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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.
Killer of legal receptionist already discharged into community from CAMH
Osman Osman living in supervised housing just two years after being found not criminally responsible for fatal stabbing; 'I'm scared for the community,' says friend of victim Julia Ferguson
Author of the article:Michele Mandel
Published Sep 30, 2026 • 3 minute read
Homicide victim Julia Ferguson.
Julia Ferguson, 29, died in a Toronto hospital in 2021 after she was stabbed while working as a receptionist at Toronto criminal defence law firm Hicks Adams LLP. Photo by Postmedia Network files
Just two years after being found not criminally responsible for the fatal stabbing of downtown law firm receptionist Julia Ferguson, Osman Osman is already out of a Toronto mental health hospital and living in supervised housing.
And even more disturbing, his discharge into the community came in May, just two months after CAMH reported Osman had “breakthrough” psychotic symptoms and his behaviour became erratic because, they “suspected,” his injectable meds had worn off too soon.
“I feel physically sick,” says Ferguson’s best friend, Lisa Slonetsky, 33. “I’m scared for the community. I think he’s a violent, evil individual when he’s not medicated.”
According to Osman’s latest disposition by the Ontario Review Board, the man diagnosed with schizophrenia remains a significant threat to the public but can continue to live in a community residence with 24-hour supervision.
And we just have to hope he remains medicated.
On Aug. 4, 2021, Osman, 33, contacted the Hicks Adams law firm seeking legal help but he hadn’t been charged with a crime. On Aug. 30, he began sending threatening and harassing messages to the firm’s receptionist, a beautiful, funny 29-year-old from London, Ont.
He called her a “b—h” and told Ferguson to stop contacting him.
Over the following days, he sent many threatening messages to others in the firm and left a chilling one for Ferguson: “Don’t make me come down there or look out. If I come down there, I’m going to stab you and cut you open.”
Julia Ferguson
Julia Ferguson, 29, was stabbed Sept. 2, 2021 while working at law firm Hicks Adams LLP on King St. E. in Toronto. She died Sept. 5. Photo by Handout /Toronto Police
Stabbed Ferguson in chest
At 1:47 p.m. on Sept. 2, 2021, an agitated Osman arrived at the firm. When Ferguson asked him to leave, he took a knife from his backpack and repeatedly stabbed her in the chest, one blow piercing her heart.
“I got a phone call saying Jules was stabbed and it’s not looking good,” her best friend recalled.
Slonetsky rushed to the hospital where she got to hold her hand and say goodbye to a “one in a million person.”
Her killer had been a disaster waiting to happen.
According to the ORB decision, the Somali-born Osman was hospitalized for psychiatric care, or visited emergency departments, at least eight times before killing Ferguson. In 2017, he was hospitalized at CAMH for three weeks after slapping his mother and calling police. He was prescribed a long-acting injectable antipsychotic medication but after two months, Osman successfully challenged his incapacity to make treatment decisions, and by December 2017, stopped taking medication.
In 2019, Osman was charged with assaulting duty counsel at College Park courts but the charge was withdrawn after he entered into mental health diversion.
He was hospitalized at CAMH again from July 31 to Aug. 21, 2019 as a condition of his bail after being arrested for a random assault on a woman. Following his discharge, Osman took the injectable antipsychotic medication for six months and then stopped again — with fatal results.
Found NCR of first-degree murder
In May 2024, Osman was found not criminally responsible of first-degree murder after court heard he’d been unmedicated for 18 months and was experiencing a psychotic episode.
In his most recent annual disposition — where Ferguson’s name is not even mentioned — his psychiatrist reported Osman is progressing well, looking for a job and still on a waitlist for individual therapy.
But given his decompensation in March, the doctor warned of the “fragility of his mental condition.” In an email, Osman had accused police of an overzealous persecution and referred to hyperbolic and false hearsay evidence at his preliminary hearing. He also dismissed his schizophrenia diagnosis as conjecture, and accused CAMH of gaslighting him.
In its decision, the ORB found Osman’s psychotic symptoms were likely due to the lengthy interval between his injections and he’d recently requested his medication be changed from every 11 weeks to monthly. “If this change is made, the Hospital would have to closely watch for any signs of a decline in his mental stability, and have the ability to readmit Mr. Osman to the Hospital rapidly.”
That doesn’t give her friend any comfort.
“It’s just too soon,” Slonetsky says of Osman’s discharge into the community. “It’s disappointing but I’m not shocked. Every step of this whole process has been a letdown. The system’s broken.
“They didn’t even mention her name. She’s been completely forgotten and she deserved so, so much more.”
mmandel@postmedia.com
torontosun.com
Osman Osman living in supervised housing just two years after being found not criminally responsible for fatal stabbing; 'I'm scared for the community,' says friend of victim Julia Ferguson
Author of the article:Michele Mandel
Published Sep 30, 2026 • 3 minute read
Homicide victim Julia Ferguson.
Julia Ferguson, 29, died in a Toronto hospital in 2021 after she was stabbed while working as a receptionist at Toronto criminal defence law firm Hicks Adams LLP. Photo by Postmedia Network files
Just two years after being found not criminally responsible for the fatal stabbing of downtown law firm receptionist Julia Ferguson, Osman Osman is already out of a Toronto mental health hospital and living in supervised housing.
And even more disturbing, his discharge into the community came in May, just two months after CAMH reported Osman had “breakthrough” psychotic symptoms and his behaviour became erratic because, they “suspected,” his injectable meds had worn off too soon.
“I feel physically sick,” says Ferguson’s best friend, Lisa Slonetsky, 33. “I’m scared for the community. I think he’s a violent, evil individual when he’s not medicated.”
According to Osman’s latest disposition by the Ontario Review Board, the man diagnosed with schizophrenia remains a significant threat to the public but can continue to live in a community residence with 24-hour supervision.
And we just have to hope he remains medicated.
On Aug. 4, 2021, Osman, 33, contacted the Hicks Adams law firm seeking legal help but he hadn’t been charged with a crime. On Aug. 30, he began sending threatening and harassing messages to the firm’s receptionist, a beautiful, funny 29-year-old from London, Ont.
He called her a “b—h” and told Ferguson to stop contacting him.
Over the following days, he sent many threatening messages to others in the firm and left a chilling one for Ferguson: “Don’t make me come down there or look out. If I come down there, I’m going to stab you and cut you open.”
Julia Ferguson
Julia Ferguson, 29, was stabbed Sept. 2, 2021 while working at law firm Hicks Adams LLP on King St. E. in Toronto. She died Sept. 5. Photo by Handout /Toronto Police
Stabbed Ferguson in chest
At 1:47 p.m. on Sept. 2, 2021, an agitated Osman arrived at the firm. When Ferguson asked him to leave, he took a knife from his backpack and repeatedly stabbed her in the chest, one blow piercing her heart.
“I got a phone call saying Jules was stabbed and it’s not looking good,” her best friend recalled.
Slonetsky rushed to the hospital where she got to hold her hand and say goodbye to a “one in a million person.”
Her killer had been a disaster waiting to happen.
According to the ORB decision, the Somali-born Osman was hospitalized for psychiatric care, or visited emergency departments, at least eight times before killing Ferguson. In 2017, he was hospitalized at CAMH for three weeks after slapping his mother and calling police. He was prescribed a long-acting injectable antipsychotic medication but after two months, Osman successfully challenged his incapacity to make treatment decisions, and by December 2017, stopped taking medication.
In 2019, Osman was charged with assaulting duty counsel at College Park courts but the charge was withdrawn after he entered into mental health diversion.
He was hospitalized at CAMH again from July 31 to Aug. 21, 2019 as a condition of his bail after being arrested for a random assault on a woman. Following his discharge, Osman took the injectable antipsychotic medication for six months and then stopped again — with fatal results.
Found NCR of first-degree murder
In May 2024, Osman was found not criminally responsible of first-degree murder after court heard he’d been unmedicated for 18 months and was experiencing a psychotic episode.
In his most recent annual disposition — where Ferguson’s name is not even mentioned — his psychiatrist reported Osman is progressing well, looking for a job and still on a waitlist for individual therapy.
But given his decompensation in March, the doctor warned of the “fragility of his mental condition.” In an email, Osman had accused police of an overzealous persecution and referred to hyperbolic and false hearsay evidence at his preliminary hearing. He also dismissed his schizophrenia diagnosis as conjecture, and accused CAMH of gaslighting him.
In its decision, the ORB found Osman’s psychotic symptoms were likely due to the lengthy interval between his injections and he’d recently requested his medication be changed from every 11 weeks to monthly. “If this change is made, the Hospital would have to closely watch for any signs of a decline in his mental stability, and have the ability to readmit Mr. Osman to the Hospital rapidly.”
That doesn’t give her friend any comfort.
“It’s just too soon,” Slonetsky says of Osman’s discharge into the community. “It’s disappointing but I’m not shocked. Every step of this whole process has been a letdown. The system’s broken.
“They didn’t even mention her name. She’s been completely forgotten and she deserved so, so much more.”
mmandel@postmedia.com
MANDEL: Killer of legal receptionist already discharged into community from CAMH
Osman Osman was found not criminally responsible in 2024 of stabbing Julia Ferguson to death. Now, he's out of CAMH. Find out more.
grrrrmmandel@postmedia.com
View attachment 35834View attachment 35835
MANDEL: Killer of legal receptionist already discharged into community from CAMH
Osman Osman was found not criminally responsible in 2024 of stabbing Julia Ferguson to death. Now, he's out of CAMH. Find out more.
Sure, turn the asshole loose so someone can divulge his location and someone else can take care of business.
#yearofthelonewolf
I can’t tell you how many times the same ticking time bomb has been released into our Neighbourhood over and over….Killer of legal receptionist already discharged into community from CAMH
Osman Osman living in supervised housing just two years after being found not criminally responsible for fatal stabbing; 'I'm scared for the community,' says friend of victim Julia Ferguson
Author of the article:Michele Mandel
Published Sep 30, 2026 • 3 minute read
Homicide victim Julia Ferguson.
Julia Ferguson, 29, died in a Toronto hospital in 2021 after she was stabbed while working as a receptionist at Toronto criminal defence law firm Hicks Adams LLP. Photo by Postmedia Network files
Just two years after being found not criminally responsible for the fatal stabbing of downtown law firm receptionist Julia Ferguson, Osman Osman is already out of a Toronto mental health hospital and living in supervised housing.
And even more disturbing, his discharge into the community came in May, just two months after CAMH reported Osman had “breakthrough” psychotic symptoms and his behaviour became erratic because, they “suspected,” his injectable meds had worn off too soon.
“I feel physically sick,” says Ferguson’s best friend, Lisa Slonetsky, 33. “I’m scared for the community. I think he’s a violent, evil individual when he’s not medicated.”
According to Osman’s latest disposition by the Ontario Review Board, the man diagnosed with schizophrenia remains a significant threat to the public but can continue to live in a community residence with 24-hour supervision.
And we just have to hope he remains medicated.
On Aug. 4, 2021, Osman, 33, contacted the Hicks Adams law firm seeking legal help but he hadn’t been charged with a crime. On Aug. 30, he began sending threatening and harassing messages to the firm’s receptionist, a beautiful, funny 29-year-old from London, Ont.
He called her a “b—h” and told Ferguson to stop contacting him.
Over the following days, he sent many threatening messages to others in the firm and left a chilling one for Ferguson: “Don’t make me come down there or look out. If I come down there, I’m going to stab you and cut you open.”
Julia Ferguson
Julia Ferguson, 29, was stabbed Sept. 2, 2021 while working at law firm Hicks Adams LLP on King St. E. in Toronto. She died Sept. 5. Photo by Handout /Toronto Police
Stabbed Ferguson in chest
At 1:47 p.m. on Sept. 2, 2021, an agitated Osman arrived at the firm. When Ferguson asked him to leave, he took a knife from his backpack and repeatedly stabbed her in the chest, one blow piercing her heart.
“I got a phone call saying Jules was stabbed and it’s not looking good,” her best friend recalled.
Slonetsky rushed to the hospital where she got to hold her hand and say goodbye to a “one in a million person.”
Her killer had been a disaster waiting to happen.
According to the ORB decision, the Somali-born Osman was hospitalized for psychiatric care, or visited emergency departments, at least eight times before killing Ferguson. In 2017, he was hospitalized at CAMH for three weeks after slapping his mother and calling police. He was prescribed a long-acting injectable antipsychotic medication but after two months, Osman successfully challenged his incapacity to make treatment decisions, and by December 2017, stopped taking medication.
In 2019, Osman was charged with assaulting duty counsel at College Park courts but the charge was withdrawn after he entered into mental health diversion.
He was hospitalized at CAMH again from July 31 to Aug. 21, 2019 as a condition of his bail after being arrested for a random assault on a woman. Following his discharge, Osman took the injectable antipsychotic medication for six months and then stopped again — with fatal results.
Found NCR of first-degree murder
In May 2024, Osman was found not criminally responsible of first-degree murder after court heard he’d been unmedicated for 18 months and was experiencing a psychotic episode.
In his most recent annual disposition — where Ferguson’s name is not even mentioned — his psychiatrist reported Osman is progressing well, looking for a job and still on a waitlist for individual therapy.
But given his decompensation in March, the doctor warned of the “fragility of his mental condition.” In an email, Osman had accused police of an overzealous persecution and referred to hyperbolic and false hearsay evidence at his preliminary hearing. He also dismissed his schizophrenia diagnosis as conjecture, and accused CAMH of gaslighting him.
In its decision, the ORB found Osman’s psychotic symptoms were likely due to the lengthy interval between his injections and he’d recently requested his medication be changed from every 11 weeks to monthly. “If this change is made, the Hospital would have to closely watch for any signs of a decline in his mental stability, and have the ability to readmit Mr. Osman to the Hospital rapidly.”
That doesn’t give her friend any comfort.
“It’s just too soon,” Slonetsky says of Osman’s discharge into the community. “It’s disappointing but I’m not shocked. Every step of this whole process has been a letdown. The system’s broken.
“They didn’t even mention her name. She’s been completely forgotten and she deserved so, so much more.”
mmandel@postmedia.com
View attachment 35834View attachment 35835
MANDEL: Killer of legal receptionist already discharged into community from CAMH
Osman Osman was found not criminally responsible in 2024 of stabbing Julia Ferguson to death. Now, he's out of CAMH. Find out more.
I didn’t even have to put his name in, just my neighbourhood, and the AI found him…
Public Safety Alert: Male Subject, High Risk to Reoffend
Under the authority of, and pursuant to, the Saskatchewan Public Disclosure Act, the Regina Police Service is issuing a public advisory on a male, who is considered to be a high risk to reoffend sexually. As of today, 49 year-old Jason Paul THORN will reside in the Heritage neighbourhood of...
www.reginapolice.ca
Christa Pike remains alive, was ‘snoring’ after two botched lethal injections
State corrections officials put out a statement late Wednesday, insisting they followed Tennessee’s 'execution protocol' but acknowledged it did not immediately kill Pike
Author of the articleenette Wilford
Published Oct 01, 2026 • Last updated 13 hours ago • 3 minute read
This handout picture dated January 12, 2023 provided by the Tennessee Department of Correction shows convicted US murderer Christa Pike. The US state of Tennessee is set on September 30, 2026, to execute a woman for the first time in 200 years, three decades after she murdered a classmate. Christa Pike, now 50, was 18 when she and her boyfriend beat and killed Colleen Slemmer, 19, at a job training camp for young people.
This handout picture dated January 12, 2023 provided by the Tennessee Department of Correction shows convicted US murderer Christa Pike. The US state of Tennessee is set on September 30, 2026, to execute a woman for the first time in 200 years, three decades after she murdered a classmate. Photo by HANDOUT /Tennessee Department of Correcti
The governor of Tennessee has ordered an investigation after an attempt to execute Christa Pike went horribly awry.
The 50-year-old required immediate medical attention after the lethal injection, given at about 8:48 p.m. CT, failed.
‘Veiled in secrecy’
Pike’s lawyers, Kelly Gleason and Randy Spivey, filed an emergency motion to halt and stay the execution after she was administered two syringes of pentobarbital but remained alive, WVLT reported.
“Ms. Pike has not lost consciousness and still has a heartbeat and is audibly snoring,” they wrote in the motion.
“Tonight the State of Tennessee once again failed to carry out a lawful execution,” her lawyers said in a statement, issued about two hours after the botched injection.
“We take no pleasure in being right, but the concerns raised by Ms. Pike proved to be true: difficult vein access, blown veins, degraded pentobarbital, no emergency medical care available when things inevitably go wrong, all under a protocol that remains veiled in secrecy.”
They noted that their client was “being treated at a nearby hospital,” and her condition was unknown, their statement continued.
‘Followed every step’
As of early Thursday, Pike’s location and condition were unclear. What was clear is that the execution did not go as planned.
State corrections officials put out a statement late Wednesday, insisting they followed Tennessee’s “execution protocol” but acknowledged it did not immediately kill Pike.
“The Tennessee Department of Correction followed every step of the state’s lawful, established execution protocol approved by the Attorney General’s Office,” the statement read, per USA Today.
“The lethal injection chemical in the protocol has consistently been effective, and the protocol does not allow for additional procedures beyond what was carried out this evening. Christa Pike has been transported to an off-site medical facility.”
‘We have a lot of questions’
Witnesses, including media, were escorted out of the prison soon after the attempted execution, per The Tennessean.
A WBIR reporter said he heard Pike’s breathing become laboured, while WKRN’s Tori Gessner said she heard Pike say “My arm feels like it’s about to burst open.”
Gessner, who has witnessed several executions, added, “Nothing about today was normal, typical, at all.”
“We have a lot of questions,” the WBIR reporter said during a news conference. “And the (Tennessee Department of Correction) has a lot of answers it needs to provide the public.”
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit halted Pike’s execution in a 2-1 decision about an hour before it was scheduled to begin on Wednesday.
The court said it needed time to determine whether Pike’s latest filing, in which she asked the court to consider her history of childhood sexual and physical abuse, should return to federal district court or be treated as a second habeas petition subject to strict legal limits, according to The Tennessean.
Tennessee immediately asked the U.S. Supreme Court to vacate the stay, and the justices decided 6-3 that the execution could go as planned.
Christa Pike, left, Tadaryl Shipp, and their friend, Shadolla Peterson.
Christa Pike, left, Tadaryl Shipp, and Shadolla Peterson. Photo by Handout /KNOXVILLE POLICE
Sentenced nearly 32 years ago
Pike was sentenced to death for the January 1995 murder of 19-year-old classmate Colleen Slemmer.
Pike, then 18, her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, and their friend, Shadolla Peterson lured Slemmer to a wooded area on the University of Tennessee campus in Knoxville and tortured her to death.
She would have been the first woman put to death by Tennessee in more than 200 years.
Governor launches probe
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said shortly before midnight that he ordered an investigation into what went wrong and has postponed the state’s other execution scheduled for this year.
Convicted killer Gary Wayne Sutton’s execution was set for Dec. 3.
“Carrying out a lawfully imposed sentence is among the State’s most serious responsibilities, and the people of Tennessee expect it to be done in a manner that is not only legal and constitutional, but is effective,” Lee said, per USA Today.
“I have ordered a comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred.”
wvlt.tv
torontosun.com
State corrections officials put out a statement late Wednesday, insisting they followed Tennessee’s 'execution protocol' but acknowledged it did not immediately kill Pike
Author of the article
enette WilfordPublished Oct 01, 2026 • Last updated 13 hours ago • 3 minute read
This handout picture dated January 12, 2023 provided by the Tennessee Department of Correction shows convicted US murderer Christa Pike. The US state of Tennessee is set on September 30, 2026, to execute a woman for the first time in 200 years, three decades after she murdered a classmate. Christa Pike, now 50, was 18 when she and her boyfriend beat and killed Colleen Slemmer, 19, at a job training camp for young people.
This handout picture dated January 12, 2023 provided by the Tennessee Department of Correction shows convicted US murderer Christa Pike. The US state of Tennessee is set on September 30, 2026, to execute a woman for the first time in 200 years, three decades after she murdered a classmate. Photo by HANDOUT /Tennessee Department of Correcti
The governor of Tennessee has ordered an investigation after an attempt to execute Christa Pike went horribly awry.
The 50-year-old required immediate medical attention after the lethal injection, given at about 8:48 p.m. CT, failed.
‘Veiled in secrecy’
Pike’s lawyers, Kelly Gleason and Randy Spivey, filed an emergency motion to halt and stay the execution after she was administered two syringes of pentobarbital but remained alive, WVLT reported.
“Ms. Pike has not lost consciousness and still has a heartbeat and is audibly snoring,” they wrote in the motion.
“Tonight the State of Tennessee once again failed to carry out a lawful execution,” her lawyers said in a statement, issued about two hours after the botched injection.
“We take no pleasure in being right, but the concerns raised by Ms. Pike proved to be true: difficult vein access, blown veins, degraded pentobarbital, no emergency medical care available when things inevitably go wrong, all under a protocol that remains veiled in secrecy.”
They noted that their client was “being treated at a nearby hospital,” and her condition was unknown, their statement continued.
‘Followed every step’
As of early Thursday, Pike’s location and condition were unclear. What was clear is that the execution did not go as planned.
State corrections officials put out a statement late Wednesday, insisting they followed Tennessee’s “execution protocol” but acknowledged it did not immediately kill Pike.
“The Tennessee Department of Correction followed every step of the state’s lawful, established execution protocol approved by the Attorney General’s Office,” the statement read, per USA Today.
“The lethal injection chemical in the protocol has consistently been effective, and the protocol does not allow for additional procedures beyond what was carried out this evening. Christa Pike has been transported to an off-site medical facility.”
‘We have a lot of questions’
Witnesses, including media, were escorted out of the prison soon after the attempted execution, per The Tennessean.
A WBIR reporter said he heard Pike’s breathing become laboured, while WKRN’s Tori Gessner said she heard Pike say “My arm feels like it’s about to burst open.”
Gessner, who has witnessed several executions, added, “Nothing about today was normal, typical, at all.”
“We have a lot of questions,” the WBIR reporter said during a news conference. “And the (Tennessee Department of Correction) has a lot of answers it needs to provide the public.”
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit halted Pike’s execution in a 2-1 decision about an hour before it was scheduled to begin on Wednesday.
The court said it needed time to determine whether Pike’s latest filing, in which she asked the court to consider her history of childhood sexual and physical abuse, should return to federal district court or be treated as a second habeas petition subject to strict legal limits, according to The Tennessean.
Tennessee immediately asked the U.S. Supreme Court to vacate the stay, and the justices decided 6-3 that the execution could go as planned.
Christa Pike, left, Tadaryl Shipp, and their friend, Shadolla Peterson.
Christa Pike, left, Tadaryl Shipp, and Shadolla Peterson. Photo by Handout /KNOXVILLE POLICE
Sentenced nearly 32 years ago
Pike was sentenced to death for the January 1995 murder of 19-year-old classmate Colleen Slemmer.
Pike, then 18, her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, and their friend, Shadolla Peterson lured Slemmer to a wooded area on the University of Tennessee campus in Knoxville and tortured her to death.
She would have been the first woman put to death by Tennessee in more than 200 years.
Governor launches probe
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said shortly before midnight that he ordered an investigation into what went wrong and has postponed the state’s other execution scheduled for this year.
Convicted killer Gary Wayne Sutton’s execution was set for Dec. 3.
“Carrying out a lawfully imposed sentence is among the State’s most serious responsibilities, and the people of Tennessee expect it to be done in a manner that is not only legal and constitutional, but is effective,” Lee said, per USA Today.
“I have ordered a comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred.”
Attorneys for Christa Pike file emergency motion to halt execution after she was ‘still alive and snoring’ after receiving lethal injection
Attorneys for Christa Pike have filed an emergency motion to halt her execution after they say she is “still alive and snoring” after receiving her lethal injection on Wednesday.
Christa Pike remains alive, was ‘snoring’ after two botched lethal injections
The governor of Tennessee has ordered an investigation after an attempt to execute Christa Pike went horribly awry. Read on.
Botched Christa Pike execution attempts will likely spare her
Author of the article:Brad Hunter
Published Oct 01, 2026 • Last updated 16 hours ago • 3 minute read
18 AND DEATH ROW BOUND: Christa Pike. FAMILY
18 AND DEATH ROW BOUND: Christa Pike. FAMILY
My friend and colleague Brian Lilley once said, over a beer, that he was against the death penalty.
When I asked why, Lilley noted that the government screws up everything. Why should we believe they wouldn’t botch an execution?
EXHIBIT A: Christa Pike.
Wednesday had been pencilled in as the finale in the 50-year-old convicted killer’s heartbreaking odyssey through life.
Sentenced to death at 18
At 18, Pike had been sentenced to death for the stomach-churning torture murder of love rival Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville, Tenn.
But an hour before Pike was slated to board the express train to Nowheresville, she was given a temporary reprieve. The U.S. Supreme Court then torpedoed that particular break.
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
Now, her determined executioners were against the clock because the death warrant expired at midnight. The death machine would not be denied and the result was two botched attempts to extinguish Pike and now a moratorium on the death penalty in Tennessee.
Pegged as a Satanic killer because of a pentagram carved into her victim’s chest, along with her age, Pike got boffo ink out of the starting gate. But it’s never been enough to save her. Those horrors on a summer day in the south have been followed by 31 dreary years on death row.
Florida iced Curtis Beasley the night before
The day before Pike’s scheduled last waltz, 800 km east at the Florida state death house in Starke, the executioner got it right. Curtis Wilkie Beasley, 77, was made defunct courtesy of a toxic cocktail.
He was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m., the 16th execution this year in the league-leading Sunshine State. Beasley died for the bungled robbery murder in 1995 of Carolyn Monfort at her Orlando-area home.
EXECUTED IN FLORIDA: Curtis Beasley. (FDOC)
EXECUTED IN FLORIDA: Curtis Beasley. (FDOC)
And that was that. No witnesses. Few headlines. These were reserved for Christa Gail Pike. That is the narrative demanded in this Lindsay Clancy-infused year of 2026.
As the clock ticked down, Pike’s lawyers argued on Wednesday that not enough consideration had been given to their client’s horrific childhood. Like most who find themselves strapped to the gurney, she grew up poor with the side dishes of physical, emotional and sexual abuse.
Death row is filled with folks like Christa Pike
America’s death rows are packed to the rafters with people like Christa Pike and her tale resonated with pretty much everyone except the U.S. Supreme Court.
On Thursday, Pike’s lawyers reported that she was still breathing after being hammered with two doses of lethal pentobarbital. The doomed woman would not die.
Colleen Slemmer
Murder victim Colleen Slemmer, who was lured to her death in 1995. Photo by Handout /KNOXVILLE POLICE
And the death penalty has taken yet another black eye. The whole lethal injection has been sold to the public as being akin to a faithful dog getting his forever sleep. It is not.
On Thursday, Tennessee officials would only say that Pike is in a Nashville hospital. They did not reveal the convicted killer’s condition, but some reports suggest she has suffered brain damage because of the death house blunder.
Her lawyers said in a statement: “Tonight the State of Tennessee once again failed to carry out a lawful execution. We take no pleasure in being right, but the concerns raised by Ms. Pike proved to be true: difficult vein access, blown veins, degraded pentobarbital, no emergency medical care available when things inevitably go wrong, all under a protocol that remains veiled in secrecy.”
Years ago I interviewed Pike on death row. At the time I asked one of her guards whether he ever expected to see her executed.
“Nope,” the Buffalo, N.Y., native told me. “Tennessee hasn’t executed a woman since 1819. Tennessee doesn’t execute women.”
Late Wednesday, the state tried it on. And failed.
bhunter@postmedia.com
@HunterTOSun
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Brad Hunter
Published Oct 01, 2026 • Last updated 16 hours ago • 3 minute read
18 AND DEATH ROW BOUND: Christa Pike. FAMILY
18 AND DEATH ROW BOUND: Christa Pike. FAMILY
My friend and colleague Brian Lilley once said, over a beer, that he was against the death penalty.
When I asked why, Lilley noted that the government screws up everything. Why should we believe they wouldn’t botch an execution?
EXHIBIT A: Christa Pike.
Wednesday had been pencilled in as the finale in the 50-year-old convicted killer’s heartbreaking odyssey through life.
Sentenced to death at 18
At 18, Pike had been sentenced to death for the stomach-churning torture murder of love rival Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville, Tenn.
But an hour before Pike was slated to board the express train to Nowheresville, she was given a temporary reprieve. The U.S. Supreme Court then torpedoed that particular break.
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
Now, her determined executioners were against the clock because the death warrant expired at midnight. The death machine would not be denied and the result was two botched attempts to extinguish Pike and now a moratorium on the death penalty in Tennessee.
Pegged as a Satanic killer because of a pentagram carved into her victim’s chest, along with her age, Pike got boffo ink out of the starting gate. But it’s never been enough to save her. Those horrors on a summer day in the south have been followed by 31 dreary years on death row.
Florida iced Curtis Beasley the night before
The day before Pike’s scheduled last waltz, 800 km east at the Florida state death house in Starke, the executioner got it right. Curtis Wilkie Beasley, 77, was made defunct courtesy of a toxic cocktail.
He was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m., the 16th execution this year in the league-leading Sunshine State. Beasley died for the bungled robbery murder in 1995 of Carolyn Monfort at her Orlando-area home.
EXECUTED IN FLORIDA: Curtis Beasley. (FDOC)
EXECUTED IN FLORIDA: Curtis Beasley. (FDOC)
And that was that. No witnesses. Few headlines. These were reserved for Christa Gail Pike. That is the narrative demanded in this Lindsay Clancy-infused year of 2026.
As the clock ticked down, Pike’s lawyers argued on Wednesday that not enough consideration had been given to their client’s horrific childhood. Like most who find themselves strapped to the gurney, she grew up poor with the side dishes of physical, emotional and sexual abuse.
Death row is filled with folks like Christa Pike
America’s death rows are packed to the rafters with people like Christa Pike and her tale resonated with pretty much everyone except the U.S. Supreme Court.
On Thursday, Pike’s lawyers reported that she was still breathing after being hammered with two doses of lethal pentobarbital. The doomed woman would not die.
Colleen Slemmer
Murder victim Colleen Slemmer, who was lured to her death in 1995. Photo by Handout /KNOXVILLE POLICE
And the death penalty has taken yet another black eye. The whole lethal injection has been sold to the public as being akin to a faithful dog getting his forever sleep. It is not.
On Thursday, Tennessee officials would only say that Pike is in a Nashville hospital. They did not reveal the convicted killer’s condition, but some reports suggest she has suffered brain damage because of the death house blunder.
Her lawyers said in a statement: “Tonight the State of Tennessee once again failed to carry out a lawful execution. We take no pleasure in being right, but the concerns raised by Ms. Pike proved to be true: difficult vein access, blown veins, degraded pentobarbital, no emergency medical care available when things inevitably go wrong, all under a protocol that remains veiled in secrecy.”
Years ago I interviewed Pike on death row. At the time I asked one of her guards whether he ever expected to see her executed.
“Nope,” the Buffalo, N.Y., native told me. “Tennessee hasn’t executed a woman since 1819. Tennessee doesn’t execute women.”
Late Wednesday, the state tried it on. And failed.
bhunter@postmedia.com
@HunterTOSun
HUNTER: Botched Christa Pike execution attempts will likely spare her
My friend and colleague Brian Lilley once said over a beer he was against the death penalty.