In a rare and harrowing turn of events, Christa Gail Pike survived two doses of lethal medication during her scheduled execution in the US state of Tennessee, later being heard loudly snoring in her cell before being transported out by ambulance.

Pike, 50, was scheduled for execution at 10:00 AM on Wednesday (September 30).

She had been sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of her 19-year-old classmate, Colleen Slemmer, a crime she committed when she was just 18 years old.

An appellate court had temporarily stayed the execution about an hour before it was set to take place.

However, the U.S. Supreme Court subsequently lifted the stay.

According to her attorneys, prison authorities ultimately administered two doses of pentobarbital to Pike later that evening.

Media witnesses reported that at 7:27 PM, when the curtains of the execution chamber were opened, Pike was seen strapped to a gurney, still awake.

At one point, she lifted her head and asked prison officials whether a strange sensation in her arms was normal.

Authorities confirmed that a second dose of the drug was administered at 8:26 PM.

Even after this, heavy snoring could be heard coming from Pike behind the closed curtains.

At 8:53 PM, the microphone was switched off, and journalists were escorted from the viewing area.

Pike's attorneys confirmed that she remained alive following the botched execution procedure.

Neither prison authorities nor her legal team immediately provided further details regarding her current medical condition.

Capital punishment expert Robin Maher called the incident unprecedented, noting that while seven previous inmates had survived execution due to failures in intravenous drug administration, there is no prior record of someone remaining alive after the lethal drugs were fully administered.

Pike and her then-boyfriend were convicted of murdering Slemmer in a remote area of Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1995.

According to trial evidence, Pike lured Slemmer to an isolated spot where she was beaten with a large rock and slashed with a box cutter, after which Pike’s boyfriend carved a pentagram into the victim’s chest.

The gruesome case generated widespread national attention at the time.

Meanwhile, Pike's legal team has continually challenged her death sentence, citing her youth at the time of the crime, a history of severe mental illness, and allegations of childhood sexual abuse, arguing these factors were never properly weighed.

Her lawyers filed emergency court petitions demanding that she receive immediate medical care following the failed execution.

This marks the second botched execution attempt in Tennessee this year.

In May, authorities were forced to call off the execution of Tony Caruthers after medical teams spent over an hour failing to establish intravenous access for the lethal injection drugs.

Tennessee modified its execution protocol in 2024, shifting from a three-drug cocktail to a single-drug protocol utilizing pentobarbital.

Previous executions in the state have also been halted due to issues involving inadequate drug testing.
Source: AP, CNN