10/01/2026
THE CHRISTA PIKE CASE — THE 1995 MURDER THAT STILL HAUNTS TENNESSEE
Christa Pike’s case has been surrounded by stories of Satanism, pentagrams, jealousy, extreme violence, childhood trauma, and a death sentence that would remain in place for nearly 30 years.
In January 1995, 18-year-old Christa Pike was attending the Job Corps program in Knoxville, Tennessee. She was involved with 17-year-old Tadaryl Shipp.
Another student, 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, was attending too.
According to the prosecution, Pike became increasingly jealous and believed Colleen was interfering with her relationship with Tadaryl.
On January 12, 1995, Christa, Tadaryl and another student, Shadolla Peterson, took Colleen to an isolated area near the University of Tennessee’s agricultural campus.
What happened there was horrific.
Colleen was attacked for an extended period of time. She was beaten, cut and struck repeatedly before ultimately being killed.
One of the details that made this case infamous was the pentagram carved into Colleen’s chest.
Because Christa and Tadaryl had an interest in occult and Satanic imagery, the murder quickly became associated with the Satanic panic that was prevalent in the United States during the 1990s.
Court records indicate that Tadaryl admitted to carving the pentagram.
Two days after the murder, Christa confessed to investigators and provided details about the killing.
Investigators also discovered evidence that Christa had kept a piece of Colleen’s skull as a trophy.
Christa was ultimately convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.
In 1996, at only 20 years old, she was sentenced to death.
Tadaryl was also convicted, but because he was 17 when the murder occurred, he could not receive the death penalty. He received a life sentence.
Shadolla, the third participant, eventually cooperated with authorities and received a much lighter punishment.
As the years have gone on it became known as:
“Teenage Satanist kills girl in ritual murder.”
& it currently seems like the devil she wanted so badly to worship is saying, nah yall keep her, because her lethal injection failed and her status is currently unknown after emergency medical intervention occurred on 9/30/2026.
