270 Sleeps Until The Execution Of Christa Pike

True crime followers often call for the execution of violent criminals, but Christa Pike was just 20 when she received a death sentence for a murder she committed at 18. Now, as of January 4,she has only 270 sleeps before her execution. Do people feel sorry for her? Read on to find out.

The Execution Set For September 30, 2026

Toward the end of 2025, the YouTube channel Victim and Verdict took a look back at the case. If you don’t know, the death sentence came after she was found guilty of first-degree murder.

It involved the death of a 19-year-old classmate: Colleen Slemmer. The true crime happened at the Knoxville Job Corps campus in January 1995. As a result, that means that Christa won’t see her 51st birthday on planet Earth.

In March, the now-49-year-old will have her last birthday ever. The circumstances of the true crime that involved Christa Pike earned her the unfortunate privilege of being the youngest ever woman to get the death sentence in Tennessee.

The Murder Details

The narrator explained that “18-year-old Christa Pike, struggling with jealousy and insecurity, spent most of her time with her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, a quiet 17-year-old who was deeply influenced by her.”

Then, they described how, “Their friend, Shadalolla Peterson, 18, often stayed close to the pair, a student who became entangled in their circle almost by accident.”

Apparently, “On January 12th, 1995, Pike, Shipp, and Peterson lured Colleen into a wooded area near campus.” And, what happened next seems chilling. Described as pure “torture,” the account continued by saying that, “Witness testimony and forensic evidence revealed Colleen was beaten, stabbed, and taunted.”

According to court documents, “Pike carved a pentagram on Colleen’s chest and attacked her for 45 minutes.”

The narrative explained that, “She then took a large piece of asphalt…and Colleen was beaten over the head with it.” Additionally, as some sort of trophy, Christa kept a piece of “Colleen’s skull.”

Should She be Pardoned?

The outlet also took a look at feelings in some circles that perhaps she already suffered enough. Three decades of mostly solitary imprisonment can’t be much fun.

Notably, she seemed to present some sort of psycho problem, because she’d written about how she felt she was humane by bashing Colleen’s brains out instead of letting her “bleed to death” slowly. In this day and age, might she have gotten off it with a psychiatric competency test?

Viewers React

Well, her legal team argues that being on death row has its limits with regards to human rights. How did viewers react? Actually, with very little sympathy. One of them opined, “She was the ringleader. She bashed the victim’s head in, killing her. Her sentence is just.”

Here are a few more responses:

• She had no mercy for the girl she murdered, so why does she expect it for herself.
• There is only ONE thing wrong with the idea of capital punishment…the time between crime, sentencing and completion.
• Also “I made a mistake?” A mistake is getting in the wrong car, murdering someone is NEVER a mistake.

One Pertinent Comment

One person in the discussion wrote, “No mention of the prisoners she tried to strangle.” Did that really happen? Actually, yes it did. Murderpedia.org reported that in 2001 “Pike (with alleged assistance from inmate Natasha Cornett) attacked and attempted to strangle fellow inmate Patricia Jones with a shoe string, and nearly succeeded in choking her to death.”

Oh, and in 2012, the Tennessee Department of Corrections also thwarted an escape attempt involving Christa Pike. Apparently it involved a member of the corrections staff named Justin Heflin, and “a New Jersey man named Donald Kohut.”

What are your thoughts? Do you think that she’s had enough time on death row? Do you feel stressed because she only has 270 sleeps before her execution? Let us know in the comments below, and come back here often for all your true crime news and updates.