{
  "id": 10198984,
  "title": "The “Satanic Panic” Made Her a True-Crime Obsession. The Truth Is More Haunting.",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/27/the-satanic-panic-made-her-a-true-crime-obsession-the-truth-is-more-10198984",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-09-27T11:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Intercept",
    "slug": "the-intercept",
    "url": "https://theintercept.com/2026/09/27/christa-pike-execution-women-death-row/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Christa Gail Pike, an American teenager, was initially sentenced to die after being convicted of murder. However, her story began much earlier, as a young girl plagued by abuse and neglect. At just 15 years old, she was sent to a juvenile center in Swannanoa, North Carolina, after breaking community center rules to steal candy. The center, intended to help troubled children, instead became a place where Pike's issues were exacerbated by the punitive system. She stayed there for over a year, despite her progress in earning her GED and working as a teacher's assistant. Pike's tormentors included a neighbor who sexually assaulted her at the age of 11 and her mother's live-in boyfriend, who had been found guilty of physically and sexually abusing her when she was under state custody. Despite being intelligent and engaging, Pike's demons proved too strong, leading her to murder a classmate, Colleen Slemmer, in a horrifying act of violence. The public condemned her as a devil-driven psychopath, but Pike's lawyers have pleaded for mercy, revealing the true horrors of her upbringing - a childhood marked by severe mental illness and sexual abuse that began when she was just two years old. Her case is a heartbreaking testament to the failures of the juvenile justice system, which, instead of offering support, compounded her trauma through further punishment. If Tennessee's Governor Bill Lee does not grant clemency, Pike, now 50, will be the first woman executed in the state in two centuries.",
  "summary": "After nearly 30 years on death row, Christa Pike faces execution for a grisly murder she committed at 18. The post The “Satanic Panic” Made Her a True-Crime Obsession. The Truth Is More Haunting. appeared first on The Intercept .",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "The Intercept",
        "title": "The “Satanic Panic” Made Her a True-Crime Obsession. The Truth Is More Haunting.",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/27/the-satanic-panic-made-her-a-true-crime-obsession-the-truth-is-more",
        "published": "2026-09-27T11:00:00.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}