On the morning of Sept. 30, Christa Pike is expected to receive a lethal injection and become the first woman to be executed in Tennessee in 200 years.
Pike is scheduled to die at the Riverbend Maximum
Security Institution, located about eight miles from downtown Nashville.
Convicted of first-degree murder in 1995, Pike is one of the youngest women in the modern era to be put on death row, where she's been for 30 years.
Her execution will be unique in Tennessee's history of criminal justice, and the details surrounding her life, crime, and conviction are notable in their own right.
Who is Christa Pike?
Pike was born in West Virginia in 1976, the same year the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty nationwide. She faced a childhood filled with abuse from family members and was reportedly raped three times. Experts have also testified that she suffers from multiple mental illnesses, including post-traumatic stress disorder and bipolar disorder.
She eventually joined the Knoxville branch of the Job Corps, a career training program offered by the federal government, when she met Tadaryl Shipp, a 17-year-old with an interest in Satanism. After the two began dating, Pike suspected that Colleen Slemmer, a Job Corps member interested in computers, was also romantically interested in Shipp.
What did Christa Pike do?
On Jan. 12, 1995, Pike lured Slemmer to a wooded area near the University of Tennessee's Agricultural Campus with the promise of marijuana. With the help of Shipp, Pike tortured Slemmer before beating her to death with a chunk of asphalt. A pentagram was also carved into her body.
University employees discovered Slemmer's body the next morning. Pike herself boasted about the killing to other Job Corps members, showing off a skull fragment as proof, and was arrested three days after the murder.
A third person, then 18-year-old Shadolla Peterson, was arrested but given probation after agreeing to testify against Pike and Shipp.
What was Christa Pike charged with?
Pike was convicted of first-degree murder in 1996 and sentenced to death. Shipp received the same conviction but was 17 years old at the time of the murder and was instead sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole.
In the last 50 years, only eight teenagers have been sentenced to death, with seven having their sentences vacated. Pike is the only exception.
When and where is Christa Pike's execution?
The execution is scheduled to take place at 10 a.m. on Sept. 30 at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. Preparations for her execution have been extensive, and only a small group of people, including immediate family members of the victim, will be allowed to witness her execution in person.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: What did Christa Pike do? What to know ahead of Tennessee execution
