Christa Pike, the Tennessee woman whose execution failed after officials administered two doses of lethal injection drugs, is now on life support in a hospital.
Pike, 50, remains in critical condition after the botched execution at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville on September 30.
Her lawyers said in an update on October 2 that Pike was unconscious, intubated and connected to a mechanical ventilator as doctors worked to save her life.
According to her legal team, both of Pike’s arms became swollen, burned and blistered after problems occurred with the intravenous lines used during the execution.
Her lawyers said doctors were also working to remove the pentobarbital administered during the execution attempt from her system.
The Tennessee Department of Correction confirmed that Pike was taken to an outside medical facility after the execution was halted. The department said officials followed the state’s execution protocol.
Execution stopped after second dose
Pike was scheduled to die by lethal injection for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer.
During the execution, officials administered two doses of pentobarbital. However, Pike remained alive, prompting officials to stop the procedure and take her to hospital.
Witnesses reported that Pike continued breathing after the drugs were administered.
The circumstances surrounding the failed execution are now being investigated.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee ordered an independent review of the execution and suspended the state’s remaining scheduled execution for 2026.
Pike’s death sentence
Pike was convicted of killing Slemmer, a fellow student at a Tennessee Job Corps programme.
Prosecutors said Pike and two others lured Slemmer into a wooded area in Knoxville in January 1995, where she was beaten and stabbed.
Pike was 18 when she committed the crime.
She was sentenced to death, while her former boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, received a life sentence.
Pike’s lawyers have argued that her history of childhood abuse and other mitigating circumstances should be considered in her case.
She had spent more than three decades on Tennessee’s death row.
Tennessee pauses executions
The failed execution has raised renewed questions about Tennessee’s lethal injection procedures.
Pike’s case followed another problematic execution attempt in Tennessee earlier in 2026. The state called off Tony Von Carruthers’ execution in May after medical personnel were unable to establish the required intravenous access.
Governor Lee subsequently ordered the review of Pike’s execution and paused the state’s remaining executions for the year.
For now, Pike remains hospitalized in critical condition and on a ventilator, while her lawyers continue to challenge the circumstances surrounding the execution attempt.
