Christa Gail Pike described a terrifying sensation in her arm as Tennessee officials attempted to execute her by lethal injection on Wednesday, before the procedure was ultimately abandoned.
Her final words before the procedure began
Pike, 50, was scheduled to be put to death for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a crime she committed at 18. She entered the execution chamber and delivered prepared final words, saying: "I'm going to leave this world the way I spent most of my life, and that is with love. I'm at peace, I'm ready to be free. This is a happy day." She then joined Reverend Mikey Noechel in saying: "May you be at peace. May you be kind and gentle to yourself," before the pair sang a song together containing the words "I love you."
What she said it felt like
As the lethal injection procedure got underway, Pike pointed to a spot on her arm and said it felt as though it was about to burst, asking the reverend whether that was normal. He told her to relax, to which she replied: "I'm trying," as her breathing grew more laboured. Tori Gessner, a reporter and anchor at WKRN in Nashville who has witnessed five previous executions in the state, said Pike was heard at 7:34pm saying: "My arm feels like it's about to burst open," before again asking: "Does this happen like that?" Gessner told a later news conference: "Nothing about today was normal, typical, at all."
What happened next
According to court filings from her lawyers, the execution team administered two full doses of pentobarbital, but Pike remained alive. Witnesses reported hearing her snoring behind a closed curtain, with the chamber's microphone eventually cut off at 8:53pm. Her lawyers said she was transported from the prison by ambulance while still alive and snoring loudly, adding in a statement: "We have not been informed as to her condition." Robin M Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, described the incident as "singular and unparalleled," noting no one had previously survived after actually receiving the drugs used in such executions.
Legal background on the day
The execution had already faced uncertainty earlier that day after a federal appeals court issued a stay shortly before it was due to begin, which the US Supreme Court subsequently overturned, allowing the state to proceed. Following the failed attempt, Pike's lawyers filed emergency motions arguing she had endured unnecessary suffering and that the state should provide lifesaving treatment. Governor Bill Lee has since ordered a third-party review into what happened and confirmed no further executions will take place in Tennessee for the remainder of the year.
Background on her case
Pike was convicted alongside her boyfriend over Slemmer's killing at a job training facility in Knoxville, a case that drew national attention after a pentagram was carved into Slemmer's body amid the wider Satanic Panic of the 1980s and 1990s. Her supporters have pointed to her age at the time, documented mental illness, and history of severe sexual abuse, including being raped from the time she was a toddler, as reasons her sentence should have been reconsidered. This marked Tennessee's second failed execution attempt of 2026, following officials calling off Tony Carruthers' lethal injection in May after more than an hour of unsuccessful attempts to establish an IV line.
