NASHVILLE, United States — May Martinez travelled hundreds of miles to watch Christa Pike be executed for killing her 19-year-old daughter.
Instead, she watched Tennessee administer two doses of a lethal drug without killing Pike, leaving the condemned woman critically ill and Martinez still waiting for what she considers justice.
Martinez, whose daughter Colleen Slemmer was murdered in 1995, said she stood close to the viewing-room window at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution and kept her attention fixed on Pike as the execution unfolded.
“I stood in front of that window and I watched her very, very carefully. I did not take my eyes off of her,” Martinez told People.
She said she wanted Pike to remember Slemmer.
“I wanted her to remember who Colleen was and what they’ve done and never forget that thought, no matter where she goes,” Martinez said.
The execution attempt on Wednesday, September 30, 2026, has since triggered an independent investigation, the suspension of Tennessee’s remaining execution for the year, and the resignation of the state’s corrections commissioner.
Pike remained critically ill after the attempt, according to her lawyers.
A Long Journey to Witness the Execution
Martinez and her husband, Raul Martinez Jr., drove about 11 hours from Florida to Nashville for the execution.
They arrived at Riverbend at about 8:30 a.m., expecting Pike to be put to death at 10 a.m. Instead, they spent much of the day waiting as Pike’s lawyers pursued a last-minute legal challenge.
A federal appeals court stopped the execution shortly before its scheduled start. Hours later, the United States Supreme Court overturned that stay, clearing the way for Tennessee to proceed.
By the time preparations resumed, Martinez and her husband had spent most of the day inside the prison.
Martinez later said she had intended to hold a photograph of Slemmer while witnessing Pike’s death but was unable to do so amid the confusion surrounding the procedure.
Pike, 50, was strapped to a gurney after the Supreme Court ruling.
Tennessee’s protocol called for pentobarbital, a powerful barbiturate, to be administered intravenously. When the first dose did not kill Pike, a second was given.
She remained alive.
The state’s written protocol provides for a backup dose if a prisoner survives the first administration but does not specify another execution step if the second dose also fails.
Family Left With Few Answers
After the attempt ended, Martinez said she and her husband were moved to another room and waited to speak with Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada.
She said they received little information beyond being told that Pike had been taken to a hospital.
The uncertainty added to the frustration of a day in which Slemmer’s family had expected a decades-old death sentence finally to be carried out.
Raul Martinez questioned how an execution could fail after years of preparation.
“It was a complete waste of time,” he told People. “I don’t know. It sounds cruel, but how do you botch up killing somebody?”
The state has said its execution team followed Tennessee’s established protocol.
Pike’s lawyers have challenged that account, contending in subsequent court filings that intravenous lines were improperly placed and that pentobarbital may have entered tissue instead of flowing correctly into her veins.
Pike Left Unconscious and on Ventilator
The medical consequences became clearer in the days after the failed execution.
Pike’s lawyers said she was unconscious, intubated, and dependent on a mechanical ventilator while doctors worked to remove pentobarbital from her system.
They also said both of her arms were swollen, burned, and blistered after difficulties establishing intravenous access.
According to the lawyers, Pike had medical conditions, including unusually small veins and thrombocytosis, that could complicate placement of IV lines, and her physicians had previously warned state officials about those difficulties.
The Tennessee Department of Correction has maintained that the execution team followed the approved procedure.
Governor Bill Lee called the outcome deeply troubling and ordered an outside investigation into what happened.
He also cancelled Tennessee’s one remaining execution scheduled for 2026.
Corrections Commissioner Resigns
The consequences reached the leadership of Tennessee’s prison system three days later.
On Saturday, Lee announced that Strada would resign as commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Correction and leave the position during October.
Strada said he continued to believe correctional employees had followed the proper protocol but concluded that leaving office would allow the independent inquiry to proceed without distraction.
“Stepping aside is in the best interest of Tennesseans as the independent review moves forward,” Strada said.
Pike’s failed execution was Tennessee’s second unsuccessful attempt to carry out a death sentence in 2026.
In May, officials abandoned the execution of Tony Von Carruthers after being unable to establish the intravenous access necessary to administer the lethal drug.
A Murder From 1995
Pike was 18 when Slemmer was killed near a Job Corps centre in Knoxville.
Prosecutors said Pike believed Slemmer was attempting to interfere in her relationship with her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp.
Slemmer was taken to a wooded area, beaten, cut, and killed. Pike was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death.
Shipp, who was 17 at the time, received a life sentence with the possibility of parole.
Pike has acknowledged responsibility for Slemmer’s death. Her lawyers sought clemency on the basis of her age at the time of the crime, mental illness, and a documented history of childhood abuse.
Lee rejected the clemency request.
Martinez has opposed efforts to commute Pike’s sentence and told People that Pike had never apologised to her.
“She has no remorse. She’s never had any remorse in 31 years,” Martinez said.
For Martinez, the events inside Riverbend did not provide the ending she had anticipated after three decades of court proceedings and appeals.
“We can’t get justice for my daughter,” she said.
