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'No evidence' of crime in 57 deaths related to Florida's Sloth World: Sheriff
The animals were captured from their rainforest habitats and taken to an Orlando warehouse that was permitted for vehicle storage
Author of the article:Eddie Chau
Published Aug 26, 2026 • Last updated 18 hours ago • 1 minute read
Sloth in Panama. Photo by Parkol /Getty Images
The deaths of dozens of sloths in Florida was not criminal.
That’s what the Orange County Sheriff’s Office ruled after at least 57 sloths connected to the failed Sloth World attraction that was once planned for Orlando died.
The sheriff’s office said the deaths of the slow-moving mammals were the result of “multiple contributing factors affecting the overall health and survivability of the animals — and not a criminal act,” Central Florida Public Media reported.
Authorities didn’t find any evidence of intentional harm, abuse, criminal neglect or any deliberate act or omission by Sloth World personnel that met standards required by state law.
‘Multiple stressors’
The investigation’s findings noted the deaths were “consistent with a complex health-related event involving multiple stressors associated with the capture, transportation, acclimation, and continued care of a highly specialized species.”
As reported by People, an investigation was opened in May after dozens of wild sloths imported to Orlando from South America for Sloth World died. The animals were captured from their natural rainforest habitats, imported to the United States and taken to an Orlando warehouse that was permitted for vehicle storage and not live animals.
In December 2024, at least 21 sloths died in the warehouse that was “not ready to receive the sloths,” the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission records noted.
The facility had no running water or electricity days before the shipment arrived, and it was “too late to cancel,” according to inspectors.
The deaths of the sloths drew national attention earlier this year. Sloth World never opened, and the 13 surviving sloths were surrendered and transported to Central Florida Zoo and Botanical Gardens in Sanford, Fla., for rehabilitation, per People. Two sloths have since died at the zoo.
After a 60-day import ban, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission have added a new permit requirement for importing sloths.
cfpublic.org
torontosun.com
The animals were captured from their rainforest habitats and taken to an Orlando warehouse that was permitted for vehicle storage
Author of the article:Eddie Chau
Published Aug 26, 2026 • Last updated 18 hours ago • 1 minute read
Sloth in Panama. Photo by Parkol /Getty Images
The deaths of dozens of sloths in Florida was not criminal.
That’s what the Orange County Sheriff’s Office ruled after at least 57 sloths connected to the failed Sloth World attraction that was once planned for Orlando died.
The sheriff’s office said the deaths of the slow-moving mammals were the result of “multiple contributing factors affecting the overall health and survivability of the animals — and not a criminal act,” Central Florida Public Media reported.
Authorities didn’t find any evidence of intentional harm, abuse, criminal neglect or any deliberate act or omission by Sloth World personnel that met standards required by state law.
‘Multiple stressors’
The investigation’s findings noted the deaths were “consistent with a complex health-related event involving multiple stressors associated with the capture, transportation, acclimation, and continued care of a highly specialized species.”
As reported by People, an investigation was opened in May after dozens of wild sloths imported to Orlando from South America for Sloth World died. The animals were captured from their natural rainforest habitats, imported to the United States and taken to an Orlando warehouse that was permitted for vehicle storage and not live animals.
In December 2024, at least 21 sloths died in the warehouse that was “not ready to receive the sloths,” the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission records noted.
The facility had no running water or electricity days before the shipment arrived, and it was “too late to cancel,” according to inspectors.
The deaths of the sloths drew national attention earlier this year. Sloth World never opened, and the 13 surviving sloths were surrendered and transported to Central Florida Zoo and Botanical Gardens in Sanford, Fla., for rehabilitation, per People. Two sloths have since died at the zoo.
After a 60-day import ban, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission have added a new permit requirement for importing sloths.
OCSO finds ‘no evidence’ criminal act caused dozens of sloth deaths
Leading sloth experts say the agency’s finding underscores the need to address glaring flaws with current animal welfare protections.
cfpublic.org
'No evidence' of crime in 57 deaths related to Florida's Sloth World: Sheriff
The sheriff's office said the deaths of the slow-moving mammals were the result of multiple contributing factors. Read on.
Holy flock.
Has there ever been a dumber idea than thinking something called sloth world could actually make money? Yeah like people are going to pay money to go there to watch them sit and do nothing.
What kind of drugs must you have done to think this was a viable option?
Has there ever been a dumber idea than thinking something called sloth world could actually make money? Yeah like people are going to pay money to go there to watch them sit and do nothing.
What kind of drugs must you have done to think this was a viable option?
Sentencing dates set for Ont. teen in brutal murder of 11-year-old girl
The 15-year-old pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in June and is expected to be sentenced in mid-October.
Author of the article:Jane Sims
Published Sep 01, 2026 • Last updated 11 hours ago • 3 minute read
Editor’s note: This story contains details that will be disturbing to some readers.
The sentencing of a teen who admitted to brutally stabbing an 11-year-old girl to death is on track for mid-October.
At a brief video court appearance Tuesday in Goderich, Superior Court Justice Marc Garson pencilled in Oct. 13, 14 and 16 for the 15-year-old youth’s sentencing hearing after he pleaded guilty in June to first-degree murder.
His guilty plea came almost two years after the girl was found dying with 70 stab wounds in a wooded area near Holmesville, a quiet rural Huron County community just west of Clinton.
The July 2, 2024, murder shocked the region and made the teen one of the youngest people in recent memory to face the most serious criminal charge in Canadian law.
The only potential delay is whether the psychiatric assessment ordered by the court after the June guilty plea is completed before the end of the month.
Assistant Crown attorney Deanna Bronowicki advised Garson that victim impact statements, community impact statements and a pre-sentence report are ready and have been disclosed to the defence. She said she was informed the psychiatric report is expected to be completed by Sept. 28.
Some time will be required to prepare for the hearing once that report is filed. It’s anticipated there will be two days of submissions from the Crown and defence.
Garson repeated what he has promised since June – that the youth’s sentencing will take priority over other matters in the jurisdiction. Another brief court appearance is slated for Sept. 29 to ensure the report has been completed and the sentencing can go ahead as scheduled.
Court-ordered publication bans protect the identities of the victim and the teen, who appeared in court by video link from a youth detention facility.
Garson heard a shocking outline of the facts of the case at the youth’s guilty plea.
The teen knew the girl and had harboured a desire to have sexual activity with her. He had also been viewing large quantities of online pornography in the months leading up to the killing and had accessed pornography websites more than 2,000 times.
The youth and the girl were on their way to a playground near the former Holmesville public school when they went into a wooded area. The youth wanted sex and, when the girl tried to resist him, he attacked her with a knife.
During the struggle, the teen removed her pants and pulled down her underwear. He touched her sexually as she was dying or after she had died.
She was discovered by OPP officers only after the youth called 911 and claimed the girl had been abducted by three men in a white truck.
As he spoke to the dispatcher, officers tracked the youth down along a rural road and saw he had blood on his hands and clothing. He deleted messages from his phone while sitting in the police cruiser, and the story he told didn’t add up.
The girl was found with no vital signs about an hour after the youth called police. She was rushed to Clinton Public Hospital and pronounced dead. She had been stabbed multiple times in the head, face, neck, torso and extremities. Both her carotid artery and jugular vein were severed, one lung had collapsed and she had wounds that entered her sinus and cranial cavities.
The teen’s DNA was found throughout the crime scene and on the girl’s body. A search of his bedroom a day later uncovered, among other evidence, 27 photos he had taken on his phone of parts of the girl’s body in the days before the murder.
There are provisions in the Youth Criminal Justice Act that give some indication of the sentence the teen could face.
Because he was only 13 at the time of the killing, he cannot be sentenced as an adult. The maximum youth sentence for first-degree murder is 10 years – six years in custody and four years under community supervision.
His 26 months of pre-sentence custody is also expected to be considered at sentencing.
jsims@postmedia.com
torontosun.com
The 15-year-old pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in June and is expected to be sentenced in mid-October.
Author of the article:Jane Sims
Published Sep 01, 2026 • Last updated 11 hours ago • 3 minute read
Editor’s note: This story contains details that will be disturbing to some readers.
The sentencing of a teen who admitted to brutally stabbing an 11-year-old girl to death is on track for mid-October.
At a brief video court appearance Tuesday in Goderich, Superior Court Justice Marc Garson pencilled in Oct. 13, 14 and 16 for the 15-year-old youth’s sentencing hearing after he pleaded guilty in June to first-degree murder.
His guilty plea came almost two years after the girl was found dying with 70 stab wounds in a wooded area near Holmesville, a quiet rural Huron County community just west of Clinton.
The July 2, 2024, murder shocked the region and made the teen one of the youngest people in recent memory to face the most serious criminal charge in Canadian law.
The only potential delay is whether the psychiatric assessment ordered by the court after the June guilty plea is completed before the end of the month.
Assistant Crown attorney Deanna Bronowicki advised Garson that victim impact statements, community impact statements and a pre-sentence report are ready and have been disclosed to the defence. She said she was informed the psychiatric report is expected to be completed by Sept. 28.
Some time will be required to prepare for the hearing once that report is filed. It’s anticipated there will be two days of submissions from the Crown and defence.
Garson repeated what he has promised since June – that the youth’s sentencing will take priority over other matters in the jurisdiction. Another brief court appearance is slated for Sept. 29 to ensure the report has been completed and the sentencing can go ahead as scheduled.
Court-ordered publication bans protect the identities of the victim and the teen, who appeared in court by video link from a youth detention facility.
Garson heard a shocking outline of the facts of the case at the youth’s guilty plea.
The teen knew the girl and had harboured a desire to have sexual activity with her. He had also been viewing large quantities of online pornography in the months leading up to the killing and had accessed pornography websites more than 2,000 times.
The youth and the girl were on their way to a playground near the former Holmesville public school when they went into a wooded area. The youth wanted sex and, when the girl tried to resist him, he attacked her with a knife.
During the struggle, the teen removed her pants and pulled down her underwear. He touched her sexually as she was dying or after she had died.
She was discovered by OPP officers only after the youth called 911 and claimed the girl had been abducted by three men in a white truck.
As he spoke to the dispatcher, officers tracked the youth down along a rural road and saw he had blood on his hands and clothing. He deleted messages from his phone while sitting in the police cruiser, and the story he told didn’t add up.
The girl was found with no vital signs about an hour after the youth called police. She was rushed to Clinton Public Hospital and pronounced dead. She had been stabbed multiple times in the head, face, neck, torso and extremities. Both her carotid artery and jugular vein were severed, one lung had collapsed and she had wounds that entered her sinus and cranial cavities.
The teen’s DNA was found throughout the crime scene and on the girl’s body. A search of his bedroom a day later uncovered, among other evidence, 27 photos he had taken on his phone of parts of the girl’s body in the days before the murder.
There are provisions in the Youth Criminal Justice Act that give some indication of the sentence the teen could face.
Because he was only 13 at the time of the killing, he cannot be sentenced as an adult. The maximum youth sentence for first-degree murder is 10 years – six years in custody and four years under community supervision.
His 26 months of pre-sentence custody is also expected to be considered at sentencing.
jsims@postmedia.com
Sentencing dates set for teen in brutal murder of 11-year-old girl
The 15-year-old pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in June and is expected to be sentenced in mid-October.
Former Fox employee Jennifer Eckhart dies by suicide
Eckhart sued former Fox News anchor Ed Henry for rape in a 2020 lawsuit which was settled out of court in 2024
Author of the article:Jane Stevenson
Published Sep 22, 2026 • Last updated 22 hours ago • 1 minute read
Jennifer Eckhart
Former Fox News employee Jennifer Eckhart has died by suicide at the age of 36 Photo by Jennifer Eckhart/Facebook
Jennifer Eckhart, a former Fox News associate producer, has died by suicide, according to TMZ.
The 36-year-old died at home in Hobe Sound, Fla., according to a rep for the Martin County Medical Examiner’s Office.
A heavy police presence was seen outside her residence on Saturday morning after she was reportedly found dead in her home by her mother in a bathtub in the master bedroom with a small pocketknife nearby.
TMZ has obtained the incident report from the Martin County Sheriff’s Office, which says Eckhart’s mother contacted authorities after arriving at her daughter’s home Saturday.
Eckhart was previously known as having accused former Fox News anchor Ed Henry of rape in a 2020 lawsuit alleging she was sexually assaulted by him while they both worked at the network and feared he had the power to destroy her career.
Henry maintained the relationship was consensual and denied the allegations.
Anchor fired by Fox News in 2020
After receiving Eckhart’s complaint and doing an internal investigation, Fox News fired Henry in July 2020.
Eckhart eventually settled out of court with Henry in 2024 just before the case was set to go to trial, but had also gone after Fox News in the lawsuit claiming the network didn’t protect her from him or properly discipline him over his alleged conduct.
Her claims were dismissed and a federal appeals court later upheld the decision in April 2025 after it found Fox News was unaware of Henry’s alleged conduct before Eckhart came forward.
While speaking publicly about the allegations, Eckhart said she had been “paralyzed by fear” while working at Fox News.
In more recent years, Eckhart had hosted her own Reinvented podcast.
tmz.com
torontosun.com
Eckhart sued former Fox News anchor Ed Henry for rape in a 2020 lawsuit which was settled out of court in 2024
Author of the article:Jane Stevenson
Published Sep 22, 2026 • Last updated 22 hours ago • 1 minute read
Jennifer Eckhart
Former Fox News employee Jennifer Eckhart has died by suicide at the age of 36 Photo by Jennifer Eckhart/Facebook
Jennifer Eckhart, a former Fox News associate producer, has died by suicide, according to TMZ.
The 36-year-old died at home in Hobe Sound, Fla., according to a rep for the Martin County Medical Examiner’s Office.
A heavy police presence was seen outside her residence on Saturday morning after she was reportedly found dead in her home by her mother in a bathtub in the master bedroom with a small pocketknife nearby.
TMZ has obtained the incident report from the Martin County Sheriff’s Office, which says Eckhart’s mother contacted authorities after arriving at her daughter’s home Saturday.
Eckhart was previously known as having accused former Fox News anchor Ed Henry of rape in a 2020 lawsuit alleging she was sexually assaulted by him while they both worked at the network and feared he had the power to destroy her career.
Henry maintained the relationship was consensual and denied the allegations.
Anchor fired by Fox News in 2020
After receiving Eckhart’s complaint and doing an internal investigation, Fox News fired Henry in July 2020.
Eckhart eventually settled out of court with Henry in 2024 just before the case was set to go to trial, but had also gone after Fox News in the lawsuit claiming the network didn’t protect her from him or properly discipline him over his alleged conduct.
Her claims were dismissed and a federal appeals court later upheld the decision in April 2025 after it found Fox News was unaware of Henry’s alleged conduct before Eckhart came forward.
While speaking publicly about the allegations, Eckhart said she had been “paralyzed by fear” while working at Fox News.
In more recent years, Eckhart had hosted her own Reinvented podcast.
Former Fox News Producer Jennifer Eckhart Death: Cops Say Knife Found Near Body
Cops say Jennifer Eckhart's mother is the one who discovered her dead in her Florida home ... with a small knife nearby.
tmz.com
Former Fox employee Jennifer Eckhart dies by suicide
Jennifer Eckhart, a former Fox News associate producer, has died in her Hobe Sound, Fla., home by suicide at age of 36. Read on.
Ontario youth’s sentencing for girl’s brutal murder delayed to December
A teenager who pleaded guilty to murdering an 11-year-old girl by stabbing her to death will be sentenced in December.
Author of the article:Jane Sims
Published Sep 29, 2026 • Last updated 12 hours ago • 3 minute read
Editor’s note: This story contains details that will be disturbing to some readers.
The sentencing of a teenager who pleaded guilty to murdering an 11-year-old girl by stabbing her to death has been delayed until December.
During a brief video court appearance Tuesday in Goderich, Superior Court Justice Marc Garson was told that the court-ordered psychiatric assessment under the Youth Criminal Justice Act has not been finished for the 15-year-old male youth who pleaded guilty in June to the murder near Holmesville in Central Huron.
The hope had been that the report would be ready by the end of September. Sentencing dates that had been slated for mid-October were ordered vacated by Garson and penciled in were new tentative dates of Dec. 14 to 17.
The case is expected to return for a video appearance on Nov. 20 to make sure the sentencing hearing is on track.
The youth, who appeared in court by a video link from a youth detention centre, pleaded guilty two years after the girl was discovered with 70 stab wounds in a wooded area in the tiny community west of Clinton in Huron County on July 2, 2024.
He is one of the youngest people in the area in recent memory to be charged with the most serious crime set out in Canadian criminal law.
His identity and the identity of the victim are protected by court order.
At the time of the guilty plea, Garson said the youth’s sentencing should take priority over other matters on the Goderich court docket.
He was told in June the shocking facts surrounding the girl’s death. She was known to the youth and he had secretly wanted to have sexual activity with her.
The judge was told that the youth had been viewing large quantities of online porn in the months before the death. He had accessed porn websites more than 2,000 times.
On that summer afternoon, the youth, who was 13 at the time, and the girl were on their way to a playground near the former Holmesville public school when they veered into the wooded area. The girl tried to resist the youth when he wanted sex.
He attacked her with a knife, removed her pants and touched her sexually as she was dying or had died.
He was arrested after he called 911 claiming that three men in a white truck had abducted the girl. He was still on the phone with a dispatcher and walking along a rural road when police caught up to him.
The girl was found about an hour after the youth called 911. She was rushed to Clinton Public Hospital and pronounced dead.
She suffered stab wounds to her head, face, neck, torso and extremities. Her carotid artery and jugular vein were severed; one lung had collapsed, and she had wounds so deep that they entered her sinus and cranial cavities.
The youth’s DNA was collected from the crime scene and the girl’s body. His bedroom was searched by the police and turned up 27 photos of parts of the girl’s body that were recorded in days before the murder.
Because he is so youthful, there are limits to the sentence he will face. He was 13 at the time of the murder so he cannot be sentenced as an adult. The maximum youth sentence for first-degree murder is 10 years – six in secure custody and four under community supervision.
torontosun.com
A teenager who pleaded guilty to murdering an 11-year-old girl by stabbing her to death will be sentenced in December.
Author of the article:Jane Sims
Published Sep 29, 2026 • Last updated 12 hours ago • 3 minute read
Editor’s note: This story contains details that will be disturbing to some readers.
The sentencing of a teenager who pleaded guilty to murdering an 11-year-old girl by stabbing her to death has been delayed until December.
During a brief video court appearance Tuesday in Goderich, Superior Court Justice Marc Garson was told that the court-ordered psychiatric assessment under the Youth Criminal Justice Act has not been finished for the 15-year-old male youth who pleaded guilty in June to the murder near Holmesville in Central Huron.
The hope had been that the report would be ready by the end of September. Sentencing dates that had been slated for mid-October were ordered vacated by Garson and penciled in were new tentative dates of Dec. 14 to 17.
The case is expected to return for a video appearance on Nov. 20 to make sure the sentencing hearing is on track.
The youth, who appeared in court by a video link from a youth detention centre, pleaded guilty two years after the girl was discovered with 70 stab wounds in a wooded area in the tiny community west of Clinton in Huron County on July 2, 2024.
He is one of the youngest people in the area in recent memory to be charged with the most serious crime set out in Canadian criminal law.
His identity and the identity of the victim are protected by court order.
At the time of the guilty plea, Garson said the youth’s sentencing should take priority over other matters on the Goderich court docket.
He was told in June the shocking facts surrounding the girl’s death. She was known to the youth and he had secretly wanted to have sexual activity with her.
The judge was told that the youth had been viewing large quantities of online porn in the months before the death. He had accessed porn websites more than 2,000 times.
On that summer afternoon, the youth, who was 13 at the time, and the girl were on their way to a playground near the former Holmesville public school when they veered into the wooded area. The girl tried to resist the youth when he wanted sex.
He attacked her with a knife, removed her pants and touched her sexually as she was dying or had died.
He was arrested after he called 911 claiming that three men in a white truck had abducted the girl. He was still on the phone with a dispatcher and walking along a rural road when police caught up to him.
The girl was found about an hour after the youth called 911. She was rushed to Clinton Public Hospital and pronounced dead.
She suffered stab wounds to her head, face, neck, torso and extremities. Her carotid artery and jugular vein were severed; one lung had collapsed, and she had wounds so deep that they entered her sinus and cranial cavities.
The youth’s DNA was collected from the crime scene and the girl’s body. His bedroom was searched by the police and turned up 27 photos of parts of the girl’s body that were recorded in days before the murder.
Because he is so youthful, there are limits to the sentence he will face. He was 13 at the time of the murder so he cannot be sentenced as an adult. The maximum youth sentence for first-degree murder is 10 years – six in secure custody and four under community supervision.
Youth’s sentencing for girl’s brutal murder delayed to December
A teenager who pleaded guilty to murdering an 11-year-old girl by stabbing her to death will be sentenced in December.
Christa Pike, Tennessee death row’s lone woman, ‘at peace’ ahead of execution
Pike was 18 when she tortured 19-year-old classmate Colleen Slemmer to death and took a fragment of her skull as a 'souvenir'
Author of the article
enette Wilford
Published Sep 29, 2026 • Last updated 16 hours ago • 3 minute read
TORTURE KILLER: Christa Pike. TDOC
TORTURE KILLER: Christa Pike. TDOC
The first woman to be executed in Tennessee in two centuries says she’s “at peace” after her eleventh-hour bid for clemency was rejected.
The bid came after the state’s Supreme Court denied a request to stay the execution of Christa Pike, who remains scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Wednesday.
“Whether my clemency is granted or not, I am at peace,” the 50-year-old wrote in a letter to NBC News, shared by her spiritual adviser and Buddhist teacher, Rev. Mikey Noechel, before Gov. Bill Lee announced Monday that he was denying her clemency petition.
“I am not afraid to die,” added Pike, who has been on death row for more than three decades. “I’m only nervous about the process.”
Pike’s attorneys said they were “deeply saddened and heartbroken” by the announcement and noted how much their client had changed while incarcerated.
She will be the first woman in more than 200 years to be put to death, NBC reported, citing historical records.
Why is Pike on death row?
Pike was 18 when she and two teenage accomplices — her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, and their friend, Shadolla Peterson — lured 19-year-old classmate Colleen Slemmer to an isolated spot on the University of Tennessee campus in Knoxville and tortured her to death in the Jan. 12, 1995, attack.
They carved a pentagram into Slemmer’s chest, and Pike took a fragment of her perceived romantic rival’s skull as a “souvenir” and showed it to friends.
Shipp, who was a minor at the time, was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole. Peterson pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact, but testified against Pike and Shipp and received probation.
Christa Pike, left, Tadaryl Shipp, and their friend, Shadolla Peterson.
Christa Pike, left, Tadaryl Shipp, and their friend, Shadolla Peterson. Photo by Handout /KNOXVILLE POLICE
Horrific childhood trauma
Pike doesn’t dispute her role in the grisly killing, but her years of sexual and physical abuse, which began before she had entered kindergarten, were not shared with the jury that sentenced her to death — an omission her lawyers believe might have changed the sentence when they deliberated on the death penalty.
Her legal team had asked the Supreme Court to halt the execution, citing the possible “severe mental suffering and superadded psychological terror” from being strapped to a gurney to receive the lethal injection, according to NBC News. Pike was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder later in life.
“I was a mentally ill 18-year-old kid. It took me numerous years to even realize the gravity of what I’d done. Even more to accept how many lives I affected,” Pike said in a statement included in her clemency petition. “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.”
All-female execution team
Pike has also requested an all-female team team to carry out her lethal injection, claiming she could be traumatized by having men involved in her final moments.
Tennessee corrections officials said they would try to fulfill some of the condemned killer’s requests, including using female guards to move her from prison in Nashville to a nearby maximum-security institution where she would be executed, NBC reported.
Are redemption and change possible?
Pike’s spiritual adviser will also be in the execution chamber, according to the outlet.
“She did something terrible. Awful. I hate that it happened and I feel deep compassion for Colleen Slemmer’s family,” Noechel said. “But Christa is proof that redemption and change are possible.”
However, Slemmer’s mother, Mia Martinez, has refused to communicate with her daughter’s killer directly.
“We had her buried in a Catholic cemetery,” Martinez told NBC. “And she had to be dug up every time they mailed me body parts.”
Now, the only way she can get justice is to witness Pike’s execution.
“I will sit there with her picture in my hand,” Martinez said of her daughter, “and as she gets hooked up to a needle to go to sleep, she can look at the picture.”
nbcnews.com
torontosun.com
Pike was 18 when she tortured 19-year-old classmate Colleen Slemmer to death and took a fragment of her skull as a 'souvenir'
Author of the article
enette WilfordPublished Sep 29, 2026 • Last updated 16 hours ago • 3 minute read
TORTURE KILLER: Christa Pike. TDOC
TORTURE KILLER: Christa Pike. TDOC
The first woman to be executed in Tennessee in two centuries says she’s “at peace” after her eleventh-hour bid for clemency was rejected.
The bid came after the state’s Supreme Court denied a request to stay the execution of Christa Pike, who remains scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Wednesday.
“Whether my clemency is granted or not, I am at peace,” the 50-year-old wrote in a letter to NBC News, shared by her spiritual adviser and Buddhist teacher, Rev. Mikey Noechel, before Gov. Bill Lee announced Monday that he was denying her clemency petition.
“I am not afraid to die,” added Pike, who has been on death row for more than three decades. “I’m only nervous about the process.”
Pike’s attorneys said they were “deeply saddened and heartbroken” by the announcement and noted how much their client had changed while incarcerated.
She will be the first woman in more than 200 years to be put to death, NBC reported, citing historical records.
Why is Pike on death row?
Pike was 18 when she and two teenage accomplices — her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, and their friend, Shadolla Peterson — lured 19-year-old classmate Colleen Slemmer to an isolated spot on the University of Tennessee campus in Knoxville and tortured her to death in the Jan. 12, 1995, attack.
They carved a pentagram into Slemmer’s chest, and Pike took a fragment of her perceived romantic rival’s skull as a “souvenir” and showed it to friends.
Shipp, who was a minor at the time, was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole. Peterson pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact, but testified against Pike and Shipp and received probation.
Christa Pike, left, Tadaryl Shipp, and their friend, Shadolla Peterson.
Christa Pike, left, Tadaryl Shipp, and their friend, Shadolla Peterson. Photo by Handout /KNOXVILLE POLICE
Horrific childhood trauma
Pike doesn’t dispute her role in the grisly killing, but her years of sexual and physical abuse, which began before she had entered kindergarten, were not shared with the jury that sentenced her to death — an omission her lawyers believe might have changed the sentence when they deliberated on the death penalty.
Her legal team had asked the Supreme Court to halt the execution, citing the possible “severe mental suffering and superadded psychological terror” from being strapped to a gurney to receive the lethal injection, according to NBC News. Pike was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder later in life.
“I was a mentally ill 18-year-old kid. It took me numerous years to even realize the gravity of what I’d done. Even more to accept how many lives I affected,” Pike said in a statement included in her clemency petition. “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.”
All-female execution team
Pike has also requested an all-female team team to carry out her lethal injection, claiming she could be traumatized by having men involved in her final moments.
Tennessee corrections officials said they would try to fulfill some of the condemned killer’s requests, including using female guards to move her from prison in Nashville to a nearby maximum-security institution where she would be executed, NBC reported.
Are redemption and change possible?
Pike’s spiritual adviser will also be in the execution chamber, according to the outlet.
“She did something terrible. Awful. I hate that it happened and I feel deep compassion for Colleen Slemmer’s family,” Noechel said. “But Christa is proof that redemption and change are possible.”
However, Slemmer’s mother, Mia Martinez, has refused to communicate with her daughter’s killer directly.
“We had her buried in a Catholic cemetery,” Martinez told NBC. “And she had to be dug up every time they mailed me body parts.”
Now, the only way she can get justice is to witness Pike’s execution.
“I will sit there with her picture in my hand,” Martinez said of her daughter, “and as she gets hooked up to a needle to go to sleep, she can look at the picture.”
Ahead of rare execution, lone woman on Tennessee death row says ‘I am at peace’
Christa Pike, 50, was an accomplice in a murder she committed at 18. She would be the first woman executed by the state in more than 200 years.
nbcnews.com
Christa Pike, Tennessee death row’s lone woman, ‘at peace’ ahead of execution
Death row inmate says she is 'not afraid to die' after her final clemency bid was rejected. Read on.