These were Tennessee inmate Christa Pike’s first words after execution attempt left her unconscious for days

What This Story Is About

• Attorneys for Christa Pike have revealed the first words she said after regaining consciousness nearly a week after the state attempted to execute her and failed.

Why It Matters

• Pike’s failed lethal injection has spurred the governor to pause executions in Tennessee for 2026 and order a third-party investigation of the execution.
• The 50-year-old was sentenced to death for the 1995 torture and murder of her classmate, Colleen Slemmer.

What Happens Next

• A judge ordered the Tennessee Department of Corrections Wednesday to preserve all evidence from the failed execution.

For Context

• She was scheduled to be executed on Sept. 30, but a U.S. Court of Appeals issued a stay just before it was set to happen. Hours later, the U.S. Supreme Court said that the execution could proceed — but then the lethal injections failed.

Catch Up

• Christa Pike live updates: What to know as she regains consciousness and judge considers future of her case
• TN’s lethal injection protocol went from 106 pages to just 44. Christa Pike’s attorneys spent months warning of ‘vague’ new rules

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - Christa Pike was completely disoriented when she woke up in a Nashville hospital nearly a week after her failed execution, her attorneys said.

“Where am I and who are you?” were Pike’s first words, her attorney said in a press conference on Wednesday.

“There is still a lot of cognitive confusion. ... She is very aware that the state tried to execute. ... She is very aware up to a point,” the attorney said.

A week ago, the state of Tennessee failed to execute Pike, despite injecting her with two doses of the lethal drug pentobarbitol.

She was rushed to a hospital from Riverbend Maximum Security Institution following the injections, where she has since been receiving care in critical condition.

On Tuesday, her attorneys announced that she had woken up and was speaking, but she still requires medical treatment. It was later revealed that just hours before she awoke, they thought she was brain dead.

“She has a blood clot in her arm, she has pneumonia, she is not able to swallow so she hasn’t eaten, she can’t move her arms, her arms are both tremendously swollen,” her defense said outside a Nashville courthouse.

The 50-year-old was sentenced to be executed for the 1995 murder and torture of her classmate, Colleen Slemmer. She has spent over three decades on death row.

Pike’s failed execution followed the botched lethal injection of Tony Carruthers earlier this year. His sister reports that he suffered a brain stroke and partial paralysis as a result of the state’s failed attempt to kill him.