Christa Pike's Attorneys Provide A Grim Health Update And Reveal More Disturbing Details About Botched Act

Christa Pike was 18 when she and her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, lured 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a fellow Jobs Corps worker from Knoxville, Tennessee, into a remote wooded area on the University of Tennessee Agricultural campus.

Pike then tormented Slemmer and took her life because she “just felt mean that day,” and later admitted to the horrific crime in court.

Pike was convicted of first-degree homicide and sentenced to capital punishment in 1996, while Shipp received life in prison with the possibility of parole.

On September 30, 2026, Pike received two doses of pentobarbital, a powerful sedative. However, Pike lived.

Now the same state that resolved to take her life is trying to save her, as attorneys have provided an update on her health condition.

When Pike was heard “breathing” and “snoring” even 40 minutes after the second dose of pentobarbital, emergency services were called, and she was rushed from Riverbend Maximum Security Institution to a local Nashville hospital.

On Thursday, October 2, her legal team filed an emergency motion Friday in Davidson County Chancery Court seeking an order requiring the Tennessee Department of Correction to preserve all relevant evidence related to the botched capital punishment attempt.

The filing noted that as of the night before, Pike was “critically ill, intubated, on a ventilator, and remains unconscious.”

The lawyers also said in the document that Pike’s arms were “swollen, burned, and blistered” when she was taken to the hospital, and at least seven needles were used to gain IV access.

They claimed that "at no point did any member of the exe**tion team realize that the IV lines were not correctly placed or that the veins had blown and that the pentobarbital was, in whole or in part, entering Ms. Pike's body."

“Hospital staff is working to save Ms. Pike's life and to clear the pentobarbital from her system,” the motion further stated.

Pike’s attorneys, Stephen Ferrell and Luke Ihnen, told TMZ, “We are working closely with those closest to Christa to respect her wishes, safeguard her privacy, and protect her rights as a patient during this extraordinarily difficult time. We ask that the public and the media respect that privacy as well.”

Pike’s lawyers previously argued that Pike suffered from certain conditions, which would make the lethal injection procedure riskier and subject her to “unnecessary and superadded pain and suffering, terror, and disgrace.”

Dr. Joel Zivot, an anaesthesiologist advising Pike's defense team, opined that two doses of pentobarbital were enough to have taken Pike’s life had it entered her bloodstream in normal circulation.

The fact that she survived points to the possibility that the pentobarbital in the blood “was never high enough” to have caused demise, he said, adding that the blisters on her arm indicate a ruptured vein from failed IV channeling attempts.

Instead of entering Pike's bloodstream, the pentobarbital was more likely to have spread across the tissue under her skin, Dr. Zivot said.

Regarding the possibility that the pentobarbital used was degraded, Zivot explained that, if so, it could be due to factors, including poor manufacturing or improper storage.

Pike suffered from thrombocytosis, which may have also played a role, forming blood clots at the injection site that would potentially block pentobarbital from entering her veins. She also had small veins, which made IV administration challenging.

One of the seven needles used on her arm was bent at a 90-degree angle when it was removed from her arm, the filing said. At one point, Pike herself guided the officials on where to best look for her vein.

“Ms. Pike was not just cooperative, but was trying to help instruct the people placing the IV lines on where they could find them,” her lawyers said. “She over and over again said, ‘Please try up on my shoulder higher. Please try here. Please try here.’”

“Last night was not just inefficient. It was cruel, and it was torturous… That really was her biggest fear. It was not a fear of dying. It was a fear of a prolonged, painful, traumatic d**th.”

Christa Pike was brought to the chamber where she was to breathe her last at around 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, strapped to a gurney. The witnesses were already gathered.

Giving a final statement, Pike said, “I’m ready to be free. This is a happy day.”

Her spiritual adviser stood beside the gurney, spoke to her, and stroked her head. They sang a song whose lyrics were inaudible, but the witnesses could see her smile and hear the phrase “I love you” repeated.

At 7:41 p.m., a paperweight was placed on the ledge, which coincides with the protocol that dictates it marks the beginning of a five-minute countdown after the first dose is administered.

At 7:46 p.m., the curtain was drawn, blocking the witnesses’ view of Pike. But they could hear her make sounds. Three more minutes later, she was still alive, and the second dose was given.

She kept breathing, and at 7:56 p.m., her head was raised slightly off the gurney and turned to the side. At some point, she lost consciousness.

After the curtains were closed a second time at 8:06 p.m., Pike could be heard from behind the curtain for 40 minutes. Witnesses said she sounded like she was snoring in a rhythmic, regular breathing pattern.

At 8:53 p.m., the witnesses were asked to leave the area, and at 9:14 p.m., fire trucks and ambulances arrived in front of the prison.