Unrestorable

About Unrestorable

On a January night in 1995, 18-year-old Christa Pike and two other teenagers lured 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer to a secluded area near the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. They taunted, beat, and slashed Colleen, carving a pentagram into her chest, before Christa picked up a piece of concrete and smashed Colleen’s skull, killing her. Those salacious details stood out during a national Satanic Panic over ritual abuse and suburban cults. The Knoxville News Sentinel later accused Christa of killing “for love and Satan.” She was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death by electrocution—one of the youngest women ever to be sentenced to death in the United States. Thirty years later, Christa is still alive, incarcerated at a Nashville prison and the only woman on death row in Tennessee. She has spent much of her adult life in solitary confinement. In the decades since the murder, evolving understanding about brain science and trauma have cast Christa’s wildly violent act—and death sentence—in a new light. We now know that the brain of an 18-year-old remains underdeveloped and impulsive. Christa has a horrific history of abuse, violence, and family neglect; the first time she attempted suicide, she was 9 years old. That kind of trauma can arrest healthy development, leading some young adults down a disastrous path. As Christa approaches her final appeals, a team of state and federal defenders are urgently trying to save Christa’s life. Her date of execution could be set any time. If executed, she will be the first woman killed by Tennessee in almost 200 years. Should a woman who committed a violent crime as a damaged teenager be granted a chance at rehabilitation? And is justice best served through retribution or mercy?

Publisher

iHeartPodcasts

Category

true crime

Language

en

Explicit

Yes

First episode

27 Sept 2023

Latest episode

4 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

13 of 26 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   4 Sept 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Introducing: Burden of Guilt Season 3

   Host [Host Name] interviews Cindy as she recounts the devastating choice between her child and her belief in the truth during a contentious legal battle.

2. 

   14 Feb 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Introducing: Burden of Guilt s2

   In 1999, an 18-year-old bartender named Bobby Gumpright told a lie that sent an innocent man, Jermaine Hudson, to prison for 22 years. Burden of Guilt explores the harsh realities of Jim Crow-era Louisiana in 1898 that helped seal Hudson’s fate—and the unlikely friendship that has grown between the two men since Gumpright came forward with the truth. Listen here (https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-burden-of-guilt-125035763) and subscribe to Burden of Guilt s2 on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts!See omnystudio.com/listener (https://omnystudio.com/listener) for privacy information.

3. 

   13 Dec 2025TRANSCRIPT

   Introducing: The Brothers Ortiz

   The Brothers Ortiz is the story of two brothers–both successful, but in very different ways. Gabe Ortiz becomes a third-highest ranking officer in all of Texas while his younger brother Larry climbs the ranks in Puro Tango Blast, a notorious Texas Prison gang. Gabe doesn’t know all the details of his brother’s nefarious dealings, and he’s made a point not to ask, to protect their relationship. But when Larry is murdered during a home invasion in a rented beach house, Gabe has no choice but to look into what happened that night. To solve Larry’s murder, Gabe, and the whole Ortiz family, must ask each other tough questions. Listen here (https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-brothers-ortiz-308942436/) and subscribe to The Brothers Ortiz on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts!See omnystudio.com/listener (https://omnystudio.com/listener) for privacy information.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

419,108,275

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.2 / 5

1,240 ratings

Spotify

4.2 / 5

598 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 61 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

29

Social presence

97

YouTube

93

Engagement

93

Pitching Unrestorable

Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting pitches.

Questions about Unrestorable