There is renewed interest in Christa Pike’s life, including in her biological mother Carissa Hansen, after her failed execution in Tennessee. Pike remains on a ventilator with hospital staff working to save her life and clear the pentobarbital she was administered from her system, her attorneys said, according to The Guardian. She received two doses of the drug in a failed attempt by the state of Tennessee to execute her on Wednesday, September 31.
Pike’s attorneys stated in a court filing that they believed problems with intravenous lines caused the pentobarbital to flow into her body instead of her bloodstream.
“Apparently at no point did any member of the execution team realize that the IV lines were not correctly placed or that the veins had blown and that the pentobarbital was, in whole or in part, entering Ms Pike’s body,” they wrote.
Deep Dive
What is Carissa Hansen's connection to Christa Pike?
What led to the botched execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee?
Why was there renewed interest in Christa Pike's family?
They added that instead of “remedying this failure,” the execution team went on to prepare and administer a backup set of pentobarbital syringes.
Who is Carissa Hansen and where is she now?
Hansen’s past court testimonies and recent clemency statements have re-emerged after Pike’s failed execution. Hansen is originally from Texas, where she currently resides. During Pike’s early childhood, Hansen moved between states like West Virginia and North Carolina, per Clarin.
{{/usCountry}}Hansen’s past court testimonies and recent clemency statements have re-emerged after Pike’s failed execution. Hansen is originally from Texas, where she currently resides. During Pike’s early childhood, Hansen moved between states like West Virginia and North Carolina, per Clarin.
{{/usCountry}}Hansen has lived a private life for nearly three decades. She only re-emerged periodically during post-conviction appeals and clemency petitions.
In the 1996 trial for the murder of Colleen Slemmer, Hansen testified that Pike was unmanageable, had dropped out of high school, stole from family members, and grew marijuana at the age of nine. However, she also admitted under oath that she routinely prioritized her romantic partners over Pike.
As the case moved into federal appeals, Hansen acknowledged that she failed to secure necessary psychiatric care for her daughter following a 1988 suicide attempt. Ahead of the 2026 scheduled execution date, she sent a written statement to Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, in which she expressed deep regret. She admitted that she failed to recognize clear signs of sexual abuse during Pike's early childhood and even lacked the knowledge to help her.
According to public court and property records, Hansen now quietly resides in Texas, Clarin reported. She did not publicly speak out after Pike’s botched execution attempt.
Pike, 50, was sentenced to death in 1996 in connection with the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. Pike was 20 at the time.
Pike and her then boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, murdered Slemmer at a job training camp in Knoxville, Tennessee. Shocking details about the case shocked the United States, including the fact that a pentagram had been carved into Slemmer’s chest.
“It took me numerous years to even realize the gravity of what I’d done,” Pike had said in an earlier petition for clemency. “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.”
The Death Penalty Information Center states that the last execution of a woman in Tennessee was in 1820. This means Pike would have been the first woman to be executed in the state in more than 200 years.