US state set to execute first woman in over 200 years – her horrific crime revealed

The state of Tennessee may soon carry out its first execution of a woman in more than 200 years after the Tennessee Supreme Court cleared the way for the death sentence of Christa Gail Pike to move forward. Pike, now 49 years old and the only woman currently on Tennessee’s death row, was just 18 at the time of the crime that would become one of the most disturbing murder cases in the state’s modern history. The decision has renewed national attention on a case that shocked investigators, prosecutors, and the public because of both the brutality of the killing and the young age of those involved.

On January 12, 1995, Pike lured 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer into a secluded wooded area near the agricultural campus of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Pike, Slemmer, and Pike’s 17-year-old boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, were all connected through the Knoxville Job Corps program at the time. According to investigators and later court testimony, Pike had become intensely jealous after convincing herself that Slemmer was romantically interested in Shipp. What began as suspicion and resentment eventually escalated into a carefully planned attack.

Prosecutors said the assault lasted for an extended period and involved extreme violence. Court records described how Slemmer was beaten, tortured, and ultimately killed in the wooded area while Shipp and another acquaintance, Jason Bryant, were present. The case drew widespread outrage not only because of the nature of the crime, but because investigators said Pike appeared disturbingly calm afterward. During the investigation, authorities recovered personal items belonging to the victim, including evidence that later became central during the trial. The prosecution argued that the murder demonstrated clear premeditation driven by obsession and jealousy.

In 1996, Pike was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death, becoming the youngest woman in the United States to receive a death sentence in the modern era. Shipp also received a life sentence, while Bryant cooperated with prosecutors and testified during the proceedings. Over the decades that followed, Pike filed numerous appeals challenging both her conviction and sentence, citing issues involving mental health, childhood trauma, and legal procedure. Despite those efforts, courts repeatedly upheld the original ruling, keeping her on death row for nearly three decades.

Now, with the Tennessee Supreme Court allowing the state to proceed, the case once again raises broader debates surrounding capital punishment, juvenile offenders tried as adults, and whether executions serve justice decades after the crimes themselves occurred. For some, the brutality of the murder remains impossible to overlook. For others, the passage of time and Pike’s age at the time of the crime complicate the discussion. Regardless of where public opinion falls, the case of Christa Gail Pike continues to stand as one of Tennessee’s most haunting and controversial criminal cases in recent memory.