Christa Pike Is Alive. And Angry.

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Visit AvocadoGreenMetrus.com to find a store near you. That's AvocadoGreenMetrus.com. It's Thursday, October 8th. She's not just breathing. She's speaking. You start here. Lawyers for Christopheikes say she's awake after surviving a lethal injection. I think she is angry and confused about everything right now. Now they're asking a court to make sure she never sits in that chair again. President Trump is facing skeptical voters and now skeptical Republican colleagues. It's clear Republicans are searching for some sort of winning message. In more and more midterm debates, candidates are openly breaking with him. And they operated a surrogacy business. But how do they end up with more than 20 children? They fully believe this couple misrepresented their situation to these surrogate mothers arrests and accusations of abuse in California. From ABC News, this is Start Here. I'm Brad Milke. Me here about a botched execution. Usually, you might think of a process that took too long or was too cruel or stripped and inmate of too much dignity. Rarely, though, if ever is that person left alive afterward. But in the case of Christopheike in Tennessee, that's exactly what happened. Pikes attorneys say she is alive and receiving life-saving medical care after surviving two doses of a lethal drug by IV. After almost 30 years on death row for the torture and murder of a fellow student, Pike was led on the evening last week into an execution chamber and given the cocktail of drugs known as a lethal injection. It didn't work, though. She remained alive. A second dose was administered, and despite what she described as a men's pain, she was still audibly breathing and eventually was taken to a local hospital. Yesterday, her legal team appeared in court to tell a judge that not only is she still breathing, but she's awake and even speaking. The question now is, should someone who somehow survives this process ever have to go through it again? Let's start today with ABC's Faith Abu Bay Faith. If she's speaking now, what is she saying, do we know? Brad, there are so many incredible details about what's going on in Tennessee right now that it's just all hard to believe. We learned from the attorneys that the doctors at the hospital where Pike is, they thought that she was brain dead, and they were making these final preparations to basically take her off the ventilator that they had put her on. This was supposed to happen on Tuesday, and then all of a sudden, she came to. She regained her consciousness. She had no idea where she was. Some of her first words, according to her attorneys, was, you know, where am I and who are you? She had these tubes down her throat. Her arms were hurting. Apparently, the injections, when they tried to gain access to her veins multiple times, about seven times, and then put the Pental Barbitol in her two doses of the Pental Barbitol. It did a lot of damage to her arm. But what we do know is that Christa has a long road to recovery. She has a blood clot in one of her arms. She has pneumonia. She is not able to swallow yet, so she is not eaten. At some point, they said that she had a needle in her arm that was bent at a 90-degree angle and had to be removed. So she's suffering a lot of different injuries at this point, and the extent of her injuries is still not known at this time because the lawyers are also having a hard time getting access to her. I want to talk about what happens to her next. Do we still try to figure out how this happens? I mean, you touched on the idea of they injected her multiple times. Obviously, that didn't work, but do we know why? That's the big question that the state is still trying to figure out earlier in this process, the governor put a halt to all the executions in the state for the rest of the year because he wants an independent investigation and an independent review into what happened. How could something like this happen? And when you think about it, this is not the only botched execution in Tennessee this year. This was actually the second one. And so there are a lot of questions that still need to be answered. The governor has ordered that independent investigation, so we're waiting for that. But the lawyers for Pike, they're frustrated because they feel like the entire process has been shrouded in secrecy, and also they said that they could have predicted this. All of this was foreseeable and foreseen. What happened to Chris is exactly what the state was warned would happen. They warned the state repeatedly that something like this could happen because Chris to Pike has a condition where her veins were small. And so they wanted her to be hanged instead of the lethal injection process. They filed some court papers, they filed some motions to stay the execution and change the method. All of that, they believed that they were scoffed at. And so now we're here, and now this convicted murderer has survived her botched execution. And now the entire state is trying to figure out what to do next. Well, yeah, that's my question. What does happen next? Because on one hand, the state has already decided that this person should die. So with that logic, you might want to try again. On the other hand, if you said this person should get the lethal injection, well, she already got it. And now, you know, her lawyer say she suffered so much. Do you try it again? Do we know what the state is planning? You know, this is such a unique situation. There have been others that are similar, but nothing to this extent. So a lot of people are just trying to figure it out as we go. Right now, there are a lot of things going on. Pike's attorneys are asking the governor in Tennessee to basically commute her sentence. So right now, she has a death sentence. They want the governor to commute it to a life sentence. So she would spend the rest of her life in prison if she survives and gets out of the hospital. That's one avenue. In the meantime, though, the state's attorney, they were in court on Wednesday. And they told the judge that there's really no order right now, no standing order to execute Pike. Because the original order is what they were acting on. There's no new order right now, but there is a caveat there. You're also not in the position to say that tomorrow when you execution order will not be presented. Is that correct? You're on that is within the purview of the Tennessee Supreme Court. There could be another order that's issued to execute her. And that is something that would have to come from the Tennessee Supreme Court. So it seems like this is going to have to go through the court system before we figure out what's next. But again, all executions in the state of Tennessee have now been halted for the rest of the year pending this review. And so this may just be the beginning, Brad. Right. No order right now. The Christopher Pike's attorneys are like, no, no, no. We should make sure right now that there never will be one. We'll see how that plays out. Faith, the boobay. Thank you so much. Thank you, Brad. Next up on Start here. It's not every issue, but a few issues are just destroying President Trump in the polls and midterm candidates know it. We're back in a bit. This show is sponsored by Collegard Plus. Let's start with the fact that it's not very fun. Did you know colon cancer is America's number two cancer-related killer? That's why screening for colon cancer is widely recommended for adults ages 45 and up. But despite that, more than 60 million people are not up to date on colorectal cancer screening. That's a problem because the early stages of colorectal cancer often show up with no symptoms. That's why our sponsor is encouraging everyone to mind your behind with Collegard Plus. It's a prescription-based screening test for adults 45 and older who are at average risk for colorectal cancer. It can detect up to 95% of colon cancers. And it's designed to be easy to use. The test takes about 15 minutes to use at home with no prep or dietary changes. If the results are positive, the next step is to talk to your doctor to learn more. It's part of the new Collegard Plus Mind Your Behind Campaign. The brand has partnered up with MLB stars, Albert Poole's and Cal Rowley to make some funny videos to raise awareness about the importance of screening. To watch those videos and learn more, visit colagard.com/baseball. It's colagard COL-O-G-U-A-R-D dot com slash baseball. On October 19th, 2025, the Louvre became the backdrop of something straight out of a heist movie. Now, nearly a year out, there are still critical questions to be answered. We're used to following heist in movies from the perspectives of the ever so glamorous and dangerous perpetrators. But when it happens in real life, the lines between good and bad guys aren't so clear. And even less clear is the fate of those French crown jewels. In this series, I'll take you inside the events of that day, like you've never heard them before, through the eyes of the people who lived them. I'll follow the investigation into how this could have happened, who could have been behind it, and then I'll join you. the international hunt for the Louvre Jules. You've probably noticed this month that campaign ads are really ramping up. I was watching football last week and could not avoid them if I tried, including that controversial ad featuring President Donald Trump, to crying his political enemies that very clearly says was paid for by the American government. Democrats have argued this is clearly an illegal use of taxpayer dollars. The White House claims it's not a partisan message, so it's fine. Either way, Trump now says the federal government will no longer foot the bill for these ads going forward. But one question some Republican candidates might have anyway is, do we want any ads featuring the president right now? Do they help us? As more and more polls show voters souring on the president, candidates are openly breaking with him on certain issues. We've talked about this phenomenon before, but this week it's growing even more obvious, just how worried they are. ABC Senior Political Correspondent Rachel Scott is in DC Rachel. You've been watching all these debates in the Senate and House races this week. What have you seen? Brad, if I had one word to describe this, it would be daylight. It's clear Republicans are searching for some sort of winning message, and by the way, things are going, it seems like that winning message might be creating daylight between themselves and the leader of the Republican Party President Donald Trump. And so Brad, this played out in races across the country in such a fascinating way. We know that there are some vulnerable incumbent Republicans that have always kind of been critical of President Trump. Take for instance, Senator Susan Collins in Maine. She's running for another term, and this is a very, very tight race. And yes, she does often break from President Trump. She's been very critical of him. She even voted to convict him in the second impeachment trial. But this was on a whole nother level, Brad. I mean, on the debate stage, she was boasting about voting against her party more than any other Senator. She called herself the most outspoken Senator when it comes to speaking out against President Trump's tariffs on Canada. Canada is not China. It is our neighbor, our friend, our closest ally, and our biggest trading partner. What's more, Brad, she even flaunted this idea that she supported the more liberal justices on the Supreme Court bench. In fact, I have the only Republican Senator to have that voted for justice so to my ear, Kagan and Jackson. Even at one point, she proudly said that she's not President Trump's favorite Senator. I mean, again and again and again. It was almost like she wanted to remind voters that she's not going to be a rubber stamp for President Trump and that she's not going to fall in line at all, despite of what her record already shows. I will tell you, I sort of expected some of that from Senator Susan Collins. But the more I started watching candidates across the country, the more I started seeing this play out in so many different races. So over in Michigan, John James, he's a Republican. He's running for governor. During the primary, John James needed President Trump's endorsement to help him win the Republican primary, and he got it. He touted President Trump. He said that he wanted to work closely with him. He talked about him all the time. But now a very clear break on the debate stage, he called for the Iran War to end not only quickly, but he said it needs to end like yesterday. Now, John James is an elected member of the House of Representatives. And what's interesting there is that he's actually voted multiple times against resolutions that really sought to bring this war to an end and sort of reign in President Trump's military power when it comes to the war in Iran. But that's not what we heard on the debate stage. Well, I've set up to the President many times. I've said that I can groove the President without worshipping him. I can disagree without attacking him and I always put Michigan first. And then he just kept going. I mean, he called out the Trump administration over these tariffs in Canada. Again, Michigan, like Maine, has a very close relationship when it comes to trade with Canada. At one point, he said, we must get to the table and, quote, stop acting like children. And then on another critical bout of ground, the state of Georgia, Republican Rick Jackson, who once prided himself, and I'm not kidding here on being Trump's favorite governor and being sort of the southern version of Trump in his own words, he didn't mention Donald Trump by name, not one time during this hour long debate. I don't know anybody, anything. Nobody's ever told me what to do. My number one priority is Georgians is you. And I will stand up to anybody. And so here you have someone who was cozying up to the President so much so. And then all of a sudden, this war with the Ron drags on the president launches another trade war with Canada. And all of a sudden, we are seeing one by one, these Republican candidates slowly start to put their hands up and back away. And again, create this daylight between themselves and Trump and his agenda. Wow. And those debates by the way, coming from WGME and Maine, Wood TV and Michigan, WANF and Georgia want to make sure they get credit. But it's interesting, Rachel. You hear the same topics coming up again and again. It's tariffs. It's the Iran war is now also the price of heating oil and some of these cold weather states. But the ones you just mentioned are kind of purple state. So are we seeing the same phenomenon in traditionally red states? That's what I imagine would be more concerning to Republicans. Oh, yeah, Brad. And especially when it comes to Texas, first of all, it is quite amazing here that we are less than 30 days to go until the midterm elections. And President Trump is back in Texas for the third time in four weeks for the second time in just two weeks, trying to campaign through Republican Ken Paxson and what has become an increasingly tight race with the Democrat James Tallerico. Mr. President, why are you going to Texas so much? We want to make sure that Ken Paxson wins. And over the past several days, there's been all this audio that has leaked out of Ken Paxson, sort of, admitting that he doesn't really have control of this scenario. He's blaming that Republican midterm convention the president had for suddenly losing momentum in this race as poll show. And then in newly released audio, he says that he has no control over gas prices, so many of the factors in this federal race are uncontrolled. I don't make the decisions. I don't know what's behind. He likes so many other Republicans is sort of realizing this fact that it doesn't matter if you're a Democrat Republican or independent. These are policies that are hitting the American people hard. I should be in a time of life where I'm enjoying the fruits of my labor. And instead, I'm looking around and there's so much pain. And so people are paying more for gas. Just cannot keep these high price fuel going for another six, nine months. It's unsustainable. It's just crazy. They're paying more because of the tariffs. And all of that is pointing back to the White House. It's pointing back to Republicans. The question now, when a state like Texas, where president Trump won by double digits, does that mean that they're suddenly voting for the Democrat? We don't believe the promises anymore. So coming and talking to us and rallying, I don't think many Texans are willing to hear it any longer. Or does that simply mean that they're just going to stay home and set out this election altogether? Wow, fascinating, especially considering those voters you just heard from there. They are in places like San Antonio, Texas and Underwood, Iowa. Again, these traditionally red states, at least in recent years. That is what people are talking about there every day. Alright, Rachel Scott. Thank you so much. Thanks. In recent years, there are more and more ways of building a family. There are parents who go through IVF. There's surrogacy where someone else is actually carrying a fetus to term. Sometimes that baby has the surrogate mothers DNA, but sometimes it's an embryo created by two totally different people, which can involve tricky ethical questions. Right? In one case earlier this year, a surrogate mother said she felt pressured to get an abortion after the biological parents that's different from the birth parents learned the child had a potentially fatal heart defect. She fled to Texas where abortion is largely illegal. These parents denied actually deciding on an abortion. Courts agreed they should still get guardianship of the newborn child. In other cases, though, there are claims of actual malintent. In fact, this week in California, a couple has been arrested after claims their surrogacy business gave them the power to abuse more than 20 children. ABC's Kena Whitworth is based in LA. She joins us now. Kena, while details coming out about this couple, can you just break down what happened here? Right. So this has been a story that's really been captivating. It's happening in Arcadia just outside of Los Angeles, essentially in this huge mansion. And what happened the first time we talked about this, Brad, it was May of 2025. And there was a two-month-old that was taken to the hospital with a head injury. And that prompted authorities to look into the living conditions of this baby. And when they go to this home in Arcadia, they describe it as like a castle. They go in and it has all these different rooms and they're set up like classrooms. And there's all these kids. One, we're living in the home with approximately 16 children. The search warrant was obtained and executed at the residence and evidence was recovered. Running around the house, little kids, okay? Some of them are as young as two months old, some of them are three years old. The kids, 21 of them, Brad, in all range and age from two to 13 years old. Now, about 15 kids were living in the home at that time. And it looked like some sort of. school operation. Well, they also realized that it was all being surveilled on CCTV within the home. And so authorities immediately started looking at those cameras. And that's when authorities realize there's alleged abuse happening here that this two month old didn't fall from the bed. At the center of this investigation are children who based on the evidence that has been uncovered were subjected to horrific abuse. Brad, to get the number straight for everyone to these two parents. There's 21 kids in all. They believe that 19 of them were born through surrogates. And they also believe that at least 15 of them are victims of abuse. Yeah, I mean, what kind of conditions were being described here? You know, they're really relying on the CCTV. So again, there's 32 cameras set up inside this home. And what authorities are saying they saw on these video cameras is multiple nannies abusing the children at the direction of their parents. And the abuse ranges from things like authorities say they saw video of a nanny hitting a child with a shoe. They say that the kids were asked to do like squats and hold squats for a long time. And they have that on the CCTV footage as well. One thing that really stood out to me though, Brad, is that there's also a room that apparently doesn't have a camera. And what authorities say is that in that room there would be screaming heard. Essentially, they think that's where the worst of the abuse happened. This defendant, Shwen also lifted the child into the air by one arm while continuing to strike him and repeatedly struck the child's head from side to side with sufficient force that the child's body lurched in alternating directions with the blows. We do know that authorities believe that these nannies were instructed to not leave any marks on the children when they were abused. In fact, the Los Angeles district attorney Nathan Hawkman in his press conference said that as authorities were approaching the home, they later saw on the CCTV footage, the father telling the nannies to hide the sticks that they used to abuse the children. And kind of just to be clear that like this couple owned a surrogacy firm. So usually you think that they're like setting up surrogacy for other people here. Allegedly, they're telling surrogates like, when we're the clients, we will raise the child that you are burving. What did they tell the surrogates to convince them to do this? Because I don't care who you are. No one wants to drop off any child in a situation like like the one being described here. Exactly. And that's actually part of the charges, Brad, is that they fully believe this couple misrepresented their situation to these surrogate mothers. Another surrogate they said that they were seeking the miracle baby. And they paid that surrogate $135,000. They would tell them like they only had one child. They were desperate to have another child as if they were dealing with some kind of fertility issues. Like the very traditional reason you'd get a surrogate. Yeah. When in reality, they would have multiple surrogates having multiple children at the same time. I mean, how else do you get to 21 children so quickly? And this house could only be described as a house of horrors. The district attorney, Brad, described this as a house of horrors and said there will be a reckoning here. In fact, prosecutors wanted them to be held on $100 million bond. That's how seriously they're taking this. They also alleged that this couple helped one of the nannies who abused that two-month-old escape because she is now on the run. And there's a warrant out for her arrest as well. Have we heard from the defendants at all? Brad, on Tuesday, 38-year-old Sylvia Zhang and 65-year-old Guo Jun-shuen pled not guilty. Prosecutors wanted them held on $100 million bond each. They're being held on $20 million though. But that's how seriously they're taking this issue. They also alleged that they helped a nanny escape to China. There's also a warrant out for her arrest as well. And really what we're hearing, Brad, is that they're just sort of scratching the surface on this story. The reason he has all these children is because he wants them to contribute to society. He's not a man who's self-indulgent, who some who are wealthy might spend on jewelry, cars, but he is actually spending his resources to help his children become educated. And their lawyer also told our Kevin O's to back at KBC that he believes his client is innocent. He said he just wants a big, prosperous family because that's something that he wasn't able to do in China. Unbelievable when you think about what these children allegedly have been going through. All right, Kena, what worth covering all this in LA. Thank you. You got it. All right, one more quick break. When we come back, he asked for victim impact statements. He didn't know he'd get one from the victim who had died. One last thing is next. The Hulu original series, Phoney, is coming to Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus October 20. My name is Sonny Cook. Ever since the accident. My mom looks different. Do you think your mom has been swapped out with a different woman? I know something. Okay, something's wrong. I don't know what's going on with you, but I know that I'm your mother. If that's not your mom, I just think she is. I don't know, but I need to find her. Watch the Hulu original series, Phoney, on October 20th. Streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus for bundle subscribers. Terms apply. And one last thing. One of the most impactful parts of a criminal trial is a victim impact statement. That part where after a conviction, everyone hears directly from the people still living with the consequences of the crime as the judge decides a sentence. At least I thought you had to be living. I served with the United States Army in the infantry. This is the voice of Christopher Pelke several years ago before he was shot and killed in 2021. Last year, a man named Gabriel Paul Horcasitas was convicted of killing him, found guilty of manslaughter and endangerment. At the sentencing, this is where you would often hear from family members. We did, including from Chris's sister, Stacey Wales. But she also wanted the court to hear from Chris herself. So she created a video using a photo of Chris in an AI-generated voice recording. Just to be clear, for everyone seeing this, I am a version of Chris Pelke recreated through AI that uses my picture and my voice profile. This sound is not really Chris. It's what you'd usually refer to as a deep fake. Computer animation, making his lips move, sometimes in line with his words, sometimes not. But this script written by Chris's family made some very real sounding pronouncements, like forgiving his killer. To Gabriel Horcasitas, the man who shot me, it is a shame we encountered each other that day in those circumstances. In another life, we probably could have been friends. I believe in forgiveness and in God who forgives. I always have, and I still do. Again, he never said this on tape. This is like a reimagining of what he would think. And in some ways, it's a wholesome thought. The judge seemed really affected by it. "I love that AI. Thank you for that." In fact, he said while he had heard about Chris, this time he felt like he was hearing directly from him. "But I love the beauty and what, Christopher. And I call him Christopher. I always call people by their last names. It's a formality of a court. But I feel like calling him Christopher, as we've gotten to know him today. But I feel that that was genuine." Eventually, this judge issued the maximum sentence, more than 10 years in prison. Well, in recent days, an Arizona appellate court threw that sentence out. The question has been, "Can you present as evidence words that were never said in the form of a video that was never real?" Some advocates have said, "Well, Chris's sister had been given the opportunity to make a presentation to show that impact. She would have made these points anyway, so she's allowed to make use of multimedia if she wants." "Our law in Arizona says that victims can give their victim impact statement in any, they have the discretion to choose how they give their victim impact statement." But the State Supreme Court has said, "No, this use of AI is a bridge too far." "We could pretty quickly see that this could be a tremendous boon to the court system. It also could put out some barriers that actually deprives people of justice." As Chief Justice Anne Timmer, who ruled this presentation, rendered the entire proceeding, quote, "fundamentally unfair." Now, the sentencing portion of this trial will start again from scratch, and judges going forward will have to consider the consequences of trying to hear voices from beyond the grave. It's weird because I feel like this was a very 2021 reaction from the judge to be like, "Wow, did you hear that?" And a very 2025 reaction from the appellate court. Like, we're in the future. It's not nearly as exciting to see AI voices talking to us anymore. More on all these stories on ABC News Live, Reveous Stream Live News. In fact, I will be on there later this morning, talking about our favorite stories of the week. I'm Brad Milky. I'll see you tomorrow. from the studio that brought you one to vision. I was an Avenger, but I'm not a hero anymore. The vision returns for the final chapter of the groundbreaking trilogy. - That family wasn't real. - Are you sure about that? - I had a father called Vision. - How is this possible? - What am I losing? - Don't miss the two episode premiere of Marvel Television's Vision Quest. - Nothing bonds a family together quite like Mortal Germany. - Now streaming, only on Disney+. - Welcome to the greatest show on Earth! - FX is a HS 13. - What do you sense? - Hard to help our dude. - The star-studded cast returns. - Something wicked this wakeups. - You all got to unite! - I'll drink to that. - If you're gonna rise up and rule the world, you better get yourself a damn sense of humor. - FX is a HS 13. No streaming on Hulu.