NASHVILLE — Tennessee attempted to execute Christa Gail Pike on Wednesday night, but her attorneys and media witnesses said she remained alive after receiving lethal-injection drugs.
Pike’s attorneys said two syringes of pentobarbital were administered at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution. In an emergency court filing, they reported that she still had a heartbeat and was audibly snoring. Witnesses also described hearing her snore before they were escorted from the viewing area.
The Tennessee Department of Correction did not immediately explain what happened or confirm her condition according to WVLT.
It was the second execution attempt Tennessee was unable to complete this year.
A DAY OF COURT ORDERS
Pike, 50, was convicted in 1996 of the torture and murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville the previous year. Pike was 18 when the crime occurred.
She would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in at least 200 years. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, she also would have been the first person executed in Tennessee’s modern death penalty era for a crime committed at age 18.
The Tennessee Supreme Court had denied her request for a stay, and Gov. Bill Lee denied clemency Monday.
About an hour before Wednesday’s scheduled 10 a.m. execution, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued a stay. The court needed time to determine how to handle Pike’s latest filing concerning evidence of childhood sexual abuse.
Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti’s office asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene. The justices lifted the stay Wednesday evening. Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented.
According to AP, after the injection procedure began, officials closed the chamber curtain twice. At about 8:53 p.m., the microphone was turned off and media witnesses were told to leave. Pike’s attorneys sought emergency court intervention to stop the execution and obtain immediate medical care.
THE EARLIER ATTEMPT
On May 21, Tennessee attempted to execute Tony Carruthers, convicted of kidnapping and murdering three people in Memphis in 1994.
TDOC said medical personnel established a primary IV but could not establish the backup line required by the execution protocol. His attorney, Maria DeLiberato, said the attempts lasted more than an hour and that Carruthers groaned in pain.
Lee granted Carruthers a one-year reprieve.
The two attempts involved different reported problems. Carruthers’ procedure stopped during efforts to establish IV access. Pike’s attorneys said she remained alive after the drug was administered.
EIGHT EXECUTIONS UNDER LEE
Tennessee has executed eight prisoners since Lee took office in January 2019: three in 2019, one in 2020, three in 2025 and one in 2026. Anthony Darrell Hines, executed Aug. 13, was the most recent. The count excludes the incomplete attempts involving Carruthers and Pike.
The administration has also faced repeated questions about execution procedures.
In 2022, Lee halted Oscar Smith’s scheduled execution after a drug-testing oversight and ordered an independent investigation. The review found recurring failures to follow testing requirements in execution preparations dating to 2018, a period spanning both Lee’s administration and the Haslam administration.
Lee subsequently directed leadership changes, a revised protocol and a review of training. Executions resumed in May 2025 using pentobarbital alone. During Byron Black’s execution that August, witnesses reported that he groaned and complained of intense pain.
After the Carruthers attempt, Lee said in July that staff had followed proper procedures and that the protocol would remain unchanged.
WHO OVERSEES THE PROCESS
TDOC Commissioner Frank Strada’s appointment took effect Jan. 9, 2023. He previously served as deputy director of the Arizona Department of Correction.
His department announced completion of the revised lethal-injection protocol in December 2024. A redacted, 44-page manual was released the following month.
Pike’s Record: Murder and Attempted Murder
Pike killed 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in 1995. Pike, along with two accomplices, lured her classmate into the woods in Knoxville, Tennessee, where they tortured her with box cutters, carved a pentagram into her, and beat her to death. Other Conviction: While serving her sentence, Pike was also convicted of attempted first-degree murder for trying to strangle another inmate in 2001.
WHAT COMES NEXT
Late Wednesday, the Death Penalty Information Center, citing The Tennessean, reported that Pike had been taken to a local hospital. Her condition remained unknown. N
Federal defender Kelley Henry told The Tennessean that another execution date would have to be set if Pike was not executed before Wednesday ended. Lee also has authority to grant a reprieve.
Slemmer’s mother, May Martinez, has supported carrying out the sentence after waiting more than three decades.
Gary Wayne Sutton is scheduled for execution Dec. 3. What happened during Pike’s procedure, what medical care she received and whether the state will review its methods remained unanswered late Wednesday.
This is a developing story based on information available late Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026 We will update when more information becomes available.
