By New York Post (U.S.) | Created at 2026-10-01 19:11:46 | Updated at 2026-10-01 21:13:56
2 hours ago
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The mother of Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike’s victim has slammed officials after she watched the botched lethal injection attempt — which ended with officials shuffling her out of the observation room.
Pike, 50, who tortured 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer to death in 1995 near the University of Tennessee, remains alive after Wednesday night’s failed execution was called off following two rounds of lethal injection.
“They f–ked up,” Slemmer’s furious mother, May Martinez, said in a message to Tennessee’s governor and attorney general, speaking to NBC News.
“It was a mess,” she added, saying that officials hadn’t told them what was happening, as Pike kicked and jerked under her sheet during the botched procedure.
“They didn’t say anything and then, all of a sudden, they asked all the victims to leave. And we left,” May said.
Pike, who was set to be the first woman executed in the Volunteer State in more than 200 years, is now at a hospital under armed guard.
Slemmer’s stepfather, Raul Martinez, also slammed officials for failing to carry out the execution, and said his stepdaughter’s soul “cannot rest” until her killer is dead.
“This bitch will haunt Colleen’s heavenly journey until she’s been wiped off the face of the earth,” he wrote in a Facebook post.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) said he was ordering “a comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred,” in a statement.
The last remaining execution scheduled in the state this year will now not go ahead as planned, he added.
