By The Daily Caller (U.S.) | Created at 2026-10-01 20:56:49 | Updated at 2026-10-02 02:50:57
7 hours ago
Christa Gail Pike remains hospitalized in Tennessee after she survived two botched attempts to execute her with lethal injection, according to TMZ.
Pike’s attorney said she is “critically ill but not in a coma,” but that she is still unconscious and unable to communicate, TMZ reported. While witnesses watched the attempted execution, they noted that the 50-year-old convicted killer kept breathing and even snoring.
Following the failed execution attempts, Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee halted all executions through the end of the year. (RELATED: Tennessee Halts Executions After Infamous Killer Survived Multiple Lethal Injections)
Because Pike’s execution warrant expired at midnight on Wednesday, the Tennessee Supreme Court will have to set a new execution date. Dr. Mark Fowler, who was overseeing her execution, had also been involved in the failed execution of Tony Carruthers in May 2026.
Pike was sentenced to death after the brutal mutilation and killing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in 1995.
Pike was just 18 years old when she, her boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp, and her friend Shadolla Peterson lured Slemmer into the woods before torturing and killing her, even carving a pentagram into her body. Pike also took a fragment of Slemmer’s skull to school and showed it to her classmates. (RELATED: ‘Uniquely Female Issues’: Woman Set To Be Executed For Murder Says She Feels A ‘Kinship’ With Lindsay Clancy)
Pike’s execution was initially scheduled for Wednesday morning, but it was delayed by the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. The court issued a stay in a 2-1 vote, arguing that a delay was needed to consider whether the alleged sexual abuse from Pike’s childhood was fully taken into account during her sentencing.
The attorney general’s office later appealed the case to the Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of allowing the execution to move forward. Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson were the three who dissented.
