Crime Junkie
Audiochuck
True Crime
Unrestorable
by iHeartPodcasts
Today: #86 in True Crime on our combined chart.
Chart positions today
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Ranking history
History builds daily. We started tracking this show on the True Crime chart recently, so the trend line appears after a second day of data.
View as table
| Date | Apple Podcasts |
|---|---|
| Oct 2 | #62 |
About the show
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?
Latest episodes
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Episode 8 – Mercy
October 29, 2025 · 36 minChrista and her attorneys grapple with a recent announcement by the Tennessee Supreme Court. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode 7 – Justice
October 22, 2025 · 28 minBeth and Sarah talk to Colleen’s mother about whether justice is even possible in this case. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode 6 – The Lawyers
October 15, 2025 · 27 minDefending “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.
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Episode 5 - Christa Fights to Stay Alive
October 8, 2025 · 29 minAs 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.
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Episode 4 - In Solitary
October 1, 2025 · 24 minChrista 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.
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Episode 3 - The Trial
September 24, 2025 · 26 minWe 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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Episode 2 - Knoxville Reels
September 17, 2025 · 22 minAs details of the murder leak, the Knoxville community is shocked by what 18-year-old Christa allegedly did to Colleen. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode 1 - Christa and Colleen
September 10, 2025 · 24 minMonths after two teens enroll at Knoxville’s JobCorps program, one is dead and the other is charged with murdering her. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.