31 years after Colleen Slemmer murder, ex-police chief recalls Christa Pike's failed execution case
KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE: More than three decades after 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer was tortured and killed, former Knoxville Police Chief Phil Keith says the crime scene remains impossible to forget.
His recollections come as convicted killer Christa Pike survived two doses of a lethal-injection during her scheduled execution this week.
Pike, who was 18 when Slemmer was killed in 1995, remained in critical condition following the failed execution. Her attorneys said that she was unconscious, intubated and receiving breathing assistance through a ventilator.
A former Knoxville police chief says he's still haunted by the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer — a killing so brutal that the groundskeeper who found her remains initially thought he'd stumbled on an animal carcass. Christa Pike, who was 18 at the time, lured Slemmer to a park with classmates from a vocational school for troubled youths, then tortured her for nearly an hour. They beat her, slashed her with blades, gagged her when she cried, and crushed her head with a chunk of asphalt. Pike kept a fragment of Slemmer's skull as a trophy and showed it off to classmates before her arrest. Her boyfriend carved pentagrams into the victim's chest and face. Pike was scheduled for execution Wednesday by lethal injection, but after two doses, she remained alive. She was hospitalized in critical condition at an undisclosed location receiving lifesaving care. What she faces next remains unclear. Full story here https://t.co/vcMTlBFf4m
— Fox News US (@FoxUSNews) October 3, 2026
Phil Keith recalls the brutal Colleen Slemmer murder
Keith, who served as Knoxville's police chief from 1988 to 2004, said Thursday that the case had stayed with him throughout his decades in law enforcement.
"I'll remember this case to the day I die," Keith told Fox News Digital.
The former chief said the images from the crime scene remain as clear to him as they were when he first saw them. He described the scene as "satanic" and said he still carries the memory of what investigators encountered.
"[The images] are as vivid today as the day I saw them," Keith said. "All I have to do is shut my eyes, and I can see everything."
Slemmer was a student at the Knoxville Job Corps Center when she was lured to a park by Pike and three classmates. They told her they wanted to go to a music store and pick up marijuana they had left there.
What followed was an attack that lasted nearly an hour, according to Keith. Slemmer was beaten, cut and gagged before her skull was crushed with a piece of broken asphalt.
Pike was later convicted of the murder and sentenced to death. Her boyfriend at the time was also convicted but did not receive the death penalty because he was 17.
Christa Pike survives failed lethal-injection execution
The case was particularly disturbing for investigators because of the extreme violence involved. According to the account provided, Pike kept a fragment of Slemmer's skull and showed it to classmates before her arrest.
At trial, an expert described the attack as having "satanic elements" and referred to what was described as "the phenomenon of collective aggression," in which a group becomes emotionally aroused and engages in extremely violent behavior.
The discovery of Slemmer's remains added another distressing dimension to the investigation.
A University of Tennessee groundskeeper who found the remains testified that he initially believed he had come across an animal carcass.
According to court records, he realized the remains belonged to a person after seeing Slemmer's clothes through the blood. For Keith, the crime scene has never become just another old case file.
Thirty-one years later, he said he wished the Knoxville Police Department had had access to the kind of post-trauma therapy and counseling available to law enforcement officers today.
"We didn't have therapy services or counseling or anything at that time, and I wish we had, because these images will never be erased," Keith said.
Failed execution leaves Christa Pike hospitalized
Pike's execution was scheduled for Wednesday, following a last-minute legal battle. The US 6th Circuit Court of Appeals briefly issued a stay, but the Supreme Court lifted it and cleared the way for the lethal injection.
However, the execution did not go as planned.
Pike remained alive after receiving two doses of the lethal-injection. She was taken to an undisclosed hospital and remained in critical condition while receiving what her attorneys described as lifesaving care.
By Friday, her attorneys, Stephen Ferrell and Luke Ihnen, said Pike was unconscious and on a ventilator.
New statement from Christa Pike's attorneys. She is unconscious, intubated, and on a ventilator. https://t.co/AxuHy0U1b7
— Brian Entin (@BrianEntin) October 2, 2026
"Christa remains critically ill and is receiving medical care for the devastating effects of Wednesday night's events," the attorneys said in a statement.
They said Pike remained hospitalized following the failed execution attempt and was being treated for the effects of the pentobarbital administered during the procedure, including significant injuries to both arms. What happens to Pike next remains unclear.
The failed execution has renewed attention on a case that began with Slemmer's death more than three decades ago. For Keith, however, the latest development has brought back memories that have never truly faded.
