12. Knoxville, TN: Christa Pike

[00:00:00] Warning, the following episode contains discussions about violent crimes, disturbing events, and explicit details that may be unsettling for some listeners. Please be advised that this podcast is not suitable for young children, and listener discretion is strongly advised.

[00:00:15] Hey, y'all, welcome back to another episode of Southern Shadows, A Mother-Son True Crime Podcast. I'm one of your hosts Janet, aka Mama. And I'm DK. And the story that I have for you today is one that highlights one of my worst fears

[00:00:28] for you when you head off to college and you're on your own, especially considering that some of your college choices include being on the West Coast, thousands of miles away from home. You're going to meet new people, you're going to make new friendships, and as you get older,

[00:00:44] you're going to learn the types of people that you don't want to be around. Just like our case today, when a 19-year-old student in the Job Corps on the campus of the University of Tennessee calls home to tell her mom that someone broke into her dorm

[00:00:59] and stood over her with a knife just staring. She never named the student, but when she tried to report it to a supervisor, he brushed it off and didn't take action. Eventually, that 19-year-old would accept an invitation to her death by a known Satanist and her friends.

[00:01:20] This is the story of Colleen Slemer and Krista Pike. So I know we've talked about the potential colleges that you want to attend because you want to pursue baseball, but is there another career or what are you thinking about studying?

[00:02:08] I'm into like sports marketing and sports analysts, just something that keeps me around sports. Nice. I'm good for everyone and that's okay. I'm sure you've heard of vocational training that helps people build specific skills that they can use towards a career, right?

[00:02:24] Yeah, like the culinary classes I'm taking. My teacher is a professional chef, so if I wanted to pursue that, he could teach me. And I also have a friend that's pursuing a welding job.

[00:02:39] I think it is, and I know he can make a lot of money from that. Yeah, exactly. Professional training is still an opportunity for people to make a great living. It's not necessarily one of those careers that in our society we glorify like being

[00:02:52] a doctor or a lawyer because that's not easy, not everyone can do it, but training in a specific trade you can still earn as much as those professions. Which brings us to the 1990s where a popular vocational program called Job Corps in

[00:03:09] Knoxville, Tennessee was offering students a chance to learn skills that they needed to start a career in a non-traditional way. Knoxville, Tennessee known as the Marble City is located on the Tennessee River in the eastern part of the state with the population of approximately 200,000.

[00:03:28] It is 180 miles from the capital of Nashville and is home to the University of Tennessee. It is here where Colleen Slimmer meets Krista Pipe and Tadero Ship ultimately resulting in an untimely demise. Have you heard of the Job Corps before? No.

[00:03:46] Well technically it's a government program that's offered to young people as early as 16 years old and as old as 24. And from their website the students are primarily those who come from low income families

[00:03:59] are at risk of dropping out of school or have already dropped out of school or face other challenges that might stop them from finding a job. It's similar to going to college because they live in free housing, they receive meals,

[00:04:12] they get basic medical care and they receive a living allowance. So let's talk about our main characters. Krista Pipe, 19, Tadero Ship, 17 and Colleen Slimmer, 19 and how they ended up in Knoxville for the Job Corps.

[00:04:28] Krista Gale Pipe was born on March 10th, 1976 in West Virginia to parents Carissa and Glenn Pipe. Her mother, Carissa, was a nurse but she struggled with alcoholism. When she was born, Krista actually had to spend a few days in the NICU due to some

[00:04:47] developmental concerns with her brain due to the alcohol that her mother was drinking while she was pregnant with her. Throughout her childhood, Krista was bounced around between family members eventually spending most of her time raised by her devout Christian grandmother.

[00:05:03] During this time she unfortunately experiences both physical and sexual abuse at the hands of some of her mom's partners who although didn't necessarily take care of her full time was often around her.

[00:05:17] In fact, Carissa, her mom, had been married a total of four times and also dated many other men in between. In one situation, charges were filed against one of her boyfriends who punched Krista in the face when she was young.

[00:05:35] Being with her grandmother offered Krista more stability but unfortunately it wouldn't be for long because she passed away when Krista was 12 years old. As you can imagine, this was devastating for Krista who began to suffer from depression

[00:05:51] even attempting to take her own life and turning to drugs and alcohol in her teens. After the death of her sole caretaker and provider she has to move back in her mother's care where the relationship is strained to say the least.

[00:06:08] She even smokes weed with her mom on several occasions something that her mom would describe later as a way to try and bond with her daughter. How did that work out? Well, it definitely didn't help and Krista continued to act out, even spending some

[00:06:24] time in juvenile detention for shoplifting. Surprisingly there was some good that came out of it though because it's here where she finally received some support through counseling and therapists. You can get counselors in jail? Yeah, actually you know jail is supposed to be a form of rehab.

[00:06:43] For most people it's supposed to give you sort of like a timeout so that you can pay for the crime that you committed but eventually the goal is to be back in society having changed your ways.

[00:06:54] Obviously, there's different levels of offenders but definitely as a juvenile it's supposed to help you become a better adult so many times they actually have mandatory counseling and therapy sessions. Eventually Krista starts to see a future for herself when she learns about the job corps

[00:07:14] at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. At this point she was a ninth grade dropout but she enrolled hoping to become a nurse like her mom. Although her future seemed promising, the destructive environment that this job corps site provided would end up being Krista's downfall.

[00:07:34] When she arrived Krista met 17 year old Taderal Ship, a culinary arts student from Memphis Tennessee with a similar background. He too had a childhood filled with abuse and even had some gang affiliation. They were quickly taken with each other and entered into a relationship.

[00:07:54] In an interview for a documentary produced by WE-TV, Krista herself says Taderal was respected if not feared. He protected me. He was probably the first man that I'd ever had in my life that wanted to protect me

[00:08:12] that saw me as a treasure, something good instead of something that used and talks to the side. Finally finding someone who treated her like this, Krista was all in. Taderal did have some violent tendencies and allegedly he was into Satanism and was supposedly part of a satanic cult.

[00:08:36] Krista even started to call herself Little Devil and got it tattooed on her body to show Taderal how devoted she was to him. She also becomes fast friends with Shadola Peterson. There isn't much information on her other than her involvement in the incident that brings us here today.

[00:08:56] But both of the girls were influenced by Taderal's Satanism and the three would often hang out together. Another student in the program was Colleen Ann Slemer who was born September 20th, 1975 in Pennsylvania. When her parents divorced, her mother May moved to Jacksonville, Florida and remarried

[00:09:16] a man named Raul Martinez. Colleen was really close with Raul but she also continued to visit her real father whenever she could. Like Krista, Colleen had dropped out of school in the ninth grade but it was due to a reading disability that made school difficult for her.

[00:09:35] Working fast food jobs just weren't enough so she decided to pursue her GED. You're familiar with the GED? Yeah like a second chance for high school but instead of going to school you just take tests right? Yeah exactly.

[00:09:49] So it's a way for people like Colleen and Krista who dropped out of high school to have an opportunity at a more secure future because most jobs do require at least a high school diploma or GED.

[00:10:01] So Colleen hears about the job core at the University of Tennessee where she could live and work towards getting her GED and even receive vocational training. She was eager to start working towards a better future for herself.

[00:10:15] In the podcast episode Southern Fried True Crime, the host Erica Kelly discusses how shortly after arriving in Knoxville Colleen called her mother disappointed about the campus, mentioning the graffiti covered walls and the fact that there was very little supervision over the students.

[00:10:34] She even had some of her things stolen out of her room. One of the worst things that any mother wants to hear let alone one that has a child so far away from home is that there were three students that were stalking and bullying her.

[00:10:50] Colleen even tells her mom that shockingly one of those students entered her room in the middle of the night and just stood over her with a knife. She told her mom that this girl was accusing her of wanting her boyfriend but she swore

[00:11:05] she didn't want anything to do with him. Her mom May reports that Colleen never named any of these three students but her mom told her to report it to the job core counselors immediately.

[00:11:18] When she followed up with Colleen about the incident later on, she told her mom that the counselor just brushed it off like it wasn't a big deal. Wait so all of these students that are in this program they stay on a college campus?

[00:11:31] Exactly but they have supervisors because remember you can be as young as 16 in this program which is not considered an adult so they have these counselors that are supposed to make sure that they stay on task and they monitor the students as they're going through the program.

[00:11:48] Although she was being targeted by a few bullies, Colleen did have her own group of friends. It's unclear if she even knew Krista or if she was one of the bullies that she wouldn't name to her mom but soon a rumor started to circulate that

[00:12:03] Colleen liked Tedarro. Some even say that the two hooked up and Tedarro would claim that it was true. He would later say that it was during Thanksgiving break and Krista had gone home to be with family but Tedarro and

[00:12:18] Colleen stayed on campus. This did not sit well with Krista who was extremely possessive so when she hears this she becomes enraged. One day she even tells a friend named Kim and Lola that she was planning to kill Colleen because

[00:12:36] she felt mean that day. Whether this rumor was true or not, Colleen's slimmer would soon fall victim to one of the most heinous acts committed in Tennessee. On January 12th 1995 in a seemingly innocent attempt at squashing any beef

[00:13:12] between the two girls Krista invited Colleen to hang out and smoke some weed that she said she hid in the woods near campus. Also coming to hang out was Tedarro and Shadola because it was said once again that the three

[00:13:26] were inseparable. The group of four signs out of the dorms around 8 p.m. and proceeded to go to an isolated location in a wooded area called Tyson Park. Krista told Colleen that the weed was hidden in this area so that they

[00:13:43] wouldn't get in trouble in the dorms. As they got closer to the location Colleen felt like something wasn't right. It turned out she'd been tricked into going with them. You see Krista wasn't actually trying to make

[00:13:59] amends and her jealousy and suspicion was the fuel to the fire that she was about to set. It said that when they got deep into the woods she started to accuse Colleen of trying to steal Tedarro from her and began physically

[00:14:15] assaulting her. Grabbing her head and slamming it on her knee, throwing her to the ground, punching and kicking her. I wanted to get her off campus and I had every intention of fighting her. Tedarro even joins in a few times while Shadola

[00:14:33] played lookout. On the YouTube channel Explore With Us the host reveals that Tedarro was quoted as telling a friend a few days prior to the incident that he had to make a human sacrifice because the celestial bodies were in

[00:14:49] alignment. Whether this was the moment that he chose to act on it is unclear but what is clear is that he helped Krista torture Colleen for more than 30 minutes. Wait so going back to the fact that she told her mom that she

[00:15:05] had been stalked and bullied by three people did anybody ever figure out that it was these three? It's never officially confirmed in any of the sources that I read but I think we can make an educated guess. Yeah. At some point Colleen cried out

[00:15:22] why are you doing this to me but the blows kept coming. Throughout the torture she was able to get up and try to get away more than once but Krista or Tedarro kept pulling her back or pushing her down. Then Krista

[00:15:39] eventually pulled out a box cutter and a small meat cleaver that she got from the school's kitchen and slashes Colleen anywhere she could. This included her arms, back and throat. Colleen continues to beg for her life even saying

[00:15:57] that if they let her go quote she'd walk all the way back to Florida and not even stop at her dorm to get her things. By her own account Krista said that she kicked Colleen in the face more and more to get her to stop talking. She

[00:16:14] even made a comment to her friends quote the bitch won't die. There's a moment where Krista does stop because she thinks that she hears something or someone and leaves to go check it out. You would think that this would be

[00:16:28] Colleen's chance to escape but she's kept there by Tedarro and Shadola. When Krista returns she cuts Colleen's throat several more times. Remarkably Colleen was still able to plead for her life and try to run. That's when Krista

[00:16:47] picked up a rock and threw it at her hitting her in the back of the head. At some point Shadola finally speaks up and tells them that they've gone too far and if they don't stop they're gonna go to jail. It was in

[00:17:00] this moment that Krista later says is what made her decide that Colleen had to die. At some point towards the end of the torture Tedarro takes the box cutter and carves a pentagram into Colleen's chest. Is that the symbol with like the

[00:17:18] star? Yeah the five-pointed star that's enclosed in a circle it's been used as a symbol for various purposes throughout history but it's mostly been tied to Satanism which makes sense considering he was a known Satanist.

[00:17:33] Sadly a medical examiner would later testify that she was still alive when all of this happened. What finally put her out of her misery was when Krista picked up a large rock and repeatedly struck her in the head causing pieces of her

[00:17:53] skull to break off and after close to an hour Colleen finally died. While Shadola keeps watch Krista and Tedarro drag her body away to try and hide it in a nearby area. Before they leave the scene Krista decides to pick up a piece of Colleen's

[00:18:12] fragmented skull and put it in her jacket pocket as a trophy. That's disgusting. Yeah just wait the three friends then walked to a nearby gas station to get rid of Colleen's belongings like her ID cards and they returned to the

[00:18:29] dorms at around 10 p.m. Either it was the rush of adrenaline or whatever but Krista visited that same friend Kim again and was said to have bragged about the horrific crime that she just committed and was said to be dancing

[00:18:45] around and singing about it. She even showed Kim the piece of skull that she taken with her. Whether it was because she didn't believe her or she was afraid of her Kim doesn't report Krista to anyone at this point. The next morning

[00:19:01] Colleen's remains are discovered by a university employee who immediately called the cops. Knoxville police and University campus police arrive at 8 a.m. on Friday the 13th to secure the area in Tyson Park. Colleen's face had been

[00:19:19] mangled so badly that they could not initially identify her and without any ID the only thing that they could do was compare her dental records. That would ultimately be how they were able to identify the victim as 19 year old

[00:19:34] Colleen Slammer. Why would they use dental records? Well just like how your fingerprints are unique to you your teeth have their own special features. You know how every time you go to the dentist they take x-rays? Yeah. Well

[00:19:46] they're storing that information and that can be used to figure out who a person is. It makes sense. Initially that Kim girl who didn't report Krista to the police later contacted them when she realized how serious the situation had become. She tells authorities that Krista had visited

[00:20:06] her after the incident and that's how we know that she'd been bragging and dancing and singing around the room. Apparently Kim wasn't the only person though that she had been bragging to and more people started to come forward

[00:20:20] to report her. Krista in all of her audacity made the mistake of leaving her jacket behind in an administrator's office who ended up turning it over to the police. Sure enough when they searched the pockets they find

[00:20:35] the piece of skull that she had been carrying around. All three students Krista Pike, Tadero Ship and Shadola Peterson were arrested within 36 hours of the murder. Krista obviously unable to help herself decided to wave her Miranda rights and admitted to killing Colleen. Why? Have you ever paid

[00:20:57] attention in shows where police say like you have the right to remain silent and give like that a speech? Yeah. Those are called Miranda rights and essentially if you wave them like she did you're basically saying I know

[00:21:08] my rights but I'm gonna choose to talk to you anyway without a lawyer and I'm willing to answer questions. You can choose to stop talking to them whenever you want and request a lawyer even after you've waved your

[00:21:20] Miranda rights and the interview has to immediately stop. Okay. In this case Krista was more than happy to share all of the horrendous details about what she and her two friends put Colleen through. Her entire

[00:21:36] confession is recorded and typed out and was a total of 42 pages long. It's not like they really needed it though because Colleen's blood was found on the jeans that Krista wore that night on her shoes and on her jacket. She also

[00:21:52] led investigators back to the gas station where they located Colleen's ID cards. In that same podcast episode of Southern Fried True Crime, the host Erica Kelly spoke with the detective who testified at Krista's trial, Detective Randy York. He was the

[00:22:11] detective that took her back to the scene of the crime so that they could get a more complete picture of what happened. He described her as being bored and impatient but then excited like she was enjoying reliving the murder. In that same WeTV documentary, he even says

[00:22:28] I've never been in the presence of anyone I thought was pure evil but to me she's pure evil through one of the psychiatrist come out with the opinion that she had all the profile of being a serial killer but probably

[00:22:39] got caught her first time. On March 22nd 1996, almost a year after Colleen Slemmer was found in the woods, Krista Pike was on trial for murder and conspiracy to commit murder. The courtroom was full of media and Krista seemed to eat up the attention. She was seen looking

[00:22:58] back at the audience and reporters laughing, joking and sending notes to her mom and lawyer. However, she did show emotion and cried when the prosecutors played her entire 45 minute confession for the court.

[00:23:53] Her attorneys, Kelly Gleason and Randy Spivey argued that Pike was suffering from severe untreated mental illness and intense trauma that she developed as a young child. And this is why she didn't really know what she was doing at the time of the crime. The

[00:24:10] defense tried to claim that Krista, due to birth defects and years of childhood abuse, was not sane enough to know what she was doing. In fact, according to mercy for Krista.org, a website that's dedicated to advocating for a lighter sentence for

[00:24:28] Krista claims that she was born with organic brain damage that caused her to have seizures as an infant. It also claims that because of the quote, almost unbearably abusive background that led her to attempt suicide, her diagnosis of depression and

[00:24:45] bipolar disorder are the reasons why she wasn't sane enough to fully comprehend her actions. But in that Southern Fry True Crime episode, the host talks about how a clinical psychologist was brought in to evaluate Krista. This is normal whenever they have extreme cases like this, they

[00:25:04] actually bring in a professional to evaluate the person to decide whether or not they're sane to stand trial. Dr. Eric Ingram testified for the defense and although he acknowledges that she showed behavior that was characteristic of borderline personality disorder, he did not indicate that she would

[00:25:24] need to be institutionalized. But she does struggle to control her behavior in relationships. She also did not show any evidence of brain damage and she was not insane. All of these points are important to prove if you're trying to secure the death penalty. Basically, due to her personality

[00:25:45] disorder, she simply just lost control. It took the jury only three hours to deliberate before they decided that she was guilty of murder. The next phase was to decide exactly what her punishment would be during her sentencing. At her sentencing, the district attorney wanted Krista executed,

[00:26:06] which is rare for a woman, especially one as young as her. And women hadn't been executed in Tennessee since 1837. Do you know about the death penalty? Yes, the penalty word they kill you. Yeah, it's a little bit more complex than that. I mean,

[00:26:23] it is an extremely hot topic with strong opinions on both sides. And it's based on, you know, ethical, moral and practical considerations. But it's typically reserved for the most serious offenses such as murder or acts of terrorism. As a

[00:26:39] matter of fact, the death penalty is only legal in 27 states today. And in Tennessee, there's currently a hold on all execution. So anybody who was convicted to die, there's a hold on it right now. After only an hour and a half of

[00:26:56] deliberation, the jury reached their decision of death by execution. Krista would be the youngest woman on death row in Tennessee. But her story doesn't end here. The day after she's taken in officially to begin serving her sentence, the

[00:27:15] guards confiscated a letter that she wrote to her boyfriend to Darrell. And this is what it said. You see what I get for trying to be nice to that hoe? I went ahead and bashed her brains out so that she died quickly instead of letting her

[00:27:28] bleed to death and suffer more. And they effing fry me. There's a lot more in the letter. But at the end of it, she signed the letter little devil. Speaking up to Darrell, he was sentenced to life in prison. At the time he was 17. So the death penalty

[00:27:46] wasn't an option for him since he was considered a minor. Shadola Peterson, who fully cooperated with the authorities was sentenced to several years probation. Also the fact that Colleen's DNA was not found on her. That's why she received a

[00:28:02] lighter sentence. It's up for debate whether or not the sentencing is fair considering she didn't do anything to stop it. Five years into her sentence, Krista got into it with another inmate Patricia Jones, who was serving a life sentence for killing an 84 year old woman. She claims that

[00:28:22] it was self defense because the inmate had been quote torturing her. Ironic, right? Right. This inmate had supposedly threatened her friend Natasha Cornette, another Satanist that was serving three life sentences for kidnapping and murder. We're going to cover this in a future episode. But

[00:28:41] during an altercation, Krista choked Patricia with a shoe string. She was given an additional charge of attempted murder. Did you know that people who are serving time in jail can actually get charged with additional crimes while they're serving time for a crime? Yeah, I think I have

[00:28:59] heard of that before. Yeah, so it could potentially add more to your current sentence. But I guess at this point, Krista had nothing left to lose. Meanwhile, her attorneys were trying to appeal her death sentence. After the altercation with Patricia, she wrote a letter begging to

[00:29:15] drop all of the appeals basically just accepting her fate. When a judge finally sets a date, August 19th, she cries and is dramatic and thanks the judge. Then a few days later, she changes her mind. The constant back and forth would continue for several years. And in

[00:29:43] 2005, Krista Pike's death sentence was affirmed by the court. Then a few days later, she changed her mind. In that we TV documentary, she basically says that she doesn't feel like she has to die for something that three people did. I did something horrible that is

[00:30:03] unacceptable and I realized that but I don't deserve to die for the actions of three individuals. The constant back and forth would continue for several years. And in 2005, Krista Pike's death sentence was affirmed by the court with no execution date that has been set. As of November 2023,

[00:30:27] the Tennessee Supreme Court still has no date set for Pike, who is the only woman on death row and the last sentence to death in Tennessee that was 18 at the time of their crime. Krista's mom has even continued advocating for

[00:30:44] her daughter and believes that she should not be put to death because she doesn't think that it's fair that Tadera on Shadola received lighter sentences. Krista stands behind that same belief and continues to appeal her death sentence hoping for a lesser charge

[00:31:00] of life in prison. So that's the story of Krista Pike, Taderal Ship and Shadola Peterson. Any thoughts? It's kind of scary because this just shows you that you really don't know the true intent behind people. Colleen could have seen them as making new friends about

[00:31:23] going into the woods and hanging out but little did she know she would be killed by these three people and it's sad that her mother had to send her daughter off not knowing that she was safe and then it ended up in

[00:31:40] her daughter being taken from her and like I said it's just scary. Obviously we can't change the events that happened but if these were the three people that she had refused to name in the beginning I just hope that this is a lesson to anyone listening that you

[00:32:02] gotta say something so that you can get the help that you need and whoever the counselor was that kind of brushed her off. I just hope that moving forward maybe there was more training that happened. I don't know so that they could know how to handle

[00:32:20] situations and to anyone that if you're experiencing bullying or you know of somebody being bullied that you would take the right steps to help that person out. And as always we'd love to hear your thoughts on today's episode

[00:32:35] by leaving a comment down below our YouTube or sending us a message at southernshadowspodcast.com where you can also find all of the source notes available for today's episode. Also don't forget to like comment and share and until next week see you in the shadows.