NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Emergency help for Christa Pike was delayed by confusion among first responders and Tennessee prison officials following her failed execution last month, according to 911 dispatch recordings.
The recordings, obtained by The Associated Press through a public records request, show that precious minutes elapsed as officials and responders tried to figure out whether a request for emergency help in the execution chamber was legitimate.
The first 911 call came in at 8:40 p.m. on Sept. 30, just over an hour after the attempted lethal injection got underway. It wasn’t until half an hour later that prison officials affirmed the call was legitimate and began letting responders through the prison gates.
Pike, 50, was hospitalized after surviving two doses of pentobarbital as the state tried to execute her for the 1995 stabbing death of classmate Colleen Slemmer. She was 18 when she and her boyfriend tortured and killed Slemmer, becoming one of the youngest women to be sentenced to death.
Pike was on a ventilator for several days and, at one point, her attorneys did not expect her to survive. She regained consciousness last Tuesday and began talking limitedly and walking with assistance, they said. Pike was discharged from the hospital and returned to the women’s prison where she was housed for 30 years, her lawyers said Saturday.
Confusion began on the initial 911 call, in which a person whose name and title were redacted said they were at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution and had tried to execute someone, but she was still alive. The dispatcher asked for a code to verify that the call was legitimate, but the caller didn’t have one.
“Per supervisors here at the DEC (Department of Emergency Communications) we have been informed it is a false call,” a dispatcher says at 9:03 p.m. “There is no medical assistance needed at Riverbend Prison.”
Four minutes later, a responder reported: “Somebody is outside the gate at the prison telling us that it’s real and demanding us to go in. They say they are some sort of state official. I need somebody to get out to the gate and talk to those people.”
As emergency responders worked to verify the call, they were in touch with representatives of the prison’s Central Control, who said they “would have been the ones to call in and they did not make that call,” according to a recording time-stamped at 9:07 p.m.
A few minutes later, Central Control confirmed the call was legitimate and cleared the way for responders to enter at 9:11 p.m.
The Tennessee Department of Correction has not said what went wrong in the attempted execution. Medical experts have raised a few possibilities that could explain how Pike was able to survive, including potential drug quality issues and the placement of IV lines causing the drug to pool in her tissue.
Johnson reported from Seattle and Schoenbaum from Salt Lake City.
This photo provided by the Tennessee Department of Correction shows Christa Pike on Jan. 12, 2023. (TDOC via AP)
Emergency vehicles 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)
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)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Monday he is “looking at” firing U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle after a series of reports alleging she has engaged in improper and possibly illegal conduct before and during her tenure in Athens.
“Well, we’re looking at it,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “We’re not happy.”
His comments came a day after The Associated Press, citing a senior U.S. official, reported that Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are “extremely pissed off” by Guilfoyle’s reported conduct and will likely decide on her future this week.
In a series of stories dating to late last month, The Wall Street Journal has reported questionable conduct by Guilfoyle, including making an alleged threat to a host country official, accepting improper gifts and services and offering to use her influence inside the administration in return for the payment of a large credit card bill.
Guilfoyle has not addressed the reports directly, but in a statement released late Sunday, her lawyers denied she had done anything wrong and claimed that the money she was seeking from the Trump donor was payment for services — public appearances and speaking engagements that predate her ambassadorial nomination — that had not been paid.
The lawyers, David Schwartz and Jesse Binnall, also rejected allegations of impropriety related to Guilfoyle’s travel on private planes, saying that before every such trip she “sought, obtained and followed State Department guidance and followed the Department’s travel regulations,” they said.
“Ambassador Guilfoyle has served, and will continue to serve, with integrity, honor and distinction. We are evaluating all available legal remedies to collect this debt and any other potential causes of action,” the lawyers said.
After defending Guilfoyle following the first report, Rubio has declined to comment publicly on the growing allegations. On Wednesday, Rubio said: “Our ambassador has been a strong ambassador here.”
But after another report appeared late Wednesday, Rubio on Thursday before leaving Athens berated journalists for asking about the allegations, saying he didn’t know if they were true and that he would not respond if he could not confirm them.
“You guys walk around thinking that because some source told you something and you reported it, it’s the gospel. It’s not the gospel. It’s not the gospel for me. That’s not the way we do things,” Rubio said at the foot of his plane as Guilfoyle, who was there to see him depart, looked on.
A second U.S. official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters, said the State Department’s inspector general is looking into the allegations, which first began surfacing in the Journal late last month and have since multiplied.
The second official could not say if a formal IG probe had begun. Inspectors general often conduct informal inquiries into complaints against staffers and many times those inquiries do not result in a full-on investigation, which can result in disciplinary action up to and including dismissal.
The State Department has declined to comment on a potential IG investigation.
The top two Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs and Senate Foreign Relations committees, Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, as well as the ranking member on the House Committee for Oversight and Government Reform, Robert Garcia, D-Calif., have already called for an investigation into Guilfoyle.
Since late September, the Journal has detailed numerous accounts of questionable conduct by Guilfoyle. Its first report said that she had told guests at a reception that the U.S. could undermine the Greek government if it chose to, promoted the business interests of one particular Greek construction and energy company, and allowed its lobbyist into private diplomatic meetings.
While Rubio was in Athens, the Journal reported — citing text messages — that Guilfoyle had asked a Trump donor and supporter to pay a $100,000 credit card bill just before her confirmation hearing, promising him access to administration officials if he did.
The Journal then reported that Guilfoyle had been enraged about not being invited to a Greek-themed event at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, earlier this year and demanded to attend while boasting about luxury travel to France with energy company executives.
Another report, from the British tabloid The Daily Mail, said that Guilfoyle had alienated staff at the U.S. Embassy in Athens and had pushed the bounds of behavior appropriate for the top representative of the U.S. government to Greece.
Guilfoyle is a former Fox News Channel host and California prosecutor who was once married to California's Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and was engaged to Trump’s son Donald Jr.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, center, and U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle stand at Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport near Athens, Greece, before Rubio boards a plane , Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, Pool)
U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle speak during a dedication ceremony at the chancery of the U.S. Embassy, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, in Athens, Greece. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, Pool)
