Christa Pike's Execution Attempted Twice; Journalist Reflects on Interview

Christa Pike, the youngest woman to be sentenced to death in the United States, survived two attempts at lethal injection on Wednesday. Pike, 50, was administered two doses of pentobarbital but remains in critical condition.

Twenty years ago, journalist Helen Roberts interviewed Pike when she was a younger inmate on death row. Roberts, then an editor for a women's lifestyle magazine, reflected on her encounter with Pike, noting the stark contrast between the woman she met and the brutal crime she committed.

"It was really hard sometimes to reconcile the woman in front of me to the crime she had committed," Roberts said. "They were like two very separate people, I could not imagine the person I met to have been so horrifically violent."

Roberts interviewed Pike in December 2006 at Tennessee's maximum-security prison for women, now known as Debra K Johnson Rehabilitation Center. Although initially nervous, Roberts found Pike to be warm, well-put-together, and eager to please, even getting closer to the interview window to facilitate conversation. Pike answered all questions openly and articulately, appearing at times "quite ordinary."

Roberts, then in her mid-20s, felt a connection with Pike due to their similar ages and appearances. Pike, Roberts recalled, seemed to sense her interviewer's non-judgmental approach, which may have contributed to her openness.

"She was eager to answer. She just came across, sometimes, as quite ordinary," Roberts said. "I wanted to meet Christa Pike just the woman, understand her life, the bad decision she made, and how she was coping living the life she was there."

Pike and her then-boyfriend were convicted of the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. Pike, then 18, was accused of beating and torturing Slemmer, who she believed had insulted her and tried to steal her boyfriend. Two witnesses testified that Pike bragged about the murder before and after the crime. Pike received the death penalty in 1996, while her boyfriend, who was 17 at the time, received a life sentence with the possibility of parole.

Pike told Roberts during the interview that she had little understanding of her trial proceedings, partly because she enjoyed being the center of attention. When discussing the murder, Pike was matter-of-fact and described it as a dissociative experience, saying she "lost her mind" and that it was "like an out-of-body experience." She expressed deep sorrow for her actions but felt that no words could truly compensate for the loss of Slemmer's life.

Roberts learned that Pike had a difficult childhood marked by parental alcoholism, neglect, and sexual abuse. Her grandmother's death when Pike was 12 triggered a period of rage and suicidal thoughts. Pike had expressed a desire to become a nurse and hoped for a reprieve from her execution, believing that her childhood trauma and mental health struggles should be considered.

Roberts described the days leading up to Wednesday's execution attempt as "bizarre" and found the news of Pike surviving the injections "like watching a horror movie," calling the situation "absolutely barbaric."

During her time on death row, Pike was largely isolated. Roberts mentioned that Pike found comfort in reading, watching television, and writing to pen pals. After their interview, Roberts received a handmade card from Pike thanking her for treating her with kindness and respect.

"No matter what I've said about Christa Pike, I am no way diminishing her crime," Roberts stated. "She deserved to be in prison, of course she did. She committed a crime, she took another woman's life and she had to be punished for it. However, you cannot ever not think, if she had help when she needed it would she have done what she done?"

Roberts concluded by emphasizing the human element, stating, "I can't deny the woman I met, the woman I had in front of me and how I bonded with her and how she reacted to me and how she responded to me and my questions. She's still a human being. There is no way I could have met her and it not have an impact on me."