911 call after Christa Pike’s botched execution revealed and it shows confusion

Newly released audio from a 911 call reveals there was a delay in getting medical help for Christa Pike following her failed execution because officials were unsure whether the request for help was genuine.

Pike was almost the first woman to be executed in Tennessee for more than 200 years after she was convicted of killing her 19-year-old classmate Colleen Slemmer in 1995.

The recordings, obtained by The Associated Press through a public records request, reveals the minutes that passed as officials and responders attempted to figure out how to proceed.

The call was made at 8.40pm on 30 September, just over an hour after the attempted execution began. The caller was unable to provide a code to verify the request for emergency help in the execution chamber.

A dispatcher can be heard saying at 9.03pm: "Per supervisors here at the DEC (Department of Emergency Communications), we have been informed it is a false call. There is no medical assistance needed at Riverbend Prison."

Time went by as emergency responders tried to verify the call. They were also in touch with representatives of the prison’s Central Control.

A recording time-stamped at around 9.07pm reveals a first responder 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."

Christa Pike was transported to hospital following her failed execution (Tennessee Department of Corrections)

It took around half an hour after the initial call, at around 9.11pm, for Central Control to confirm that the emergency request was legitimate. This eventually let responders enter through the gates.

As medics transported Pike to hospital at 9.34pm, one medic asked dispatch to confirm that the prison was aware of where they were taking her.

"Just 'cause there's been so much other confusion, I want to make sure they are aware of this," the medic can be heard saying.

Further emergency calls were made, including one at 9.08pm by Kelly Gleason, who is one of Pike’s attorneys.

"My client, Christa Gail Pike, is undergoing a state execution. She has completed the stages of the protocol and last we knew from the attorney who is present, she is still alive and breathing and needs immediate life-saving care," Gleason said.

Slemmer had been a student at the Job Corps, alongside Pike (First Coast News/ABC)

Pike had been given two doses of a lethal drug as part of her botched execution. Her lawyers said her recovery is ‘medically unprecedented’.

The 50-year-old was said to be in critical condition after Tennessee officials failed to execute her.

Her execution had previously been delayed by a last-minute legal battle after an appeals court granted a stay shortly before she was due to die.

The US Supreme Court later overturned that decision, however, allowing officials to proceed.

Her attorney, Randy Spivey, said in an update last week that the convicted killer was receiving 'lifesaving care' following the botched procedure, but that her legal team had little information about her condition.

"We don't have a sense of her prognosis or much update on her health at the moment," Spivey said. "But we know she is alive right now."

The failed execution has prompted state Governor Bill Lee to order a third-party review and postpone the state's remaining scheduled execution for 2026.