Make New York Post a Preferred Source Satanic killer Christa Pike cackled and even sang during her botched execution — with onlookers twice shown a symbol marking her death before everyone realized she was actually snoring like she was having “the best sleep of her life,” according to a witness.
WVLT anchor and senior reporter William Puckett, one of the few people to witness Wednesday’s ordeal, revealed the disturbing details in a play-by-play from his view in the observation room at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution.
While Pike, 50, was still conscious and writhing on the gurney after she was administered the lethal injection around 7:27 p.m. — which was supposed to kill her in a matter of minutes — she suddenly let out “a joyous laugh and chuckle,” Puckett told the Daily Mail.
Moments earlier, Puckett recalled, she had broken into a high-pitched song, repeating the lyrics of a traditional Buddhist meditation: “Be kind and gentle to yourself and may you be at peace.”
As witnesses watched Pike squirm, a rock was placed by Tennessee Department of Corrections staff in sight of the viewing chamber around 7:41 p.m. to signal to witnesses that the drug had fully been administered.
She spoke to her spiritual advisor at 7:44 and at 7:46 a curtain dropped over the viewing window, which typically indicates that the execution is complete.
But then those watching heard resounding snores coming from the death chamber.
It was a “loud, deep in the back of the sinus cavity snore” like an old man sleeping, Puckett told the Daily Mail.
“It was like she was getting the best sleep of her life,” he said.
The curtain rose again three minutes later, and the executioners gave her another dose.
Four minutes later, Pike’s body twitched “abruptly” and she gave a “significant gasp for air,” Puckett said.
The rock was placed by the window again at 8:01 p.m., and the curtain descended for a second time at 8:05 p.m. — but the snoring continued and did for another 50 minutes, Puckett said.
From behind the curtain, Puckett said the confused onlookers could hear a commotion of doctors and lawyers going in and out of the chamber.
The media was escorted out of the room around 8:53 p.m. and she was still snoring — an indication she was still alive and breathing.
Pike, who was sentenced to death for the horrific 1995 slaying of a classmate, was rushed to the hospital where she was “provided life-saving measures,” according to her lawyers.
She likely suffered a brain injury as a result of the injections, they said.
