Tennessee is set to execute a woman for the first time in over 200 years. What did she do?

Tennessee’s only woman during death was planned for execution more than 30 years after brutally killing a young romantic rival and showing a part of the victim’s skull to schoolmates.

Tennessee High Court Planned The execution of 49 -year -old Christa Gail Pike on September 30, 2026, Pike, 19 -year -old Colleen Slemmer on January 12, 1995 when he pulled the forest in Knoxville and the attack for the savagery was only 18 years old.

When the court records found the body of Slemmer’s body the next day, the young beaten, stabbed, and a pentagram carved on his chest.

If Pike’s execution was carried out, it would be the first woman to be executed in Tennessee In 200 years And only the 19th woman was executed in modern US history.

“This is a very small number, Robin said Washington’s General Manager Robin Maher, DC -centered death penalty Information Center, a non -profit organization that follows the use of the death penalty in the United States.

“Since 1976, only 18 women have been executed.” “Extremely rare.”

Pike’s execution date was determined in 2025 due to the increase in executions and the expansion of execution methods used. This year, the states have implemented 34 prisons – an unprecedented figure – and nine is planned to be killed.

Here is the case and what will you know about women in the USA

What was Christa Gail Pike condemned to?

Christa Gail Pike and Colleen Slemmer were students at Knoxville Job Corps, a career training program when Pike began to go out with a 17 -year -old child in the program and then tried to steal Slemmer.

According to the court records, a friend and her boyfriend pulled Slemmer from the business column center and before the attack.

Pike later boasted to kill Slemmer, another student in the center cut his throat six times with a box of cutter, cut it with a flesh, a pentagram on his forehead and chest, and according to the court records, Slemmer continued his violence despite his stop.

Pike said that “the victim threw a big asphalt on his head”, believed it was a deadly blow and then holds a skull part of the other students.

Pike was convicted of first -degree murder and sentenced to death. According to the prisoner records, Pike’s boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp was convicted of first -degree murder, was sentenced to life imprisonment in prison for life imprisonment and will be suitable for conditional evacuation in November. Pike’s friend Shadolla Peterson – Saying that prosecutors continued to watch during the attack – Pike was testified and sentenced to probation.

What does Christa Gail Pike say about the crime?

In a letter he wrote to Tennessean – Part of the USA Today Network – Pike, the responsibility of the murder and has “changed to a great extent since her youth,” he said.

“Think of the worst mistake you’ve made as a reckless young man. Mine ruined great, unforgettable and countless life.” “I was a mentally 18 -year -old child. Even I even realized the gravity of what I did. It took many years to accept how many lives (sic).

Pike spent 27 years when Tennessee said that it was effective as the only woman in her death before gaining the ability to interact with other prisoners during food, lessons and religious services.

His lawyers argue that Pike has been tried today and that he will never receive a death penalty, given the young age and mental health struggles at the time of crime. They believe that he deserves life in prison without the possibility of a conditional evacuation instead of a death penalty.

“Christa’s childhood is full of physical and sexual abuse and neglect for years.” He said. “After years and treatment for post -traumatic stress disorders, Christa has become a thoughtful woman who has deep regret for its crime.”

To learn more about Pike, including the background about childhood, Visit here.

Clemmer’s mother May Martinez was determined to support the death penalty for Pike.

“I just take Christa down, so I can finish it, relax my daughter, so that it can finally rest,” Martinez told WBIR-TV In 2021, “There is no day I didn’t think how hard he died and how hard he was.”

How many women were executed in the USA?

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, only 18 women have been executed in the United States since 1976. This means that women represent only 1% of all modern US executions.

Pike is not only the only woman in Tennessee’s death, but also 48 women in the country. This was compared with a male population slightly below 2,100 – about 2 percent.

The last execution of a woman in the United States was the execution of Amber McClaghlin in 2023. McClaughlin, the first transsexual human execution in the country, was sentenced to rape and fatally stabbing 45 -year -old Beverly Guenther on November 20, 2003. Guenther was McLawhlin’s ex -girlfriend.

The last execution in Tennessee was Byron Black on August 5 for the 1988 murder of his girlfriend and two young daughters.

How many women executed Tennessee?

Pike’s lawyers referring to the death penalty Information Center Just three women He was never executed in Tennessee, all of them between 1807 and 1819.

Although he did not define their crimes, they list the vine of three black women in 1807, 1808 and 1819. Only one of the female names is known: Molly Holcomb in 1807. Two are listed as slaves By Deathpenalyusa.orgMany slaves, who called crimes as murder, were unjustly killed by misconduct or for any reason.

Contributor: Evan Meolins, Tennessean

Amanda Lee Myers is a senior crime correspondent covering executions for USA Today. Follow him on x at @amaandaleeusat.

This article was initially published on the Usa Today: Tennessee, 30 years after Rival’s murder, sets out the execution of Christa Pike