Christa Pike was an eighteen year old killer who would murder Colleen Slemmer in 1995
According to court documents Crista Pike and Colleen Slemmer were classmates at Knoxville Job Corps. The problem began when Crista and Colleen had feelings for the same boy Tadaryl Shipp. However Crista believed that she was dating Tadaryl and Colleen was a threat
Christa Pike would lure Colleen Slemmer to a wooded area where she would attack the teen girl.. With the help of Tadaryl Shipp Colleen would be badly beaten, mutilated and finally killed with a large piece of asphalt wielded by Pike
Christa Pike and Tadaryl Shipp would be arrested
Tadaryl Shipp would be sentenced to prison however he is eligible for parole. In 2025 he was denied parole
Christa Pike would be convicted and sentenced to death. Her execution is set to take place in 2026. While in prison Pike would be convicted of the attempted murder of another prisoner
Christa Pike Current Information
| Name: | CHRISTA PIKE | ||
| Birth Date: | 03/10/1976 | ||
| TDOC ID: | 00261368 | ||
| State ID Number (SID): | 00732082 | ||
| Sex: | FEMALE | Race: | WHITE |
| Height: | 05′ 03″ | Complexion: | FAIR |
| Weight: | 118 lbs. | Eye Color: | BROWN |
| Hair Color: | BROWN |
| Supervision Status: | INCARCERATED | Assigned Location: | DEBRA K. JOHNSON REHABILITATION CENTER |
| Combined Sentence(s) Length: | DEATH | Supervision/Custody Level: | MAXIMUM |
| Sentence Begin Date: | 03/30/1996 | Sentence End Date: |
Tadaryl Shipp Current Information
| Name: | TADARYL SHIPP | ||
| Birth Date: | 11/10/1977 | ||
| TDOC ID: | 00272533 | ||
| State ID Number (SID): | 732188 | ||
| Sex: | MALE | Race: | BLACK |
| Height: | 05′ 10″ | Complexion: | MEDIUM |
| Weight: | 200 lbs. | Eye Color: | BROWN |
| Hair Color: | BLACK |
| Supervision Status: | INCARCERATED | Assigned Location: | NORTHWEST CORRECTIONAL COMPLEX |
| Combined Sentence(s) Length: | LIFE | Supervision/Custody Level: | MINIMUM RESTRICTED |
| Sentence Begin Date: | 01/14/1995 | Sentence End Date: | |
| Release Eligibility Date: | 10/16/2025 | Parole Hearing Date: | 10/2031 |
Christa Pike Case
As a teenager, Christa Pike killed another young girl at a job training center. Now, the state has moved forward with plans to kill Pike.
The Tennessee Supreme Court scheduled Pike’s execution for Sept. 30, 2026. She would be the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years, and she would also be the first person put to death in Tennessee for a crime committed at age 18 since the death penalty was re-legalized nationwide in 1976.
Pike brutally beat, cut and tortured Colleen Slemmer, a fellow student at the Knoxville Job Corps, along with two others in 1995. She took a piece of Slemmer’s skull and admitted to the killing to police.
Tennessee law holds that those who committed crimes before 1999 can choose between being put to death by lethal injection or the electric chair.
Tennessee sets execution date for other death row inmates
The Tennessee Supreme Court also set execution dates for three other people: Tony Carruthers was given an execution date of May 21, 2026; Anthony Darrell Dugard Hines of Aug. 13, 2026; and Gary Wayne Sutton of Dec. 3, 2026.
Pike, 49, has spent most of her life on death row. For more than a decade, she lived in near solitary confinement.
May Martinez, Slemmer’s mother, supports Pike’s execution. She told The Tennessean the piece of Slemmer’s skull taken by Pike remains in state custody and that she cannot have peace while it remains there.
Pike’s attorneys, meanwhile, say she has evolved into a thoughtful woman who has deep remorse for her crime. They have called attention to what they believe is an arbitrary line in the sand regarding age in sentencing: If Pike had carried out the murder a year earlier, she could not be sentenced to death.
The Tennessee Supreme Court in September 2024 ruled it would not hear Pike’s case challenging her death sentence.
Christa Pike sues Tennessee over prison conditions
As the lone woman on death row, Pike has said she lived without interaction with other incarcerated women for years, and she sued over her conditions. Men on death row live together in Riverbend Maximum Security Institution’s Unit 2, while women sentenced to death live in the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center. Pike settled her lawsuit in 2024 and gained more privileges, ending her de facto solitary confinement.
Neither of the two accomplices in the case received a death sentence. Shadolla Peterson pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact and received a six-year probationary sentence, while Pike’s then-boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp was convicted of first-degree murder and was sentenced to life.
The group of teenagers lured Slemmer into a remote area of the University of Tennessee agricultural campus. The killing involved a lengthy beating and torture.
