Christa Pike could become the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years if the state carries out her scheduled lethal injection on September 30.

Pike, now 50, was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, whom she met at a job training camp for troubled teenagers. Pike was 18 at the time of the killing.

According to court records, Pike and her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, beat and tortured Slemmer before killing her. The case attracted national attention after Slemmer was found with a pentagram carved into her chest.

Pike had accused Slemmer of insulting her and attempting to take her boyfriend. Two other residents at the training camp later testified that Pike had spoken about the killing and had shown them a piece of Slemmer’s skull.

Pike was sentenced to death in 1996. Shipp, who was 17 at the time, received a life sentence with the possibility of parole.

After years of unsuccessful appeals, Pike’s execution date has now been set. If it proceeds, she will become the first woman put to death by Tennessee in more than two centuries. Since the 1970s, 18 women have been executed in the United States, compared with 1,663 men.

Pike’s lawyers are seeking clemency and have submitted a 226-page petition asking for her death sentence to be commuted. United Nations human rights experts have also called for the execution to be halted.

Her defence team argues that Pike’s history of severe childhood abuse, neglect and abandonment should have received greater consideration during her original trial.

A forensic psychologist who evaluated Pike in 1995 reported that she had been physically and sexually abused by several people during her childhood. The report said she had been raped at 11 and again at 17, while later evidence indicated that she had also been sexually abused as a toddler.

Pike’s lawyers say the jury was not presented with the full extent of that history. Her trial lawyer did not call the psychologist who prepared the report or several witnesses recommended by the expert.

Pike was diagnosed with bipolar disorder while in prison in 2021 and has received treatment since then. Another forensic psychologist who assessed her in 2023 said her history involved an unusually extensive pattern of physical, sexual and emotional abuse.

The psychologist said untreated manic episodes associated with bipolar disorder, along with untreated post-traumatic stress disorder, affected Pike’s emotional control and her perception of threats at the time of the killing.

Sandra Babcock, a Cornell Law School expert who has worked on Pike’s defence, has argued that the combination of Pike’s age at the time of the crime, mental illness and history of sexual violence makes her case particularly compelling.

However, Pike’s appeals have repeatedly been rejected. Tennessee’s Supreme Court ruled last year that she had not demonstrated circumstances sufficient to justify commuting her sentence.

A federal appeals court had also concluded that the jury had already heard evidence about Pike’s difficult childhood through testimony from her mother, father and aunt. The court said evidence concerning bipolar disorder, PTSD and brain damage largely repeated information available at trial and would not have changed the verdict.

The case has been compared with that of Lisa Montgomery, another death-row prisoner whose lawyers argued that severe abuse and mental illness warranted mercy. Montgomery was executed by lethal injection in Indiana in 2021 after her legal challenges failed.

Unless Tennessee Governor Bill Lee grants clemency, Pike is scheduled to be executed on September 30. Lee has never granted clemency in a death penalty case, according to the report.

The Tennessee Supreme Court rejected Pike’s latest request to halt the execution this week, while her lawyers continue to consider further legal options.

Pike has also requested an all-female team during her execution, saying that being restrained by men would worsen trauma associated with her history of abuse. Tennessee officials said female guards are expected to transfer her to the prison where the execution will take place, although the state has not guaranteed that the entire process will involve women.

Slemmer’s mother, May Martinez, continues to support Pike’s execution. She has said that Pike committed the crime and should be held accountable for it.

Martinez has also described the lasting impact of her daughter’s death, saying she continues to think about Slemmer and the circumstances surrounding the killing.

The Justice Coalition, a victims’ rights advocacy group, has raised money to help Martinez travel to Tennessee to witness the execution. The group’s executive director, Robert Bracewell, said the sentence was imposed by a jury and that Slemmer’s family wants it carried out.

Pike’s friend Ashlee Sellars, who met her in prison, has struggled with the competing perspectives surrounding the case. Sellars said she believes Slemmer’s life mattered while also believing that Pike’s life has value and that people should have opportunities for redemption.

Sellars met Pike while serving a 25-year sentence for her involvement in a robbery-murder. She later became an advocate for justice reform and victims of crime.

As Pike’s execution date approaches, her lawyers continue to seek a last-minute reprieve while Slemmer’s family maintains its support for the sentence. The final decision on whether Pike will be executed remains with Tennessee authorities and any further legal proceedings or clemency action.

SOURCE: BBC World Service, Stephanie Hegarty, September 27, 2026.