The mother of Colleen Slemmer, the teenager bludgeoned to death by Christa Pike in 1995, will be able to travel to Nashville for Pike's planned execution date after an online fundraising campaign raised more than $2,500.
"After 30 years of carrying the loss of her daughter, she shouldn’t have to worry about whether she can afford to be there," Casey Walley posted in launching the fund drive
on behalf of May Martinez.In 1995, Slemmer, who was 19, was killed by Pike and two other teenagers. Pike, who orchestrated the murder, received the death penalty.
"I just want to say this on behalf of Raul and May Martinez — they are absolutely overwhelmed by the love and support everyone has shown them," Walley posted after the needed amount was raised.
"They
truly cannot believe how many people have stepped up, donated, shared, prayed, and simply shown that they care. They are beyond grateful for every single one of you.
"From Raul and May, and from me — thank you.
"You helped make sure they could be there for Colleen. And that means more than words can say."
In September of 1994, both Colleen Slemmer and Christa Pike enrolled in the Job Corps program in Knoxville.
The Job Corps program in Knoxville was a training program funded by the U.S. government, designed to provide education, life skills and career training. Students lived in Job Corps housing. Slemmer took computer courses, and Pike enrolled in nursing.
The Job Corps program had the reputation for having little supervision.
Pike, 18 at the time, said her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, 17, was into Satanism. She says now she was not.
And Pike thought Slemmer, 19, was romantically interested in Shipp.
At 6 p.m. on Jan. 12, 1995, Slemmer's mother, said she talked to Slemmer on the phone. Slemmer told her three students were bothering her.
That was the last time Martinez talked to her daughter.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Christa Pike case: Colleen Slemmer's mother can be in Nashville on execution date
