Christa Pike’s Former Boyfriend, a Satanism-Linked Murder Accomplice, Could Be Released in Five Years

As officials determine what comes next for Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike following last week’s failed execution, her accomplice and former boyfriend will have to wait at least five more years for another parole hearing in the 1995 torture and murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville.

Tadaryl Shipp, now 49, was 17 when he, Pike and a third person tortured and killed Slemmer, a fellow student at a vocational school. The crime, which prosecutors said included “satanic elements,” continues to haunt investigators 31 years later.

Prosecutors alleged that Shipp restrained Slemmer as she attempted to flee and carved pentagrams into her chest and face.

“It was a grotesque crime scene,” former Knoxville Police Chief Phil Keith told News Outlet last week. “It was one of the worst crime scenes I’d ever witnessed, and I spent nearly 34 years with the police department.”

Because Shipp was a juvenile at the time of the killing, he was not eligible for the death penalty, Keith said. He received a life sentence for first-degree murder and an additional 25-year sentence for conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. Shipp is incarcerated at Tennessee’s Northwest Correctional Complex.

Court records state that Shipp had explored satanism as a child, and investigators discovered “satanic paraphernalia” in his dorm room. Authorities also said Shipp and Pike were wearing pentagram pendants when they were arrested.

Tennessee prison records indicate that Shipp later adopted the name Abdul Khalip. In 2016, he unsuccessfully sued in federal court for access to halal food and Islamic prayer oils while incarcerated.

Shipp became eligible for parole in October 2025, but officials denied his request at his first hearing. His next hearing is set for October 2031.

His latest mugshot, taken in June 2024, shows him wearing glasses and sporting a salt-and-pepper beard.

Pike was convicted of repeatedly cutting Slemmer and crushing her head with a piece of asphalt. Before her arrest, Pike reportedly kept a fragment of Slemmer’s skull as a trophy and displayed it to another classmate.

Pike was sentenced to death and remains hospitalized in critical condition this week, days after two doses of lethal-injection drugs failed to kill her in a stunning execution mishap. The failed attempt came after Pike had requested a different method of execution.

A third suspect, Shadolla Peterson, pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact and testified against both Pike and Shipp.