United States: Sentenced to Death at 18, Christa Pike Escapes Execution at the Last Minute - Lebledparle

Christa Pike, 50 years old, was scheduled to be executed on September 30, 2026, in Tennessee, making her the first woman to face execution in the state in over 200 years. Convicted in 1996 for the murder of a young woman at age 18, she received a temporary stay from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals less than two hours before her scheduled lethal injection. The governor of Tennessee, Bill Lee, had rejected her clemency request two days earlier. The murder occurred in January 1995 when Pike, her 17-year-old boyfriend, and another person killed Colleen Slemmer, 19, whom Pike saw as a romantic rival.