Christa Pike found common ground with Lindsay Clancy, the woman accused of killing her three children, and said that both had faced situations related to mental health that, in her view, did not receive the necessary attention.
Clancy was accused of strangling her 3 children. Her defense argued that she suffered from postpartum psychosis and was not criminally responsible for her actions. Her trial ended in September 2026 with a divided jury and a mistrial.
Pike, for her part, was 18 when she tortured and murdered her roommate, 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, in 1995. Now sentenced to death for that crime, she maintains that her history of abuse and mental health problems was not presented during her trial.
In an interview, Pike said she felt a connection with Clancy and noted that perceptions of women’s mental health problems have changed since she was tried more than three decades ago. She even believes that scientific advances in understanding brain development could have influenced how her case would be evaluated today.
“There are so many women who don’t get the help they need”, she said. She also said she was pleased that Clancy had received a mistrial and could get treatment.
