US inmate Christa Pike says she woke up 'confused and in pain' after failed execution

30 October 2026, 13: 28 GMT. Updated 4 minutes ago.

Key points

• She has since been sent back to the prison where she has spent the last 30 years for murdering Colleen Slemmer in 1995.
• US death row inmate Christa Pike has published her first public statement since her botched execution in September.
• Pike, 50, was discharged from hospital at the end of last month after surviving two lethal injections of the drug pentobarbital.
• Pike is thought to be the only person to have survived an execution attempt by lethal injection.
• Her lawyers previously remarked she had suffered from pneumonia after the attempted execution, had significant swelling on her arms and was additionally unable to swallow.

"There hasn't been a moment since that night when I haven't been in pain, " she remarked in an official note issued by her legal team on social media on Friday.

"My body hurts. My arms hurt. My hands hurt. My throat hurts. I still struggle to speak. And the pain isn't just physical. There is pain in my mind and in my soul."

Pike, 50, was discharged from hospital at the end of last month after surviving two lethal injections of the drug pentobarbital. It left her in a critical condition.

"I am recovering, and I know that I am getting stronger, " she remarked in her statement on Friday. "But healing is not the same as being okay."

Pike was 18 when she and her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, beat, tortured and killed 19-year-old Slemmer, whom they had met at a job training camp for low-income young individuals.

Shipp was spared the death penalty since he was not legally an adult when the crime was committed. He remains in prison.

For now, US inmate Christa Pike says she woke up ' confused and in pain' remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.