Tennessee prepares to execute a woman for a crime she committed at age 18

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee is preparing to put to death Christa Gail Pike for a 1995 murder she committed at age 18 in what would be the state's first execution of a woman in 200 years.

Pike, now 50, is scheduled to be executed Wednesday morning by lethal injection at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. Pike and her boyfriend were convicted of stabbing and beating 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, their classmate at a job training facility in Knoxville.

The case garnered widespread attention at the time in part because a pentagram that was carved on Slemmer's body and other elements of the crime stoked fears of Satan worship during the “satanic panic” of the 1980s and 1990s. As the execution date drew near, it renewed debate over the death penalty for young offenders.

Pike does not deny committing the killing, but her supporters argue the state should consider Pike’s age at the time, mental illness and a history of severe sexual abuse that included being raped from the time she was a toddler. Assistant Federal Defender Stephen Ferrell said Pike’s death sentence is an outlier because other 18-year-olds sentenced to death in Tennessee have had their sentences vacated.

Pike's attorneys have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt the execution. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has denied Pike clemency.

“I was a mentally ill 18-year-old kid. It took me numerous years to even realize the gravity of what I’d done,” Pike said in a statement included in her clemency petition. “Even more to accept how many lives I affected. I took the life of someone’s child, sister, friend. It sickens me now to think I had the ability to commit such a crime.”

Slemmer’s mother wants the lethal injection to go forward, saying she has waited decades to see Pike’s sentence carried out.

“Every time I think about it, I think about Colleen feeling that pain and trying to get up and run,” May Martinez said in a telephone interview.

Martinez said a group helped raise money so she and her husband could travel from Florida to witness the execution.

The 1995 killing rocked the city of Knoxville. Prosecutors said Pike, fearing Slemmer was trying to steal her boyfriend, lured her to a wooded area on Jan. 12, 1995. Pike cut Slemmer with a box cutter and beat her with a large chunk of asphalt. Shipp, Pike’s boyfriend, has admitted that he was the one who carved a pentagram, a star-shaped symbol associated with Satanism, into her body.

Shipp was 17 when the crime happened and received a sentence of life in prison with possibility of parole. Pike was the only one sentenced to death.

Tennessee has not executed a woman since 1820, according to Robin M. Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center.

It's a rarity across the U.S. Since 1976, 18 women have been put to death in the country, representing about 1% of all executions, according to the center.

Most recently, Missouri in 2023 executed Amber McLaughlin for a 2003 killing, in what is believed to be the first execution of a transgender woman in the U.S. In 2021, the federal government executed Lisa Montgomery, marking the first time in nearly seven decades that the U.S. government put a female inmate to death.

Chandler reported from Montgomery, Alabama.

Abraham Bonowitz speaks during a March 4 Mercy protest against the death penalty at the Tennessee State Capitol, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. ahead of the Sept. 30th scheduled execution of Christa Pike. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Alonzo Hughes participates in a March 4 Mercy protest against the death penalty at the Tennessee State Capitol, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. ahead of the Sept. 30th scheduled execution of Christa Pike. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

In this image from video provided by WBIR-TV, Christa Pike cries after being sentenced to death on March 30, 1996 in Knoxville, Tenn. (WBIR-TV via AP)

This photo provided by the Tennessee Department of Correction shows Christa Pike on Jan. 12, 2023. (TDOC via AP)

The case against a former Ohio music pastor who once appeared on “American Idol” went to the jury Tuesday to decide whether he killed his wife while having an affair.

Caleb Flynn, 40, is charged with aggravated murder, assault and tampering with evidence in the February shooting of Ashley Flynn, 37, a schoolteacher and volleyball coach.

Flynn, who pleaded not guilty, said in a frantic 911 call that a burglar killed her. He faces up to life in prison if convicted on the most serious charges.

Flynn appeared on “American Idol” in 2013, telling TV viewers his wife had encouraged him to chase his dreams on the singing competition. He did not advance to the main competition in Hollywood.

Prosecutors told jurors during closing arguments Tuesday that Flynn tried to mislead investigators by staging a break-in at their home in Tipp City, a suburb north of Dayton. Flynn and the couple's two daughters were home when police arrived.

Flynn wanted out of the marriage, prosecutors said, but also didn't want to lose his daughters, his high-paying job at his wife’s family business or his position in the church.

“He wanted to keep his mistress and have his daughters all to himself,” said Matthew Joseph, an assistant Miami County prosecutor.

During the trial, a woman who said she was having an affair with Flynn testified that he said he hated his wife and had thoughts of killing her.

Flynn's attorney told the jury Tuesday that investigators never found a gun or evidence that Flynn fired a gun that day.

“His being unfaithful doesn’t equal murder,” said defense attorney Patrick Mulligan. “The issue here isn't, ‘Was he a good husband?’”

Text messages Flynn sent to his lover complaining about his wife were meant to make her feel good, Mulligan said.

Alleigha Botner testified she met Flynn in 2022 while she was a 20-year-old intern at his church and had an affair with him for more than a year. Botner read some of her text messages with Flynn.

About six months before the killing, Flynn wrote: “I was up until 4 a.m. last night crying, literally trying to think of ways to kill her and not go to jail.”

Associated Press writer Michael R. Sisak contributed.

Caleb Flynn listens to court proceedings inside the Miami County Court of Common Pleas on Monday, Sept. 28, 2026, in Troy, Ohio. (AP Photo, Pool)

Caleb Flynn, left, sits next to Emily Smith, right, one of his attorneys on Monday, Sept. 28, 2026, in the Miami County Court of Common Pleas in Troy, Ohio. (AP Photo, Pool)