Death Row Inmate Christa Pike's Clemency Bid Rejected by Tennessee Governor as Execution Looms
Christa Pike is sentenced to die by lethal injection Wednesday, September 30.
Sept. 29 2026, Published 2:43 p.m. ET
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has denied Christa Pike's request for clemency, RadarOnline.com can report.
The 50-year-old is now only one day away from her execution, which is scheduled to take place Wednesday, September 30.
Governor Bill Lee's Statement
Pike's lawyers asked the governor to halt her execution.
"After deliberate consideration of Christa Gail Pike's request for clemency, and after a thorough review of the case, I am upholding the sentence of the State of Tennessee and do not plan to intervene," Lee wrote in a statement.
Pike's lawyers released a response to the denial expressing their disappointment. The statement pointed out how the jailed woman will be the first inmate in Tennessee's "modern death penalty era" to be executed for a crime she committed as a teenager.
Pike was 18 years old when she and her boyfriend murdered 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer.
Her attorneys also reiterated that she'll be the first woman to be sentenced to death in the state in more than 200 years.
Inside Christa Pike’s Clemency Request
Pike's lawyers cited her childhood and 'growth'' in the clemency petition.
In Pike's clemency petition to the governor, her lawyers argued that she has made significant "growth" in prison.
They also heavily focused on Pike's traumatic childhood, which included r---, abuse, and negligent child protective services.
As the convicted killer was 18 when she committed her crime, they argued the environment she grew up in contributed to her frame of mind.
Additionally, like the response, Pike's attorneys pointed out how Pike was one of the youngest people to be sentenced to death in Tennessee and that she'll be the first woman executed by the state since 1819.
Christa Pike's Statement
Pike will be strapped to a gurney during her execution.
Pike herself also wrote a statement in her own words in the petition.
"Think back to the worst mistake you made as a reckless teenager. Well, mine happened to be huge, unforgettable and ruined countless lives," Pike wrote. "I was a mentally ill 18-year-old kid. It took me numerous years to even realize the gravity of what I’d done. Even more to accept how many lives I affected. I took the life of someone’s child, sister, friend. It sickens me now to think I had the ability to commit such a crime."
Murder of Colleen Slemmer
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Pike was sentenced to death for Colleen Slemmer's murder when she was 20 years old.
On January 12th, 1995, Pike, her then-boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp, and their friend Shadolla Peterson asked Slemmer to hang out one night after classes.
When she agreed, the trio lured her to the forest where Pike and Shipp beat, cut, and tortured Slemmer for around an hour.
Pike also reportedly carved a pentagram into Slemmer's chest and forehead.
Six years later, Pike almost took a life again when she strangled a fellow inmate with a shoestring.
