Mean Girl Murders on ID: Why did Christa Pike kill Colleen Slemmer?

The 1995 killing of Colleen Slemmer led to the conviction of a fellow Job Corps classmate, Christa Pike, making her the youngest woman on death row in the United States. Pike allegedly suspected Slemmer of wanting to steal her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, and thus attacked her before brutally killing her in January 1995.

While Christa mentioned bad blood to be the reason behind luring Slemmer into the secluded area to teach her a lesson, a witness stated that she had mentioned wanting to kill Slemmer as she felt mean that particular day. However, Shipp's statement mentioned that they had not planned to take Colleen Slemmer's life as a sacrifice to Satan, but later decided that she could be a sacrifice after he carved the Satanic pentagram on Slemmer's chest.

The Mean Girl Murders episode, She-Devil aired on May 20, 2024, at 9 p.m. EST on Investigation Discovery and delved into the story behind the murder of Colleen Slemmer. The official synopsis reads,

"There is only one woman on death row in Tennessee, and this is her story. In 1995, Christa Pike is introduced to satanism. Her fascination with the dark underworld grows until it comes to a deadly head in the woods one night in January."

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Did Christa Pike premeditate Colleen Slemmer's murder?

Christa Gail Pike (18) was convicted of premeditated first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in 1996. Pike had grown up with a troubled childhood with little to no parental support. She had reportedly been s*xually assaulted several times and had served time in a juvenile facility in her tenth grade.

It was around the same time that she enrolled herself in Job Corps and began attending classes at the Knoxville Center. She met her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp (17) at the program and the two allegedly became inseparable instantly. Pike had alleged that she felt threatened by Colleen Slemmer, another classmate passionate about computers, and wanted to teach her a lesson.

Consequently, Christa Pike, Shipp, and another friend named Shadolla Peterson led Slemmer to an abandoned steam plant near the University of Tennessee agricultural campus under the pretense of a truce. Pike carried a box cutter with her and had borrowed a miniature meat cleaver before the four set out of their Dale Avenue dormitory, per court documents.

Christa Pike was put through a psychological test wherein the clinical psychologist, Dr. Eric Engum, concluded that Pike suffered from very severe borderline personality disorder. While Dr. Engum opined that the attack had not been deliberate, the jury found her guilty of premeditated murder.

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Was Colleen Slemmer's murder a human sacrifice?

During the crime, Christa Pike and Tadaryl Shipp tortured Colleen Slemmer for at least thirty minutes before she was dead. Pike brutally beat Slemmer, kicked her after throwing her to the ground, and slashed her neck till she breathed in blood.

Christa Pike had carved a pentagram, a five-pointed star in a circle, on her chest and had also taken back a piece of her broken skull as a souvenir after bludgeoning her head with a block of asphalt, per Knoxville News Sentinel.

The investigators looked into the crime as a possible human sacrifice. In a recorded police interview, Tadaryl Shipp mentioned that Colleen Slemmer had not been a planned sacrifice to Satan. However, after they killed the victim, Shipp thought that Slemmer could be a sacrifice or an "homage" to Satan, per Knoxville News Sentinel.

Tadaryl Shipp and Christa Pike were reported to be worshippers of Satan. Shipp spoke to Randy York, a Knoxville Police Department detective, and revealed that he had been a satanic worshiper since he was 10 years of age. He was also reported to have kept a satanic bible at his bedside at the Knoxville Job Corps Center.

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Stream episode 9 of season 2 of Mean Girl Murders on Prime Video.