This is Christa Pike at 18 years old when she was sentenced to death. She begged for a hug from her mother before she died. She is now 50 and will be executed tonight for the heinous murder she committed with a boyfriend 32 years ago. Christa’s mother drank heavily and used drugs while she was pregnant with Christa resulting in brain damage which caused Christa’s bipolar disorder. Christa was born premature while her mother was drunk and spent weeks in an incubator. Her mother went back to work as a nurse. When Christa was 14 months old, she suffered a seizure. Her mother refused to leave the bar to take her to the hospital. After Christa was born, her mother left Christa and her brother without food, crawling in dog feces, while she drank with her boyfriends. She sent her children away to their grandmother when one of her many husbands didn’t want them around. Her grandmother allowed her boyfriend to orally sexually assault Christa before the child could talk until she began school. He locked her in a dark chicken coop with spiders crawling on her. When Christa’s school became concerned, her mother failed to follow up or prevent further abuse. Christa’s father stole her dog to give to one of his girlfriends when Christa was 6. Her mother allowed her boyfriends to beat Christa and twist her nipples. One beat Christa with a belt and sexually assaulted her. He forced her to watch pornography and look at graphic images. When Christa brought some of the images to school, they called her mother. She did nothing. When the boyfriend was arrested, her mother tried to deny it. When Christa was raped at 11 by a man in the neighborhood, her mother denied it until she developed an infection and the man was arrested. When Christa tried to commit suicide after that, a psychiatrist told her mother Christa was severely depressed and needed help. Her mother denied Christa further help and her bipolar disorder was not treated. Her mother told Christa to have her 20-something year old carnival boyfriend live with them when Christa was 14. She smoked pot with Christa and her boyfriend to bond. When Christa became pregnant by one of her mother’s lovers at 16, her mother convinced her to get an abortion telling her a healthy baby could not be born from rape. When Christa was raped at 17, one year to the day before she committed murder with her boyfriend, Christa’s mother didn’t care. But Christa was happy to see her mother in court during her trial and all she wanted was a hug. When Christa tried to introduce mitigating factors post-conviction, her mother said her daughter told lies and was a problem child since she was 8. Even then, her mother didn’t care about her child who only wanted a hug. Yes, Christa committed an extremely heinous murder at 18 and she will be put to death. But I just wanted to share a little bit of her story with you — especially for all of you rejoicing at her execution. #christapike