The Sacrifice and Mutilation of Colleen Slemmer
Her killer awaits execution as the only woman on Tennessee’s death row.
Asmall part of Colleen Slemmer’s body remains locked up in evidence until the day Christa Pike dies. Christa bludgeoned and mutilated her classmate, then joyfully celebrated what she had done to 19-year-old Slemmer. For almost an hour, Colleen was stabbed, kicked, and beaten to death. As her body convulsed on the ground, her killer leaned in and uttered the words, “Colleen, do you know who’s doing this to you?’’
There was no reply.
Slemmer’s mother, May Martinez, fights every day for the memory of her daughter. Randy York, lead Knoxville Police Investigator at the time of Colleen’s death, still keeps in touch with May. Neither of them can forget the injustice inflicted upon such an innocent life that January night.
Colleen Slemmer came to Knoxville from Florida to attend classes at the Job Corp center. She had enrolled in computer training and had only been there for three months before she was brutally murdered.
Christa Pike had a troubled upbringing. Her mother was an alcoholic and a drug user, spending all of her time out partying and neglecting her young daughter. The father was out of the picture. Christa’s grandmother raised her until the…
