NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WOKI / WVLT) – New details have emerged about the night convicted murderer Christa Pike survived Tennessee’s attempted execution of her at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution.
The Metro Nashville Department of Emergency Communications released a written account Monday of a 911 call placed from the prison on the night of Sept. 30, providing additional insight into the events that unfolded after Pike was administered what was intended to be a lethal dose of pentobarbital.
According to emergency communications officials, the first notification of an incident at Riverbend came at approximately 8:40 p.m. Central Time. While the actual audio recording remains exempt from public release under Tennessee law, officials said they prepared a written summary following a review of the call.
The failed execution followed a day of legal battles over Pike’s fate. Earlier that morning, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit temporarily halted her execution, ruling she should be allowed to challenge aspects of her sentence. Later that evening, however, the U.S. Supreme Court voted 6-3 to allow the execution to proceed.
Witnesses reported complications after two doses of pentobarbital were administered. According to accounts from inside the execution chamber, Pike complained that the vein in her arm felt like it was “about to bust.” Observers later described abnormal breathing and signs the drugs were not having their intended effect.
Emergency vehicles were subsequently seen arriving at Riverbend and leaving shortly afterward. Pike was transported to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where attorneys said she remained unconscious and on a ventilator for several days.
Her legal team later revealed doctors initially believed she may have suffered catastrophic brain injury and discussed removing life support. However, Pike unexpectedly regained consciousness and began showing signs of recovery. Her attorneys announced over the weekend that she had been discharged from the hospital and returned to the Deborah K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center, where she has been housed for decades.
Pike, now 49, was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. The killing, often referred to as the “Job Corps Murder,” occurred on the University of Tennessee campus in Knoxville and remains one of the most notorious murder cases in East Tennessee history.
Former Knoxville Police Chief Phil Keith, who investigated the case, has repeatedly described the crime as one of the most brutal he witnessed during his law enforcement career. Pike’s attorneys, meanwhile, have argued that evidence of severe childhood abuse and trauma was not fully presented to jurors during her original trial.
The circumstances surrounding the failed execution remain under scrutiny, with questions continuing about why the lethal injection procedure did not produce the intended result.
