The harrowing saga of Colleen Slemmer, who was tortured and murdered in 1995, continues to haunt the state of Tennessee as her mother, May Martinez, enters her 31st year of fighting for the return of a stolen fragment of her daughter's skull.
The piece of bone was taken as a souvenir by Christa Pike, then 18, after she and two other teens lured Slemmer to a secluded area of the University of Tennessee campus.
During the brutal 30 minute attack, Pike carved a pentagram into Slemmer’s chest and eventually bashed her head with a chunk of asphalt.
Pike later showed off the skull fragment to fellow Job Corps students, which led to her swift arrest and subsequent death sentence.
For decades, Martinez has kept her daughter's cremated remains in a small pewter box in her Florida home, vowing never to hold a proper burial until every piece of Colleen is returned.
While Tennessee authorities have returned other remains over the years, sometimes via mail without warning—they have steadfastly refused to release the skull fragment.
Officials maintain that because the piece was used as a "trophy" and links the killer directly to the victim, it remains essential physical evidence in an open capital case.
As of March 2026, Christa Pike remains the only woman on Tennessee's death row and has recently filed a new lawsuit challenging the state's lethal injection protocol on religious and medical grounds.
With Pike’s execution currently scheduled for September 30, 2026, the state insists the fragment must remain in a vault until the sentence is carried out.
Martinez has spent half her life pleading with the state to simply take a photograph or create a mold of the evidence so she can finally lay her daughter to rest.
Instead, the piece of Colleen Slemmer remains locked in a cold evidence locker, waiting for a finality that has been delayed for over three decades.