Mean Girl Murders on ID: What happened to Colleen Slemmer?

The 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer, a student at the Knoxville Center of Job Corps, made for a twisted story of jealousy. The murder took place at the hands of a fellow student, Christa Pike, and her accomplices, Tadaryl Shipp and Shadolla Peterson.

Pike had reportedly suspected Slemmer to have been wanting to steal her boyfriend when she lured her into an abandoned steam plant close to the University of Tennessee campus. Slemmer was tortured for thirty minutes, beaten mercilessly, and her head was bludgeoned to death with an asphalt rock.

Slemmer's throat was slashed six times, and a pentagram was carved onto her chest while Pike walked away with a piece of her broken skull. The Mean Girl Murders episode, titled She-Devil, airs on May 20, 2024, at 9 p.m. EST on Investigation Discovery. The official synopsis reads,

"There is only one woman on death row in Tennessee, and this is her story. In 1995, Christa Pike is introduced to satanism. Her fascination with the dark underworld grows until it comes to a deadly head in the woods one night in January."

---

Who was Colleen Slemmer?

Colleen Anne Slemmer was born on September 20, 1975, in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, to May Martinez. She was the eldest of the two siblings, and she was also brought up by her stepfather. Slemmer allegedly wished to attend college but gave in to the Job Corps in 1994 owing to monetary constraints.

Colleen Slemmer had been looking forward to her computer classes on the Knoxville, Tennessee, campus of Job Corps. She was seen for the last time leaving the campus on January 12, 1995, per WBIR.

---

How was Colleen Slemmer killed?

The 19-year-old Slemmer had stepped out of her dormitory room along with Christa Gail Pike, Tadaryl D. Shipp, and Shadolla R. Peterson around 8 p.m. local time and headed towards the woods. However, three of them returned to the campus around 10:15 p.m. local time, leaving behind Slemmer.

On January 13, an employee of the University of Tennessee Grounds Department came across a corpse close to the greenhouses on the campus around 8:05 a.m. local time and mistook it to belong to an animal at first. Upon closer inspection, the body was found lying face down on debris. Per court documents, a pool of blood was found 30 feet away from the corpse.

The Knoxville Police Department authorities identified the body as Slemmer's. She was left unclothed from the waist up, and her body was covered in bruises and cuts. Colleen Slemmer's throat was slashed, and her head was bludgeoned to the extent that her face was unrecognizable.

Colleen Slemmer's body was taken to the morgue, where the examiners found a pentagram carved onto Colleen's chest.

---

Why was Colleen Slemmer killed?

The 18-year-old Christa Pike told her friend, Kim Iloilo, that she wanted to kill Colleen because she felt mean. However, Pike told the investigators that she had suspicions about Slemmer wanting to steal her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, from her, according to The Straits Times.

Christa Pike mentioned to the authorities that she was woken up by Slemmer standing over her with a box cutter. She allegedly wanted to scare Slemmer in return and thus hatched a plan wherein she convinced her to accompany them to an abandoned steam plant close to the University of Tennessee campus, where they would use cannabis.

Pike was joined by Shipp and another friend and classmate, Shadolla Peterson. At the location, Pike and Shipp reportedly tortured Slemmer for thirty minutes before Pike smashed her head with a large block of asphalt. The crime suggested premeditation, as Christa Pike went armed with a box cutter and a borrowed meat cleaver.

---

Catch the details of Colleen Slemmer's murder on the new Mean Girl Murders episode on Monday.