My arm jolted in pain as the needle slid into a vein in my right arm. It momentarily interrupted my response to the other nurse on the left of my gurney in a surgical suite at a Christian hospital in Nashville, Tenn.
I glanced at the clock, having anticipated I was going be needled about the same time Christa Gail Pike was scheduled to be executed two hours away in Chattanooga. Later that day, her attempted execution would be the second one botched in the last few months in Tennessee, and as of this writing, she remains in the hospital in critical condition.
Brad Bull
Besides Pike’s case drawing international attention, I’ve had a decades-long connection to the tragedy.
In late 1994, I became minister of youth and young adults at Cumberland Baptist Church in Knoxville, Tenn. So, I was in my first year on the job when Christa Pike turned 18 and tortured and murdered Colleen Slemmer, one of her Job Corps classmates she thought was trying to steal her boyfriend. Given her status in my demographic focus and the proximity of the murder scene about 4 miles from my church, I was engrossed in the story.
Thirty-two years later, on Sept. 30, 2026, I was just a few months removed from a training event where I met a counselor who had been in prison with Pike. Now, in the hurry up and wait of getting a cardiac ablation to get my heart in rhythm, I learned Pike had gotten a stay of execution. Scrolling on my phone, I discovered and read a long but absolutely riveting and masterful series by journalist J.J. Stambaugh, who met Christa just before the murder — and while he was a pre-reformed drug user and dealer. It’s one part confessional autobiography, one part soul searching, and several parts biblical prophet crying out as one in the wilderness. (Part 1, Part 2, Post-script.)
To summarize the series, Stambaugh met Pike while he was making his rounds selling LSD. Even when she showed her ID, he was not convinced she was 18 — not just because of her appearance but her immature vocabulary. When a friend of Stambaugh met up with them, the friend discreetly gestured that Pike was crazy. Years later, Pike would be found to have had untreated bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. A clinical psychologist would find her to have a level of Adverse Childhood Experiences higher than 99.3% of Americans. That level is achieved in an environment where your mother gives you marijuana at age 9 and — as Stambaugh hauntingly describes it — you know the smell and taste of a man’s penis before you’ve learned your alphabet.
On the evening of Sept. 30, in a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the stay. The announcement by Knoxville’s WVLT TV popped up on my feed. The comment section exploded. A rudimentary summary of the themes of the comments reveals much about views on capital punishment in the buckle of the Bible Belt.
“A large number of those expressing giddy excitement to see Pike executed were white women.”
A large number of those expressing giddy excitement to see Pike executed were white women. At first blush, it might seem race and gender were not compounding factors in the remarks. On the other hand, was the strong reaction by white females because the victim was a white female?
Here are the obvious themes that jump out, along with examples of reactions to the Supreme Court lifting the stay of execution.
• Uninformed comments and questions by people who clearly didn’t read the article and/or didn’t pay attention in civics class
Why was the Supreme Court involved in this action?
(This person’s Facebook page featured a campaign ad for a Tennessee politician who said mosques should be outlawed.)
• Bizarre tangents
They need to donate her hair to locks of love; she has really great hair.
This evoked sometimes vulgar observations over sub-issues like whether her hair was great or not, whether or not someone would want a murderer’s hair, and the legalities of this suggestion.
• Somewhat solemn sighs of relief and expression of gratitude that Colleen Slemmer and her family were getting “justice”
37-year-old female: I am a survivor of abuse, and I have not harmed anyone. You can’t always use abuse as an excuse to get away with stuff. If that starts happening, then people can constantly start saying anything to get away with everything. Justice for Colleen.
• Expressions of hope for Pikes’s salvation
I hope she’s turned her life over to the Lord Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior.
These remarks often drew responses like “Nope. She’s Buddhist”
• Support for capital punishment
White male: I am a Christian but I also believe in an eye for an eye & a tooth for a tooth!!! For some cases the only acceptable punishment is death. Bleeding hearts can comment negatively I don’t care! I will ALWAYS BE a firm proponent of the death penalty!!! Justice for Colleen!!!
• Opposition to capital punishment
White male, replying to the previous comment: I would argue anytime you start a sentence with “I am a Christian, but …” you already feel the rest of that sentence is in conflict with your Christianity.
I saw a subcategory of opposition to execution based on postulation that a perfected-in-heaven Slemmer would oppose executing Pike.
Male from Denmark: I am sure Colleen is in another dimension and has mercy for Christa since a lot of time ago. She doesn’t need to eat the bread of sorrow to be in peace. People are happy seeing the death, but for sure Colleen isn’t and i think she will be close to Christa in this tragic moment supporting her. I think there is a time and a space where Colleen and Christa love each other and everything else simply vanishes.
• Condemnation of celebratory comments
White male: I’ve never seen such hatred in the comments. I understand the horrible thing that happened, but where is compassion for another human being. The Lord will handle it.
White female: It’s sad to see so many ppl think it’s ok to take another life. … no one should be allowed to take another person’s life no matter what. That is Gods role.
• Celebratory comments and images
These comments often utilized multiple exclamation marks. In general, the comment section felt like a party. Unless otherwise indicated, the comments are by white females.
The final countdown!!
Gen-X white male: That (song) should be played at the execution.
It should be a go!!!
Male: Where’s the tailgate party?
Roll on 2 … wet (sponge image) (Reference to electric chair scene in movie)
Halleluah Justice is coming Colleen.
Best news i heard all day
May she have the day she deserves!
Get on with it then!
Get-R-Done (peace fingers)
Thank you, God!
In stark contrast to the comment that a heavenly Slemmer would not want Pike to be killed, someone created an AI image of an angelic Slemmer smiling as she injects a needle in Pike’s arm.
“What does the barbaric celebration say about what capital punishment does to our social fabric?”
Another posted an animated GIF of a woman shouting, “Bye bitch!”
What does the barbaric celebration say about what capital punishment does to our social fabric? Regardless of favoring capital punishment, what’s driving the carnival atmosphere? That’s especially puzzling when Proverbs 24:17-18 says: “Do not rejoice when your enemies fall, and do not let your heart be glad when they stumble, lest the Lord see it and be displeased and turn away his anger from them.”
My best guess is that we hate not being in control. A murder takes control of another’s body, and that is justifiably terrifying. When we limit our empathy to the victim of the crime and not the perpetrator, we want to lash out at the person who threatens our sense of control.
That sentiment is captured in what Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton said when joining Gov. Bill Lee in calling for investigations into another botched execution. In his released statement, no mention was made of the gruesome torture of Pike. He began: “Some will rush to the defense of Christa Pike, but the only ones who matter in this case are Colleen and the Slemmer family.”
Imagine Jesus Christ saying, “Christa Pike and her redemption and her agony don’t matter.”
No, that’s not the nature of Jesus. Yet, for a prepared statement, there is no evidence that the perspective of Jesus was at all considered by the speaker of the House of a Bible Belt state.
Brad Bull is a descendant of the founder of Bulls Gap, Tenn. He graduated from Tennessee Baptist’s Carson-Newman University and holds a 1992 master of divinity degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. in human ecology from the University of Tennessee. He has served as a hospital chaplain, pastor, professor and therapist.
Related:
‘Bring back the electric chair,’ Tennessee GOP candidate urges after botched execution
Tennessee botches another execution