‘I DIDN’T GET JUSTICE FOR MY DAUGHTER’ — COLLEEN SLEMMER’S MOM SPEAKS OUT AFTER CHRISTA PIKE SURVIVES EXECUTION

After waiting more than three decades to witness Christa Pike’s execution, Colleen Slemmer’s mother says the failed procedure has left her facing a painful new chapter — especially after learning Pike is now awake and speaking.

For May Martinez, September 30 was supposed to bring an end to more than three decades of waiting.

She had traveled from Florida to Tennessee with her husband, Raul, to witness the execution of Christa Pike, the woman convicted in the 1995 killing of her 19-year-old daughter, Colleen Slemmer.

Instead, May watched as the execution failed.

And now, she is facing the news that Pike has regained consciousness and is speaking.

SHE TRAVELED 11 HOURS FOR CLOSURE

May and Raul made the long journey to Nashville believing they would finally witness the sentence imposed on Colleen’s killer being carried out.

Pike was scheduled to receive a lethal injection at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution on September 30.

But after legal challenges delayed the execution for hours, the procedure eventually began that evening.

According to witnesses and reporting from AP and PEOPLE, Pike received two doses of pentobarbital but survived. She was eventually taken to a hospital in critical condition.

For May, the experience was devastating.

She later said she broke down in tears after seeing Pike still conscious during the procedure.

“NOBODY APOLOGIZED”

After returning home, May said she was struggling to understand how the execution could have gone so wrong.

She told ABC News that nobody had apologized to her.

“I think that the state owes me a big apology,” she said.

She also described feeling as though the events had reopened the pain surrounding Colleen’s death.

For May, the issue was never simply about watching an execution.

It was about finally seeing the sentence imposed for her daughter’s death carried out after more than 30 years.

THEN CAME ANOTHER SHOCK

The situation became even more difficult when Pike’s attorneys announced that their client had survived and was receiving medical treatment.

Days later, they announced an extraordinary update:

Pike was conscious and speaking.

Her attorneys said she remained in critical care and faced a potentially lengthy recovery.

The news meant that the woman May had traveled hundreds of miles to see executed was still alive.

May has since questioned whether Tennessee will ever attempt another execution.

In comments reported by WSMV, she said she had a feeling Pike would survive and did not believe the state would make another attempt.

When asked what she wanted to happen next, May responded:

“It doesn’t matter what I think.”

She added that authorities would ultimately make the decision.

A DAUGHTER SHE HAS NEVER STOPPED REMEMBERING

Colleen Slemmer was only 19 years old when she died in 1995.

Pike was 18 at the time and was later convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death.

Pike’s then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, was also convicted in the case and received a life sentence with the possibility of parole. A third person, Shadolla Peterson, was convicted as an accessory.

For more than 30 years, May has tried to keep the focus on the daughter she lost.

Rather than allowing Colleen to become only a name connected to a death-row case, she has continued speaking about her life and memory.

But the failed execution has forced her back into the center of a case she has spent decades trying to leave behind.

“I DIDN’T GET JUSTICE FOR MY DAUGHTER”

The Tennessee Department of Correction has defended its execution protocol, while Governor Bill Lee ordered an independent review after the procedure failed.

The state has also suspended scheduled executions for the remainder of 2026 while the review takes place.

Meanwhile, Pike’s attorneys are seeking to preserve evidence from the execution and have asked that her death sentence be commuted to life imprisonment without parole.

For May, however, the legal questions are deeply personal.

She waited more than 30 years for what she believed would be the final chapter in her daughter’s case.

Instead, she is once again waiting.

This time, she does not know what comes next.

And while Tennessee investigates how the execution failed, May is left carrying the same grief she has carried since 1995 — grieving a daughter who never got to grow older.

“All I wanted was justice.”

For May Martinez, that wait is not over.