Christa Pike’s Botched Execution Leaves Colleen Slemmer’s Family Outraged

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Christa Pike‘s execution was supposed to bring closure to the victim’s family, but the procedure did not go as planned. Pike, who was convicted of murdering 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in 1995, survived a botched execution attempt in Tennessee. Now, Slemmer’s loved ones have expressed outrage over what happened, adding another painful chapter to the case and renewing the family’s anguish decades later.

The Victim’s Parents Traveled To See Christa Pike Executed

Colleen Slemmer’s parents, May Martinez and stepfather Raul Martinez, drove from Florida to the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, Tennessee, to witness the execution of Christa Pike, their daughter’s killer.

As The Blast previously reported, however, the execution did not go as planned, and Pike was still alive after two lethal doses of pentobarbital were administered. She was taken to a hospital to receive medical treatment.

May and Raul recounted what they witnessed, saying that Pike “moved her toes a lot” and “picked her head up” even after the drug was injected. Later, they were told to leave the viewing room when it was clear the execution would not proceed.

Talking to PEOPLE, May said, “If I could have gotten in that room, I would have taken the box cutter and cut her up like she did Colleen.”

Colleen Slemmer’s Stepfather Expressed Anger On Social Media

May and Raul drove back home to Florida without seeing the outcome they had traveled to witness, and their daughter’s killer remains alive.

Raul took his anger out on a Facebook post, first thanking the community for helping fund their travel. “Unfortunately, Colleen’s soul cannot rest until this monster succumbs to the 2 doses of Pentobarbital that she was given. This b-tch will haunt Colleen’s heavenly journey until she’s been wiped off the face of the earth,” he wrote, in part.

In another interview, May said she “broke down in tears” after the botched execution. When she asked officials what would happen next, they told her they did not have answers at the time. “I think the state owes me a big apology,” she said.

• Christa Pike was granted a stay less than two hours before her scheduled execution.
• She wrote a letter saying she was “ready to go” prior to her execution.
• The death row inmate said she felt a “kinship” with Lindsay Clancy.
• An “American Idol” alum was found guilty of murdering his wife.
• Bryan Kohberger was in favor of capital punishment but pleaded guilty in exchange for removing the death penalty in his case.

Colleen Slemmer’s Niece Speaks Out

Colleen’s niece, Morgan Sealy, expressed her disappointment over Pike’s botched execution. Although Sealy never met her aunt, having been born years after her murder, she said Colleen’s memory remains alive within the family. She grew up hearing wonderful stories about Colleen from her mother and grandmother.

“I talked to her this morning, and she was crying,” Sealy said of her grandmother. “She went out there with high hopes of getting justice for my aunt,” she added.

For now, no one in Colleen’s family knows what will happen to Pike. “It’s just a waiting game at the moment to see what the next steps are,” she said.

The Tragic Findings In Colleen Slemmer’s Autopsy

Pike and her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, were convicted of murdering Colleen. However, Shipp was just 17 years old at the time of the murder and was ineligible for the death penalty.

Colleen’s autopsy results showed the brutal way she was murdered. The medical examiner, Dr. Sandra Elkins, noted that the victim had so many wounds that it took days to catalog each one. She had defensive wounds, slashes and stabs, severe bruising, and a pentagram carved into her chest. She testified that the teen’s injuries were inflicted over a period of 30 to 45 minutes before she died.

Her official cause of death was blunt force injuries to the head, resulting in multiple skull fractures.

A few days after Colleen’s murder, investigators discovered a fragment of her skull in Pike’s possession that she allegedly kept as a souvenir. Classmates claim Pike showed them the bone and boasted about killing the teen.

Christa Pike Is Reportedly In Critical Condition

Pike’s lawyer, Randy Spivey, said his client is in “critical condition, receiving life-saving care” following the botched execution. The Tennessee Attorney General’s office said it will investigate to determine what happened.

Pike’s attorneys are now urging Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to commute Pike’s sentence after her “torturous” experience, per CBS News.

Gov. Lee has not responded to the attorneys’ plea, but he temporarily postponed all scheduled executions in the state for the rest of the year pending a third-party investigation into lethal injection procedures.

The Christa Pike’s Botched Execution Leaves Colleen Slemmer’s Family Outraged first appeared on The Blast