Emergency help for Christa Pike was delayed by confusion among first responders and Tennessee prison officials following her failed execution last month, according to 911 dispatch recordings.

The recordings, obtained Monday (October 12) by The Associated Press through a public records request, show that precious minutes elapsed as officials and responders tried to figure out whether a request for emergency help in the execution chamber was legitimate.

The initial 911 call came in at 8:40 p.m. on Sept. 30, just over an hour after the attempted lethal injection got underway. But the caller was unable to provide a code that would help verify the legitimacy of the request.

“Per supervisors here at the DEC (Department of Emergency Communications) we have been informed it is a false call,” a dispatcher says at 9:03 p.m. “There is no medical assistance needed at Riverbend Prison.”

It wasn’t until about half an hour after the initial call — close to 9:11 p.m. — that prison officials affirmed it was real and began letting responders through the gates.

Neither the Tennessee Department of Correction nor Pike’s legal team immediately responded to requests for comment.

Pike, 50, was hospitalized after surviving two doses of pentobarbital as the state tried to execute her for the 1995 stabbing death of classmate Colleen Slemmer. She was 18 when she and her boyfriend tortured and killed Slemmer, becoming one of the youngest women to be sentenced to death.

State protocol calls for a second dose of pentobarbital if the first doesn’t result in death, but it doesn’t spell out what to do if an inmate survives the second injection.

The first 911 call, released only as a written transcript, reported that Pike was unconscious and not breathing normally.

After being taken to a hospital, Pike was on a ventilator for several days. At one point, her attorneys did not expect her to survive. She regained consciousness last Tuesday and began talking limitedly and walking with assistance, they said. Pike was discharged from the hospital and returned to the women’s prison where she was housed for 30 years, her lawyers said Saturday.

The initial call came from a person whose name and title were redacted. The caller told a dispatcher that they were at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution where they had tried to execute someone, but she was still alive.

As emergency responders worked to verify the call, they were in touch with representatives of the prison’s Central Control, who said they “would have been the ones to call in and they did not make that call,” according to a recording time-stamped at 9:07 p.m.

Around the same time, a first responder could be heard over the radio saying, “Somebody is outside the gate at the prison telling us that it’s real and demanding us to go in. They say they are some sort of state official. I need somebody to get out to the gate and talk to those people.”

Central Control confirmed the call was legitimate a few minutes later, clearing the way for responders to enter through the gates at about 9:11 p.m. An AP reporter witnessed an ambulance and fire trucks pull up to the building inside the prison campus at 9:14 p.m.

A Texas man who fatally shot a convenience store clerk was put to death Wednesday evening (October 7, 2026), becoming the 30th person executed in the U.S. this year and the first since Tennessee’s failed attempt to administer a lethal injection to Christa Pike.

Jamaal Howard, 46, was pronounced dead at 8.03 p.m. on Wednesday (October 7, 2026) after receiving a fatal dose of pentobarbital at the state prison in Huntsville. He was convicted of killing of Vickie Swartout, 42, in a 2000 store robbery caught on surveillance video.

Asked by the warden if he had a final statement, Howard apologised profusely to members of his victim’s family who watched through window a few from him.

Texas has executed six people so far in 2026 and plans two more executions scheduled this year.

Earlier Wednesday (October 7, 2026), Howard’s attorneys unsuccessfully sought to block the execution by arguing that he was intellectual disabled and that he faced the same risks similar to those in Pike’s case because both states use pentobarbital for lethal injections.

Ms. Pike’s lawyers are seeking more information about what went wrong after the 50-year-old woman survived two doses of pentobarbital on Sept. 30. Her lawyers said she was unconscious at a hospital after the attempt but was awake and speaking by Tuesday (October 6, 2026).

Inmate remained chatty’ on drive to the death chamber

On Wednesday (October 7, 2026), Howard was “chatty” during the 45-mile (70-kilometre) drive from the death row prison to the Huntsville Unit, where executions are carried out, said Amanda Hernandez, a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

“He made small talk with the officers through the whole trip” before being taken to a holding cell near the death chamber, she said. “He was asking questions and was very engaged in the process.”

Store clerk’s killing was caught on surveillance video

Howard was convicted of capital murder in the killing of Swartout, who was shot once in the chest during the robbery. Evidence presented at trial included surveillance video showing Howard shooting Swartout.

Howard, who was 20 at the time, took USD 114 and a carton of cigarettes from the store in Silsbee, a small, rural town about 100 miles (160 kilometres) northeast of Houston, according to court records.

Man’s attorneys filed late appeals bidding to stop execution

In bidding to halt Howard’s execution, his attorneys filed a motion before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals raising concerns about the quality of Texas’ execution drugs. The court denied that request and a second filing involving the drugs without comment.

His attorneys also argued unsuccessfully to the US Supreme Court that Howard’s execution should be halted because he was intellectually disabled. The Supreme Court in 2002 had barred the execution of intellectually disabled people. But it has given states some discretion in how they determine such disabilities.

The state told the court that Howard’s lawyers did not present evidence that would show he meets the requirements for a claim of intellectual disability.

The high court late Wednesday declined to intervene, without comment, clearing the way for the execution.

Florida leads the nation in executions this year

Florida has carried out 16 executions so far this year, the most of any state. Most states that allow executions use lethal injection as their primary method.

Tennessee’s Republican Gov. Bill Lee has halted the one remaining execution that was scheduled to be carried out in his state this year.

Christa Pike, who regained consciousness almost six days after Tennessee’s failed attempt to execute her, is aware of what happened and “angry and confused,” one of her attorneys said Wednesday (October 7, 2026).

Pike, 50, survived despite receiving two lethal doses of pentobarbital on Sept. 30. She was sentenced to death for the 1995 beating and stabbing death of classmate Colleen Slemmer.

“She is very aware of what they did to her up to a point,” attorney Randy Spivey said following a court hearing in Nashville where a judge told the state to save evidence from the execution attempt.

“On Monday night, it was our understanding that Christa was brain dead and that life support would be removed the next day,” Mr. Spivey said. “But on Tuesday, to the shock of everyone … Christa woke up and began talking.”

Mr. Spivey, who was not with Pike when she woke up, said he was told her first words were, “Where am I?” and “Who are you?”

The Death Penalty Information Centre says Pike is the only person to survive after receiving lethal injection drugs during an execution.

Her lawyers said she still can’t move her arms or swallow, her prognosis remains unclear and that she has a long road to recovery. Her arms were burned and blistered by the attempted execution and she is handcuffed to the hospital bed, they said.

The failed execution has renewed scrutiny of how states carry out the death penalty, in particular the use of lethal injection. Texas was set to carry out Wednesday the first execution in the U.S. since Tennessee attempted to put Pike to death.

Christa Pike’s attorneys want evidence preserved

At the hearing Wednesday (October 7, 2026), Pike’s attorneys asked the court to order the Tennessee Department of Correction to save evidence in the case and provide more information about what went wrong. A judge told the state to preserve “anything that was in the actual room.”

“Part of the issue that we are facing is up until yesterday, our client was unconscious, unable to communicate with counsel, unable to communicate with medical providers, and without her consent” a new lawsuit cannot be filed, Luke Ihnen, a federal public defender, told the court.

Pike’s attorneys wanted a court order to require the prison system to preserve information from the attempted execution, including drug lot numbers, needles, execution logs and other information.

Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea Myles indicated that her order to save the evidence would be sweeping, saying the state should maintain recordings, witness accounts, emails along with drugs, syringes, IV lines and other medical items.

The Tennessee Attorney General’s Office said a court order was unnecessary. John W. Ayers, assistant attorney general, said evidence from the death chamber already had been collected and logged.

Republican Gov. Bill Lee ordered a review, calling what happened “deeply disturbing.” Lee postponed the state’s only other execution scheduled for this year.

The state’s prison chief resigned in the wake of the failed execution.

Christa Pike, a Tennessee inmate who survived Tennessee’s attempt to execute her, is awake and speaking as she receives treatment at a hospital, her attorneys said Tuesday (October 6, 2026).

“Against all odds, Christa Pike is conscious, speaking, and continues to receive critical medical care. Despite the severe damage she endured to her arms, she is still handcuffed and shackled to the bed. Her recovery is medically unprecedented. Her prognosis remains unclear but, at a minimum, we expect a long recovery,” attorneys for Pike said in a statement.

Her attorneys said they are grateful for the first responders and the medical team at the hospital “who treated Christa like a human and have provided exceptional care to her.”

The statement was the first indication that Pike has improved since an ambulance carried her away from a Nashville prison last Wednesday (September 30, 2026).

Pike survived two doses of pentobarbital as Tennessee officials attempted to put her to death.

The head of Tennessee’s prison system is resigning, Governor Bill Lee announced Saturday (October 3, 2026), the first major staff shake-up since Christa Pike’s stunning failed execution left her unconscious and on a ventilator at a hospital.

Frank Strada, commissioner of the Department of Correction, will step down this month, Mr. Lee said. Some of the Governor’s fellow Republicans and other elected officials had been urging a change in leadership.

It was the second time since May that Tennessee had not been able to execute a prisoner who was seemingly moments away from death.

The Governor also announced that former U.S. Attorney Ed Stanton would lead a review of what happened in Pike’s death chamber. Stanton was previously named to conduct a review after Lee called off a different execution in 2022; he found in that case that Tennessee had not complied with its own lethal injection process.

Mr. Strada said in a statement that resigning was “in the best interest of Tennesseans” while Stanton’s review is conducted. The state failed to execute Pike despite administering two doses of a lethal drug, pentobarbital.

Pike, now 50, was 18 when she and her boyfriend tortured and killed a classmate, Colleen Slemmer, in a jealous rage in 1995. She became one of the youngest women to be sent to death row.

There was no immediate response from Pike’s lawyers for an update on Saturday (October 3, 2026) on her condition at a hospital. They had disclosed on Friday (October 2, 2026) that she was on a ventilator and unconscious in the hours following the execution attempt and that hospital staff were trying to clear the two doses of pentobarbital.

The shocking failure has left both sides of the death penalty debate demanding answers. Mr. Lee has ordered an independent review and halted any new executions. Mr. Strada said he believes the state “carried out its responsibilities in accordance with the established protocol.”

Pike’s legal team welcomed Mr. Strada’s departure but said “it does nothing to help Christa now.”

“What happened to her Wednesday reflects a systemic failure that goes far beyond any one person,” the four-lawyer team said. “We hope the governor’s call for a full, independent review will expose the profound problems within Tennessee’s entire death penalty system.”

Pike’s attorneys said they believed problems with the IV lines caused the pentobarbital to flow into her body instead of her bloodstream.

Pike was extraordinarily cooperative with the execution team, even instructing them to “please try here, please try here” as they tried to insert lines, lawyer Randy Spivey told reporters Thursday (October 1, 2026).

In May, Tennessee stopped the execution of Tony Carruthers after staff placed an IV into his right arm but couldn’t get a secondary IV line. The Governor ordered officials to wait at least a year before trying to execute him again.

Mr. Strada took over the Correction Department in January 2023 after serving as deputy director of the Arizona Department of Corrections. In late 2024, he announced that Tennessee was changing its lethal injection protocol and would use only pentobarbital.

Four people have been executed in Tennessee since 2025, according to the Correction Department.

Court filings show that Mr. Strada’s job included overseeing executions in Arizona when they resumed in 2022 following an eight-year break.

Clarence Dixon was the first that year. The medical team had trouble finding a vein to administer the lethal drugs and finally made an incision in his groin area. The process took about 25 minutes.

That same year in Arizona, medical staff preparing Frank Atwood for execution initially could not locate a vein in his right arm but inserted the IV in his right hand — at Mr. Atwood’s suggestion, said Henry Brean, an Arizona Daily Star reporter who was a witness.

Mr. Strada announced Murray Hooper’s execution by lethal injection, the third in 2022. There was an unsuccessful attempt to insert an IV line in his right arm. The IV in Hooper’s leg was inserted into his femoral artery.

“When Governor Lee hired Strada to fix execution problems in Tennessee, his problematic history of executions in Arizona was well known,” said Kit Thomas, an attorney who has represented people on Tennessee’s death row.

Convicted murderer Christa Pike is unconscious, intubated and receiving breathing assistance ​from a ventilator after Tennessee’s failed attempt to execute her, ‌her attorneys said on Friday (October 2, 2026), providing the ​first detailed account of the extent of ⁠injuries she suffered during the lethal injection.

Hospital staff are working to save Pike’s life and clear the lethal drug pentobarbital from ‌her system, her attorneys said in an emergency court filing seeking an order requiring ‌Tennessee’s Department of Correction to preserve evidence from ‌Wednesday night’s ⁠botched execution.

Pike remains in critical condition, her ⁠lawyers said, two days after the state administered two doses of pentobarbital but failed to kill her. She has suffered significant ​injuries to both arms, they ‌added.

“At no point did any member of the execution team realize that the IV lines were not correctly placed or that the veins had blown ‌and that the pentobarbital was, in whole ​or in part, entering Ms. Pike’s body,” Pike’s lawyers said in a filing in the ⁠Chancery Court for the State of Tennessee Twentieth Judicial District.

The filing provides the fullest picture yet of the ‌medical consequences of an attempted execution that Tennessee Governor Bill Lee said followed the state’s established protocol. It was the state’s second botched execution this year and Lee has halted any further state killings for the rest of 2026 and ordered an independent review ‌of what happened.

Pike’s attorneys have said the execution team’s difficulties ​administering the drug were related to intravenous access, an issue they had warned the state ⁠and courts about before the execution.

Pike, 50, was convicted of ⁠killing her 19-year-old classmate Colleen Slemmer in 1995, when Pike was 18. She had been scheduled ‌to become the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than two centuries.

The execution of a woman in Tennessee, U.S., on Wednesday (September 30, 2026) seemed to have failed, with witnesses and Christa Pike’s attorney telling local media the convicted murderer was still breathing and audibly snoring after being given lethal injection.

“It appears this did not go how this was supposed to go,” said investigative journalist John North of WBIR who was a witness at the execution site, adding “when we left the building, so far as we knew, she was probably still alive.”

Pike was in a hospital on Thursday (October 1) after authorities “failed” to carry out her execution, her lawyers said.

Just hours earlier, the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for Pike to be the first woman to die by lethal injection in the southern US state of Tennessee in 200 years.

“Tonight the State of Tennessee once again failed to carry out a lawful execution,” Pike’s attorneys said in a statement. “Christa is being treated at a nearby hospital. We have not been informed as to her condition.”

Pike was scheduled for execution at 10:00 a.m. at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, where witnesses, including journalists, were present for the administration of the injections.

WVLT television reported that Pike’s attorney was filing an emergency stay to halt the execution and “immediately begin life-saving measures.”

Her attorneys told the news station “this has turned into agony and a violation of Pike’s right to be executed free of cruel and unusual punishment.”

Seven journalists who were in the room to witness the execution said afterward, on a livestream hosted by WVLT television station, that the 50-year-old was singing and moving at times, complained of pain in her arm after the injection, and was clearly alive and snoring before corrections officials escorted journalists out.

“We just listened, as they said, to her snoring and making very loud breathing sounds for almost an hour”, said Catherine Sweeney of WPLN television.

Steven Hale from the Nashville Banner, a local news site, added “whatever just happened happened behind a closed curtain when Christa Pike was still alive. We could still hear her breathing, but we could not see what was going on.”

During the livestream, an ambulance with its lights flashing could be seen leaving the site of the execution, it’s unclear if it was transporting Pike.

A Tennessee woman was expected to be put to death Wednesday (September 30, 2026) for the murder of a high-school friend in what would be the first execution of a woman in that state in two centuries.

A decision by the U.S. Supreme Court late Wednesday (September 30, 2026) cleared the way for Christa Pike — the only woman on the state’s death row — to be given a lethal injection after hours of dramatic legal wrangling up and down the judicial system.

A lawyer for Pike, Luke Ihnen, told AFP that there are no plans to file for further reprieve and that the execution “should start any minute if it hasn’t already.”

“We do not plan to file anything else,” Mr. Ihnen said.

When Pike is given a lethal injection, she will become the first woman executed in the U.S. since 2023.

Pike had been scheduled for execution at 10:00 a.m. (1500 GMT) at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, but it was halted barely an hour before by a lower court.

That court was set to review whether allegations that Pike was sexually abused as a child were fully considered in her original prosecution.

“The interests of justice and the finality of Pike’s impending execution compel the entry of a short stay of execution in order to properly analyze the parties’ fully briefed arguments,” the lower court order said.

But the Supreme Court later said it could go ahead.

“The September 30, 2026 order of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit…granting a stay of execution is vacated,” the Supreme Court order said.

Liberal Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson all dissented.

“The Court’s decision… unnecessarily prevents that [lower] court from giving due consideration to Pike’s claim,” the dissenting justices wrote.

“Worse, the court grants such extraordinary relief solely to allow the state to execute Pike before litigation over her conviction has properly run its course in the lower courts.”

Mental health considerations

The case has sparked debate over capital punishment for young criminals.

Pike was 18 when she and her boyfriend beat and killed Colleen Slemmer, 19, at a job training camp for young people.

The killing gained national attention after Slemmer’s body was found with a pentagram, often seen as a satanic symbol, carved in her chest.

Pike’s lawyers argued she should be granted clemency due to her young age and mental health issues at the time of the killing.

“She was 18 when she committed her crime, and she was deeply mentally ill,” they wrote in a clemency petition to Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, who said he would not intervene.

The U.S. Supreme Court had rejected Tuesday (September 29, 2026) an application for a stay of execution, which argued that Pike’s history as a victim of sexual assault, post-traumatic stress disorder and a blood condition meant a lethal injection would cause “needless suffering.”

Independent UN rights experts have urged the U.S. government and Tennessee authorities to “immediately halt” the execution and commute her death sentence.

“Pike’s execution would mark the culmination of a trajectory of severe physical and psychological suffering marked by childhood abuse and nearly three decades of solitary confinement on death row,” they said.

In the United States, only 18 women have been executed since 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.