What it was like being in the room for Christa Pike's botched execution

Reporter Will Puckett says he may never sign up to witness another execution after what happened to Christa Pike, but he has no regrets about being there.

'This is not normal,' witness reporters said as Pike kept talking long after her lethal injection

Sheena Goodyear · CBC Radio

· Posted: Oct 01, 2026 6:17 PM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hour ago

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Reporter Will Puckett says he may never sign up to witness another execution after what happened to Christa Pike, but he has no regrets about being there.

Puckett, the morning co-anchor for WVLT-TV in Knoxville, Tenn., was one of seven journalists selected to bear witness to the execution of Christa Pike, who remains alive and in critical condition despite being administered two doses of pentobarbital on Wednesday. 

"When you agree to be a state-selected witness to an event like this, you know there's the possibility that you'll be called upon to walk people through the events that could be traumatic," Puckett told As It Happens host Nil Köksal. 

"And that's exactly where we're at today, is just relaying how the state of Tennessee failed to execute Christa Gail Pike appropriately and properly."

LISTEN | Interview with media witness Will Puckett:

As It Happens6:52What it was like being in the room for Christa Pike's botched execution

Pike, 50, was 18 in January 1995 when she, her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, and a third companion lured their classmate, 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, into a wooded area where they tortured and killed her.

Pike and Shipp confessed to the killing and were convicted of first-degree murder. Pike was sentenced to death while Schipp, who was 17 at the time of the crime, was sentenced to life in prison. Years later, Pike expressed remorse for what she'd done.

Her lawyers and supporters tried to secure a stay of execution, citing her age at the time of the crime, mental health issues and a history of severe childhood neglect and sexual abuse.

Slemmer's mother, May Martinez, spoke out in favour of the execution, saying she has waited decades to see Pike's sentence carried out.

'She should not be talking' 

When Puckett and the other witnesses entered the execution chamber on Wednesday and took their seats at 6:41 p.m, a curtain and blinds covered the window, behind which Pike was strapped to a gurney.

He says that state witnesses are not shown the process of the needle being inserted into person's arm.

It was Puckett's first time attending an execution. He says the other reporters, who had been through it before, told him the whole process should take about 30 minutes.

But by the time a half-hour passed, officials hadn't yet opened the curtain.

"One of Christa Gail Pike's objections going into her execution is that she had small veins," Puckett said. "So if you listen to her complaint and go back to her medical history, you can only begin to connect the dots that they were having issues finding where her vein was to start the injection."

WATCH | Christa Pike survives lethal injection:

Death row inmate survives execution in Tennessee

9 hours ago|

Duration

2:13

The state of Tennessee is halting executions for the rest of the year after Christa Pike survived two lethal injections. It's the second failed execution in Tennessee this year. In May, a convicted murderer's execution was aborted when officials failed to find a vein suitable for lethal injection.

When the curtains opened at 7:26, Pike seemed almost "jovial," Puckett said. She delivered her final words. 

"She simply said, 'I'm going to leave this world the way that I've spent most of my life, in love,'" he said.

"She added at points, 'I'm going to love the people who hate on me the most because they're the ones who need the most love,' ending it with, 'I'm good now. I'm at peace. I'm ready to be free, I'm going to celebrate my freedom. This is a good day.'"

She did not mention Colleen Slemmer or her crime, he says. 

Pike expressed physical discomfort, he said.

"She said, 'The vein in my arm feels like it's about to bust.' That was 7:33. One minute later, she goes, 'One spot is really throbbing,'" he said.

"That's when my colleagues, who have witnessed executions before, looked at me and said, 'This is not normal. She should not be talking. She should very clearly be in the process of dying.' And she wasn't."

'Why are we not viewing this?'

Pike took a few more deep breaths, then gasped, Puckett said. At 7:46 p.m., officials closed the curtains again for three minutes. 

When the curtain re-opened, Pike was snoring. At about 8:05 p.m., officials closed the curtains again. 

"There was a bunch [of people saying]: 'This obviously is not going right. What can you tell us? Why are we not viewing this?'" Puckett said. 

The reporters did not get answers to their questions, and Pike continued to be heard snoring behind the curtain until the microphone was cut off at about 8:53 p.m.

Media witnesses were then escorted out.

Randall Spivey, one of Pike's lawyers, told reporters ⁠on Thursday afternoon that his client is a Nashville hospital receiving "life-saving medical care."

"Christa is alive right now," he said. "We don't have a sense of her prognosis or much update on her health at the moment."

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee ordered a suspension of scheduled executions in Tennessee for the rest ⁠of the year and a third-party review of Wednesday's failed attempt.

• What happened in Tennessee's failed execution of Christa Pike and what comes next?

• Tennessee governor orders outside review after death row inmate Christa Pike survives execution attempt

Asked how he's feeling after Wednesday's ordeal, Puckett shifted focus away from himself.

"Our job's not to be the centre of attention, and I have tried my hardest to put myself into, for lack of a better term, robot mode," he said. "I'm OK right now."

In a case as high-profile and divisive as Pike's, Puckett says he takes seriously his "duty" to be "an unbiased witness" to what happened on Wednesday night.

"It definitely has me thinking on if I'll ever do this again," he said. "But it was an important thing to be able to say: I am in this room to make sure that the state does this properly, and be the eyes and ears of the general public who will not get to see anything that happens in this room."

With files from The Associated Press. Interview with Will Puckett produced by Chris Harbord