Christa Pike, now 50, was sentenced to death in 1996 for the murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. She was 18 at the time and was found guilty alongside her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, who received a life sentence with the possibility of parole. Pike and Shipp had beaten and tortured Slemmer before bragging about the crime at a training camp for troubled teenagers. Pike has requested that her execution, scheduled to be carried out by lethal injection, be performed by an all-female team. Authorities in Tennessee are attempting to transfer her to the execution facility using female guards, but they cannot guarantee this will happen. Colleen's mother, May Martinez, has expressed a desire for the execution to happen quickly so her daughter can "finally be resting" and has stated she wants Pike to suffer before her death. Pike's legal representatives argue that she would not have received a death sentence had she been tried under current legal standards for minors. They have highlighted her history of childhood neglect and sexual abuse, including being raped at ages 11 and 17 by her mother's partners and husbands. Forensic psychologists Dr. Diana McCoy and Dr. Bethany Brand have studied Pike's case, noting the significant number of people who abused her while having a responsibility to protect her. Pike's case has drawn attention to the broader issue of support for individuals with traumatic backgrounds. Ashlee Sellar, who met Pike in prison, suggested Pike was fighting for her life to "matter" rather than to live. As of now, 27 out of 50 U.S. states officially sanction the death penalty, though many do not use it in practice. Texas is the most prolific state for capital punishment, with over 600 executions since 1982. Tennessee has carried out 14 executions since 2000, with 40 people currently on death row.