Tenn. Woman Set for Execution Decades After Luring Classmate to Her Death as Teen, Carving Pentagram on Victim

Christa Pike is set to be executed next year for the 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer

This undated photo released by the Tennessee Department of Correction shows Christa Pike.

Christa-Pike.Credit : Tennessee Department of Correction via AP

A Tennessee woman’s execution date has been set three decades after she killed her classmate as an 18-year-old, carving a pentagram on the victim’s chest and taking away a prt of the slain woman’s skull.

The victim, Colleen Slemmer, was a Knoxville Job Corps student who was lured into a remote area by Christa Pike, who, along with her then-boyfriend, killed Slemmer in a remote area of the University of Tennessee Agricultural campus in January 1995, per the Associated Press.

After stabbing and beating Slemmer, Pike took a part of the victim’s skull as souvenir.

Pike’s boyfriend, then-17-year-old Tadaryl Shipp, and friend, then-18-year-old Shadolla Peterson were also involved in the murder, per The Straits Times.

Pike was convicted at the age of 18 of murder and the conspiracy to commit murder, USA Today and The Straits Times previously reported.

On Tuesday, Sept. 30, the Tennessee Supreme Court set an execution date for Pike, who is the only woman on death row in the state, the AP reported.

Since her 1996 conviction, Pike has argued that she endured brutal physical and sexual abuse as a child and suffered from “severe mental illness” at the time of the murder, per the AP.

Pike was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder years after her arrest, and advocates say that since receiving treatment, she has become “a thoughtful woman with deep remorse.”

A psychologist previously told The Tennessean that she believed Pike was detached from reality at the time of the crime.

Shipp, who was Pike’s boyfriend at the time of the murder, had been sentenced to life in prison with possibility of parole for his role, per the AP. He will be eligible for parole next year, USA Today reported, citing the Tennessee Department of Correction.

Peterson turned state’s witness and received a six-year probationary sentence after pleading guilty to accessory after the fact, according to USA Today.

Pike is scheduled to be executed on Sept. 30, 2026, WSMV reported.

Tennessee remains one of 27 states to still allow the death penalty.