Death row inmate Christa Pike has been discharged from the hospital after surviving two failed execution attempts.
“She is grateful to the first responders and her medical team for their care in these extraordinary circumstances,” her legal team told The New York Times in a Saturday, October 10, statement. “She is continuing to receive medical care at the prison, and we will continue to track her recovery.”
According to Pike’s lawyers, she has returned to Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center in Nashville, Tennessee, following her discharge from the hospital. Per the outlet, she is “walking with assistance” but continues to struggle with “concentration and memory” issues.
Pike was sentenced to death in 1996 after a jury found her guilty of first-degree murder for the beating, torture and killing of her former University of Tennessee classmate, Colleen Slemmer, on the school’s campus in 1995. Pike was just 18 when she committed the crime alongside her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp.
The accomplice was sentenced to life in prison due to the fact that he was a minor at the time of the killing. Shipp has the potential to be released on parole, though he remains in custody after his latest appeal was denied in October 2025.
On September 30, Pike was taken to the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution to be executed by legal injection. Two injections of pentobarbital failed to kill Pike, who witnesses said could be heard snoring and at one point complaining of pain.
“At one point, she said, ‘My arm feels like it’s about to burst open,’” Tori Gessner, a reporter for the local outlet WKR, recalled during an impromptu news conference following the failed execution attempts. “The curtains close at first, but she was clearly still alive. She was clearly still breathing and snoring.”
Gessner said Pike regained consciousness and started smiling “really big” before again mentioning “the one spot” on her arm.
“Her [spiritual] advisor tells her to ‘relax,’ and she replies, ‘I’m trying,’” Gessner said. “She continues talking throughout this, before her breathing shifts and she starts moaning and snoring.” Another witness told AP News that Pike said “she was at peace and leaving the world in love and that this would be a happy day.”
On Thursday, October 8, Stephen Ferrell — a legal representative for Pike — told the BBC that Pike was still mentally “foggy” after she survived the two lethal injections meant to kill her.
“What’s been described to me is that physically there’s quite a bit going on, that her arms are very injured and she’s not able to use them very much,” Ferrell explained to the outlet at the time.
While her physical condition is improving, Ferrell said that Pike’s mental state is “good and bad.”
“Good that she is fairly with it, but she’s also somewhat foggy,” he explained. “She can lose her train of thought really easily and forgets where she’s going.”
Following the unprecedented incident, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee ordered an investigation into what went wrong and called off the state’s only remaining lethal injection that was scheduled to take place this year. Additionally, Lee announced the upcoming resignation of Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada.
On Wednesday, October 7, another lawyer representing Pike, Randy Spivey, told reporters that Pike was “very aware the state tried to execute her.”
“She is angry and confused about everything right now,” he added.
