After being released from the hospital and returned to prison, Christa Pike reportedly sent a nine-word message to a friend.
Christa Pike survived two lethal injection attempts during her scheduled execution on September 30, after spending nearly 30 years on death row for the killing of Colleen Slemmer.
Pike was convicted of the murder in 1996 and sentenced to death. At the time, she was just 18 years old, and became the youngest woman sentenced to death in modern U.S. history.
On September 30, Pike was scheduled to become the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years. However, she remained alive after receiving two doses of pentobarbital and was taken to the hospital, where she remained on a ventilator for about a week.
Christa Pike released from the hospital
On Tuesday, October 7, her legal team shared the first sign that her condition had improved. Their statement opened with the words: “Against all odds, Christa Pike is conscious, speaking.”
Pike is currently recovering, but her lawyers say it’s too early to know the long-term effects.
“While her physical recovery has been remarkable, significant questions remain about the long-term effects of what she endured,” they said, according to the New York Post.
“Christa is dealing with the profound psychological trauma of having survived a failed execution, including the terror, pain and uncertainty of believing she was about to die.
“Christa also continues to experience cognitive challenges with concentration and memory,” they added.
“Her lungs are clear, and she has started to eat a regular diet,” they said. “Physicians are encouraged by her physical recovery.”
Sent her friend a message
She has since been discharged from the hospital and returned to the Deborah K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center in Nashville.
“Christa Pike was discharged from a local hospital and is now at Deborah K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center, where she has been housed for more than 30 years,” her lawyers said in a statement.
“She is grateful to the first responders and her medical team for their care in these extraordinary circumstances. She is continuing to receive medical care at the prison, and we will continue to track her recovery.”
The NewsNation senior national correspondent claimed that Pike had sent an update of her own, using her tablet to write a message to someone outside the prison.
Brian Entin shared a link on X to a YouTube video examining the latest developments in the case. He said a source close to Pike had sent him a photo of a screen that appeared to show a text message delivered at 12:14 a.m. Saturday. The message read: “I’m at the prison. I love you so much!”