Christa Pike execution descends into chaos with child killer still alive after TWO lethal injection doses, her lawyer says

DAILYMAIL • 3h ago

By MELISSA KOENIG, US REPORTER 03:19 01 Oct 2026, updated 03:30 01 Oct 2026

Teenage killer Christa Pike was still ‘alive and snoring’ after she received both syringes of lethal injection drugs on Wednesday night.

Pike, now 50, had been scheduled to die by lethal injection at 10am on Wednesday for the 1995 slaying of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in a fit of jealous rage.

But her procedure was delayed for hours on end after the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued an order staying Pike’s execution ‘until further order of this court.’

The US Supreme Court finally overturned that order just before 6pm local time, clearing the way for Pike’s execution.

She was then administered two syringes of the lethal injection drugs at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, Tennessee just before 7.30pm, but was still alive and breathing as of 9pm local time, The Tennessean reports.

‘She’s alive and snoring,’ her attorney Kelley Gleason said, explaining that she received the details from another one of Pike’s lawyers, Randy Spivey, who was in the death chamber with the murderer.

Witnesses also said at an ensuing news conference that Pike was heard saying her arm felt like it was about to burst open.

They told how the curtains into the execution chamber opened at 7.26pm, when Pike and her spiritual advisor sang a song and the killer made her final remarks.

The curtains then closed at 7.46pm, as Pike could be heard snoring. Witnesses were then removed from the room just before 9pm.

Another of Pike’s attorneys, Amy Harwell, is now driving an emergency motion to the Tennessee Supreme Court.

That motion now comes one month after Pike’s attorneys argued at a hearing in Knoxville that her thrombocytosis could increase clotting and pain during the execution process.

They also contended at the time that her veins are difficult to access, which could prolong the process and extend Pike’s suffering.

State prosecutors disputed those claims, with hematologist Dr Richard Mansour testifying that Pike’s recent medical history showed her veins were accessible.

He also noted that medical staff had successfully completed nearly all recent blood draws with just a single needle stick.

In the end, Senior Judge Mark Ward concluded that the evidence did not show Pike’s veins or blood disorder would create a substantial risk of severe pain.

Pike’s attorneys had also previously asked for an all-female firing squad to kill her or to be hanged, the New York Post reported.

Having Pike be restrained and handled by men could retraumatize her because of past sexual abuse, her lawyers had claimed, noting that she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.

‘[Lethal injection administered by men] will increase the likelihood that an Eighth Amendment violation will occur,’ Ferrell said.

‘There is an increased risk of pain and suffering.’

According to the Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide, Pike was a victim of child sexual abuse, multiple rapes and attempted suicide at age 12.

When she was 17, she was allegedly grabbed by a stranger by the side of the road and raped. Police never arrested a suspect.

She allegedly killed Colleen Slemmer almost one year to the day after the rape.

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