31 Years Later, Investigators Still Haunted by Colleen Slemmer’s Murder

More than 30 years after the torture, mutilation and killing of 19-year-old Tennessee resident Colleen Slemmer, former Knoxville Police Chief Phil Keith says the “satanic” crime scene still haunts him.

“I’ll remember this case to the day I die,” Keith told News Media on Thursday. He served as Knoxville’s police chief from 1988 to 2004 after spending decades in law enforcement.

Christa Pike, who was 18 at the time, led three classmates from the Knoxville Job Corps Center, a vocational school for troubled youths, in luring Slemmer to her death. They told her they planned to visit a music store and retrieve marijuana they had hidden in a park.

“She represents pure evil,” Keith said of Pike.

Keith said the group tortured Slemmer for nearly an hour, beating her, cutting her and gagging her before smashing her skull against the ground with a piece of broken asphalt.

When Slemmer attempted to flee, they restrained her. When she pleaded for her life, they cut her with blades. And when she cried out, they used a hair tie to gag her. Pike, now 50, allegedly kept a piece of Slemmer’s skull as a trophy and showed it to classmates before her arrest. Pike’s boyfriend, who was also convicted, carved pentagrams into Slemmer’s chest and face. He was 17 at the time and therefore was not eligible for the death penalty.

During Pike’s trial, an expert testified that the attack contained “satanic elements” and reflected “the phenomenon of collective aggression,” in which a group becomes emotionally aroused and ultimately engages in “some kind of violent, extremely violent activity,” according to court records.

A University of Tennessee groundskeeper who discovered Slemmer’s remains testified that he initially believed he had found an animal carcass. He said he realized it was a person only after seeing the victim’s clothing through the blood, according to court records.

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“The images are as vivid today as the day I saw them,” Keith said. “All I have to do is shut my eyes, and I can see everything.”

Thirty-one years later, Keith said he wishes the Knoxville Police Department had offered the kind of post-trauma therapy and counseling now used to help officers process horrific cases.

“We didn’t have therapy services or counseling or anything at that time,” Keith said. “I wish we had, because these images will never be erased.”

Pike was scheduled to be executed Wednesday. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued a brief stay after a last-minute appeal, but the U.S. Supreme Court lifted it, clearing the way for the lethal injection.

After two doses were administered, Pike remained alive. She spent Thursday in an undisclosed hospital in critical condition while receiving “lifesaving care,” according to her attorneys. On Friday, they said she was unconscious and on a ventilator.

“Christa remains critically ill and is receiving medical care for the devastating effects of Wednesday night’s events,” attorneys Stephen Ferrell and Luke Ihnen said in a statement Friday. “As detailed in today’s filing, Christa remains hospitalized following Wednesday night’s failed execution attempt.”

“She is critically ill, unconscious, intubated and receiving breathing assistance through a ventilator,” they added. “She is being treated for the serious effects of the pentobarbital administered during the execution attempt, including significant injuries to both arms.”

It remained unclear what Pike might face next.

During a news briefing Thursday, one of Pike’s attorneys, Randy Spivey, said Slemmer’s mother had been on Pike’s mind in the hours before the scheduled execution.

“I cannot imagine what this was like for the family of Ms. Slemmer, or anyone who loves that family or is close to that family — or anyone who loves Christa or is close to Christa,” he said. “This is awful, and this kind of thing should never happen again.”