Christa Gail Pike had been waiting to die for more than 30 years when she received her first lethal injection.
asserted
she → wait → injection
Warning: This story contains details that may be distressing for some readers.
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that → contain → readers
After the second dose, she was still waiting.
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she → wait → dose
Pike was set to become the first woman executed in the US state of Tennessee in more than 200 years, and the only person executed in the state's modern death penalty era for a crime committed at just 18 years of age.
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Pike → set → age
But on Wednesday night, local time, having refused her last meal, the 50-year-old received two doses of pentobarbital at a maximum security prison in Nashville and did not die.
Instead, witnesses were ordered to leave the facility, the curtain was drawn on the execution chamber, and Pike was rushed to a nearby hospital for "life-saving" medical care, according to her legal team.
WKRN journalist Tori Gastner, a witness of five Tennessee executions to date, spoke outside the prison shortly after emergency services were called.
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services → refuse → prison
"Nothing about today was normal, typical, at all," Ms Gastner said.
"She was clearly alive, she was clearly still breathing … we could all hear that."
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we → say → that
Pike's legal team has since called for an emergency stay of execution.
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team → call → execution
Previously, they had argued Pike's "small veins" and other medical conditions made lethal injection a more risky procedure.
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injection → argue → ?
"I've felt more love in the last two weeks than I have my entire life," she wrote in a letter sent to NBC News earlier this week.
"I'm not afraid to die.
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I → feel → News
She was sweet and helpful, volunteering to paint her school and at Special Olympics competitions, her mother, May Martinez, said.
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mother → volunteer → competitions
"She worked with the handicapped children at lunch and … made sure they could get around," she told local outlet The Nashville Banner.
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she → work → lunch
She could take a computer apart and put it back together, and often wore a "Computer Geek" T-shirt.
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She → take → shirt
It was that aptitude with technology which prompted her grandfather to suggest she start taking computer courses at Job Corps.
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she → prompt → Corps
Job Corps was marketed as a "government-run residential program designed to help troubled teens gain job skills", according to court documents.
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teens → market → documents
Pike, then 18, was enrolled in a nursing course at the same centre.
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Pike → enrol → centre
By that time, she had already experienced a lifetime of abuse.
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she → experience → abuse
Court filings noted she had been exposed to alcohol in utero, something which left her with severe brain damage and limited impulse control.
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which → note → damage
More records showed severe neglect, alleged repeated sexual abuse, and drug use from as young as nine years old.
"The Job Corps was an opportunity for Christa to 'make something' of herself and to make her parents proud," a court petition said.
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petition → show → herself
Instead, the program allegedly "tolerated violence and neglected" its residents.
"Students routinely carried razor blades or box cutters for protection," documents said.
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documents → tolerate → protection
"The administrators at Job Corps created an environment in which Christa was forced to rely upon her family's earlier teachings.
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Christa → create → teachings
"
Pike 'just felt mean that day'
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Pike → feel → ?
On January 11, 1995, Pike told another student, Kim Iloilo, she wanted to kill Ms Slemmer.
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she → tell → Slemmer
She "just felt mean that day", she said.
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she → feel → ?
Pike believed Ms Slemmer had been "trying to get [her] boyfriend", a 17-year-old called Tadaryl Shipp.
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Slemmer → believe → boyfriend
Witnesses later said Shipp, another Job Corps student, and Pike had a tumultuous, controlling and physically abusive relationship.
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Shipp → say → relationship
Tensions had been building for some time between Pike and Ms Slemmer.
asserted
Tensions → build → Pike
At 8pm the next day, the pair were seen walking away from the Job Corps building, along with Shipp and another student, Shadolla Peterson.
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pair → see → Shipp
Pike had asked Ms Slemmer to come with her to a music store.
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Pike → ask → store
She added they were also going to get drugs, which Pike said were hidden in nearby Tyson Park, just minutes away from the University of Tennessee campus.
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Pike → add → campus
At 10:15pm, Pike, Shipp and Peterson returned without Ms Slemmer.
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Pike → return → Slemmer
"Later that night, Pike went to Iloilo's room and told [her] she had just killed Slemmer," Supreme Court documents said.
"
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documents → go → Slemmer
[She said] she had brought back a piece of the victim's skull as a souvenir.
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she → say → souvenir
"Pike showed Iloilo the piece of skull and told her that she had cut the victim's throat six times, beaten her, and thrown asphalt at the victim's head.
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she → show → head
"Pike told Iloilo that the victim had begged … but Pike did not stop because the victim continued to talk.
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victim → tell → Iloilo
The next morning, she told Ms Iloilo the piece of Ms Slemmer's skull was still in her pocket.
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piece → tell → pocket
At a class later that day, she pointed to brown spots on her shoes, saying, "that ain't mud on my shoes, that's blood".
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that → point → shoes
She described the killing again to another student, showing off the skull fragment again.
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She → describe → fragment
At the same time, a University of Tennessee Grounds Department employee had discovered Ms Slemmer's body.
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employee → discover → body
The employee later said her body was "so badly beaten that he had first mistaken it for the corpse of an animal".
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he → say → animal
By January 14, police had identified and interviewed Pike.
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police → identify → Pike
…and 46 more, not listed.
The Aporia
