(The Center Square) – Convicted murderer Christa Pike said in a statement released through her attorneys on Friday morning that she is in pain every day after her failed execution on Sept. 30.

Pike did not mention the name of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in the eight-paragraph statement, but said in the only statement referring to Slemmer's murder, "I continue to think about my victim’s family and the terrible pain and loss they have endured."

Pike was sentenced to death for Slemmer's murder. Prosecutors say Pike and two accomplices tortured, slashed and fatally beat Slemmer in 1995. Pike was 18 at the time of the murder and was part of a Job Corps program with Slemmer. Pike was also convicted of attempted murder in 2001 after trying to strangle another prisoner with a shoestring.

The Department of Corrections called for lifesaving measures for Pike after she was still breathing following two doses of the execution drug pentobarbital. What happened in the execution room is still under investigation. Pike's attorney Randy Spivey, who witnessed the execution attempt, said in court documents that members of the execution team were struggling with the IV lines.

Pike is housed in the infirmary ward at the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center in Nashville. She said in her statement that she was prepared to die.

"I don't know why I survived that night. I don't know what comes next," Pike said in her statement. "Some days, finding hope is harder than others. For now, I am trying to heal, one day at a time. And I am holding on to the love and kindness of so many people who have reminded me that I am not alone."

The failed execution was the second in Tennessee in 2026. Tony Carruthers, who was convicted of murder in 1996 for the deaths of Marcellos Anderson, his mother, Delois Anderson and Frederick Tucker, survived a May execution attempt.

Gov. Bill Lee gave Carruthers a one-year reprieve from the death penalty. The governor, who leaves office in January 2027, has yet to indicate if he will do the same for Pike, but has halted executions through the end of the year.

Lee appointed former U.S. Attorney Ed Stanton, who also reviewed the state's lethal execution protocol in 2022, to handle an investigation into what happened in Pike's failed execution.

Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada, who made $21,160 a month, or $253,920 annually, according to the Transparent Tennessee website, resigned on Oct. 3. Strada was appointed by Lee, and his tenure began in January 2023.

State lawmakers from both sides told The Center Square they are frustrated with the department. The Department of Correction declined an interview request from The Center Square and did not respond to emailed questions.

Rep. Sam McKenzie of Knoxville remembers Slemmer's murder well.

"It was a really heinous crime," McKenzie said in an interview with The Center Square. "It's been 31 years, and for it to drag out long and to end up this way in such a failed fashion, it's just horrific. It's nothing I wish on both sides."

The Department of Correction understood what a failed execution looked like after the incident with Carruthers, and what happened with Pike is "just total incompetence," McKenzie said.

"Just really inferior, unqualified people that don't understand anything about the correctional system and are in place right now in our great state and that is unfortunate," McKenzie said.

Republican Rep. Jody Barrett of Dickson said Lee's statement after the execution that the execution protocols were followed leads to more questions.

"If we followed the protocols and didn't successfully execute the prisoner, was it a human error? Was it a product malfunction? We need to know that, and we need to correct that before the next one," Barrett said in an interview with The Center Square.

Barrett has advocated for the use of a firing squad for executions. South Carolina lawmakers approved the firing squad as an execution method in 2021. Three prisoners were put to death by the firing squad in 2025, according to the South Carolina Department of Corrections.

"That seems to be so much cleaner, much more efficient, arguably with many experts testifying that it is much more humane," Barrett said. "It is a quicker, more painless death which I know is probably counterintuitive to a lot of us non-medical people."

McKenzie said he favors a more measured approach, also with a look at what other states are doing.

"Let's stop all this who can have the most heinous type of death. It's a gun that would do it. Gas would do it. A different kind of concoction would do it. Let's figure out what other states are doing, let's do that because we are not good at it," McKenzie said.

House Speaker Cameron Sexton said the legislature is likely to look at legislation on the death penalty in 2027.

"We're going to take a look at it, do some investigation into it, like the process and procedure, like why did they not hook up an essential line instead of trying to get an IV, things like that," Sexton said in an interview with The Center Square during a stop in Ooltewah. "Does that need to be a law changed, does that need to be an internal process? Also, why are pharmaceutical companies not allowing us to have a broader mix of potential lethal injection drugs we can use?"

Lawmakers could also look at what other states are doing.

"At the end of the day, we want to be efficient and effective, and maybe that includes more options," Sexton said.

As for Pike, Sexton said, "She still needs to be executed."