Tennessee Executes Christa Pike, First Woman in State in Over 200 Years Christa Pike was executed by lethal injection on September 30, 2026, at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, becoming the first woman Tennessee has executed in over 200 years. Christa Gail Pike was executed by lethal injection on Wednesday, September 30, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. local time at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, Tennessee. Tennessee Executes Christa Gail PikeShe was 50 years old. Her execution marks the first time Tennessee has executed a woman in more than 200 years, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. The last time Tennessee executed a woman was in 1820. Pike refused a last meal, according to the Tennessee Department of Correction.Inmates in Tennessee are typically given 20 dollars to spend on their final meal, according to The Tennessean. Her execution came after Governor Bill Lee denied her clemency request and the US Supreme Court declined to stay the execution. The Supreme Court justices made the decision less than a day before the deadline, with no explanation. Governor Lee announced on Monday that he had declined to intervene in Pike's execution.In a statement, he said, After deliberate consideration of Christa Gail Pike's request for clemency, and after a thorough review of the case, I am upholding the sentence of the State of Tennessee and do not plan to intervene. Pike had asked Lee to commute her death sentence to life in prison without parole, citing her childhood trauma and mental health issues. Pike was convicted of the January 12, 1995, murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer.Pike Convicted of Colleen Slemmer MurderAt the time of the crime, Pike was 18 years old. She met Slemmer while taking part in the Job Corps government program in Knoxville, which provides low-income young adults with educational and vocational training. Prosecutors said Pike became jealous of Slemmer, who she accused of attempting to steal her boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp, a fellow Job Corps student with whom Pike shared an interest in satanic imagery. Friends of Slemmer denied any romantic rivalry.Pike and another student, Shadolla Peterson, hatched a plan to lure Colleen away from the school, telling her they wanted to make peace and offering to share marijuana with her in a secluded area near the University of Tennessee campus. That evening, Slemmer went with Pike, Shipp and Peterson. Once they reached the woods, she was attacked.For at least half an hour, prosecutors said, Slemmer was beaten, kicked and slashed as she begged them to stop and repeatedly tried to escape. During the assault, Shipp carved a pentagram into her chest while she was still alive. Pike kept a piece of Slemmer's skull, which she later showed to classmates, according to witness testimony at trial. Pike was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy and sentenced to death in 1996, when she was 20 years old.Three Decades on Death RowShe became the youngest woman ever sentenced to death in the United States. She spent three decades on death row before her execution. Pike's execution makes her the 19th woman executed nationwide since 1976. Colleen Slemmer's mother, May Martinez, made an 11th hour trip to Tennessee to watch Pike's execution.She plans to sit in the front row of the execution chamber, clutching a picture of her late daughter as she watches Pike take her final breaths. After more than 30 years of waiting, Martinez told the Daily Mail she was certain she would die before seeing her daughter's killer face justice. A GoFundMe campaign helped Martinez afford to travel to Tennessee.The fundraiser wrote on Sunday, 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. You helped make sure they could be there for Colleen. And that means more than words can say.Pike Challenges Lethal Injection MethodPike filed a lawsuit challenging the method of execution, claiming it violated her rights and religious beliefs because she is Buddhist. The legal challenge failed. In August, Pike asked the court to consider allowing her to be hanged, WATE reported. Her legal team also requested that her execution be handled by an all-female team because she has trauma from men.Her lawyer Stephen Ferrell said, Lethal injection administered by men will increase the likelihood that an 8th Amendment violation will occur. Pike also requested death by firing squad ahead of her execution, according to the New York Post. She was terrified of dying a painful death by lethal injection and instead asked to be shot by an all-woman firing squad in front of witnesses, including members of Slemmer's family.Her lawyers claimed death by lethal injection would be prolonged and agonizing because she has a rare blood disorder that could make it difficult to find a vein and affect how she reacts to the drug. In July, the Tennessee Supreme Court appointed Senior Judge Mark Ward as a special master to review evidence and hear testimony on whether Pike's planned execution complies with the state's constitution.Pike's case was the first to be reviewed under this process, with previous inmates' requests having been rejected. Among other issues, the order required Ward to consider whether Pike's execution team consisting of all men was constitutional, given her documented history as a victim of childhood rape and sexual violence.Mitigating Evidence Raised After ExecutionAfter conducting the review, Ward ruled that the execution could proceed as planned, though he noted that plans had already been put in place to replace male staff overseeing her ahead of the execution with female staff. Civil rights groups including Amnesty International, Cornell Law School's Center on the Death Penalty, and United Nations experts have raised concerns that potentially mitigating evidence about Pike's lengthy history of childhood sexual abuse and violence was not presented by her defense attorneys at trial.These groups have also pointed to her suffering from severe mental illness, including post-traumatic stress disorder and bipolar disorder. In response to the governor's decision to deny clemency, Pike's legal team said they were saddened and heartbroken by the decision, pointing to her youth at the time of the offense and her troubled childhood. Her attorneys said, Throughout her childhood, Christa was failed by people and institutions that should have shown her care and meaningful intervention.They added that Christa will be the first person Tennessee executes in the modern death penalty era who was a teenager at the time of the offense. With this decision, the State of Tennessee is ignoring what both science and our legal system have decided: an 18-year-old brain is not an adult brain, and 18 is too young to face execution, they said.