

Shipp, who was 17 when the murder happened, was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy and received a life sentence. Peterson pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact and received six years of probation after cooperating with authorities.

What happened when Christa Pike was executed?

Christa Pike, now 50, was scheduled to be executed on September 30, 2026. The execution initially faced a last-minute court stay, but the U.S. Supreme Court later allowed Tennessee to proceed.

The execution then failed. Pike was given two doses of pentobarbital. According to media witnesses and her lawyers, she remained alive, was still breathing and could be heard snoring before witnesses were removed from the room. Tennessee officials later confirmed she had been transported to an outside medical facility.

Pike's lawyers said in a statement to the Tennessean: "Tonight the State of Tennessee once again failed to carry out a lawful execution.

"We take no pleasure in being right, but the concerns raised by Ms Pike proved to be true: difficult vein access, blown veins, degraded pentobarbital, no emergency medical care available when things inevitably go wrong, all under a protocol that remains veiled in secrecy."

Before the attempt, Pike had said in her "last" words: "I'm going to leave this world the way I spent most of my life, and that is in love."

Are botched executions common in the U.S.?

The Death Penalty Information Center says there were 64 well-known failed execution attempts between 1982 and the first half of 2026, while noting that the figure is an approximation.

The organization has also cited historical figures showing that about 3% of attempted executions between 1890 and 2010 were flawed. For lethal injection, its figure was 7.2%, compared with 3.15% across all execution methods.

Pike's case is also not Tennessee's first execution problem in recent years. In 2022, Gov. Bill Lee halted Oscar Smith's execution after officials discovered that lethal-injection drugs had not been properly tested. An independent review found repeated failures to follow the state's drug-testing procedures, as per a report by Yahoo News.

In 2026, Tennessee also abandoned the attempted execution of Tony Carruthers after officials could not establish intravenous access.

Following Pike's failed execution, Lee said he ordered "a comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred" and that the remaining scheduled execution would not take place this year.

For Slemmer's family, the case has remained painful for decades. Her mother, May Martinez, told the Associated Press she had waited years to see Pike executed.

"Every time I think about it, I think about Colleen feeling that pain and trying to get up and run," Martinez said.

More than 31 years after Slemmer's death, her story remains at the center of the case, while Pike's failed execution has raised fresh questions about Tennessee's lethal injection process.

FAQs

Who was Colleen Slemmer?
She was a 19-year-old Job Corps student murdered in Knoxville in 1995.

Did Christa Pike survive the execution?
Yes. She survived two doses of pentobarbital and was taken to an outside medical facility.