The execution of murderer Christa Pike in Tennessee on Sept. 30 descended into chaos after it appeared she survived two doses of lethal injection drugs.
Pike's condition was unclear early on Oct. 1, reported the Nashville Tennessean, part of the USA TODAY Network. She was taken to a hospital, according to a court ruling. USA TODAY has reached out to the governor and the Department of Correction for updates on Oct. 1.
A flurry of outrage from Pike's lawyers and supporters followed confused late-night updates. After things went awry, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said he was pausing the state's executions for the remainder of 2026, throwing the pending Dec. 3 execution date of Gary Wayne Sutton into question.
"Carrying out a lawfully imposed sentence is
among the State's most serious responsibilities, and the people of Tennessee expect it to be done in a manner that is not only legal and constitutional, but is effective," Lee said.
The Tennessee Department of Correction said it followed all its protocol, which didn't allow for additional procedures to be carried out.
"Nothing about today was normal," said WKRN journalist and media witness Tori Gessner afterward.
It's not yet clear what could happen next in Pike's case. Here's what we know:
What happened during Christa Pike's execution?
The day leading up to Pike's planned execution had already been fraught with uncertainty, as last-minute legal wrangling went all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, which cleared the way for the execution to proceed after hours of delay.
Witnesses to the execution said Pike uttered words moments before her intended death. She was going to leave the world in the same way she spent most of her life, "in love," said Kim Chandler, a reporter for the Associated Press.
“She said she had love for the people who were out here hating on her," Chandler said. "She closed her statement with saying, ‘I’m at peace. I’m ready to be free.’ Then something about celebrating her freedom, and then she closed with, ‘This is a happy day.’”
Gessner, one of the witnesses, said she heard Pike complain of pain: "My arm feels like it's about to burst open."
Witnesses said they were asked to leave while Pike appeared to still be alive.
Lawyers say Pike suffered 'unnecessary agony'
Attorneys for Pike said in an emergency motion that she was subjected to "unnecessary agony" after two syringes of pentobarbital failed.
"Ms. Pike has not lost consciousness and still has a heartbeat and is audibly snoring," they wrote.
"Tonight the State of Tennessee once again failed to carry out a lawful execution," Pike's attorneys said in a statement to USA TODAY. "We take no pleasure in being right, but the concerns raised by Ms. Pike proved to be true: difficult vein access, blown veins, degraded pentobarbital, no emergency medical care available when things inevitably go wrong, all under a protocol that remains veiled in secrecy."
Governor halts executions, pledges investigation
Lee said shortly before midnight CT he is opening an investigation into what went wrong. The review will be carried out by a third-party, Lee said, without revealing who would conduct it.
Lee also said the remaining execution scheduled in Tennessee for 2026 would not happen this year.
Sutton, 61, was scheduled for death on Dec. 3 for the 1992 murders of siblings Tommy Griffin and Connie Branam. The pause on his execution comes as advocates have argued there was no direct evidence linking him to the crime and his family has asked for a pardon.
Why was Christa Pike sentenced to death?
In 1995, then 18-year-old Pike, her boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp, then 17, and another friend lured 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer to the woods in Knoxville, where Shipp and Pike tortured and killed her. Prosecutors said Pike suspected Slemmer was interested in Shipp.
Shipp was sentenced to life in prison, not eligible for the death penalty at 17 when the crime was committed.
Slemmer's mother, May Martinez, has said she laments that Pike has overshadowed her daughter over the years.
"I just want Christa down so I can end it, relieve my daughter, so she finally can be resting," Martinez told WBIR-TV in 2021. "There's not a day goes by that I don't think about Colleen or how she died and how rough it was."
Contributing: The Nashville Tennessean
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Christa Pike execution botched in Tennessee. Did she survive? Updates
