Unrestorable
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?
Episodes
A mentally ill mother. A family in crisis. And a father’s worst nightmare.
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When Troy realizes his youngest children are missing, can he depend on their mother to help him find them?
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Catherine is charged with the disappearance of her children, but a judge finds she is incompetent to stand trial. What does this mean for Troy’s search for his kids and pursuit of justice?
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Catherine is treated in a state-run psychiatric hospital after being found incompetent to stand trial. But Troy and others raise questions about whether she’s faking it to avoid accountability.
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After years of advocacy by Troy, a judge finally decides to hear testimony from sworn witnesses about Catherine’s competency, and may even question Catherine directly. But as the clock counts down to the mandatory dismissal of charges, is it too little too late?
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The judge prepares to rule in Catherine’s competency hearing. Will Troy finally get the justice he’s been seeking for almost a decade?
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While Catherine’s case remains mired at the intersection of the criminal justice and mental health systems, one overarching question remains: What happened to Sarah and Jacob?
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Troy ponders his next moves as he searches for broader accountability for the loss of his two children.
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In January 1995, 18-year-old Christa Pike killed 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in the woods of Knoxville, Tennessee–and 30 years later, she’s still on death row. Proof of Life explores the meaning of justice and rehabilitation, and asks how we determine whether someone deserves to live or die.
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Months after two teens enroll at Knoxville’s JobCorps program, one is dead and the other is charged with murdering her.
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As details of the murder leak, the Knoxville community is shocked by what 18-year-old Christa allegedly did to Colleen.
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We learn what the jury and public didn’t know about Christa, her attorneys, and their trial strategy.
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Christa 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.
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As 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.
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Defending “the worst of the worst” can take a sizable emotional toll–but it also reinforces a sense of shared humanity.
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Beth and Sarah talk to Colleen’s mother about whether justice is even possible in this case.
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Christa and her attorneys grapple with a recent announcement by the Tennessee Supreme Court.
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