Tennessee governor calls Christa Pike's failed execution 'deeply disturbing' and orders a review

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee officials haven't explained yet what went wrong during the failed execution of Christa Pike, which was called off after she was given an initial and a backup dose of the drug meant to kill her.

Pike's condition was unknown Thursday. At one point during Wednesday night's execution attempt, she asked prison officials if her arm was supposed to feel that way, though it's unclear if it was after the first dose entered her body, as officials don't share that information. Later, more than an hour after the process began and nearly 30 minutes after a backup dose of pentobarbital was administered, she could be heard snoring loudly.

Pike, who was sentenced to death for a gruesome 1995 murder, was taken by ambulance from the prison to a hospital, where she was being treated, her attorneys said. It was the second time this year that Tennessee was unable to complete an execution, though in the other case, officials couldn't find a suitable vein for an IV line so the drugs weren't administered.

May Martinez, whose daughter was murdered by Pike and her boyfriend and who traveled to Nashville to watch the execution, told NBC News that “it was a mess.”

The failure, which one death penalty expert described as unprecedented, led Gov. Bill Lee to order a review and to indefinitely postpone Pike's execution and Tennessee's lone other one that had been scheduled for this year. It also reignited the debate over the state’s execution procedures, including its single-drug lethal injections.

“There are very few answers this morning. It’s very early," Lee told reporters Thursday at an unrelated event, noting he had received no updates on Pike's condition. "The people of our state deserve to have those questions answered."

He called what happened “deeply disturbing” and said it appeared prison staff followed procedure.

Pike, 50, had been scheduled for execution Wednesday morning for the killing she committed at age 18 and would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years. An appeals court stopped the execution an hour before it was to start, but the U.S. Supreme Court overturned that stay hours later.

Officials gave Pike two doses of pentobarbital, her attorneys said in court filings late Wednesday. The drug has been used in executions in multiple states and by the federal government, but there have been concerns raised about the potential for “unnecessary pain and suffering.”

The Tennessee Department of Correction said in a statement that it “followed every step of the State’s lawful, established execution protocol approved by the Attorney General’s Office.”

Tennessee announced in 2024 that it was switching from a three-drug series for lethal injections to the single drug pentobarbital. That came more than two years after the state abruptly halted the execution of Oscar Smith and acknowledged it had failed to ensure its lethal injection drugs had been tested properly.

Robin M. Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said what Pike experienced is “singular and unparalleled” in that she survived long enough to be moved to a hospital.

Seven other people have survived medical problems due to an execution team's failure to access a vein to administer lethal injection drugs, but no one has stayed alive after receiving the drugs used in such executions, she said.

Executions in the U.S. have fallen sharply since the beginning of this century amid growing public opposition and concerns about the costs and the drugs used. But the number of executions nearly doubled last year behind a record increase in Florida.

Pike would have been the 30th person executed in the U.S. this year.

Strapped to a gurney in the execution chamber, Pike described herself as at peace.

When asked if she had any last words, Pike said several things, including, “I’m at peace. I’m ready to be free. ... This is a happy day.”

But she remained awake, and at one point complained about the feeling in her arm. The chamber's curtains were closed, suggesting it had been five minutes since the first dose was administered. But they were reopened three minutes later.

An hour after officials first raised the curtains, witnesses reported that a second dose of pentobarbital was administered. Pike could still be heard snoring behind a closed curtain until the microphone was cut off almost 30 minutes later.

Lawyers for Pike filed an emergency motion with the Tennessee Supreme Court seeking to immediately halt and stay the execution, saying she was in “unnecessary agony” and the procedure violated her right to be executed free of cruel and unusual punishment. They also filed motions with two other courts.

Last May, Tennessee officials called off the lethal injection of Tony Carruthers, who was convicted of kidnapping and killing three people in 1994, after executioners tried for over an hour but failed to find a suitable vein for a backup IV line.

Pike and her boyfriend were convicted of the fatal stabbing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a classmate. The killing stoked fears of Satan worship because of a pentagram carved on Slemmer’s body.

Pike’s boyfriend wasn’t eligible for the death penalty because he was 17 at the time of the killing and received a sentence of life in prison. He was denied parole last year.

Pike didn't dispute that she helped kill Slemmer, but supporters argued that Pike's age at the time of the murder, her mental illness and her allegations of severe sexual abuse should be considered. She was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder after the killing.

“It took me numerous years to even realize the gravity of what I’d done,” she once said.

Associated Press writers Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina, Ed White in Detroit, Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, Hallie Golden in Seattle, Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed.

Media witnesses leave Riverbend Maximum Security Institution after the execution of Christa Pike was halted Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Associated Press reporter Kimberly Chandler recounts the moments before the execution of Christa Pike was halted at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

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

Emergency vehicles arrive at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution after the execution of Christa Pike was halted Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Emergency vehicles arrive at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution after the execution of Christa Pike was halted Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Media witnesses recount the moments before the execution of Christa Pike was halted Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

LONDON (AP) — Police on Thursday arrested a dual U.K.-Iranian national on suspicion of plotting a terror attack following a security incident at a U.S.-run military air base in England that British authorities have linked to Tehran.

The 27-year-old man was arrested in London on Thursday, and police have searched two properties in the U.K. capital, Counter Terrorism Policing said in a statement.

A 26-year-old British national was interviewed by police “under caution,” which means the interview was recorded and can be used in future prosecutions.

On Sunday, five men, all British nationals in their 20s and from London, were arrested on suspicion of explosives and terror offenses close to the RAF Fairford air base, which has been used by American bombers to strike Iran. The suspects have since been released on bail.

Police say they found a quantity of an accelerant – gasoline – in three vans linked to the five suspects, but no explosives.

Vicki Evans, the senior national coordinator for counter terrorism policing, said the investigation “is hugely complex, and our specialist teams are interrogating multiple lines of inquiry.

“As we’ve made clear, we’re looking at all possible angles — including possible foreign state involvement,” she said.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said the U.K. sees “strong indications” that Iran played a part in the incident. Iran denies involvement.

The base 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of London has been used by American bombers during decades of conflicts in the Middle East, including this year’s war with Iran.

Top U.S. officials have criticized the decision to grant five suspects bail, with President Donald Trump saying “I wouldn’t have done that” and Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying a lot of people were “disturbed” by the move.

Burnham said authorities have the investigation under “the strongest grip and the closest control,” and British officials had been “talking to counterparts in the United States all week to explain what is happening here, how things are being done.”

U.K. officials say proxies linked to Iran have been behind a string of arsons and other attacks in Britain and other countries, many of them targeting the Jewish community and intended to sow fear. They have previously warned that Tehran could expand its targets in the U.K. if conflicts in the Middle East continue.

Police officers stand at a checkpoint near RAF Fairford air base, in Fairford, England Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

A B-1 bomber takes off from RAF Fairford in Fairford, England, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)