SAN ANTONIO \u2014 Christa Pike is reported to still be alive after Tennessee failed to execute her, administering a lethal drug twice.<\/p>\n
John North, a senior investigative journalist with WBIR who witnessed the execution described Pike\u2019s condition afterward.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt times, it appeared labored. She was snoring at times, but she was still breathing,\u201d North said.<\/p>\n
Morgan Seeley, the niece of Colleen Slemmer \u2014 the woman Pike was convicted of killing \u2014 said the outcome devastated her family.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that she did not die made my grandma very sad. I talked to her this morning, and she was crying,\u201d Seeley said.<\/p>\n
Much of Slemmer\u2019s immediate family now lives in San Antonio. They shared photographs of her with us as they reflected on the loss that has followed their family for decades.<\/p>\n
Seeley never had the opportunity to meet Slemmer. In 1995, Pike and her boyfriend were convicted in connection with Slemmer\u2019s killing in Tennessee. Prosecutors said Slemmer, Pike\u2019s classmate at a job training facility, was lured into a wooded area, where she was tortured, beaten, stabbed and killed. A pentagram carved into her body.<\/p>\n
Seeley said her family has struggled with the situation since.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey always talked about the good. They couldn\u2019t talk about the bad much because it was so brutal,\u201d Seeley said.<\/p>\n
Seeley said there has been extensive discussion about allegations involving Pike\u2019s difficult childhood and sexual abuse as possible factors in the killing. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a last-minute effort Wednesday evening to halt the execution.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt didn\u2019t make sense, because everyone has some sort of issue, and they don\u2019t go out there and kill people,\u201d Seeley said.<\/p>\n
Seeley\u2019s mother, Slemmer\u2019s sister, died while waiting for Pike\u2019s execution. Seeley said one of the final memories Slemmer and her mother shared was a playful disagreement over the last bowl of Fruity Pebbles before Slemmer left for the training facility.<\/p>\n
\u201cColleen bought that with her own money. So it was like, \u2018Hey, I was saving that,\u2019 you know? But she loved Fruity Pebbles, and my mom did, too. And I guess she ate the last bowl of it,\u201d Seeley said.<\/p>\n
As Pike\u2019s execution remains in limbo, Seeley said her family is holding on to hope that justice will prevail.<\/p>\n
Since the failed execution attempt, Tennessee\u2019s governor has paused executions till the end of the year. We reached out to ask whether the state would consider lifting that pause sooner but had not received a response.<\/p>\n
An attorney for Pike spoke today about the failed execution, describing it as torture and asking for Pike\u2019s death sentence to be commuted. The attorney said Pike is in critical condition and receiving life-saving care.<\/p>\n