For more than three decades, May Martinez carried the memory of her daughter Colleen Slemmer and waited for the day Tennessee would carry out the death sentence imposed on Christa Pike.

On September 30, 2026, Martinez traveled roughly 11 hours from Florida to Nashville with her husband, Raul, expecting to witness the final chapter of a case that had consumed their family since Colleen’s murder in 1995.

Instead, they watched an execution attempt fail.

Pike survived two doses of pentobarbital, was taken from Riverbend Maximum Security Institution by ambulance, and was later reported to be unconscious and on a ventilator in critical condition. Martinez and her husband were left with questions about what had happened inside the execution chamber and whether the sentence against Colleen’s killer would ever be carried out. [People.com](https://people.com/christa-pike-s-victim-s-mom-watched-as-execution-failed-i-did-not-take-my-eyes-off-her-12152283)

For Martinez, the experience was not simply a failed state procedure.

It was another devastating interruption after 31 years of waiting.

“I broke down in tears,” Martinez told an ABC News affiliate while traveling back to Florida. She said she watched Pike during the execution attempt and saw that she was still conscious and moving. [ABC News](https://abcnews.com/US/mother-christa-pikes-victim-speaks-botched-execution-broke/story?id=136950906)

Martinez said she received no apology from Tennessee officials.

Asked whether anyone had apologized to her after the execution failed, she answered, “No, sir. Nobody apologized.”

She then added that she believed the state owed her “a big apology.” [ABC News](https://abcnews.com/US/mother-christa-pikes-victim-speaks-botched-execution-broke/story?id=136950906)

The family’s anger has become one of the most significant reactions to the failed execution because it comes from people who had spent decades waiting for the punishment imposed after Colleen’s death.

Colleen was 19 when she was killed in Knoxville in January 1995.

Pike was 18 at the time and was later convicted of first-degree murder. She received a death sentence in 1996 and ultimately spent more than three decades on Tennessee’s death row. [ABC News](https://abcnews.com/US/mother-christa-pikes-victim-speaks-botched-execution-broke/story?id=136950906)

For the Slemmer family, September 30 was supposed to represent an ending.

Instead, it produced another uncertain chapter.

May Martinez and Raul arrived at the prison hours before the execution. According to their account, they waited for an extended period as legal proceedings delayed the start.

When the execution finally began, Martinez watched Pike through the witness-room window.

She told PEOPLE that she deliberately kept her eyes on Pike because she wanted the condemned woman to remember Colleen.

“I did not take my eyes off of her,” Martinez said, explaining that she wanted Pike to remember who Colleen was and what had happened to her daughter. [People.com](https://people.com/christa-pike-s-victim-s-mom-watched-as-execution-failed-i-did-not-take-my-eyes-off-her-12152283)

The family expected to see the state carry out the death sentence.

Instead, they watched a medical procedure unfold that ultimately failed to kill Pike.

PEOPLE reported that Martinez and Raul witnessed two attempts to administer the lethal dose of pentobarbital.

Afterward, Pike remained alive and was eventually transported to an undisclosed hospital. [People.com](https://people.com/christa-pike-s-victim-s-mom-watched-as-execution-failed-i-did-not-take-my-eyes-off-her-12152283)

The circumstances were especially confusing for the family because information coming from prison officials was limited.

After Pike was taken away, Martinez and Raul were reportedly moved into another room, where they waited for more than an hour to speak with the corrections commissioner.

According to Martinez, officials could provide little information about Pike’s condition or what would happen next.

She said the commissioner told her that he did not know much about the drugs or whether Pike would ultimately live or die. [People.com](https://people.com/christa-pike-s-victim-s-mom-watched-as-execution-failed-i-did-not-take-my-eyes-off-her-12152283)

For a mother who had traveled across state lines expecting to witness an execution, the uncertainty was devastating.

Martinez later told an ABC affiliate that she asked officials what would happen to Pike and whether she would be returned to prison.

The answer she received was that officials did not yet know what they were going to do with her.

Martinez described the moment as another painful reminder of how long her family had been waiting for justice. [ABC News](https://abcnews.com/US/mother-christa-pikes-victim-speaks-botched-execution-broke/story?id=136950906)

Her niece, Morgan Seeley, has also spoken publicly about what the failed execution has done to the family.

Seeley said Martinez had spent six or seven hours inside the prison on the day of the execution believing that justice would finally be carried out.

Instead, Pike survived.

“She went in there thinking that justice was going to get served,” Seeley said, “and then, of course, Christa didn’t die.” [https://www.wvlt.tv](https://www.wvlt.tv/2026/10/01/slemmer-family-former-police-chief-describe-anger-grief-after-failed-execution-christa-pike/)

Seeley described the failure as a profound emotional blow after more than three decades of waiting.

“You had 31 years to make sure you guys got everything in order for this day to happen,” she said, describing the failure as a “slap in the face” to her grandmother. [https://www.wvlt.tv](https://www.wvlt.tv/2026/10/01/slemmer-family-former-police-chief-describe-anger-grief-after-failed-execution-christa-pike/)

According to WSMV, Seeley said Martinez had been deeply distressed after the execution attempt failed and had not eaten for several days.

The family had viewed the scheduled execution as the culmination of a 31-year struggle to see the sentence against Pike carried out. [https://www.wsmv.com](https://www.wsmv.com/2026/10/02/being-prison-was-not-justice-family-colleen-slemmer-speaks-out-botched-execution-attempt/)

Seeley also emphasized something she believes has been lost amid the enormous national attention surrounding Pike’s condition.

She wants people to remember Colleen.

As news organizations reported on Pike’s survival, hospitalization and uncertain medical condition, Seeley said she was troubled by how quickly the victim’s identity could disappear from the center of the story.

Her message was straightforward: the focus should remain on the 19-year-old woman who was killed and on the family that has lived with that loss for decades. [https://www.wvlt.tv](https://www.wvlt.tv/2026/10/01/slemmer-family-former-police-chief-describe-anger-grief-after-failed-execution-christa-pike/)

That sentiment was echoed by Colleen’s stepfather, Raul Martinez.

After returning from Tennessee, Raul posted about the experience and expressed his continuing desire for the death sentence to be carried out.

He also shared an image representing justice for Colleen. [https://www.wsmv.com](https://www.wsmv.com/2026/10/02/being-prison-was-not-justice-family-colleen-slemmer-speaks-out-botched-execution-attempt/)

Speaking to PEOPLE, Raul questioned how the execution could have failed after Tennessee had spent years preparing for it.

He described the failure as something he could hardly comprehend, particularly because the state had used a procedure specifically designed to produce death. [People.com](https://people.com/christa-pike-s-victim-s-mom-watched-as-execution-failed-i-did-not-take-my-eyes-off-her-12152283)

The family’s frustration is also tied to the length of time they have already waited.

Colleen was murdered in 1995.

Pike was convicted the following year.

The death sentence then remained unresolved through decades of appeals, legal challenges and delays.

By September 2026, more than 30 years had passed since Colleen’s death.

The scheduled execution was therefore not merely another date on a court calendar for the Slemmer family.

It represented the moment they believed the state would finally complete the punishment ordered three decades earlier.

Instead, they left Tennessee without that resolution. [ABC News](https://abcnews.com/US/mother-christa-pikes-victim-speaks-botched-execution-broke/story?id=136950906)

The family’s reaction has unfolded alongside an increasingly complicated medical and legal situation surrounding Pike.

After receiving two doses of pentobarbital, Pike was transported to a hospital.

Her attorneys have said she remained critically ill, unconscious and on a ventilator, with significant injuries reported to both arms. They have asked Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to commute her death sentence to life imprisonment. [ABC News](https://abcnews.com/US/mother-christa-pikes-victim-speaks-botched-execution-broke/story?id=136950906)

The precise reason the execution failed remains under investigation.

Pike’s attorneys have alleged that execution personnel struggled to establish intravenous access and that the procedure caused serious injuries.

Witnesses described prolonged attempts to establish IV access, while defense attorney Randy Spivey said he counted at least seven needles being used in Pike’s left arm.

The state has not accepted the defense’s account as an official explanation for the failure. [The Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/10/01/tennessee-pledges-investigation-after-botching-second-execution-this-year/?utm_source=chatgpt.com)

Gov. Bill Lee has said that, as far as he knew, the Department of Correction followed the approved execution protocol.

But he also acknowledged that something clearly went wrong and ordered a third-party review.

He subsequently halted Tennessee’s remaining scheduled executions for 2026 while the circumstances surrounding Pike’s execution are investigated. [ABC News](https://abcnews.com/US/mother-christa-pikes-victim-speaks-botched-execution-broke/story?id=136950906)

For the Slemmer family, that investigation does not erase what happened inside the prison.

Nor does it answer the question that has suddenly become unavoidable: what happens now?

Tennessee has not announced a new execution date for Pike.

The governor’s decision to suspend executions means the state will not immediately attempt another execution this year.

That has left Colleen’s family uncertain about whether they will ever witness the sentence carried out. [https://www.wsmv.com](https://www.wsmv.com/2026/10/02/being-prison-was-not-justice-family-colleen-slemmer-speaks-out-botched-execution-attempt/)

The uncertainty has become particularly painful because of the political and legal transition approaching in Tennessee.

Former Knoxville Police Chief Phil Keith, who oversaw the investigation into Colleen’s murder, told WVLT that with executions paused and a new governor scheduled to take office in January, Pike might never face another execution attempt.

That is an assessment rather than an official decision, but it illustrates how dramatically the failed procedure has changed the legal landscape. [https://www.wvlt.tv](https://www.wvlt.tv/2026/10/01/slemmer-family-former-police-chief-describe-anger-grief-after-failed-execution-christa-pike/)

Keith also expressed sympathy for the Slemmer family and sharply criticized the state’s handling of the execution.

He said the prosecution and courts had completed their roles, but that the final stage failed.

In his view, the state now owes the victim’s family accountability for what happened. [https://www.wvlt.tv](https://www.wvlt.tv/2026/10/01/slemmer-family-former-police-chief-describe-anger-grief-after-failed-execution-christa-pike/)

Meanwhile, Pike’s attorneys are asking for a very different outcome.

They have argued that her failed execution, current medical condition and potential long-term consequences should lead the governor to commute her sentence to life imprisonment.

Her lawyers have also requested preservation of records and evidence connected to the execution so the events can be reconstructed. [ABC News](https://abcnews.com/US/mother-christa-pikes-victim-speaks-botched-execution-broke/story?id=136950906)

That request places the interests of the two sides on opposite ends of the same unresolved crisis.

Pike’s legal team is focused on her survival and what the failed execution may have done to her physically and neurologically.

The Slemmer family is focused on the daughter they lost and the death sentence they have waited decades to see carried out.

Neither side currently has the final answer.

For May Martinez, the emotional burden is particularly severe.

She did not simply hear that the execution had failed from a television report.

She was there.

She watched Pike through the witness window.

She waited inside the prison after the procedure.

She asked what would happen next.

And she returned to Florida without knowing whether Tennessee would ever finish what it had started. [People.com](https://people.com/christa-pike-s-victim-s-mom-watched-as-execution-failed-i-did-not-take-my-eyes-off-her-12152283)

Martinez has also made clear that she does not view Pike’s decades in prison as equivalent to the punishment she expected.

Her niece told WSMV that Martinez believed imprisonment had not constituted justice for Colleen.

That belief helps explain why the failed execution has been experienced by the family not simply as an administrative error, but as another emotional wound. [https://www.wsmv.com](https://www.wsmv.com/2026/10/02/being-prison-was-not-justice-family-colleen-slemmer-speaks-out-botched-execution-attempt/)

PEOPLE reported that Martinez continues to say she has never received an apology from Pike for her daughter’s death.

She told the publication that Pike has shown no remorse in the decades since the crime and that she still wants to see her daughter’s killer executed.

At the same time, Martinez acknowledged that she does not know whether she will ever achieve the closure she has sought. [People.com](https://people.com/christa-pike-s-victim-s-mom-watched-as-execution-failed-i-did-not-take-my-eyes-off-her-12152283)

That conflict—between wanting an ending and being denied one again—is now at the center of the Slemmer family’s story.

The family came to Nashville expecting to witness a sentence imposed in 1996.

Instead, they watched a state procedure fail in real time.

They saw Pike remain alive after two doses of pentobarbital.

They waited for information.

They watched an ambulance take Pike away.

And they left with no definitive answer about whether another execution will ever occur. [People.com](https://people.com/christa-pike-s-victim-s-mom-watched-as-execution-failed-i-did-not-take-my-eyes-off-her-12152283)

The state’s independent investigation will now have to determine exactly what happened.

It will need to examine the execution protocol, the medical procedure, the administration of pentobarbital, the attempts to establish IV access and the decisions made after it became clear that Pike had survived.

It will also have to determine whether the procedure was conducted according to the state’s approved protocol, as officials have maintained, and why the intended outcome did not occur. [ABC News](https://abcnews.com/US/mother-christa-pikes-victim-speaks-botched-execution-broke/story?id=136950906)

Until those findings are released, it is important to distinguish documented facts from allegations.

It is established that Pike received two doses of pentobarbital and survived.

It is established that she was transported to a hospital.

It is established that Tennessee halted its remaining executions for 2026 and ordered an outside review.

It is established that her attorneys say she remains critically ill, unconscious and on a ventilator.

But the precise medical mechanism behind the failed execution remains a matter for investigators to determine. [AP News](https://apnews.com/article/615fbde1a6ab5b1d5f2c9ca97d4dce33?utm_source=chatgpt.com)

For the Slemmer family, however, the central issue is not a technical explanation.

It is Colleen.

She was 19 years old when her life was taken.

Her mother has spent more than three decades carrying that loss.

Her niece says the family wants the public to remember the young woman behind the case rather than allowing the story to become solely about Pike’s survival.

And after everything that happened at Riverbend, the family is once again waiting. [https://www.wvlt.tv](https://www.wvlt.tv/2026/10/01/slemmer-family-former-police-chief-describe-anger-grief-after-failed-execution-christa-pike/)

The failed execution has therefore created an extraordinary situation in Tennessee.

A death sentence that remained in place for approximately 30 years was finally put into action.

The state administered the maximum two doses permitted under its protocol.

The condemned prisoner survived.

The governor suspended executions.

A corrections commissioner resigned amid the fallout.

An independent review was ordered.

And the victim’s family, after traveling hundreds of miles and waiting for hours inside the prison, returned home without the ending they had expected. [https://www.wsmv.com](https://www.wsmv.com/2026/10/02/being-prison-was-not-justice-family-colleen-slemmer-speaks-out-botched-execution-attempt/)

May Martinez’s words capture the uncertainty better than any official statement.

She wanted justice for her daughter.

She believed the state owed her an explanation.

And after 31 years, she still does not know whether the sentence imposed for Colleen’s murder will ever be completed.

For now, Tennessee is left to investigate how its execution system failed.

Pike remains hospitalized.

Her attorneys are seeking commutation.

The Slemmer family continues to mourn.

And the name that Martinez and her niece most want remembered remains the same one that began this story three decades ago:

**Colleen Slemmer.** [ABC News](https://abcnews.com/US/mother-christa-pikes-victim-speaks-botched-execution-broke/story?id=136950906)