Lone woman death row inmate Christa Pike says she’s ‘at peace’ ahead of execution — as Tennessee gov. denies last-ditch bid for clemency

nypost.com ^ | Sep. 29, 2026 | By Zoe Hussain

[V_TWIN]

The first woman sentenced to death in Tennessee in 200 years said she is “at peace” before her rare execution — as the state’s governor declined to get involved in her last-ditch bid for clemency.

“Whether my clemency is granted or not, I am at peace,” convicted murderer Christa Pike wrote in a letter to NBC News before learning that Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee would not grant the condemned killer clemency.

“I am not afraid to die,” the killer wrote to the outlet. “I’m only nervous about the process.”

Pike, 50, is slated to be executed on Wednesday by lethal injection, the first time the state will put a woman to death in more than two centuries.

She was just 18 when she lured fellow Job Corps student Colleen Slemmer, 19, to an isolated spot on the University of Tennessee campus in Knoxville and tortured her to death in a jealous rage with the help of her boyfriend on Jan. 12, 1995.

[V_TWIN]

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Execution is set for 10am this morning.

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[Hot Tabasco]

If I were ever faced with life in prison, I would take a plea deal that would include immediate execution.

[bert]

Well, I certainly feel better now. I’m much better off mentally to know she is not afraid of dying by having a needle deliver a painless and unknowable death. I mean, having any pain as an inconvenience to being punished by execution for a crime would just be an unthinkable thing for the mankind to impose on her. Her welfare during her final moment is of absolute primary consideration for everyone with a compassionate mind. /S

[V_TWIN]

That’s with every execution by lethal injection. And yes I share your frustration with it being painless in contrast to the horror these monsters inflicted on their victim(s).

But that’s our process, live for 30+ more years and then be euthanized.

[TheDon]

“The first woman sentenced to death in Tennessee in 200 years”...

Hopefully Tennessee won’t take so long to execute the next woman.

[Theophilus]

Thats one way the state punishes the people who empower it, especially the legal Brahman demigod class of lawyers who get a entire branch of government to themselves.

[Red Badger]

“Execution is set for 10am this morning.”

Central or Eastern Time?..........Asking fore a friend........😏

[Red Badger]

I read the report of her crime and it was horrendous. Her boyfriend wasn’t eligible for the death penalty because he was 17 at the time. He got Life without parole..............

[V_TWIN]

Well it’s Tennessee so I’m guessing EST

[dfwgator]

They should put her head on a ......oh nevermind.

[Red Badger]

Yes, but sometimes writers translate the time to their own time zone automatically without telling the reader.......

[Red Badger]

US Supreme Court denies Christa Pike’s last-ditch bid to halt execution

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwe879654mj7o

[Red Badger]

Colleen Slemmer, VICTIM

Slemmer's murder created a media frenzy in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1995, when the teen was found with a pentagram - a symbol that is associated with satanic groups - carved into her chest. Pike has denied carving the pentagram herself.

She had accused Slemmer of insulting her and trying to steal her boyfriend. Two other residents at the camp later testified that Pike had bragged about the murder before and after, and showed them a piece of Slemmer's skull.

Her attorneys have argued that "an 18-year-old brain is not an adult brain" and that Pike was too young at the time of the murder to be sentenced to death for it.

[V_TWIN]

You know what... I rechecked in AI...it IS central time.

Thanks for looking out for uneducated. 😏

[Red Badger]

BBC: She is due to be executed at 11:00 EDT (15:00 GMT) on Wednesday at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville.

Now I's confused..........

[V_TWIN]

It will be today sometime......or something. 😂

[plain talk]

“Pike and Shipp tortured Slemmer by slashing her with a box cutter and beating her to death with a large chunk of asphalt. An inverted pentagram was carved into the victim’s chest, and Pike removed and kept a piece of Slemmer’s skull as a trophy”

“Pike’s attorneys had asked the Supreme Court to halt the execution, citing her struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder and the possible “severe mental suffering and superadded psychological terror” from being strapped to a gurney to receive the lethal injection, the outlet reported.”

Disgusting.

[V_TWIN]

I saw this story on one of the “murder shows” probably a year ago or so.

It was certainly about as horrific as any other killing I’ve ever heard of.

Some are worse but this one was bad enough.

[Red Badger]

I wouldn’t want her to be ‘late’................

[Vision]

Keep Ol’ Sparky warm for the Massachusetts monster too.