On January 12, 1995, 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer was brutally murdered on the University of Tennessee Agricultural Campus in Knoxville.
Christa Gail Pike was convicted of Slemmer’s murder and sentenced to death. Her execution is scheduled for September 30, 2026.
Just 11 days after the murder, on January 23, 1995, Patsy McClure, Owen Seay and I were appointed by the Knox County Commission to serve on the Knox County Jail Inspection Committee. Both McClure and Seay have since passed away.
The committee was established as part of the response to a federal court order concerning overcrowding in the Knox County jail system. Patrick Fitzsimmons was elected to serve as an alternate member of the Jail Inspection Committee.
More than 31 years after Colleen Slemmer’s murder, Pike is scheduled to be executed on September 30, 2026, pending any last-minute court action, including action by the U.S. Supreme Court.
For Colleen’s mother and those who have carried the pain of her murder for more than three decades, tomorrow marks another significant chapter in a tragedy that began on that January day in 1995.
In Episode 122 of The Brian Hornback Experience, I look back at the case, that period in Knox County, and my own connection to the county jail system at the time and more than a few rare jail interactions during my service on the County Committee with Pike.
