“Unraveling the Mystery: Why the Youngest Woman on Death Row Remains Unexecuted for 30 Years”
In the annals of crime and punishment, few cases are as hauntingly captivating as that of Christa Pike, the youngest woman sentenced to death in the United States—still occupying her spot on death row nearly three decades later. Picture this: it’s January 12, 1995, and an 18-year-old Pike lured her classmate, Colleen Slemmer, into a trap disguised as a peace offering. A wild jealousy, fueled by the belief that Colleen was trying to “steal” her boyfriend, spiraled into a violent act that would seal her fate. As unsettling details emerged in court—from brutal beatings to macabre keepsakes of the crime—one can’t help but wonder: what kind of world breeds such darkness in the hearts of its youth? This story unravels the complexities of justice and the labyrinthine path of death row—a journey that many inmates navigate for years, often filled with hope, despair, and an unyielding fight against their sentences. Curious to dive deeper into this chilling tale? LEARN MORE.
The youngest woman ever to be sentenced to death in the US is still on death row almost 30 years later.
On 12 January, 1995, then-18-year-old Tennessee woman Christa Pike lured a 19-year-old classmate named Colleen Slemmer to a secluded location and murdered her.
Pike thought that Colleen was trying to ‘steal’ her boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp, and the three of them, along with 18-year-old Shadolla Peterson, signed out of their dormitory and went into the woods.
The 18-year-old told her victim that she wanted to make peace with her by offering her some cannabis, but she and Shipp attacked Colleen while Peterson acted as a lookout.
A court heard that Colleen was beaten, slashed, and had a pentagram carved into her chest for around 30 minutes before Pike killed her by smashing her skull with a chunk of asphalt.
Pike kept a piece of her victim’s skull, and started showing it to other people in her class.
It wasn’t long before she, Shipp and Peterson were arrested.
Christa Pike was sentenced to death at the age of 18. (Tennessee Department of Corrections)
Though she confessed to torturing and killing Colleen, Pike insisted that she had onlyintended to scare the 19-year-old.
Charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder, Pike was found guilty on 22 March, 1996, and shortly afterwards was sentenced to death by electrocution.
Shipp received a life sentence with the possibility of parole after 25 years, while Peterson had become a state witness and was given a six-year probationary sentence.
Pike became the youngest woman to be sentenced to death in the US, but almost 30 years on, she is still on death row.
The reason for that is that there are very long processes involved with carrying out an execution.
Many death row inmates will spend years appealing and challenging their death penalty.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, prisoners in the US who have been sentenced to death will normally spend more than 10 years before they get executed or are found to be not guilty.
Christa Pike has thus far failed to have her death sentenced overturned. (WBIR Channel 10)
They said that since 2013, more than half of death row inmates who are exonerated had to spend over 25 years awaiting execution before their names were cleared.
The group added that over half of US inmates sentenced to death have spent at least 18 years on death row.
Over time, Pike has appealed her verdict, cancelled her appeal, and then re-issued it, as well as had legal representatives attempt to commute her sentence.
At one point, she did have an execution date set for 19 August, 2002, but a month before that, she said she changed her mind and her appeal continued.
While behind bars in 2001, she attempted to murder fellow inmate Patricia Jones by strangling her with string, and was convicted of attempted murder in 2004.
In 2012, a plan to break her out of prison was discovered, with a man named Donald Kohut, who had been writing letters to her in prison, and corrections officer Justin Heflin coming up with a plan.
The two men were arrested, with Kohut sentenced to seven years in prison and Heflin being fired from his job.
Pike wasn’t charged as it was not clear how much involvement she had with the plan.
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