In a stunning eleventh-hour turn, Christa Pike will not be executed Wednesday\u2014at least not yet.<\/p>\n
Right after Charisma reported on the Tennessee death row inmate\u2019s unusual comments about feeling a \u201ckinship\u201d with Lindsay Clancy, a federal appeals court stepped in and temporarily halted Pike\u2019s execution.<\/a><\/p>\n BREAKING: A federal appeals court halts the execution of Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike about an hour before she was set to die by lethal injection.<\/p>\n Execution witnesses had already gathered at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville when the order came down\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/gY3WXkyXdE<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Fox News (@FoxNews) September 30, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n WBIR Channel 10 reported that the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued the stay Wednesday while it considers a new legal challenge in Pike\u2019s case. The three-judge panel ruled 2-1 that another review was necessary, with one judge dissenting.<\/p>\n The intervention came after Pike appeared to have run out of options. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee declined to intervene, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the case.<\/p>\n Pike, now 50, was just 18 when she murdered fellow student Colleen Slemmer in 1995.<\/p>\n As Charisma reported earlier Wednesday, the crime carried a chilling Satanic element. Pike stabbed and beat Slemmer to death, carved a pentagram into her chest and took part of her skull as a trophy.<\/p>\n To order Don Dickerman\u2019s book,<\/a> Death Row Redemption<\/a>, visit Amazon.com.<\/a><\/p>\n Pike was scheduled to become the first woman executed by Tennessee<\/a> in more than 200 years.<\/p>\n Then, with her execution rapidly approaching, the case took another dramatic turn.<\/p>\n For now, Pike remains on death row. The appeals court\u2019s stay does not overturn her conviction or death sentence. Instead, it temporarily prevents Tennessee from carrying out the execution while the court considers this latest legal challenge.<\/p>\n Abby Trivett\u00a0is a writer and editor for Charisma Media and has a passion for sharing the gospel through the written word. She holds two degrees from Regent University, a B.A. in Communication with a concentration in Journalism and a Master of Arts in Journalism. She is the author of the newly released\u00a0book,\u00a0The Power of Suddenly: Discover How God Can Change Everything in a Moment.<\/a>\u00a0For interviews and media inquiries, please contact\u00a0[email\u00a0protected]<\/a>.<\/p>\n