Christa Pike execution timeline: What went wrong after state of Tennessee began the lethal injection, from her final words to loud snoring and 2 drug doses

Christa Pike’s execution was supposed to begin on Wednesday evening, September 30, after a last-minute legal battle over whether Tennessee could finally put the 50-year-old death row inmate to death. But the execution was not successful; she survived a lethal injection attempt.

Following the execution mayhem, the Tennessee governor halted the execution late in the night and ordered an outside investigation. Gov. Bill Lee said in a statement to the Associated Press that he has ordered “a comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred” and also put to a stop another execution to be carried out in the state this year.

Pike had been scheduled to receive a lethal injection at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. She was sentenced to death for the 1995 killing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, whom Pike killed when she was 18.


Here is how the evening unfolded, based on an account from Associated Press reporter and media witness Kim Chandler. All are Central Daylight Time (CDT) time.

Also Read: ‘Alive and snoring’: Tennessee fails to execute Christa Pike after administering 2 lethal injection doses

7:46 p.m.: Curtains close as execution begins

Pike gave what was expected to be her final statement. According to Chandler, Pike said she would leave the world the same way she had spent “most of her life, in love.” She also said she had love for people who were “out here hating on her.”

She ended her statement by saying, “I'm at peace. I'm ready to be free”, before adding, “This is a happy day.”

The execution then got underway. Pike's spiritual adviser sang with her during the process. Chandler said she could not make out the lyrics, but the song repeatedly included the words “I love you,” while the adviser stroked Pike's head.

Chandler said Pike appeared notably awake as the execution began. She heard loud exhales and saw Pike look around the room.

7:46 to 7:49 p.m.: Blinds close, then open again

Chandler said the blinds to the execution chamber closed for the first time at 7:46 p.m.

They reopened about three minutes later, at 7:49 p.m.

During the process, Pike appeared to react to what was happening. At one point, she looked toward prison officials and asked whether she was supposed to feel that way.

Around 7:50 p.m.: Pike begins snoring

Chandler said Pike's mouth fell open several times before she began “loudly” snoring. She also gasped several times and then returned to loud snoring.

8:01 p.m.: Pike is still snoring

At about 8:01 p.m., the blinds opened again, according to Chandler's account. Pike could still be heard loudly snoring, with what Chandler described as a groan heard from time to time.

8:06 p.m.: Curtains close for the final time

The curtains to the execution chamber closed again at around 8:06 p.m. This time, they remained closed.

But the sounds coming from inside did not stop. Chandler said Pike could still be heard “loudly snoring, clearly very alive” inside the chamber.

8:53 p.m.: Media witnesses are told to leave

The snoring reportedly continued for almost another hour. At about 8:53 p.m., media witnesses were told to leave the area. By then, they still did not know whether Pike was alive or dead.

Her attorneys later said to The Tennessean that Pike remained alive after two rounds of lethal injection drugs had been administered.

Pike was set to become the first woman executed by Tennessee in at least 200 years. The case itself had drawn national attention because of the circumstances surrounding Slemmer's killing. Pike and her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, were convicted of stabbing and beating Slemmer, their classmate at a job-training facility in Knoxville. A pentagram was carved into Slemmer's body, a detail that contributed to fears surrounding Satan worship during the “satanic panic” of the 1980s and 1990s.