*Please be aware that I will be sharing some very disturbing details in this post to do with child abuse and brutal torture, murder, animal cruelty and slaughter. I have tried as always, to be as sensitive as I can be with the details without taking away from the facts of the case. If you would like to discuss this post or any of the cases I have covered on this blog, please email me at jocaledoniankitty@gmail.com*
I've received a few emails over the past couple of weeks either asking for me to cover the case of Christa Pike, or to enquire what my thoughts are on the case and do I think she deserves her death sentence? As we fast approach the 30th of September (2026) I thought I should write about the only woman on Tennessee's death row. This case has always divided opinion and if you are unaware of the horrific story, you will see why as we go further into this post. I have to warn you that this case is very brutal and disturbing but to give you a better understanding of the background, I will talk about Christa's appalling childhood and why she is now counting down the days to her execution.
Even before Christa Gail Pike came into this world, she never stood a chance at any sort of a normal life. Whilst in the womb her mother couldn't have cared less about her wellbeing (and that was no change when she was eventually born). Her parents, Carissa and Emil had a toxic marriage and could hardly spend 5 minutes in a room with each other without arguing or physically fighting. The marriage was a joke, both constantly had extra-marital affairs and alcohol was a huge part of their daily diet. Carissa drank alcohol like it was going out of fashion, not a care in the world about the harmful effect that it could be having on her unborn baby (this selfish act resulted in Christa being born with damage to her frontal lobe). When she was born prematurely on the 10th of March, 1976 in a city in West Virginia known as Beckley, she arrived into a world of daily abuse, neglect, violence, misery, pain and suffering. I just want to be clear before going any further that my description of her childhood is not my attempt to encourage people to get the violins out, I'm just stating the truth, her childhood was utter hell.
The daily turmoil of her parent's marriage became a part of every day life for Christa and her half-sister. As well as the threat of violence and constant neglect, the house was frequently filthy, even the dog was neglected and was just left to defecate all over the house. Christa would end up covered in feces and all other kinds of dirt with nobody to properly take care of her. When her parents split up, her mother had men coming back and forth to the house, there were various attempts at relationships with violent men (her mother married about five times) who were also pedophiles. Christa often found herself the victim of these evil men, their physical violence and she endured multiple incidences where she was sexually abused. She had also witnessed cruelty towards animals at the hands of one of her mother's boyfriends. Animals would be killed and slaughtered in front of her, this was also horrendous to witness no matter the age but for a young child, it was deeply traumatic as you can imagine.
The only bit of joy that Christa had in her life was her grandmother and after being pushed around from pillar to post she ended up staying with her and for once the young girl could breathe a sigh of relief. With her grandmother there was care, safety, her grandmother was more of a mother to her than Carissa ever was. Just when Christa thought she had escaped her horrific life with her mother, her grandmother sadly passed away and Christa was so devastated that she tried to take her own life again (she had made an attempt in the past). As well as grieving the loss of her beloved gran, she was sexually attacked again and tried to go to her mother for help and support, Carissa just pushed her away and refused to believe her, she just didn't care. Another attacked happened when she was just 17, she went to the hospital and then that was that, nobody bothered doing anything, the perpetrator was never caught. She was in a devastatingly hopeless situation, suffering from all kinds of trauma, PTSD, (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), Bipolar Disorder and then of course the brain damage which caused her to have no impulse control and effected her development. None of these issues were addressed by mental health professionals, nothing was ever addressed, she was just left to rot and try to look after herself.
No child wants to feel that nobody loves them and that people don't care but this really was the situation for Christa Pike. There was nobody to turn to, nobody to help. Even when she was younger she would be drawing sexually explicit drawings in school and the teachers ignored it. The teachers saw this and noticed her behaviour but chose to do nothing. The pain and anger of so many years of no love and abuse continued just to pile up inside of her and it was only a matter of time before there was an explosion.
Christa Pike was abused in basically every way that you could possibly abuse someone, that's all she knew. Her life wasn't even a life, it was just non-stop misery. She was so desperate to escape and be loved. At the age of 17 she joined the Knoxville Job Corps Program and had her heart set on becoming a nurse. To think that after all she had been through, the fact that she still attempted to have a dream and a goal in mind demonstrates that she was a strong girl to have survived her life so far. This program was open to young people who had behavioural difficulties and were from impoverished areas. It was for young people who had a tough upbringing and needed some guidance and support to help steer them in the right direction.
With her dream at becoming a nurse and making an attempt at turning her traumatic life around and working towards a positive future, it demonstrated that underneath all that pain and hurt, she was just a kid who wanted to do good but unfortunately the demon in her was not going to let that happen. At the program she became fixated on a 17 year old boy named Tadaryl Shipp, the pair became close and started dating. Tadaryl and Christa as a couple was a recipe for disaster because he was bad news, his background was all about violence, gangs, drugs, guns and he had previously attempted to throw someone off of a bridge. He thought he was a bit of a hardman and liked the idea of people being scared of him, he talked about wanting to kill someone and was obsessed with Satanism. Christa, almost fangirling over this hoodlum, hung on his every word. She wanted to impress him and decided that she too, was going to become involved in Satanism
With a combination of extreme anger and trauma pent up inside of her and her obsession with Tadaryl and Satanism, it was only a matter of time before all hell broke loose. She believed that this guy was everything she had been waiting for, that finally she had somebody who was for her, she felt she belonged and that he understood her. He probably saw in her a vulnerable girl who idolized him and that gave his ego a bit of a boost but I don't think it was deeper than that for him. Christa was extremely obsessed with Tadaryl to the point of paranoia, she couldn't bear any other girl to look at him. She was terrified of anyone taking him away from her. In the program there was a pretty 19 year old girl called Colleen Slemmer, for some reason, Christa felt instantly threatened by her. It's unclear if Tadaryl had been looking at Colleen (prompting Christa's Jealously or if she was just imagining it) but Christa believed that Colleen was about to steal Tadaryl away from her. Colleen wasn't interested in any shape or form in Tadaryl but Christa couldn't let it go and there was a bit of an atmosphere caused by Christa's negativity.
Christa's mind began to spiral and the more she thought about Colleen, the angrier she became, telling a friend that she wanted to kill Colleen. The friend just brushed it off thinking that Christa was just being bitchy. The day after this however, Christa and Tadaryl came up with a plan to take Colleen somewhere and teach her some sort of lesson. On the 12th of January 1995, Christa, Tadaryl and a friend named Shadolla Peterson (18) approached Colleen and asked if she'd like to hang out with them, Christa wanted to make amends and apologised if she seemed a bit off with her. Colleen accepted their invitation to hang out and the four of them left the Job Corps dormitory around 8pm.
They walked to a wooded area where it was quiet and private, telling Colleen they wanted to smoke some weed. It just seemed like any other evening with a bunch of teenagers hanging out but Colleen was soon to find herself at the end of a horrific attack. Out of nowhere Christa began shouting abuse at Colleen, pushing her and punching her. Colleen was confused, shocked and tried to defend herself but Tadaryl joined in. The pair punching her, dragging her on the ground and kicking her. Shadolla stood back and watched whilst also keeping an eye out for any potential passers-by. Colleen had made various attempts to get up off of the ground but they just kept kicking and punching her. They forced her to remove her top and bra. The whole ordeal lasted about 45 minutes to an hour and the beating soon turned to stabbing and slashing. Armed with a box cutter knife, meat cleaver and rocks, they slashed Colleen's throat six times, slashed her stomach and back. Colleen was still alive whilst all of this was happening and she was begging and pleading with them to stop.
Colleen told them she would leave the program and they would never see her again if they would just stop. Christa later said that the more Colleen spoke or screamed, the more she cut her because she wanted her to ''just shut up''. Every part of Colleen's body was slashed, there was blood everywhere and it was soon obvious that Colleen was dying, they kicked her face and smashed her skill with a large chunk of asphalt to the point that the front of her face and back of her head were indistinguishable. The monsters finally dragged the poor girl to another part of the wooded area where they carved a pentagram into her chest. Christa sickeningly picked up a piece of Colleen's skull and placed it in her pocket. All three of them walked back to the dormitory.
Colleen was unbelievably still alive after all of this utter hell but as she lay there in her final heartbreaking moments, she choked on her own blood. Her death was later ruled to be a result of the horrifying head trauma and injuries she endured as well as choking. It was beyond belief, an innocent girl put through an evil, horrifying and brutal attack for no reason at all. Murdered in such a horrifying way, it was evil, it was demonic, it was sick.
After the three evil demons were back at the dormitory you would think they would be sick to death with what they had just done but no, they were all enjoying themselves. Christa was bragging to her friends about what they had done, they couldn't believe it so she pointed out her shoes and said ''that ain't mud'' and produced a piece of Colleen's skull from her pocket. The friends were shocked and didn't know what to make of it all, there was a mixture of confusion and fear. The friends didn't say a word to the police.
The next day, Colleen's body was found by a Tennessee grounds department employee who must have been utterly horrified. At first glace Colleen's body was mistaken for that of an animal but on closer inspection it was clear that this was the body of a young woman. When investigators arrived at the scene, they couldn't make out any features on Colleen's face, her face and skull had been utterly destroyed, it was a horrific sight. Colleen had to be identified by her dental records.
The pathologist in charge of Colleen's autopsy had his work cut out for him because basically every inch of Colleen's body had been slashed. The list of injuries was endless, in the end he decided that he couldn't possibly list every single one and just focused on the most horrific injuries like the six deep slashes to the throat, the deep slash to the stomach and the back as well as the pentagram carving on the chest. Her death, as I mentioned earlier, was due to choking on her own blood as well as the horrific head injuries.
Investigators wasted no time interviewing everyone on campus, when it was the turn of Christa and Tadaryl to be interviewed, the police noticed that the pair were wearing pentagram necklaces. When Christa was asked if she knew what had happened to Colleen Slemmer, she sat proudly and confidently declared that she had murdered Colleen, She told them everything including that she had ate her cereal using a part of Colleen's skull. There was not a shred of remorse, she was heartless and saw the whole horrific set of circumstances as a laugh. It was pure evil.
At her trial, Christa was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. Her execution is set to take place on the 30th of September 2026. She is currently 50 years old. In 2001, she had shown that she hadn't changed her colours because she tried to murder a fellow inmate by attempting to strangle her with a shoestring. The victim recovered and Christa had an additional 25 years added on to her sentence.
Tadaryl Shipp managed to escape the death penalty due to him being 17 at the time of the murder. He was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole. In October of last year (2025) he was denied parole but could be up again in a couple of years. Let's hope that he is never released. Christa has expressed her anger on a number of occasions in interviews (still showing no remorse for anything she has done) that Tadaryl and Shadolla escaped the death penalty.
Shadolla Peterson got the easy road. During interviews with the investigators she offered to tell them everything even though they already had all of the details from Christa. She operated fully with the authorities and managed to receive no jail time whatsoever, she just got 6 years probation. There is no evidence that she physically harmed Colleen but she was part of the planning to trick Colleen into joining them and she stood there and did nothing whilst these monsters tortured and murdered this innocent girl. She could have put a stop to it, could have ran away and got help. I find it difficult to understand how she stood there and watched them repeatedly slash, kick and punch Colleen and still chose to do nothing and was able to basically get away with it. That was a miscarriage of justice.
So as it stands at the time of me writing this post, Christa Pike is about to meet her maker, some people would call that Satan! This case is such a mind twister because there's sympathy for Christa's past but that doesn't excuse what she did to Colleen. The way she tortured Colleen over and over and over again, then walked away like it was nothing, Taking a piece of Colleen's skull, bragging about the whole sick ordeal and then having the horrendous audacity to brag about using the piece of Colleen's skull to eat cereal. Days after the murder she continue to brag about it and even in prison, she wrote a letter to Tadaryl telling him she missed him and was angry that she had to spend time in prison because of Colleen's death. She blasted Colleen and spoke about her in a disrespectful manner saying that Colleen was lucky that she killed her the way that she did. There was no remorse from her, she was just completely evil.
Now we have campaigners who are painting her as a child of abuse who didn't know any better, emailing me and wanting petitions signed. The trouble is, that this was not just an act of someone who just lost control in a moment of madness, she planned this, kept it going and continued to brag and be proud of what she had done. How can anyone have sympathy for someone who does that?
So many people survive horrific childhoods and don't go on to commit such horrific crimes like Christa Pike. All she is bothered about is the fact that Tadaryl might get out of prison at some point and Shadolla managed to get away with it. I suppose she has a point because I believe that all three of them should have been given the same sentence. Each of them had a part to play in this and each of them could have put a stop to it.
Do I think Christa deserves the death penalty? You want my honest opinion and I mean this in no disrespect to Colleen or her family. I think that she should have been placed in some sort of psychiatric unit and then moved to a prison to spend life without parole. The first 18 years of her life were beyond horrific, to be constantly raped, abused, shown no love, neglected, beaten etc, that will kill someone's soul. Christa Pike was dead inside and she has brain damage which has been officially diagnosed by a Doctor. So there is other factors to consider here when making a final decision. It's been a long time that she's been on death row and she is 50 years old. I don't think she should ever be released from prison if her sentence is changed at the last minute. Right now the execution is all set to go ahead.
I will be keeping an eye on this case and I'm sure as we get closer to the 30th of September, the campaigns will step up even more and the story will be all over the media. What are your thoughts on this case? Please leave your comments below or email me in confidence at jocaledoniankitty@gmail.com
RIP Colleen, an innocent, beautiful girl who's life was cruelly taken from her in the most horrific way. My thoughts are with her family as I know this must be incredibly difficult for them.
There is an online memorial for Colleen, please leave some virtual flowers and nice comments for her and her family here
Further Reading & Sources:
- Christa Pike: Article | WSMV
- Christa Pike: Article | Knoxville News Sentinel
- Christa Gail Pike vs. State of Tennessee
- Christa Pike | Reddit Discussion
- Colleen Slemmer Murder: Article | T Libraries
- Christa Pike: News Report Segment | WATE 6
I believe in everyone's right to their opinion so I have included the link here to the Mercy For Christa petition. It's up to my readers what their views are on this case.
If you have made it this far in this post I appreciate it. I know that this was another difficult case to get through with a lot of horrifying details. I do hope you have come away from this post with more knowledge of what happened that horrific night back in 1995. There's a lot of people who are against the death penalty and sometimes these same people will protest about a particular criminal, but they won't tell you the full details of what that criminal did to be given the death penalty in the first place. I think it's important to give people the full facts, no holds barred when sharing these cases, it's up to people to make up their own minds based on case evidence on what punishment they feel would better fit the crime. I always find it interesting to hear other people's opinions.
I can understand campaigning about a death penalty case where there is not enough evidence and a lot of doubts. I can understand campaigning about the death penalty if there is a lot of factors involved for example the accused's proven psychological disabilities or severe abuse and childhood trauma. This is why I think that Christa Pike should not be given the death penalty as evil as she is. I'm not a Doctor or Psychologist but I do believe her childhood destroyed any chance of her leading a normal life. I think her approach to every day situations was difficult for her and she didn't know how to behave or respond appropriately. She was impulsive, desperate to be loved and accepted by anyone but carried an enormous amount of trauma and pent up anger. She should have been in Psychiatric care as soon as her school teachers noticed the signs (ie the distant behaviour, the sexually explicit drawings). It wasn't just her parents who failed her, it was the system too. Christa was able to develop more and more into a horrific monster and an innocent young woman paid the price.
I hope you will join me in my nest post. In the meantime, I hope to see you on my socials
Take care of yourselves, stay safe...until next time x
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