Following a failed execution attempt for Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike, questions arise about the next steps in her case. Her accomplice and former boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, has at least another five years before his next parole hearing. Shipp, Pike, and another accomplice were involved in the 1995 torture and murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville.
In the crime, labeled with ‘satanic elements’, Shipp, then 17, participated alongside Pike. Prosecutors accused him of restraining Slemmer as she attempted to flee and carving pentagrams into her chest and face.
It was a grotesque crime scene,said former Knoxville Police Chief Phil Keith.It was one of the worst crime scenes I’d witnessed.
Due to his age at that time, Shipp was ineligible for the death penalty. He received a sentence of life in prison for first-degree murder and an additional 25 years for conspiracy. He is currently incarcerated at Tennessee’s Northwest Correctional Complex.
Shipp, reportedly interested in satanism as a child, had paraphernalia in his room. Both he and Pike wore pentagram pendants when arrested. Records indicate Shipp later adopted the alias Abdul Khalip. He was involved in an unsuccessful 2016 lawsuit seeking access to halal food and Islamic prayer oils in prison.
Shipp’s first parole opportunity was in October 2025, which was denied. His next parole hearing is set for October 2031.
Christa Pike, convicted of brutally attacking Slemmer, is currently in critical condition after a failed execution. Witnesses were removed before a declaration of her death following the mishap and her request for an alternate execution method. Pike received a death sentence for her actions, marked by a grisly detail of keeping a skull fragment as a trophy.
A third figure, Shadolla Peterson, admitted guilt as an accessory after the crime and provided testimony against Pike and Shipp.