Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - JUST IN: Christa Pike 911 Calls Expose CHAOTIC Execution Fail

Episode Date: October 13, 2026

911 calls from the evening of Christa Pike's botched execution show the chaos and confusion among first responders as they tried to determine whether the calls coming from the Riverbend Correctional Institution were real or fake. The first caller didn't have the required "code" to activate an EMS response. Even Pike's attorney called 911 from the execution chamber. Pike was scheduled to die on September 30, 2026, for the heinous 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy goes through the newly-released 911 calls in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5CRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Alex Ciccarone & Jay CruzGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What's going on? What's going on is my client, Krista Dale Pike, is undergoing a state execution. She is still alive and breathing and needs immediate life savings here. Chaos and confusion as the execution of Krista Pike goes off the rails. The River Bend prison and that they were carrying out an execution and the subject did not pass away and it's been over an hour. 911 calls revealing the horror show on Tennessee's death row. We're now getting the fired assistant who's out on scene saying we need to send police hot. because there's someone at the front gate that's telling them that this is real and they need to enter.

I'll go through all of it. I'm Ann Janette Levy, and this is Crime Fix. Krista Pike is back behind bars at the women's prison in Nashville. She's receiving medical treatment and now 911 calls from the evening of September 30th are revealing the chaos and confusion that unfolded in the execution chamber as Krista Pike received two doses of the typically fatal pentobarbital but didn't die. The result was unexpected to the execution team, so much so that when a member of that team called 911, they didn't even know that they had to have a code to activate EMS when calling for help. Krista Pike was scheduled to die for the heinous 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer. Slummer died a horrific death at the hands of Krista Pike and her boyfriend to Daryl's ship. She was tortured, a pentagram carved into her chest,

and her skull smashed. She was beaten so badly that she was unrecognizable. On the evening of September 30th, 2026, Krista Pike was supposed to die for her crime, but she didn't. Instead, she complained of arm pain. She began to laugh at one point and then came the snoring. Something was not right.

All of this came after a delay in the execution that is now the subject of a third-party review. The Tennessee Department of Corrections Commissioner even resigned following the botched execution. And now the 911 calls are telling part of the story of that evening. At around 8.40 p.m., inside River Bend Maximum Security Institution, a call goes out to 911. It's coming from inside Pike's execution chamber. She's just received a dose of pentobarbital.

That's the drug used in Tennessee's lethal injection procedure. It was the state's first attempt to execute a woman in more than two centuries. but she's not dead. The person on the other end of the line is her trying to get help, but there's one immediate problem. It's total chaos and confusion because they don't have the code. We got our hands on these recordings via a public records request, and as we listened to them, we could hear just a stunning breakdown in communication. The first call was released only as a transcript. That's because the release of execution-related records is actually exempt under Tennessee law. But even in writing, the chaos is undeniable.

Here's the moment the prison makes that first call to 911. The dispatcher asks, what's your code? I'll wait. The caller says, I'm sorry? The dispatcher says, what's your code? Caller, my code for reporting an emergency? Or do you know what the emergency is? Dispatcher asks, what's the code for the location?

The caller says, I don't have a code. The dispatcher responds, okay. The dispatcher says, you don't have a verification code? The caller says, I don't. The dispatcher says, all right, what's your callback number? The caller then says, we've been carrying out an execution tonight. We've administered 10 grams of pentobarbital. The person is not yet deceased.

That started approximately one hour ago, and we're calling for an ambulance. The dispatcher responds, and how old. is the patient. Do you know? The caller response, I believe 50. The dispatcher then asks, are they breathing normally? The caller responds, no. The breathing is very labored and slow. The dispatcher then asks, any chest pain? The caller responds, I don't know. The person is not conscious. The dispatcher responds, they're unconscious? The caller responds, correct. The dispatcher says, okay, where in the facility are they? The caller responds in the execution chamber. So the dispatcher is made aware that a failed execution happened at River Bend, but without the code, responders can't

get through the prison gates. So the delay is communicated to the fire department. Hey, so we got a call at the Redfern prison. It came here from the... They said they don't have a code and it's for the woman that's supposed to be executed. But they said they don't have a code. So we're trying to figure out what's going on. How do they not have a code? Right. They should know the code, especially as...

Is it about this? There's nobody there that knows the process? I have no idea. I guess since it's a special case, they may not know, but I don't know why they don't have the code. Did you tell them they needed the code? Yeah. Yeah, we're going to have to start PD code 3 if they don't have a code.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But they didn't understand that part? I guess not since I guess it's why they didn't know that they have a code but yeah

that's probably why yeah yeah um is it at Riverbun yes it Riverbam I forgot

yeah that's the one place to be deaf and you code exactly um okay and

are they gonna are they still on the phone they gotta call you back what are they gonna do I guess we can call the central control to see what's going on

but if they don't have Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, no, totally understand that. And in a district, put a district on that call anyway. And then, will you, yeah, can you call them back on the central and then see that the natural people understand what they need to do? Yes, so we can just make this as fast as possible. Yep. Thank you.

The caller doesn't have the code, which is incredibly odd. And after that, dispatch calls Metro Police. It's been a day. We just have a 43 Palmarian attending at River Bend Prison. It says they don't have any codes through the building. It says they're carrying out execution tonight and subject has not passed away, started an hour ago, not breathing normally unconscious and will be in the executioner's chamber. And then says on callback committee,

they did carry out an execution and no code was given. The phase two is not pinging at the River Bend prison. And the fire department has a call for service, but because there's no code, they won't enter. Okay. Without some of the email. They should have a whole bunch of, So, T-HP and TEOC out there tonight because they are in execution.

The Nashville Metro PD dispatch is just as confused, so dispatch then tries the Tennessee Highway Patrol. Give me one second. Let me talk. At my supervisor right here, give me one second. Okay. Give me one second. What we called him to echo so bad. Hey, so I just talked to my supervisor, and he advised that a river band made the call, so that would be something that, you know, you guys take a river band. We don't know anything about that as of now. So we don't know that this...

It's a random person saying... So you guys are supposed to have troopers in the building for this. So we're just trying to verify if you can get in contact with those troopers and find out what's happening and if this is going to be an actual thing or if this is a person that's trying to get margin to response of something that's not happening. Boy, your 10-1. Okay, so this happened a little bit...

earlier, from my knowledge, we have. Director, you want to be code two off the last? We tried to start explaining to me. I'm sorry, this is Will Cox with the advisor from Power Show. I can ask you. Hey, so we have a medical call for service at the River Bend prison, saying that they carried out the execution, the subject didn't pass away, and they need an ambulance because she's not breathing normally.

Well, we don't have any gender, and we just know it's a fifth-year-old person. We are trying to find out if that is an actual thing that is happening, that is happening and we need to send an ambulance and or if you need police assistance or if this is someone that is just basically prank calling or like swatting us. Well, this is like I said, our dispatch, we haven't made any contact. We don't, we closed our event for the execution. What I can do, I can patch you over the river band. See if they can investigate that.

See if they got anything going on. But we have had, we don't have anything going on. Give me one second. Okay. Okay. We'll give us back information to the hard permit and we'll go from there. I appreciate it. No problem.

Thank you guys. Bye-bye. Did you catch that? The dispatcher is literally left wondering, out loud, if this is even a real call or not. Hey, this is Metro 911 calling back. Is there a supervisor that I can speak with? My supervisor is having me do this. We have responders that are standing by and everything.

We're just trying to verify. So did no one answer us? No one sent you to? No, they did not. Okay. Give me one moment. Let me see if I can get them. Okay.

I'm being told that nobody from our facility called you, so there's not really anything to speak of at the moment. Okay, so we don't need responders if all we're trying to figure out, because they called them for the fire department and everything, so we have them standing by, so no response. Oh, yeah, we didn't call anybody. I would have been the one to call you guys. We didn't call anyone.

Okay, Courtney, hold on. Let me get with my supervisor real quick. Yeah. She's saying that she would have been, the central control would have been the one to call. She's saying that she didn't call and they don't need nobody. And then finally, the Tennessee Department of Corrections calls back, this time with the code. Okay. And what do we have going on? We need a response to the prison. Okay. Let me know when you're ready for the code.

I'm ready for the code. Thank you. Let me say you got to the EMS. Where to at the prison? Pull up to the salary. If they go, yeah, they just go through the salary board. They'll be directed from there. Okay.

Um, let's... I'm letting them know now. All right. And, okay, I'll get this updated for you guys, okay? Okay. All right, thank you. And this is a major moment here. This one is from Krista Pike's defense attorney,

who was inside that room and saw what was happening. Despite the earlier calls, no help appeared to be coming. Kelly Gleeson called 911 herself. 911. What is the address of your emergency? River Bay Maximum Security Institution. Okay, do you have the address? 7475.

7475. Hold on, let me double check. Cockrell Bend, Boulevard. The River Bay. Yeah, sorry, is it 7475 Copper Bend? Yes, I found it. 745 Cocker Bend Boulevard in the Copper Bend area over by Copper Bid Circle. What's going on?

What's going on is my client, Krista Dale Tipe, is undergoing a state execution. She has completed the stages of the protocol. And lastly, we need from the attorney who's present. She is still alive and breathing and needs immediate life-saving care. Okay, give me just one shaking. Okay, how old is the patient? How old is the patient? She's 50 years old.

And what is your name? Or I'm sorry. My name is Kelly. No, I'm not central control. I'm her defense attorney. K-E-L-L-L-Y, G-L-E-A-S-O-N, has central control calls already. Yes. We have responded in the route, but what it is is that we have to, we're waiting on T-HP to get there.

Yes. Our units are safe, but give me just one second. You said you're her defense attorney? Attorney, yes. I'm with the Office of the Post-Conviction Defenders. Okay, one second. Okay, I think, give me one second. I'm just reading the updates to the call.

Gotcha. Thank you. I appreciate you reading the updates for the communications. It sounds like you need to wait for T.HP to get you in? Yeah, that's what it is. So, like, actual Metro, they don't, like, come on, like, the grounds. It's T.H. And they can see where.

So we're waiting for them. I'm going to see if we can. get an update on where they are. Okay. I'll hold. But I updated the call. We're working on getting them out there. The final 911 call came from Nashville Metro,

and you can hear the urgency in the dispatcher's voice. She's trying to get help into the prison. This is the Tennessee. I'm bypassing everybody. Hey. Hey, Wilcox. This Metro. Can I speak the supervisor?

Yeah. Okay, so in regards to the River Bend call, we're now getting the fired assistant who's out on scene saying we need to send police hot because there's someone at the front gate that's telling them that this is real and they need to enter, but they can't enter without police because we never got coats. Can you send a trooper out there because my officer or my sergeant won't let us in anybody. Okay. And River Bend, they don't have a correction officer or nobody that's like to meet you at the gate. The correctional groups don't count for us. It has to be T.HP or METRA that goes in the U.S. Your jurisdiction because it's a state prison.

Right. I get that. I'm trying to get out of line because our strike force used to count as law enforcement as well. So let me see. I don't know what you'll have inside the prison because that's not our jurisdiction, but he's saying that we will not be responding, that we need a trooper or somebody with the state that's out there that's a foreign officer to do it because we can't escort our people into the prison. And the five permit won't enter without one of the police officers there.

I got all that. Who reported that to you guys? Who confirmed it? That is confirmed. The EMSS District Chief is on property and says there's someone at the gate telling them that this is real and that they need to get inside of the building, but they won't enter without an officer on scene because this case were not given to us and Master Control is what we were talking about. All right. And you said, they did try to do an execution in the field. That's what we were told by the person that called us.

They said a rib-off wrong. But the chief didn't verify it. So they never gave us code, the person they called us, because it wasn't Master Control to call us. It was someone that said that they were... So we called Master Control, Master Control, so they didn't know what we were talking about. Just so that you guys were aware, the defense attorney, by the name of Kelly Gleason, is calling us and asking on it update, so it's escalating. All right. And you said...

Very far point to... You said it is. They did try to do an execution in the field. That's what we were told by the person that called us. But the chief didn't verify it. So they never gave us code, the person that called us, because it wasn't Master Control they called us. It was someone that said that they were... So we called Master Control.

Master Control, so they didn't know what we were talking about. And basically just said, we don't know what she was speaking out. So our EMS Assistant Chief went out there. We have a fire engine in the medic stage. The MS Assistant says that they're at the gate. and there's someone at the gate to them to come in because it's like they need the ambulance and that this is an actual thing that's happening

and not someone that's like swatting. And we called Master Control and we finally got codes and now they're requesting, it looks like they're requesting a mystery. But I don't know that they're entering yet. Or if they'll enter, because we haven't gotten an update

from the fire assistant that we can't slow police down. Sure, if you know, we find a possible for a non-driver. Okay, Tennessee. We'll love a little, remote. Okay, thank you. Now that was that final 911 call. You heard that the ambulance was waiting outside of the prison. They were at the gate waiting. But two calls before that, someone at the prison had given the code for EMTs to be allowed to enter. Christa Pike was taken to Vanderbilt Medical Center where her attorney said she was placed on a ventilator to help her breathe. That was on the evening of September 30th. The following Monday, October 5th, Pike's lawyers were under the impression that she was brain dead.

On Monday night, it was our understanding that Krista was brain dead and that life support would be removed the next day. But on Tuesday, to the shock of everyone, including me, including her team, and including the medical team, Krista woke up and began talking. I do not have an explanation for what happened between Monday night and Tuesday morning. But what we do know is that Krista has a long road to recovery. She has a blood clot in one of her arms. She has pneumonia. She is not able to swallow yet, so she is not eaten. She cannot move either of her arms.

Both of her arms and hands are tremendously swollen. And we do not know what, if any, function she will regain in her arms. But we do know that there's a long road ahead. And that is just the physical toll that all of this is taken. Krista Pike is very much alive on Saturday, October 10th. Her attorney said she was released from Vanderbilt and was back behind prison walls at the prison where she had been housed since 1996. In a statement, Pike's attorneys wrote, Krista Pike was discharged from a local hospital and is now at Deborah K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center where she has been housed for more than 30 years. She is grateful to the first responders and her medical team for their care in these extraordinary circumstances. She is continuing to receive medical care at the prison, and we will continue to track her recovery.

Krista Pikes, exact medical condition isn't clear, but we obviously know that doctors at Vanderbilt Medical Center believed she was well enough to go back to the prison. Her lawyers have said that the impact the botched execution has had on her mental capacity may not be known for some time. Neither we nor Krista have even begun to process what this means for her mental health. Krista was at peace. She helped the execution team find what they thought was Vainous Access. She was kind and polite as they worked for an hour stabbing her arm with needle after needle. And then she felt the burn of the pen of barbitol. And then she woke up in a hospital surrounded by people she didn't know with a tube down her throat.

We don't know the toll all of this will take. But Krista is a survivor and we remain hopeful. All of this was foreseeable and foreseen. What happened to Krista is exactly what the state was warned would happen. And there are so many questions that need to be answered, not by Krista, but by the state of Tennessee. But one of those questions has to be how much suffering is enough. Krista has endured child sexual abuse, physical abuse, rapes, and more than 20 years of solitary confinement, and then September 30th happens.

We have to ask how much suffering is enough. We continue to ask Governor Lee to commute Christ's destinets. Governor Lee has not indicated at all that he is willing to commute Christa Pike's sentence and his likely successor, U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn, has said she wants to bring back the electric chair to carry out Pike's execution when she's elected. Chancellor Miles has reopened Krista Pike's civil complaint, challenging lethal injection as the method to execute her and her concerns over accessing her veins.

And she granted her request to preserve all evidence related to the execution. So this case is unique to say the least. I am quite sure that at least in the procedural posture that the parties in this court find themselves, it was not something that could have been anticipated. In light of the evolving situation, the court will pin and grant its own order, granting the motion to preserve relevant evidence. As a primary matter, we want all drugs, syringes, IV lines, tubing that are within the state's possession, needles, catheters, medical supplies, restraints, restraints, gurneys, anything that was in the actual room needs to be preserved and maintained. That would include waste, all packing, labels, inserts, anything in regards to the actual

drug that was used needs to be maintained and preserved, as well as any supplies that would have come from whatever manufacturer administering those products. All photographs, video recordings, audio recordings, any surveillance footage of the execution will need to be maintained. Anything going on in the witness rooms, recording rooms, any recording of that evening September 30th will need to be preserved and maintained. All handwritten notes and logs, checklist timelines, incident report, witness accounts, any persons who were assigned to the execution at that day, emails, text messages, anything

in signal that would not already have some type of encryption and or disappearing mechanism will need to be preserved. I also want encrypted communications or other communications concerning the events of September 30th. All documentation, communications, anything concerning the deviation from the protocol, anything concerning any complications, delays, equipment issues, anything in regards to the ability to access veins, just the administration of this particular execution, it needs to all be maintained. And frankly, the state will have no problem doing this because you all are already doing that, as Mr. Ayers has said. So this case, it's far from over.

A hearing on Pike's case will be held on October 23rd, and law and crime will be there. We'll keep you posted. That's it for this episode of Crime Fixing. I'm Janette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back for next time.