BEFORE SHE BECAME A NAME IN THE HEADLINES, COLLEEN SLEMMER HAD DREAMS

She was only 19, but Colleen Slemmer already had the kind of passions and dreams that made her unforgettable to the people who loved her.

She loved computers. She loved roller skating. And she loved helping other people.

More than three decades after her life was tragically cut short, her mother, May Martinez, is still determined to make sure the world remembers Colleen for who she was — not simply for how her story ended.

A GIRL WHO LOVED COMPUTERS

Colleen had a fascination with technology from a young age.

Her mother remembered how Colleen and her stepfather would spend time together taking computers apart and putting them back together.

One of her favorite T-shirts even carried the words “computer geek.”

It was such a small part of her everyday life, but after Colleen’s death, that shirt became something much more precious.

Her family eventually had it transformed into a teddy bear — something they could hold onto as a physical reminder of the young woman they lost.

It remains one of the ways her family keeps Colleen close.

SHE LOVED HELPING CHILDREN

Technology was not the only thing Colleen cared about.

Her mother remembered her as someone who was always willing to help others.

At school, Colleen worked with children with disabilities during lunchtime, helping them with their meals and making sure they could get around.

She also volunteered at Special Olympics events and took part in other activities supporting children and her community.

Her mother said Colleen was smart, easygoing and naturally trusting.

Those memories paint a very different picture from the name that would later dominate headlines across Tennessee.

HER FAMILY SAW A FUTURE AHEAD OF HER

Colleen had not yet had the opportunity to build the life she imagined.

After high school, she went to the Knoxville Job Corps Center, encouraged by her grandfather.

Her interest in computers was part of what inspired the idea that she could pursue computer-related training and build a career.

At 19, she was still at the beginning of adulthood.

There were still places to go, things to learn and dreams that had not yet been fulfilled.

That is what makes her mother’s memories so important.

May does not want Colleen reduced to a single tragic chapter.

She wants people to remember the daughter who loved computers, volunteered with children and had a future ahead of her.

A MOTHER WHO HAS KEPT HER MEMORY ALIVE

More than 30 years later, May continues to speak about her daughter.

Her memories have remained remarkably vivid.

She remembers Colleen’s personality.

She remembers her interests.

She remembers the little details — including that beloved “computer geek” shirt that was eventually turned into a teddy bear.

For a mother, those ordinary objects can become extraordinary.

They are pieces of a life that can no longer be lived.

And for May, keeping Colleen’s story alive means making sure the world sees the person behind the headline.

COLLEEN WAS MORE THAN THE WAY HER STORY ENDED

Colleen’s life became permanently connected to one of Tennessee’s most notorious criminal cases.

She was a student at the Knoxville Job Corps Center in 1995 when she was killed.

Christa Pike, who was 18 at the time, was later convicted and sentenced to death.

But for Colleen’s family, the most important part of her story has never been the courtroom, the sentence or the years that followed.

It is Colleen herself.

The teenager who loved computers.

The young woman who volunteered to help children.

The girl who loved roller skating.

The daughter whose favorite shirt eventually became a teddy bear.

Those are the memories her family refuses to let disappear.

“REMEMBER HER FOR WHO SHE WAS”

As attention once again returned to Colleen’s case following the failed execution of Christa Pike in September 2026, May spoke publicly about the daughter she lost.

She and her husband traveled from Florida to Tennessee to witness the execution attempt.

The procedure ultimately failed, leaving Pike hospitalized.

For May, the experience brought decades of memories and grief back to the surface.

But beneath all the legal developments and headlines remains one simple truth for Colleen’s family:

Colleen was a 19-year-old with dreams.

She was a daughter.

She was a volunteer.

She was a young woman who loved computers and roller skating.

And she was someone who had barely begun to discover what her future might hold.

Her mother wants the world to remember that girl.

Not just the case.

Not just the headlines.

Colleen.

Because before she became a name remembered in a tragic story, she was a young woman who still had so much life ahead of her.