Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Horrific Details Emerge After Tennessee's Botched Execution Attempt of Death Row Inmate Christa Pike | Crime Alert 10.03.26

Transcript

Horrific Details Emerge After Tennessee's Botched Execution Attempt of Death Row Inmate Christa Pike | Crime Alert 10.03.26 · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Crime Alert, hourly update, breaking crime news now. I'm Sydney Silvani.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Witnesses have recounted the horrific ordeal inside the death chamber
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: during Tennessee inmate Krista Pike's botched execution on Wednesday, September 30th. Pike, 50,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: has spent three decades on death row for the 1995
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: murder of 19-year-old classmate Colleen Slemmer. Pike was 18 when she,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: along with boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp and friend Shadola Peterson, lured
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Slemmer into the woods. Slemmer was tortured, found with a
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: pentagram carved into her chest, and Pike took a piece
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: of her skull as a souvenir. Shipp was sentenced to
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: life with parole because he was 17, while Peterson received
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: six years probation after pleading guilty as an accessory after
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: the fact. Pike was set to become the first woman
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: executed in Tennessee in over 200 years. Pike's scheduled execution
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: drew intense protests from anti-death penalty advocates outside the prison.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: Her lawyers had appealed her sentence, arguing she suffered severe
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: childhood sexual abuse, undiagnosed mental illness, and a blood disorder
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: that made her fear a prolonged, painful death. After being
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: denied a stay last week, Pike survived two attempted lethal
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: injections over 30 minutes on Wednesday evening. The execution followed
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: a fast-moving legal fight after the 6th U.S. Circuit Court
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: granted a stay Wednesday morning, but the U.S. Supreme Court
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: vacated it. Inside the death chamber, the curtain opened around
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: 7.27 p.m. At 7.31 p.m., Pike said the vein in
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: her arm felt like it was about to burst. At
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: 7.41 p.m., staff placed a rock at the window to
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: indicate drug administration. Over five minutes, Pike spoke, yawned, and
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: ground her jaw. Curtains lowered and reopened, showing her snoring.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: Witnesses heard choking and grunting as her body lifted off
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: the gurney into a V-shape. A rock was placed again
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: at 8.01 p.m., followed by louder snoring, and when curtains
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: closed at 8.05 p.m., witnesses demanded they remain open because
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: she was still snoring. During execution attempts, Pike even tried
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: to guide executioners on where to find a vein. As
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: she lay snoring with a heartbeat, attorneys filed emergency motions
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: in federal court demanding immediate medical care. Tennessee informed federal
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: court during a conference call that medical personnel had already
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: begun treating Pike, making the request moot and transferred her off-site.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: Defense attorneys Randy Spivey and Stephen Farrell confirmed she is
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: in critical condition receiving life-saving care. warning of potential brain
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: damage from oxygen deprivation. Following the second botched execution in
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: four months, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee halted all state executions
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: while lawyers demand her sentence be commuted. More crime and
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: justice news after this. A Massachusetts man was arrested by
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: the FBI and charged with cyber-stalking Katie Miller, former White
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: House aide and wife of President Donald Trump's Deputy Chief
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: of Staff Stephen Miller. John Anthony Proia III, a 41-year-old
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: military veteran from Waltham, was indicted by a Boston grand
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: jury on cyber-stalking charges and arrested Thursday, October 1, by
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: Boston's Joint Terrorism Task Force. The Justice Department revealed Miller
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: was targeted in over 40 harassing sexually explicit calls and
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: texts between August 3 and September 23. Following his arrest,
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: Miller publicly thanked law enforcement and Attorney General Todd Blanche
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: for keeping her family safe. Prosecutors state Proia used voice-over
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: internet protocol applications to cycle through free phone numbers, preventing
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: Miller from blocking calls effectively. The indictment details explicit texts,
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: including derogatory messages sent to Miller's father regarding her marriage.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: Proia also posted on threads encouraging followers to call politicians
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: late at night and left posts referencing President Trump. Internal
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: resistance within the FBI over charging Proia led senior leadership
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: to remove two senior agents from a Washington counterterrorism team,
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: with White House officials stating the agents were stifling serious
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: threat investigations. Federal Magistrate Judge Paul Levinson released Proia under
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: strict conditions, ordering him not to contact the Miller family
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: and any public officials or potential witnesses, barring him from
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: using VOIP services and requiring him to surrender all weapons,
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: including knives, crossbows, and machetes. The case is prosecuted by
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: the U.S. Attorney's National Security Unit. Meanwhile, in Cambridge, Massachusetts,
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: a man is accused of sexually assaulting multiple people inside
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: a Planet Fitness locker room on Thursday morning, October 1.
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: Police state 40-year-old Laquan Holland entered the gym, located on
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: the bottom floor of Lesley University's University Hall, around 9 a.m.
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: local time with a female guest. After an initial dispute
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: arose between them, a gym employee intervened and immediately called authorities.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: Holland then allegedly forced his way into the women's locker
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: room where he sexually assaulted multiple individuals. Cambridge police responded
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: swiftly and arrested Holland at the scene, while one victim
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: was transported to a local hospital for evaluation. The Planet
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: Fitness franchise group cancelled Holland's membership and stated they are
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: cooperating fully with local law enforcement. The attack has deeply
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: alarmed frequent gym attendees. Speaking to NBC10, gym member Dr.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: Yana Doe expressed her shock and growing concern for personal safety.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: I've always felt safe. Now that I've heard that this
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: had happened, I'll definitely have to look behind my back,
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: which is not a great feeling. I'm going there to
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: work out, undressing out of my scrubs, getting into my
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: workout clothes. So yeah, I'm definitely going to think about that.
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: Authorities continue their active investigation into Holland as community members
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: raise safety concerns. For more crime and justice news, be
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: sure to join us for Crime Stories with Nancy Grace
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: on Fox 1, YouTube, Sirius XM, and now streaming on Tubi.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: With this crime alert, I'm Sydney Silvani.