True Crime
The U.S. Supreme Court denied Pike's stay application hours before the Sept. 30 execution date. A stay denial is not a new trial verdict.
On Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Christa Gail Pike's application to stay her lethal-injection execution scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 30, at 10 a.m. Central at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution. Gov. Bill Lee had already refused clemency.
By Crime Talk Network Staff Writer ·
A Supreme Court order denying a stay is an appellate process ruling. It is not a new guilt finding, and it does not itself carry out the sentence. On Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026, reporting from WVLT, The Hill, and USA TODAY said the Court denied Pike's last-minute stay request less than a day before Tennessee's scheduled Sept. 30 execution. She remains the only woman on Tennessee's death row.
Pike was convicted in the 1995 killing of Colleen Slemmer, 19, at a Knoxville Job Corps site and sentenced to death. Prior CTN coverage noted Gov. Bill Lee's Sept. 28 clemency denial and that a Supreme Court stay application was still pending. Tuesday's denial clears that pending stay request. An execution date is a schedule until the State carries it out.
Court filings opposing the stay argued decades of litigation and that Pike's due-process claim was meritless after prior judicial review. Those are the State's arguments in the stay papers. They are not a fresh jury verdict. If carried out, reporting says Pike would be the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years.
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By Crime Talk Network Staff Writer
Tuscaloosa police charged Daronte Collins with felony murder after a Saturday apartment-complex shooting.
WBRC's jail photo is captioned Daronte Collins and puts both men at 22. The Tuscaloosa Thread, citing Violent Crimes Unit Lt. Michael Hall, spells the charged man Deronte and puts both at 20. Patch and the Calhoun Journal also use Daronte and 20. A felony-murder count, which the Thread and the Journal describe as Alabama's rule when someone dies during a robbery, is not a finding that Collins fired the shot that killed Tyson. The Thread says the 25-year-old has not been charged.
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Reporting noted by WBRC, Tuscaloosa Thread, Calhoun Journal, and Tuscaloosa Patch.
By Crime Talk Network Staff Writer
High Point police charged Kymberli Bowden with first-degree murder in her 13-year-old daughter's death.
The Oct. 8 release is a new murder count on a case the department charged in 2025 as felony child abuse and concealment of death. It is not a trial. The murder-charge release says she remains in jail with no bond. WXII reported a violent-offense hold and a $1 million bond on the older counts. The 2025 release listed her age as 44. The murder-charge release, WXII, and FOX 35 Orlando list 45.
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Reporting noted by High Point Police Department, WXII, FOX 35 Orlando, and News & Observer.
By Crime Talk Network Staff Writer
Chicago police charged Chevazz Campbell in the stabbing death of CTA janitor Julian Mobley.
A detention hearing is the first court date. It is not a finding that Campbell stabbed anyone. The department's Sunday release says he robbed and fatally stabbed a 41-year-old man in the 2000 block of West Lake Street. ABC7 and CBS Chicago name that man as Julian Mobley and describe a fare dispute that turned into a stabbing. The department's charge list and CBS Chicago's shorter summary do not match count for count.
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Reporting noted by Chicago Police Department, ABC7 Chicago, and CBS Chicago.