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Pike execution fails

True crime · Heat 6.4 / 10 · 9 shows · 3h 49m airtime

Tennessee's lethal injection of Christa Pike failed on October 5, 2026, and she survived, unconscious on a ventilator, after the Supreme Court cleared the execution on October 1. She is now off the ventilator, speaking and alert, with no memory of the attempts, and has sued Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti. A judge has ordered all evidence preserved. The discussion has moved to the mechanics: the IV took 45 minutes, the pentobarbital went into tissue rather than a vein, and the first 911 caller reported ten grams given and the person not yet deceased. The Department of Correction says it followed every step of its protocol, which allowed a central line only if the initial IV failed before injection began.

How 9 podcasts covered it

  1. Consider This from NPR, 2026-10-01 (0:33 to 1:40)
    Plays press audio from execution night
    Press-conference audio from the night of the scheduled execution: a reporter who has witnessed five Tennessee executions says nothing about it was normal, and Pike's attorney says she was still breathing and snoring at 7:46 and had sought a humane execution, not a delay.
    New angle: Pike was still breathing and snoring at 7:46 after two doses of lethal injection.
  2. Consider This from NPR, 2026-10-01 (3:18 to 6:27)
    Puts a media witness on the record
    Puts a media witness on the record: seven witnesses waited 13 hours, IV placement took 45 minutes instead of the usual 10 to 15, Pike sang and talked after the first dose, and the warden ordered witnesses out after two hours before ambulances took her away.
    New angle: Placing the IV lines took 45 minutes, against a usual 10 to 15.
  3. Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski, 2026-10-02 (28:17 to 41:57)
    Argues lethal injection is botched by staff
    Recaps the September 30 attempt and its immediate aftermath - the snoring witnesses heard, Governor Lee halting executions, Pike at Vanderbilt in critical condition - then argues lethal injection is botched because prison staff, not phlebotomists, place the IVs, and pushes the firing squad. Reaction and method debate, no new development.
  4. Global News Podcast, 2026-10-03 (1:37 to 6:23)
    Recounts the botched Pike execution
    First account of the botched Pike execution: a witness describes two failed lethal injections, her hospitalization on a ventilator, and the commutation request now before a governor leaving office.
    New angle: Pike survived two lethal injections and is unconscious on a ventilator; her attorneys have asked the governor to commute her sentence.
  5. Surviving the Survivor, 2026-10-03 (1:02:59 to 1:04:59)
    Recaps the failed execution and reaction
    Two minutes on Pike between other stories: the failed lethal injection, her age at the murder and now, and a comparison to Thomas Creech in Idaho. Reaction and recap, with no new development in the case.
  6. The Tim Dillon Show, 2026-10-03 (26:29 to 30:20)
    Recounts the crime and argues for a head shot
    Recounts Pike's crime - the torture and murder of Colleen Slemmer on the University of Tennessee campus - and argues the botched lethal injection should have been a shot to the head.
    New angle: Pike survived a lethal injection in Tennessee and was left in agony when the second shot did not work.
  7. The Tim Dillon Show, 2026-10-03 (30:16 to 31:02)
    Plays the breaking clip and the stay filing
    Plays a CBS News breaking-news clip on the botched execution: two syringes of pentobarbital, Pike still with a heartbeat and audibly snoring, and her attorneys now seeking an emergency stay from the Tennessee State Supreme Court. The stay filing is the new step the earlier coverage did not have.
    New angle: Pike's attorneys are seeking an emergency stay from the Tennessee State Supreme Court.
  8. The Tim Dillon Show, 2026-10-03 (31:02 to 32:26)
    Riffs on the botched execution
    Dillon riffs on the botched execution, arguing the state should finish the job and that an AI like Claude or Grok would not have botched it. Reaction and comedy, staying inside the week's coverage.
  9. The Tim Dillon Show, 2026-10-03 (32:26 to 33:23)
    Adds a reporter's account from outside Riverbend
    Adds a witness account from outside Riverbend: a reporter saw a Nashville Fire truck and ambulances arrive after the attempt and was told to leave the building at 8:49 p.m., with no word on whether Pike was alive.
    New angle: A reporter outside Riverbend saw a Nashville Fire truck and ambulances and was told to leave at 8:49 p.m.
  10. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-10-06 (1:48 to 3:37)
    Opens on the failed injection and the skull
    Opens on the failed lethal injection itself: Pike survives unconscious on a ventilator, and an eyewitness reporter describes the closed curtains, the whimpering, and the snoring she says did not sound like agonal breathing. Slemmer's mother says a piece of her daughter's skull was never recovered.
    New angle: A piece of Colleen Slemmer's skull was lost and never recovered.
  11. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-10-06 (3:37 to 11:21)
    Adds the first eyewitness account
    Puts the first eyewitness account of the failed execution on the record: the curtains stayed closed for almost an hour during IV insertion, Pike sang and laughed before the snore-like state, and her final statement never mentioned Colleen Slemmer. Also notes a media lawsuit over access to the full process.
    New angle: Media organizations have sued in Tennessee to witness the full execution process; Pike's final statement did not mention Slemmer.
  12. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-10-06 (11:19 to 19:38)
    Recaps the 1995 murder from the former chief
    Puts the former Knoxville chief on the record about the 1995 murder itself: the January 11 threat, the January 12 window, the seven neck cuts, and the skull fragment that fit the fracture at trial. He also says the love-triangle motive was never corroborated.
  13. Short Wave, 2026-10-07 (0:26 to 1:47)
    Plays Van Norman's prediction the IV would fail
    Opens on Christa Pike surviving her lethal injection in Tennessee, then plays anesthesiologist Gail Van Norman's pre-execution testimony that the IV would fail and the drug would go around the vein. Van Norman says the only thing she did not predict is that Pike would live.
    New angle: Van Norman predicted pentobarbital would be injected around the vein, not in it, and Pike survived.
  14. Short Wave, 2026-10-07 (5:17 to 12:51)
    Walks through pentobarbital and past autopsies
    Van Norman walks through how pentobarbital works and why it is not a humane anesthetic, then widens to past botched executions - Diaz, Lockett - and the autopsies she has reviewed. The Pike case is the frame, but the segment's new material is the autopsy record and the closing news that Pike has regained consciousness.
    New angle: Pike's attorneys say she has regained consciousness, is speaking, and is still receiving critical medical care.
  15. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-10-07 (1:44 to 4:23)
    Recaps the murder and the first dose
    Opens with the 1995 torture murder and Pike's 1997 electrocution sentence, then hands to WBIR's John North, who was in the witness chamber: the first dose never put her under, and she asked whether they had started yet.
  16. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-10-07 (4:58 to 8:57)
    Interviews the witness from the death chamber
    The WBIR reporter who witnessed from the death chamber walks through the timeline: blinds up at 7:27, Pike's last words, blinds down for the second dose, snoring and wheezing until 8:05, then blinds down again for the final fifteen minutes nobody saw. Adds that Pike is now off the ventilator, speaking and alert, with no memory of the attempts.
    New angle: Pike is off the ventilator, speaking and alert, and has no memory of the execution attempts.
  17. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-10-07 (11:35 to 12:44)
    Reports Pike is off the ventilator
    Reports Pike is off the ventilator, speaking and alert, with hospital memories but none of the execution attempts, and that she has filed a new suit against Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti. The rest is victim-focused retelling of the 1995 murder.
  18. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-10-07 (14:55 to 18:51)
    Walks the autopsy record in detail
    Forensic expert walks the autopsy record: over 300 slices, meat cleaver wounds to the back, the asphalt skull fracture, and Pike's alleged lines during the attack. Adds the count and the cleaver detail to the case record the point already holds.
    New angle: Colleen Slemmer had over 300 slices to her body and was hewn in the back with a meat cleaver.
  19. Global News Podcast, 2026-10-08 (6:49 to 10:37)
    Reports the botched execution and evidence order
    Goes to the botched execution of Krista Pike: a Tennessee judge orders all evidence preserved, lawyers describe Pike as angry and confused, and the case renews the US death penalty debate.
    New angle: A Tennessee judge ordered all evidence from Krista Pike's botched execution preserved.
  20. The Megyn Kelly Show, 2026-10-08 (13:10 to 16:04)
    Details Pike's blood clot and pneumonia
    First coverage of the failed Pike execution: the two pentobarbital doses on September 30, her waking on Tuesday, the Nashville preservation hearing before Chancellor Aisha Miles, and attorney Randy Spivey's account of her blood clot, pneumonia and immobile arms.
    New angle: Pike regained consciousness Tuesday with a blood clot, pneumonia and no movement in either arm.
  21. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-10-08 (0:00 to 2:15)
    Reports the emergency filing to preserve evidence
    Hourly crime update on the evidence fight: Pike's attorneys went before Davidson County Chancery Court in Nashville on Wednesday seeking an emergency order to preserve all physical, written and electronic evidence from the execution, and filed a motion accusing the Department of Correction of cruel and unusual punishment. Recaps the two doses, the seven needles and the bent needle, then…
    New angle: Pike's attorneys appeared in Davidson County Chancery Court in Nashville seeking an emergency order to preserve execution evidence.
  22. The TMZ Podcast, 2026-10-09 (2:02 to 6:00)
    Relays the lawyers on lost movement in her hands
    Relays the Pike legal team's press release: physical recovery with clear lungs and a regular diet, but lost movement in her arms and hands, plus warnings of memory and concentration problems. The hosts debate the commutation request, the precedent and the victim's family.
    New angle: Pike's lawyers say she has lost movement in her arms and hands and will face memory and concentration problems.
  23. Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski, 2026-10-09 (4:27 to 5:59)
    Adds the state's written defense of the protocol
    Adds the state's first written response: a Department of Correction statement just after 11 p.m. on September 30 saying it followed every step of its lawful protocol and that the protocol allows no additional procedures. Also dates Pike's hospital arrival at 8:53 with both arms swollen, burned and blistered.
    New angle: The Department of Correction said in writing that it followed every step of its protocol and that the protocol allows no additional procedures.
  24. Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski, 2026-10-10 (3:23 to 17:17)
    Explains the mechanics of the failed execution
    Retired FBI agents walk through the mechanics of the failed September 30 execution: staff rather than phlebotomists place the IVs, lethal injection runs about a 93 percent success rate against the firing squad's 100 percent, and the executioner's identity stays hidden. Notes Pike is in critical condition at Vanderbilt and that clemency would mean life without parole. Reaction and explanation…
  25. Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski, 2026-10-11 (1:23 to 22:13)
    Adds the ethics complaint against Fowler
    Walks the botched September 30 execution and the Fowler record, then adds a detail not yet on the record: a formal medical ethics complaint was filed against Fowler in July 2026 by Carruthers' sister, and he has faced no formal consequences.
    New angle: Carruthers' sister filed a formal medical ethics complaint against Fowler in July 2026; he faced no consequences.
  26. Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski, 2026-10-11 (22:33 to 38:54)
    Explains the psychology of the failed execution
    Retired FBI agent Robin Dreeke walks through the psychology of the failed execution: Pike cooperating with the IV team, the trauma to May Martinez in the witness room, and the inexperience of the execution team. Reaction and analysis, not new record.
  27. Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski, 2026-10-13 (3:13 to 6:14)
    Breaks down the protocol's missing fallback
    Picks apart the protocol itself: a central line was authorized only if the initial IV failed before injection, so once the team believed the IVs were in there was no fallback. Notes the drugs' potency is unknowable because the process is sealed and the executioner's name is hidden.
    New angle: The protocol allowed a central line only if the initial IV failed before injection began.
  28. Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski, 2026-10-13 (6:49 to 10:20)
    Debates firing squads and central lines
    Debate segment on why medical associations bar doctors from executions, leaving unaccredited or retired staff to place IVs. Argues for firing squads or a central line; stays inside the opinion lane the case record already covers.
  29. Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski, 2026-10-13 (47:10 to 1:08:03)
    Recaps the execution a week on
    Recaps the botched execution a week on: Pike awake and speaking, the emergency motion to preserve the IV lines and drug vials, and Ed Stanton's independent review. The panel argues qualifications and the missing post-second-dose protocol, but adds no new record.
  30. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-10-14 (0:08 to 3:25)
    Opens with Pike walking and talking after
    Opens the episode with Pike walking, talking and angry after the botched execution, and plays the 911 call from the night of September 30 - a first-hand record of the emergency response that had not been on the tape before.
    New angle: The 911 call shows responders were told the execution was carried out but no code was given.
  31. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-10-14 (3:34 to 6:29)
    Plays the unreleased first 911 call
    Plays both 911 calls from Riverbend. The first was never released under a law shielding execution participants' identities, but a script was obtained: the caller did not know the gate code, said ten grams of pentobarbital had been given, and reported labored, slow breathing about an hour in.
    New angle: The first 911 caller said ten grams of pentobarbital had been administered and the person was not yet deceased.
  32. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-10-14 (6:35 to 9:32)
    Argues officials were unprepared and could be sued
    Trial attorney Mike Jaffer argues Tennessee officials were unprepared and could face civil liability, and that Pike could sue the state. Nancy Grace then retells the murder of Colleen Slemmer in graphic detail, staying inside the case record.
  33. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-10-14 (9:49 to 15:13)
    Explains where the pentobarbital went
    Forensics expert Joseph Scott Morgan walks through how pentobarbital is supposed to work and where it went instead: into the sub-Q tissue of Pike's arm, free-floating, producing the burning sensation she described. He calls it an institutional and SOP failure, not a vein-diagnosis problem.
    New angle: The pentobarbital went into sub-Q tissue, not a vein, and burned as it spread.
  34. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-10-14 (15:15 to 18:10)
    Retells the mother's account of the gurney
    Psychoanalyst segment on Pike's anger and the re-traumatization of Colleen's mother, with audio of the mother describing Pike laughing on the gurney and the missing skull fragment. Reaction and retelling, no new development in the case.
  35. Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski, 2026-10-17 (0:47 to 1:59)
    Sets up the failed execution and the order
    Opens the episode with a short setup of the failed September 30 execution and the judge's preservation order, then frames the questions the show will take up. A recap that stays inside the week's coverage.
  36. Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski, 2026-10-17 (1:59 to 5:00)
    Adds the push to preserve communications
    Turns to the legal strategy: the defense wants communications between government officials preserved alongside the syringes and chemicals, and argues the state was warned about Pike's venous issues and rejected alternatives, which could support a recklessness claim.
    New angle: Pike's legal team sought preservation of communications between government officials about the execution.
  37. Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski, 2026-10-17 (5:54 to 6:51)
    Explains the planned as-applied challenge
    Legal analysis of the Eighth Amendment path: the earlier cruel-and-unusual-punishment motion was rejected on the general constitutionality of lethal injection, and the team now plans an as-applied challenge built on the botched attempt and Pike's injuries.
    New angle: Pike's team plans an as-applied Eighth Amendment challenge after a court rejected its general lethal-injection motion.
  38. Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski, 2026-10-17 (6:30 to 11:22)
    Weighs Pike's civil claims for her injuries
    Legal-analysis segment on whether Pike can bring civil claims for her injuries, weighing recklessness and gross deviation from the standard of care. Also considers the victim's family's three decades of waiting and whether the state owed them a duty. Speculation on remedies, not a new development.
  39. Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski, 2026-10-17 (12:20 to 13:40)
    Recaps the clemency request to Lee
    Recaps the clemency request to Governor Bill Lee and stays inside the legal-strategy frame: Faddis calls it a smart move and floats a constitutional-competence argument from her injuries. No new filing or ruling.
  40. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-10-19 (0:01 to 4:35)
    Adds the request for more time before a hearing
    Opens the episode with the 911 audio and the week's recap: two doses, the snoring, the ambulance, Pike waking Tuesday. Adds one next step - her attorneys are asking the court for more time before a hearing on what comes next.
    New angle: Pike's attorneys are asking the court for more time to prepare for a hearing.
  41. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-10-19 (7:53 to 10:52)
    Debates who carved the pentagrams
    Reporter Keith Sharon and defense attorney Franz Borghardt debate who carved the pentagrams and whether the botched execution gives Pike a cruel-and-unusual-punishment argument for life. The legal point is argued, not advanced; the segment stays inside the case record already on file.
  42. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-10-19 (10:52 to 14:18)
    Debates whether the botched execution was cruel
    Debate segment on whether the failed execution amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. Grace argues the death penalty is constitutional and no cruelty was intended; Borghardt says the state botched it and Pike may escape death. Pike's own account of the murder is played over the argument.
  43. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-10-19 (18:52 to 21:43)
    Adds a psychologist on victims erased in death cases
    Brings on a forensic psychologist who argues victims get erased in death penalty cases and that Pike's survival will rally opponents around her. The news clip that the year's last scheduled execution will not take place restates what is already on the record.
  44. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-10-19 (21:53 to 25:30)
    Interviews a reporter who sat through the hearing
    Brings on a Tennessean reporter who sat through the August Knoxville hearing: Pike argued her veins were too small, sought a jugular central line, then asked for hanging. Recaps the continuance and commutation push already on the record and the state's case for the electric chair.
  45. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-10-28 (7:48 to 11:35)
    Adds compromised veins from substance use
    Brings on a medical examiner to explain the three-drug protocol Tennessee abandoned and to argue the single-drug pentobarbital method was the flaw. He adds that Pike's history of substance use disorder left her veins compromised, making superficial IV access the wrong choice.
    New angle: Pike's history of substance use disorder left her veins compromised, making superficial IV access inappropriate.
  46. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-10-28 (11:42 to 15:41)
    Asks why no sedative preceded pentobarbital
    Grace asks the medical examiner why no pre-anesthetic sedative like propofol preceded the pentobarbital. Maroney blames cost-saving, walks through the three-drug protocol and recommends Tennessee use all three drugs with qualified personnel. Opinion and explanation, not a development in the case.
  47. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-10-28 (25:09 to 31:12)
    Debates central line versus surgical port
    A nurse-attorney and a doctor debate whether a central line or a surgical port should have been used for Pike's execution, with the nurse arguing the drug went into tissue and burned. Opinion and explanation of how the methods work, not a development in the case.
  48. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-10-28 (31:15 to 32:27)
    Recaps the August hearing via The Tennessean
    Recaps the August hearing through The Tennessean's Keith Sharon: the central line was Pike's first alternative, and the defense argued a doctor's qualifications would be litigated endlessly. Stays inside the record already laid out, then turns to the cognition claim.
  49. The TMZ Podcast, 2026-10-30 (1:20 to 5:47)
    Reads Pike's statement in full
    Reads the statement attributed to Pike in full - waking alone in a hospital, pain in her arms, hands and throat, still struggling to speak - and debates what comes next given the governor's halt on executions for the year.
    New angle: Pike's own statement says she woke alone in a hospital, still struggles to speak, and is searching for meaning in her survival.

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