Governor Bill Lee rejected Christa Pike’s plea for clemency, confirming a lethal‑injection execution set for Wednesday.
Pike, 50, was 18 when she and boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp‑Hostman beat, tortured and murdered 19‑year‑old Colleen Slemmer at a job‑training camp for troubled teens in 1995.
Her legal team has filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court, hoping for a last‑minute reprieve, but the governor’s decision pre‑empts that move.
If carried out, the execution would make Pike the first woman Tennessee has executed since the 1800s, and the first person in the modern death‑penalty era to have been a teenager at the time of the crime.
"After deliberate consideration of Christa Gail Pike's request for clemency, and after a thorough review of the case, I am upholding the sentence of the State of Tennessee and do not plan to intervene," Governor Lee said.
Lawyers argued that Pike’s history of childhood abuse, abandonment, and mental illness, combined with the fact that the offender was an 18‑year‑old, should have warranted life imprisonment rather than the death penalty.
The case sparked a media frenzy in Knoxville, with Slemmer’s body found bearing a pentagram and a piece of her skull displayed by Pike before the trial.
Shipp‑Hostman, who was 17 at the time, received a life sentence with parole eligibility, while Pike was once the youngest person on Tennessee’s death row.
Colleen’s mother still requests that the execution proceed so her daughter can "rest" properly.
