Episode 196: Colleen Slemmer | The Cult of Christa

Episode 196: Colleen Slemmer | The Cult of Christa

Author: True Crime Couple January 13, 2025 Duration: 1:34:54
On January 13, 1995 Detectives in Knoxville, TN arrived at a murder scene in Tyson Park. This was unlike anything they had ever seen before. In the dirt leading up to the victim’s body they found finger marks, which implied the victim had been physically dragged to a more remote location while fighting desperately to save her life. Her clothes were strewn up in the surrounding trees, covered in blood, and she had been beaten horrifically and slashed with what they assumed as a knife. She had a deep impact wound on the left side of her head and it appeared that brain matter was visible.  This was a brutal murder and they knew it would rock the community of Knoxville, especially because the victim was college aged, and they had many universities and post high school programs located around them. But what the detectives feared far more than fielding phone calls from concerned parents was the fact that, in the midst of America’s ‘Satanic Panic’, their victim had a pentagram carved into her chest. 

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Sources:
A Love to Die For by Patricia Springer
Amazon Link for book
https://casetext.com/case/state-v-shipp-13
Newspapers.com Access to TN newspapers 
https://myfox8.com/news/court-upholds-sentence-for-only-woman-on-death-row/
https://nashvillebanner.com/2024/09/17/christa-pike-death-sentence-isolation/
https://casetext.com/case/pike-v-state-15
https://www.opn.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/19a0205p-06.pdf
https://www.tncourts.gov/sites/default/files/docs/response_-_to_motion_1.pdf
https://archive.ph/20130127053544/http://www.ksdk.com/news/crime/article/311792/147/Death-row-inmate-woos-NJ-man-and-guard-to-help-plan-escape
https://www.opn.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/19a0205p-06.pdf
https://www.chattanoogan.com/2016/3/11/319852/Chattanooga-Federal-Judge-Upholds.aspx



There's a unique dynamic that happens when two people who share a life also share a deep fascination with the darker corners of human nature. True Crime Couple is exactly that: a raw, unfiltered conversation between partners navigating the complex and often unsettling world of true crime together. This isn't a scripted lecture or a detached narration; it's the sound of two people trying to make sense of the senseless, often disagreeing, and always bringing their personal relationship into the analysis. You'll hear genuine reactions, personal debates, and the kind of tangential discussions that only happen when you're deeply comfortable with your co-host. The podcast delves into cases both infamous and obscure, but the real focus is on the human impact-the ripple effects on families, communities, and our own perceptions of safety and justice. It’s a documentary of sorts on how these stories affect us, recorded in real time from our living room. Listening feels like being part of a very specific, ongoing conversation where the case details are just the starting point for a deeper exploration of fear, morality, and the bonds that hold us together even when discussing the darkest subjects. We’re the True Crime Couple, and this is how we process the unthinkable, together.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

True Crime Couple
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