Christa Pike: The Execution That Failed
Matter of Fact: A play on "matter" (physics) and "facts" (news).Show Notes
Christa Pike was set to become the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years. On September 30, 2026, an appeals court stopped the execution an hour before it was due, the Supreme Court restarted it, and then two doses of the execution drug failed. She was taken to hospital, and Tennessee has paused all executions for the rest of the year.
We go back to January 1995, when Pike, then 18, killed 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a fellow student at a Knoxville job-training center. Pike confessed and was sentenced to death in 1996. We look at the childhood abuse her lawyers say was never properly weighed, what Colleen's mother has waited 31 years for, and what happens now.
This episode discusses violence and abuse. In the US, if you need support, call or text 988.
Chapters: 00:00 The night of September 30, 2026 04:10 Christa Pike's childhood 07:17 Colleen Slemmer and January 1995 10:25 The satanic panic and the 1996 trial 16:02 Thirty years on death row 21:33 Clemency denied 24:12 A stay, a reversal, an execution that failed 29:53 Where the case stands now
Follow The Headline Case on Spotify for new cases every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
This episode was produced with AI voices, from a research brief of court records and news reports. Sources are listed below.
Sources: CBS News: Christa Pike's execution temporarily halted, as Tennessee seeks to put to death first woman in 200 years, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/what-to-know-christa-pike-first-woman-executed-tennessee-200-years/ PBS NewsHour / AP: Court halts execution of Christa Gail Pike for a Tennessee murder she committed at age 18, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/court-halts-execution-of-christa-gail-pike-for-a-tennessee-murder-she-committed-at-age-18 Al Jazeera: Tennessee death-row prisoner Christa Pike survives lethal injections, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/1/us-supreme-court-clears-way-for-christa-pikes-execution-in-tennessee Death Penalty Information Center: Governor Bill Lee Denies Clemency for Christa Pike, https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/governor-bill-lee-denies-clemency-for-christa-pike-refusing-to-stop-tennessees-first-execution-of-a-woman-in-more-than-200-years The Intercept: The "Satanic Panic" Made Her a True-Crime Obsession. The Truth Is More Haunting., https://theintercept.com/2026/09/27/christa-pike-execution-women-death-row/
More from Matter of Fact: A play on "matter" (physics) and "facts" (news).
Roger Fortson, a 23-year-old U.S. Air Force senior airman, was shot and killed in the doorway of his Florida apartment in May 2024, seconds after opening the door to an Okaloosa County deputy while holding his own gun pointed at the floor. The sheriff's office fired the deputy, Eddie Duran, and he was charged with manslaughter. On October 1, 2026, a jury found him not guilty.
Kristin Smart was a 19-year-old Cal Poly freshman when she vanished after a party in May 1996. For 25 years, no one was charged. Then a podcast brought new witnesses forward, and in 2022 a jury convicted Paul Flores, the student last seen with her, of first-degree murder. His father, Ruben Flores, was acquitted.
Matter of Fact is taking a break. Our true crime episodes, the ones you listened to most, now have their own show: The Headline Case: True Crime Behind the News. Every episode takes one case in the news right now and tells it from beginning to end, with new episodes every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. The first episode covers the Lindsay Clancy mistrial.
In 1903, Pittsburgh heiress Alice Thaw married the debt-ridden Earl of Yarmouth after he refused to walk down the aisle until her family handed over one million dollars. The union proved to be a facade, as the couple lived separately and the Earl left the marriage completely unconsummated. In 1908, Alice obtained a formal legal annulment, reclaiming her wealth and maiden name to later build a quiet, independent life.
A 66-year-old abbot of a royal temple in Ayutthaya, Thailand, was arrested alongside his 47-year-old female assistant for embezzling over 92 million baht in temple donations and amulet sales. Investigation footage exposed the pair engaging in intimate physical encounters within the temple's private quarters, during which the abbot monitored live surveillance feeds on his phone to avoid detection. Authorities subsequently seized over 215 million baht in illicit assets—including gold bars, a pure gold Buddha statue, stacks of cash, and property deeds—and charged both individuals with corruption, official misconduct, and money laundering.