Christa Pike Awake And Talking After Surviving Two Lethal Injections

"Her recovery is medically unprecedented. Her prognosis remains unclear but, at a minimum, we expect a long recovery," the statement said.

Christa Pike is reportedly conscious and talking after surviving two doses of a lethal injection drug. She continues to receive critical medical care following Tennessee’s Sept. 30 execution attempt.

Pike’s attorney’s released a statement saying she remains handcuffed and shackled to her hospital bed despite severe damage to her arms. “Her recovery is medically unprecedented. Her prognosis remains unclear but, at a minimum, we expect a long recovery,” they added.

Pike, now 50, was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. She was a fellow student at the Knoxville Job Corps Center.

Pike was 18 when she and two classmates reportedly lured Slemmer to a park. There, they tortured her for nearly an hour. They then crushed her skull with a chunk of broken asphalt.

Pike reportedly kept a fragment of Slemmer’s skull as a trophy and showed it off before her arrest. She was sentenced to death in 1996.