Christa Pike murder case continues to haunt former Knoxville police chief

Former Knoxville Police Chief Phil Keith has stated that the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer remains a haunting memory due to the extreme brutality of the crime scene.

Slemmer was lured to her death by 18-year-old Christa Pike and three classmates from the Knoxville Job Corps Center under the pretense of visiting a music store. The group subjected Slemmer to nearly an hour of torture, including beating, cutting, and gagging her, before ultimately crushing her skull with broken asphalt.

Court records and trial testimony noted “satanic elements” in the attack, including the carving of pentagrams into the victim by Pike’s then-boyfriend. Pike, now 50, reportedly kept a fragment of Slemmer’s skull as a trophy. While Pike faced the death penalty, her boyfriend was not eligible because he was 17 at the time of the crime.