In the American state of Tennessee, for the first time in more than 200 years, a woman is to be executed. Convicted Christy Gale Pike committed the crime in 1995, when she was 18 years old: together with two accomplices, she brutally tortured another teenager, carving a pentagram on her chest. After multiple appeals by lawyers, the Tennessee Supreme Court set the execution date for September 30, 2026, reports CBC News.
Pike is now 49 years old. In 1996, she was convicted of murdering 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, both of whom were in a program for troubled teens in Knoxville.
According to the investigation, Pike believed that Slemmer was trying to get her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, away from her. Along with Shipp and a friend, Shadolla Peterson, she lured the girl into the woods on the University of Tennessee campus, where she tortured her for 30 to 60 minutes, cutting her with a blade and carving a pentagram on her chest. The girl’s body was discovered by the caretaker of the territory, who at first thought that it was the remains of an animal, so disfigured by the beating.
Shipp, who was 17 at the time, did not face the death penalty — he received life in prison with the possibility of parole. Peterson testified against Pike and received probation.
In 1996, Pike became the youngest person on death row, but she was behind bars for more than thirty years. Her lawyers have repeatedly argued that the sentence is unconstitutional, in particular because of the long detention in solitary confinement. In September 2024, she was allowed more social contact. Defense attorneys also appealed for clemency, stressing that now, given her young age at the time of the crime and the circumstances of the case, the court would likely not impose a death sentence.
Pike was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder and congenital brain damage. It is also known that she was sexually abused and mistreated as a child. However, these circumstances were not taken into account during the trial in 1996.
“Public perception of who truly deserves the death penalty has changed significantly since Christy Pike’s sentencing. Her age, mental disorders and history of violence would likely convince modern jurors that the death sentence is excessive, said Robin Mager, director of the Death Penalty Information Center.
Pike is scheduled to be executed at the maximum security prison “Riverbend” in Nashville. By August 28, the head of the institution must report on the method of execution of the sentence. Tennessee usually uses lethal injection, but for crimes committed before January 1, 1999, the electric chair is also allowed. Due to a series of unsuccessful executions in 2018-2019, five inmates chose this method.
If the sentence is carried out, Pike will be the first woman executed in Tennessee since 1820. Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, 18 women have been executed in the United States. The last one was Amber McLaughlin, who was executed by lethal injection in Missouri in January 2023.
