Those requests have reopened old wounds for the victim’s family and reignited debate over how the state should carry out her sentence, even as questions remain about the trauma in Pike’s own past.
The Crime and the Victim
Colleen Slemmer was 19 when she was killed in 1995 in a case that left lasting scars on those who knew her. During the trial, her mother recalls Colleen’s shattered skull being passed around the courtroom as evidence, a memory that has stayed with her for decades.
Colleen’s mother intends to be present for the execution, seated in the front row. She has made clear that she believes Pike does not deserve special treatment or accommodations, particularly given what her daughter endured.
Pike’s Troubled History
Pike’s attorneys have described her as someone shaped by a childhood marked by rape, abuse, and neglect, failed repeatedly by systems meant to protect vulnerable young people. She has since been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.
According to her legal team, Pike never received a thorough mental-health evaluation before she was sentenced to death. Her attorneys argue this gap in the process left critical context about her psychological state unexamined at the time of sentencing.
Her Final Request
As her execution date has approached, Pike has asked to be hanged instead of executed by the state’s standard method. Alternatively, she has requested that if lethal injection proceeds, only female staff handle her during the process.
Her attorneys frame this request not as a demand for spectacle, but as an effort to retain some sense of control over her final moments. For Pike, it appears to reflect a wish to shape how she experiences the end, rather than leave every detail to procedure alone.
The case now sits at the intersection of two difficult truths: a grieving mother seeking accountability after 31 years of waiting, and a condemned woman whose defense points to a history of trauma left largely unaddressed by the courts. Tennessee’s decision carries the weight of both.