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On a January night in 1995, 18-year-old Christa Pike and two other teenagers lured 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer to a secluded area near the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. They taunted, beat, and slashed Colleen, carving a pentagram into her chest, before Christa picked up a piece of concrete and smashed Colleen's skull, killing her. Those salacious details stood out during a national Satanic Panic over ritual abuse and suburban cults. The Knoxville News Sentinel later accused Christa of killing "for love and Satan." She was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death by electrocution—one of the youngest women ever to be sentenced to death in the United States. Thirty years later, Christa is still alive, incarcerated at a Nashville prison and the only woman on death row in Tennessee. She has spent much of her adult life in solitary confinement. In the decades since the murder, evolving understanding about brain science and trauma have cast Christa's wildly violent act—and death sentence—in a new light. We now know that the brain of an 18-year-old remains underdeveloped and impulsive. Christa has a horrific history of abuse, violence, and family neglect; the first time she attempted suicide, she was 9 years old. That kind of trauma can arrest healthy development, leading some young adults down a disastrous path. As Christa approaches her final appeals, a team of state and federal defenders are urgently trying to save Christa's life. Her date of execution could be set any time. If executed, she will be the first woman killed by Tennessee in almost 200 years. Should a woman who committed a violent crime as a damaged teenager be granted a chance at rehabilitation? And is justice best served through retribution or mercy?
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- 2 weeks ago29 min
Death Chamber
Christa’s future is in limbo after she survived two lethal doses in a botched execution attempt. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- Sep 30, 20261 min
Introducing: What Happened to Her
Hi, Unrestorable listeners! We're excited to share with you a sneak peek at iHeartPodcasts' latest release, What Happened to Her! What Happened to Her: For four seasons, investigative reporter Melissa Jeltsen has told the stories of women whose lives — and deaths — were shaped by the failures of the systems meant to protect them. Now she's widening her lens, with new episodes every week. In What Happened to Her, Melissa takes on the stories that won't let her go. Women whose deaths were too quickly ruled suicides. Women no one believed. Cases everyone else called closed. Some weeks, a mystery unfolds across multiple episodes. In others, Melissa sits down with fellow investigative journalists and podcast hosts to go behind the scenes on the cases — and the women — they just couldn't shake. Listen to What Happened to Her on the iHeartRadio App or wherever you get your podcasts!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- Oct 29, 202536 min
Episode 8 – Mercy
Christa and her attorneys grapple with a recent announcement by the Tennessee Supreme Court.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- Oct 22, 202528 min
Episode 7 – Justice
Beth and Sarah talk to Colleen’s mother about whether justice is even possible in this case.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- Oct 15, 202526 min
Episode 6 – The Lawyers
Defending “the worst of the worst” can take a sizable emotional toll–but it also reinforces a sense of shared humanity. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- Oct 8, 202529 min
Episode 5 - Christa Fights to Stay Alive
As the decades-long effort to overturn her death sentence runs out of time, Christa and her legal team try to prove that she’s a changed person.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- Oct 1, 202524 min
Episode 4 - In Solitary
Christa looks back on her early years on death row when she struggled with undiagnosed mental health issues and the role it played in the fight to save her life.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- Sep 24, 202525 min
Episode 3 - The Trial
We learn what the jury and public didn’t know about Christa, her attorneys, and their trial strategy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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About Unrestorable
On a January night in 1995, 18-year-old Christa Pike and two other teenagers lured 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer to a secluded area near the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. They taunted, beat, and slashed Colleen, carving a pentagram into her chest, before Christa picked up a piece of concrete and smashed Colleen's skull, killing her. Those salacious details stood out during a national Satanic Panic over ritual abuse and suburban cults. The Knoxville News Sentinel later accused Christa of killing "for love and Satan." She was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death by electrocution—one of the youngest women ever to be sentenced to death in the United States. Thirty years later, Christa is still alive, incarcerated at a Nashville prison and the only woman on death row in Tennessee. She has spent much of her adult life in solitary confinement. In the decades since the murder, evolving understanding about brain science and trauma have cast Christa's wildly violent act—and death sentence—in a new light. We now know that the brain of an 18-year-old remains underdeveloped and impulsive. Christa has a horrific history of abuse, violence, and family neglect; the first time she attempted suicide, she was 9 years old. That kind of trauma can arrest healthy development, leading some young adults down a disastrous path. As Christa approaches her final appeals, a team of state and federal defenders are urgently trying to save Christa's life. Her date of execution could be set any time. If executed, she will be the first woman killed by Tennessee in almost 200 years. Should a woman who committed a violent crime as a damaged teenager be granted a chance at rehabilitation? And is justice best served through retribution or mercy?
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