Unrestorable

iHeartPodcasts

True Crime

3.6 • 1.1K Ratings

Overview

On a January night in 1995, 18-year-old Christa Pike and two other teenagers lured 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer to a secluded area near the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. They taunted, beat, and slashed Colleen, carving a pentagram into her chest, before Christa picked up a piece of concrete and smashed Colleen’s skull, killing her. Those salacious details stood out during a national Satanic Panic over ritual abuse and suburban cults. The Knoxville News Sentinel later accused Christa of killing “for love and Satan.” She was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death by electrocution—one of the youngest women ever to be sentenced to death in the United States. Thirty years later, Christa is still alive, incarcerated at a Nashville prison and the only woman on death row in Tennessee. She has spent much of her adult life in solitary confinement. In the decades since the murder, evolving understanding about brain science and trauma have cast Christa’s wildly violent act—and death sentence—in a new light. We now know that the brain of an 18-year-old remains underdeveloped and impulsive. Christa has a horrific history of abuse, violence, and family neglect; the first time she attempted suicide, she was 9 years old. That kind of trauma can arrest healthy development, leading some young adults down a disastrous path. As Christa approaches her final appeals, a team of state and federal defenders are urgently trying to save Christa’s life. Her date of execution could be set any time. If executed, she will be the first woman killed by Tennessee in almost 200 years. Should a woman who committed a violent crime as a damaged teenager be granted a chance at rehabilitation? And is justice best served through retribution or mercy?

21 Episodes

Introducing: Rorschach: Murder at City Hall

A shocking public shooting at New York City Hall leaves the ambitious, charismatic City Councilman James E. Davis dead, before his assailant is gunned down by a New York City cop. It turns out that Davis had been murdered by his political rival, Niel Askew. And yet all that summer, the two men had been seen around Brooklyn together, been together in James’ office, sat side by side at a barbershop. Despite the shock waves this murder sent through New York City in the summer of 2003, the story is now forgotten, along with the mystery of what really happened between these men. RORSCHACH: MURDER AT CITY HALL recounts their final fateful day through eye-witness accounts, and then traces the path that led James Davis and his killer Niel Askew to their deaths. Listen here and subscribe to Rorschach: Murder at City Hall on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcribed - Published: 28 March 2026

Introducing: Burden of Guilt s2

In 1999, an 18-year-old bartender named Bobby Gumpright told a lie that sent an innocent man, Jermaine Hudson, to prison for 22 years. Burden of Guilt explores the harsh realities of Jim Crow-era Louisiana in 1898 that helped seal Hudson’s fate—and the unlikely friendship that has grown between the two men since Gumpright came forward with the truth. Listen here and subscribe to Burden of Guilt s2 on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcribed - Published: 14 February 2026

Introducing: The Brothers Ortiz

The Brothers Ortiz is the story of two brothers–both successful, but in very different ways. Gabe Ortiz becomes a third-highest ranking officer in all of Texas while his younger brother Larry climbs the ranks in Puro Tango Blast, a notorious Texas Prison gang. Gabe doesn’t know all the details of his brother’s nefarious dealings, and he’s made a point not to ask, to protect their relationship. But when Larry is murdered during a home invasion in a rented beach house, Gabe has no choice but to look into what happened that night. To solve Larry’s murder, Gabe, and the whole Ortiz family, must ask each other tough questions. Listen here and subscribe to The Brothers Ortiz on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcribed - Published: 13 December 2025

Episode 8 – Mercy

Christa and her attorneys grapple with a recent announcement by the Tennessee Supreme Court.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcribed - Published: 29 October 2025

Episode 7 – Justice

Beth and Sarah talk to Colleen’s mother about whether justice is even possible in this case.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcribed - Published: 22 October 2025

Episode 6 – The Lawyers

Defending “the worst of the worst” can take a sizable emotional toll–but it also reinforces a sense of shared humanity. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcribed - Published: 15 October 2025

Episode 5 - Christa Fights to Stay Alive

As the decades-long effort to overturn her death sentence runs out of time, Christa and her legal team try to prove that she’s a changed person.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcribed - Published: 8 October 2025

Episode 4 - In Solitary

Christa looks back on her early years on death row when she struggled with undiagnosed mental health issues and the role it played in the fight to save her life.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcribed - Published: 1 October 2025

Episode 3 - The Trial

We learn what the jury and public didn’t know about Christa, her attorneys, and their trial strategy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcribed - Published: 24 September 2025

Episode 2 - Knoxville Reels

As details of the murder leak, the Knoxville community is shocked by what 18-year-old Christa allegedly did to Colleen.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcribed - Published: 17 September 2025

Episode 1 - Christa and Colleen

Months after two teens enroll at Knoxville’s JobCorps program, one is dead and the other is charged with murdering her.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcribed - Published: 10 September 2025

Introducing... Unrestorable Season 2: Proof of Life

In January 1995, 18-year-old Christa Pike killed 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in the woods of Knoxville, Tennessee–and 30 years later, she’s still on death row. Proof of Life explores the meaning of justice and rehabilitation, and asks how we determine whether someone deserves to live or die.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcribed - Published: 3 September 2025

Episode 8 – Justice

Troy ponders his next moves as he searches for broader accountability for the loss of his two children.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcribed - Published: 15 November 2023

Episode 7 – Lost

While Catherine’s case remains mired at the intersection of the criminal justice and mental health systems, one overarching question remains: What happened to Sarah and Jacob?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcribed - Published: 8 November 2023

Episode 6 – The Decision

The judge prepares to rule in Catherine’s competency hearing. Will Troy finally get the justice he’s been seeking for almost a decade?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcribed - Published: 1 November 2023

Episode 5 – The Ticking Clock

After years of advocacy by Troy, a judge finally decides to hear testimony from sworn witnesses about Catherine’s competency, and may even question Catherine directly. But as the clock counts down to the mandatory dismissal of charges, is it too little too late?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcribed - Published: 25 October 2023

Episode 4 – Faking It?

Catherine is treated in a state-run psychiatric hospital after being found incompetent to stand trial. But Troy and others raise questions about whether she’s faking it to avoid accountability.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcribed - Published: 18 October 2023

Episode 3 – Incompetent

Catherine is charged with the disappearance of her children, but a judge finds she is incompetent to stand trial. What does this mean for Troy’s search for his kids and pursuit of justice?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcribed - Published: 11 October 2023

Episode 2 – Missing

When Troy realizes his youngest children are missing, can he depend on their mother to help him find them?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcribed - Published: 4 October 2023

Episode 1 – Crisis

A mentally ill mother. A family in crisis. And a father’s worst nightmare.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcribed - Published: 4 October 2023

Introducing: Unrestorable

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcribed - Published: 27 September 2023

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