Was Christa Pike’s execution team all women? We investigated

In early October 2026, after the Tennessee Department of Correction failed to execute death row inmate Christa Pike on Sept. 30, 2026, a claim circulated online that Pike’s execution team had been all female. 

Pike was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in 1996 for the killing of her Jobs Corp training program classmate, 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. She also was convicted of attempted first-degree murder in 2001 after attacking another inmate.

The department halted Pike’s execution in the evening of Sept. 30 after she appeared to survive receiving two doses of the sedative pentobarbital. Pike was taken to a hospital and her lawyers said on Oct. 1 that she was in critical condition, The Associated Press reported.

Some social media users appeared to suggest that there was a connection between the failed execution and the alleged all-female lethal injection team. One X user wrote (archived), “I’m just going to say it, I think that the all-female execution team botched this on purpose.”

I’m just going to say it, I think that the all-female execution team botched this on purpose.

— Cassandra MacDonald (@CassandraRules) October 1, 2026

The claim also circulated elsewhere on X (archived). Snopes readers searched our site for more information about the rumor.

At the time of this writing, conflicting claims circulated about whether an all-female team had carried out Pike’s botched execution.

Speaking at a news conference after the execution attempt, Pike’s lawyer Randy Spivey appeared to confirm that her execution team had all been women by saying that the team he saw at the execution was “consistent” with a reported request Pike made for an all-female team.

However, local media in Tennessee reported that Dr. Mark Fowler, a man who also was involved in the botched execution of Tony Carruthers in Tennessee in May 2026, administered the lethal injections or “oversaw” Pike’s attempted execution.

When reached by Snopes via phone on Oct. 2, Fowler would not comment on whether he was involved in Pike’s attempted execution. The Tennessee Department of Correction also declined to comment on whether Pike had an all-female execution team.

Given the lack of confirmation from official sources to settle conflicting claims, we leave this claim unrated.

The Tennessee Department of Correction had not confirmed at the time of this writing exactly what led to the failure to execute Pike. Therefore, it was impossible to say whether an all-female team affected the outcome of the execution.

Snopes contacted reporters for WSMV and WVLT, the two local news stations that reported Fowler’s apparent involvement in Pike’s attempted execution, to ask how they knew Fowler was present. We also contacted lawyers for Pike for the latest update on her health and case. We await replies to our queries.

The New York Post reported in September 2026 that Pike had requested an all-female execution team “citing past sexual abuse.” Pike reportedly also said that if her request was not possible she would prefer to be executed by hanging.

Snopes contacted lawyers for Pike to access a copy of this reported request and await a reply. Spivey appeared to acknowledge the existence of the request when he responded to a question about it during a news conference (archived) after the failed execution (at 33:41):

MODERATOR: We have a question from Heather Derell. Was she granted the all-female execution staff she requested?

SPIVEY: I want to be careful with that because I understand the rules around identifying that, and I will say that I think what TDOC has said is that they would make every effort to comply with that, and what I saw was consistent with that.

At a news conference on Oct. 1, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said (at 0:54, archived) he had called for a “thorough and comprehensive and third-party review and investigation into the protocol” at the execution attempt. Lee also said that the state’s last planned execution of the year would not take place while that investigation was ongoing.

Pike appealed to Lee for clemency and to have her death sentence converted to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Sept. 14. Lee rejected that appeal on Sept. 28.

Sources