Founder and CEO of Crotega Safety Solutions with SentriZone Suppression System and REPULS Spray. Author of The Fatal Link, a study of school shooters and PAE.
In July 1985, over a billion people watched Live Aid.
Months earlier, Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie had written "We Are the World." All of it was a response to a famine in Ethiopia.
Almost nobody remembers who actually caused the famine. 🧵
Christa Gail Pike. A name attached to a date — September 30th, 2026 — and a governor’s conscience. But a name without a face, without a history, is just a legal designation. So let me tell you who Christa Pike actually is.
She was born with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder — organic brain damage and malformation caused by her mother’s drinking during pregnancy, clinically documented and neurologically visible. The signs appeared early: seizures as an infant and toddler.
She suffered repeated sexual abuse and violence that began when she was a toddler. At eleven or twelve, her paternal grandmother — the one stable, nurturing presence in her life — died of cancer. After that loss, her father returned her to her mother’s chaotic home, dropped her off, and drove away. Her mother’s subsequent boyfriends physically and sexually abused her. The legal term is rape. Multiple times.
At what point was Christa Pike ever given a reason to believe she mattered? Who among those charged with caring for her — with raising her to be a healthy, stable adult, as Bill Lee was raised — ever showed her the face of Jesus Christ? Her grandmother came closest. But that door closed while Christa was still far too young.
To be clear, Christa committed a horrific crime. She tortured and murdered Colleen Slemmer out of irrational jealousy over a boyfriend, TaDarryl Shipp. But nothing happens in a vacuum. Both minors and legal adults were left largely unsupervised at the Tennessee Job Corps program in Knoxville. TaDarryl was 17. Christa had turned 18 several months earlier. That single year’s difference would determine everything. After the murder, the Tennessee Job Corps facility in Knoxville was quietly closed. The full weight of consequence fell on Christa. TaDarryl received life with the possibility of parole. Christa got the electric chair.
With that sentence, Christa became the youngest person sentenced to death in the United States in the post-Furman era — a reference to Furman v. Georgia, the 1972 Supreme Court ruling that effectively halted capital punishment across the country until executions resumed in 1976. Colleen died in January 1995 at Christa and TaDarryl’s hands. If Bill Lee proceeds — and at this point, it will be solely his decision — TaDarryl Shipp will celebrate Christmas 2026. Bill Lee will celebrate Christmas 2026. Christa Gail Pike will not.
Christa has been incarcerated since she was eighteen years old. For thirty of those years she was held in solitary confinement in a cell described by her own attorney as the size of a parking space. She has never had an adulthood. Whatever she was at eighteen — damaged, traumatized, capable of terrible violence — she has never been given the chance to become anything else.
Big thanks to Lou Krupkin for representing Crotega at a law enforcement conference in Tampa, Florida. Proud to have Lou showcasing the REPULS platform and connecting with public safety professionals. #Crotega#REPULS#PublicSafety#LawEnforcement
Take a look at Crotega’s first challenge coin. CEO and Founder Jody Allen Crowe was presented with a custom display featuring the inaugural coin prominently on the front. The coin holder itself was handcrafted by a Minnesota-based woodworker from Partridge Creek Wood Designs.
A stalwart on the Bulldogs' blue line, blocking 3️⃣9️⃣ shots and appearing in all 34 games this season…
Congratulations to @UMDMensHockey's Adam Kleber on being named the 2025-26 NCHC Defensive Defenseman of the Year! 🏅
📰: https://t.co/cqJMKrDWXN
#theNational // #BulldogCountry
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Our Crotega National Healthcare Security and Safety Consultant, Brian Mixdorf, shares his experience in threat and risk management and discusses important steps healthcare systems should take to improve safety and preparedness.
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@lfs6b My dad joined the Kentucky National Guard at 17. His troop would meet the train carrying bodies from WWII to take the bodies to cemetaries scattered throughout the mountains. Years later, he took us to some of the cemeteries. The Dignified Transfer was a powerful reminder.
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