Christa Pike has broken her silence days before she is set to become the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than two centuries.
The 50-year-old death row inmate, scheduled to die by lethal injection on Wednesday, shared a final letter through her spiritual advisor in which she insisted she holds no fear of death. Pike wrote the message to Rev. Mikey Noechel before learning that Tennessee Governor Bill Lee had denied her clemency bid, leaving no remaining barrier to the execution.
“Whether my clemency is granted or not, I am at peace,” Pike wrote in the letter, which Noechel shared. “I’m not afraid to die.”
Her sole anxiety, she made clear, centers on the mechanics of the procedure itself rather than its finality. Pike admitted she is “only nervous about the process,” a concern she has aired before. In the YouTube documentary “Dead Woman Walking: Pike Vs Tennessee,” she detailed her terror that executioners would fail to locate a suitable vein for the lethal injection, a malfunction she likened to torture.
“I’m so scared that what just happened to Tony Carruthers will happen to me,” she said in the documentary, referencing the May 2026 case in which Carruthers received a one-year reprieve after staff could not establish an intravenous line.
Pike’s letter struck a note of gratitude alongside its fatalism. She thanked supporters who had rallied during her final weeks, writing that she had “felt more love in the past two weeks than I have my entire life.” She also framed the letter as a rare chance to shape her own public image.
“I want to thank everyone for their time and attention in exposing my true character above the limited public presence that has been the only narrative,” she wrote. “Also, thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak in my own words. I wish you loving kindness.”
Her defenders had pressed Governor Lee to intervene, arguing that mitigating factors warranted mercy. Pike’s attorneys contended that her childhood trauma, her youth at the time of the crime, and longstanding mental health struggles all supported a life sentence rather than execution. Lee declined the request, and the Tennessee Supreme Court subsequently rejected a separate challenge based on claims that Pike was intellectually disabled.
The case that put Pike on death row stretches back three decades to a Knoxville job training program where she met her victim. On January 12, 1995, Pike, then 18, lured 19-year-old classmate Colleen Slemmer to a secluded wooded area with her boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp and their friend Shadolla Peterson. Over roughly half an hour, Pike and Shipp brutally assaulted Slemmer while Peterson stood watch. Court records show Shipp carved a pentagram into Slemmer’s chest before Pike delivered the fatal blow to her head. Prosecutors said Pike was driven by jealousy, believing Slemmer was trying to “steal” Shipp; Pike then took a piece of Slemmer’s skull back to campus.
All three were arrested and charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy. Peterson cooperated with prosecutors and received probation after pleading guilty to accessory after the fact. Shipp drew a life sentence with parole eligibility and remains incarcerated, with his next parole hearing set for 2030. Pike alone received the death penalty.
Pike’s letter closed with thanks to those who “showed up and showed out” for her, adding that she was “humbled beyond words.” She gave no indication of planning to seek a last meal, though reports surfaced that she had declined the traditional offering.
Tennessee has not executed a woman since 1820. Pike is scheduled to die by lethal injection at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville.