Christa Pike execution is scheduled for September 30 in Tennessee, three decades after the murder of Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville.

The US state of Tennessee is set to execute Christa Pike, waiting on death row for three decades after she murdered a 19-year-old with her boyfriend in 1995. Once executed, Pike will be the first woman in Tennessee’s history to be given a capital punishment in more than 200 years.

The crime committed 31 years ago in Knoxville, Tennessee, became a media frenzy when Slemmer was found with a pentagram carved into her chest, a symbol infamous for Satanic rituals.

 Pastor Kevin Riggs speaks during a March 4 Mercy protest against the death penalty at the Tennessee State Capitol, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. ahead of the Sept. 30th scheduled execution of Christa Pike. (AP Photo)

Pike’s 1995 murder conviction

Pike, who was 18 when she murdered Slemmer, aged 19, committed the crime alongside her boyfriend and a friend. Slemmer was Pike’s classmate who was slashed with a box cutter, with a pentagram carved into her chest and a piece of her skull was removed. Only Pike received the death penalty, and her boyfriend at the time, Tadaryl Shipp, was given a life sentence. Pike is scheduled to be executed via injection on September 30, BBC reported.

“I run through this execution every day in my heart. Whatever happens on September 30, this will not be my hell anymore,” Pike said in an audio recording in response to questions from the New York Times. The news outlet reported that women account for nearly 2 per cent of the new death sentences pronounced since the modern era of capital punishment in 1973. The last state to execute a woman was Missouri in 2023.

Why was Colleen Slemmer murdered?

One of the primary reasons for the murder was that Pike accused Colleen of insulting her and attempting to snatch her boyfriend. Two residents of Tennessee later testified that Pike boasted about the murder before and after, and reportedly showed them a part of Colleen’s skull.

Pike’s clemency petition and childhood

But Pike’s lawyers, who filed a clemency petition, have hoped for relief while the United Nations human rights experts have also called for the execution to be stopped. Defence lawyers have argued that if Pike was found guilty of the same crime in today’s time as a teenager, she would not have been executed. The clemency petition states that she had a troubled childhood, including sexual abuse, neglect, and abandonment.

 Alonzo Hughes participates in a March 4 Mercy protest against the death penalty at the Tennessee State Capitol in Nashville, Tenn. ahead of the Sept. 30th scheduled execution of Christa Pike. (AP Photo)

Lawyers have argued that in the years since Pike’s sentencing, the defence team has uncovered details of her childhood that were never considered by the jury, as the latter didn’t have a chance. Pike’s defence team had hired forensic psychologist Dr Diana McCoy in 1995, who found that she was severely neglected by both her parents, BBC reported. Pike, now 50, doesn’t deny her guilt.

Mental health and death penalty debate

Reports, quoting experts, state that since her abusive childhood and other factors were never brought up at trial, would she be given the same sentence in today’s scenario. Pike’s lawyers have also said that she faced bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder, which contributed to her mental state during the murder.