Donald Harvey

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For other people with the same name, see Don Harvey.

Donald Harvey
Mug shot
Born(1952-04-15)April 15, 1952
Hamilton, Ohio, U.S.
DiedMarch 30, 2017(2017-03-30) (aged 64)
Toledo, Ohio, U.S.
Cause of deathBlunt trauma
Other names
  • "Angel of Death"
Criminal penalty28 consecutive life sentences plus $270,000 in fines
Details
Victims37 confirmed
87 alleged and suspected
Span of crimes
1970–1987
CountryUnited States
State(s)Ohio, Kentucky
Date apprehended
April 6, 1987
Imprisoned atToledo Correctional Institution, 1987

Donald Harvey (April 15, 1952 – March 30, 2017) was an American serial killer who claimed to have murdered 87 people, though he has 37 confirmed victims. He was able to do this during his time as a hospital orderly. His spree took place between 1970 and 1987.

Harvey claimed to have begun killing to "ease the pain" of patients—mostly cardiac patients—by smothering them with their pillows.[1] However, he gradually grew to enjoy killing and became a self-described "angel of death." At the time of his death, Harvey was serving 28 life sentences at the Toledo Correctional Institution in Toledo, Ohio, having pled guilty to murder charges to avoid execution.

Early life

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Donald Harvey was born in Hamilton, Ohio on April 15, 1952,[2] the oldest of three children born to Ray and Goldie Harvey.[3] He was raised in the tiny Appalachian town of Booneville, Kentucky,[2][4] where his parents were struggling tobacco farmers and members of the local Baptist church.[5] From the ages of five to eighteen, Harvey was sexually molested by both an uncle and a neighbor, but he told no one except his sister, and only after the abuse ended.[6] Harvey dropped out of school in the ninth grade,[2] but he earned a correspondence school GED in 1968.[7] After an arrest for burglary in March 1971, Harvey enlisted in the United States Air Force, but was discharged after nine months due to two suicide attempts;[8] after these nervous breakdowns, he came to terms with his homosexuality.[6][9]

Murders

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Harvey began working in hospitals at the age of 18 as an orderly at the Marymount Hospital in London, Kentucky. He later confessed that during the ten-month period he worked at the hospital, he killed at least a dozen patients. His second victim was killed in the room with Danny George, a twelve-year-old child. Harvey was insistent that he killed purely out of a sense of empathy for the suffering of those who were terminally ill, but also admitted that many of the killings were committed due to anger at the victims. His victims ranged from middle age to elderly and were unusually broad in range, including men and women of various races, ethnicities and backgrounds. The only thing they had in common was that they were all cardiac patients.[10][full citation needed]

The full extent of Harvey's crimes may never be known since so many were undetected for so long. He did not use any particular modus operandi and used many methods to kill his victims, such as: arsenic, cyanide, insulin, suffocation, miscellaneous poisons, morphine, turning off ventilators, administration of fluid tainted with hepatitis B and/or HIV (which resulted in a hepatitis infection, but no HIV infection, and illness rather than death), and insertion of a coat hanger into a catheter, causing an abdominal puncture and subsequent peritonitis. Cyanide and arsenic were his most-used methods, with Harvey administering them via food or injections. The majority of Harvey's crimes took place at Marymount Hospital, the Cincinnati V.A. Medical Hospital, and Cincinnati's Drake Memorial Hospital. At various times, he worked as an orderly or an autopsy assistant.[11]

Harvey did not limit his victims to helpless hospital patients. When he suspected his lover and roommate Carl Hoeweler of infidelity, he poisoned Hoeweler's food with arsenic so he would be too ill to leave their apartment. He poisoned two of his neighbors—sickening one, Diane Alexander, by putting hepatitis serum in her drink, and killing the other, Helen Metzger, by putting arsenic in her pie. He also killed Hoeweler's father Henry with arsenic.[7]

Investigation

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After keeping his crimes hidden for seventeen years, Harvey slipped up in March 1987. An autopsy on John Powell, who had died abruptly after spending several months on life support following a motorcycle accident, revealed large amounts of cyanide in his system. Harvey became a person of interest when investigators learned he had been forced to resign from the Cincinnati VA hospital after he was caught stealing body parts for occult rituals. At the time, most hospitals did not vet orderlies as closely as doctors or nurses. When they brought Harvey in for questioning, he confessed to Powell's murder, claiming he had euthanized him with cyanide.[12]

Pat Minarcin, then an anchor at Cincinnati station WCPO-TV, found it unlikely that someone who had spent almost two decades caring for patients could suddenly kill one without having killed before. During his report on the night of Harvey's arrest, Minarcin asked on-air if there had been any other deaths. It was soon revealed that several nurses at Drake had raised concerns with administrators upon noticing a spike in deaths while Harvey was employed there, but they had been ordered to keep quiet. Not wanting to chance that he would be acquitted, the nurses contacted Minarcin and told him that there was evidence Harvey killed at least ten more people.[12][13] Over the next several months, Minarcin investigated the suspicious deaths and amassed enough evidence to air a half-hour special report detailing evidence that linked Harvey to at least 24 murders in a four-year period.[14] Harvey had been able to stay under the radar in part because he worked in an area of Drake where patients were not expected to survive.[12]

When Harvey's court-appointed lawyer, Bill Whalen, was briefed in advance about Minarcin's findings, he immediately asked Harvey if he had killed anyone else. Harvey replied that by his "estimate," he had killed as many as 70 people. Whalen knew that if prosecutors could link Harvey to more than one murder, Ohio law allowed them to seek the death penalty. In a bid to save his client's life, Whalen offered prosecutors a plea bargain—if the death penalty were taken off the table, Harvey would accept a sentence of life without parole and confess to all of his murders. The prosecutors agreed. In a marathon session with prosecutors, Harvey admitted to killing 24 people.[13][12]

In August 1987, Harvey pled guilty to 24 counts of first-degree murder. In accordance with the plea agreement, he was sentenced to three concurrent terms of life in prison.[15] The plea agreement allowed prosecutors to seek the death penalty if more murders came to light.[12] With this in mind, that November Harvey pled guilty in Laurel County Circuit Court to killing nine patients at Marymount Hospital in the 1970s. He was sentenced to life plus 20 years, to run concurrently with the Ohio sentence.[16] Ultimately, Harvey pled guilty to 37 murders. However, he confessed to killing as many as 50 people.[13]

Harvey was admitted to the Ohio prison system on October 26, 1987.[17]

Death

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On March 28, 2017, authorities reported that Harvey had been found in his cell severely beaten. He died on March 30, 2017.[18][19] On May 3, 2019, fellow inmate James Elliott was charged with aggravated murder and other charges related to the death of Donald Harvey.[20][21] In September 2019, he was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison after pleading guilty to killing Harvey.[22][23][24] The sentence was originally ordered to run consecutively to his other sentences, but was later changed to run concurrently, making Elliott eligible for parole in 2046 at age 71.[25][26]

Known victims

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Source:[27][28][29]
Victim Name Age Gender State Date of murder Type of murder Method
1 Logan Evans 88 M Kentucky May 31, 1970 Intentional, non-premeditated Suffocation; smothered with a pillow and plastic bag
2 James Tyree 69 M Kentucky May 31, 1970 Accidental Harvey gave Tyree the wrong catheter, causing him to vomit blood and die
3 Elizabeth Wyatt 42 F Kentucky June 22, 1970 Intentional, non-premeditated Suffocation; cut off her oxygen supply
4 Eugene McQueen 43 M Kentucky July 10, 1970 Intentional, non-premeditated Drowning; turned over on his back, causing him to drown in his own fluids
5 Harvey Williams 82 M Kentucky July 12, 1970 Accidental Cardiac arrest; was given a faulty oxygen tank
6 Ben Gilbert 81 M Kentucky July 24–28, 1970 Intentional, premeditated Organ infection; had knocked Harvey out with a urinal; Harvey gave him a catheter that was too large and then put a straightened coat hanger through it and into Gilbert's urethra, puncturing his bladder and bowel; went into instant shock and a coma, where he died four days later
7 Maude Nichols 64 F Kentucky August 15, 1970 Intentional, non-premeditated Cardiac arrest; was given a faulty oxygen tank
8 William Bowling 58 M Kentucky August 30, 1970 Intentional, non-premeditated Heart attack; cut off his oxygen supply
9 Viola Reed Wyran 63 F Kentucky November 4, 1970 Intentional, premeditated Suffocation, attempted to kill her by smothering her with a pillow and plastic bag but was interrupted; later killed her by giving her a faulty oxygen tank
10 Margaret Harrison 91 F Kentucky December 6, 1970 Intentional, non-premeditated Drug overdose; overdosed her on demerol, codeine, and morphine
11 Sam Carroll 80 M Kentucky January 6, 1971 Intentional, premeditated Suffocation; given a faulty oxygen tank
12 Maggie Rawlins N/A F Kentucky January 15, 1971 Intentional, premeditated Suffocation; smothered with a pillow and a plastic bag between it and her face
13 Silas Butner 62 M Kentucky January 23, 1971 Intentional, non-premeditated Suffocation; given a faulty oxygen tank
14 John V. Combs 68 M Kentucky January 26, 1971 Intentional, premeditated Suffocation; attempted to smother him with a plastic bag, but instead gave him a faulty oxygen tank
15 Milton Bryant Sasser 91 M Kentucky March 14, 1971 Intentional, premeditated Drug overdose; overdosed him on morphine
16 Helen Metzger 63 F Ohio April 10, 1983 Intentional, premeditated Internal injuries; after an argument with Harvey, Metzger was given arsenic after a tracheotomy, causing paralysis and hemorrhaging
17 Henry Hoeweler 82 M Ohio 1983 (unspecified date) Intentional, premeditated Stroke and kidney failure; poisoned with arsenic
18 Howard Vetter N/A M Ohio 1983 (unspecified date) Accidental Heart attack; drank alcohol Harvey had poisoned
19 Hiram Profitt N/A M Ohio September 19, 1984 Accidental Drug overdose; overdosed him on heparin
20 James Peluso 65 M Ohio November 9, 1984 Intentional, premeditated Cardiac arrest; poisoned with arsenic, was one of Harvey's ex-lovers
21 Edward Wilson N/A M Ohio March 18–25, 1985 Intentional, non-premeditated Poisoning; poisoned with arsenic, died 5 days after poisoning
22 Nathanial J. Watson 65 M Ohio April 8, 1986 Intentional, premeditated Suffocation; smothered with a wet plastic garbage bag liner; unsuccessfully attempted several times prior
23 Leon Nelson 64 M Ohio April 14, 1986 Intentional, non-premeditated Suffocation; smothered with a wet plastic garbage bag liner
24 Virgil Weddle 81 M Ohio April 19, 1986 Intentional, premeditated Heart attack; poisoned with rat poison in his pudding
25 Lawrence Berndsen N/A M Ohio April 20–23, 1986 Intentional, premeditated Poisoning; poisoned repeatedly with rat poison; died three days later
26 Doris Nally 65 F Ohio May 2, 1986 Intentional, premeditated Poisoning; poisoned with cyanide in her apple juice
27 Willie Johnson N/A M Ohio May–June 1986 (unspecified date) Intentional, premeditated Poisoning; attempted to poison with arsenic repeatedly
28 Edward Schreibesis 63 M Ohio June 20, 1986 Intentional, premeditated Poisoning; poisoned with arsenic in his soup
29 Robert Crockett 80 M Ohio June 29, 1986 Intentional, premeditated Poisoning; poisoned with cyanide in his I.V.
30 Donald Barney 91 M Ohio July 7, 1986 Intentional, premeditated Poisoning; fed cyanide through a feeding tube and injected it into his buttocks
31 James T. Woods 65 M Ohio July 25, 1986 Intentional, premeditated Poisoning; poisoned with cyanide through his gastric tube
32 Ernst C. Frey 85 M Ohio August 16, 1986 Intentional, premeditated Poisoning; poisoned with arsenic through his gastric tube
33 Milton Canter 85 M Ohio August 29, 1986 Intentional, premeditated Poisoning; poisoned with cyanide through his nasal tube
34 Roger Evans 74 M Ohio September 17, 1986 Intentional, premeditated Poisoning; poisoned with cyanide through his gastric tube
35 Clayborn Kendrick N/A M Ohio September 20, 1986 Intentional, premeditated Poisoning; poisoned with cyanide through both his gastric tube and an injection into his testes
36 Albert Buehimann 69 M Ohio October 27, 1986 Intentional, premeditated Poisoning; poisoned with cyanide dissolved in his cup of water
37 William Collins 85 M Ohio October 30, 1986 Intentional, premeditated Poisoning; poisoned with cyanide dissolved in his orange juice
38 Henry Cody 78 M Ohio November 4, 1986 Intentional, premeditated Poisoning; poisoned with cyanide dissolved in water through his gastric tube
39 Mose Thompson 65 M Ohio November 22, 1986 Intentional, premeditated Poisoning; poisoned with cyanide through his nasal tube
40 Odas Day 72 M Ohio December 9, 1986 Intentional, premeditated Poisoning; poisoned with a cyanide solution
41 Cleo Fish 67 F Ohio December 10, 1986 Intentional, non-premeditated Poisoning; poisoned with cyanide in her cranberry juice; removed a lock of her hair post-mortem and burned it
42 Leo Parker 47 M Ohio January 1, 1987 Intentional, premeditated Poisoning; poisoned with cyanide in his feed bag
43 Margaret Kuckro 80 F Ohio February 5, 1987 Intentional, premeditated Poisoning; poisoned with cyanide in her orange juice
44 Stella Lemon 76 F Ohio February–March 16, 1987 Intentional, premeditated Poisoning; poisoned with a cyanide solution
45 Joseph M. Pike 68 M Ohio March 6, 1987 Intentional, premeditated Poisoning; poisoned with detachol
46 Hilda Leitz 82 F Ohio March 7, 1987 Intentional, premeditated Poisoning; poisoned with detachol in her G-tube and her orange juice
47 John W. Powell 44 M Ohio March 7, 1987 Intentional, premeditated Poisoning; poisoned with cyanide in his gastric feeding tube

Media

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  • WCPO-TV's I-Team, created in 1988, investigated Harvey's crimes. They received several awards for their efforts.[30]
  • Autopsy covered Harvey's crimes in the 1995 episode "The Angel of Death".
  • Infamous Murders covered Harvey's case alongside two others in its first episode "Angels of Death", first aired in 2001.
  • Dr. G: Medical Examiner covered the case in the 2009 episode "Killers Among Us".
  • My Favorite Murder featured Harvey's case in its 110th episode, released in 2018.
  • Harvey was mentioned along with Elizabeth Wettlaufer in the Season 14 episode of Criminal Minds entitled "Broken Wing", first aired in 2018.
  • The podcast And That's Why We Drink covers the case in its the 159th episode "A Sinister Vibe Check and the Governor of Noodletown", released in 2020.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Holmes, Ronald, & Holmes, Stephen. (2009). Serial Murder 3rd ed. Sage Publications, Inc.
  2. ^ a b c Stack, Liam (March 30, 2017). "Donald Harvey, Who Killed Dozens of Hospital Patients, Dies at 64". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 1, 2017. Retrieved May 25, 2022. Donald Harvey was born in Hamilton, Ohio, outside Cincinnati, on April 15, 1952.
  3. ^ Grine, Jennifer D. (July 16, 2003). Serial Murder in Institutional Settings (Thesis). University of South Florida. p. 24. Archived from the original on June 4, 2022. Retrieved June 4, 2022.
  4. ^ Logan, S. (March 4, 2021). "The Marymount Hospital "Serial Killer"". Kentucky Historic Institutions. Archived from the original on August 30, 2021. Retrieved August 30, 2021.
  5. ^ Johnson, Dirk (August 20, 1987). "Smile and Gentle Ways Masked Slayer of the Ill". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 4, 2022. Retrieved June 4, 2022.
  6. ^ a b Riley, Allison (1988). An Exploration of Serial Murder [Part 1] (PDF) (Thesis). Ball State University. p. 49. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 16, 2021. Retrieved June 3, 2022.
  7. ^ a b Sellers, Elizabeth; Hedgecock, Pannill; Georges, Melissa. "Donald Harvey "Angel of Death"; page 4" (PDF). Radford University. p. 13. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 28, 2014. Retrieved March 28, 2014.
  8. ^ Hickey, Eric W. (2015). Serial Murderers and Their Victims (7 ed.). Boston: Cengage Learning. p. 229. ISBN 978-1-305-26169-3.
  9. ^ Riley, Allison (1988). An Exploration of Serial Murder [Part 2] (PDF) (Thesis). Ball State University. pp. 51–56. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 14, 2023. Retrieved June 3, 2022.
  10. ^ Interview on Mindhunter, MSNBC, November 30, 2008.
  11. ^ Wamsley, Laurel (March 31, 2017). "Serial Killer Dubbed 'Angel Of Death' Dies After Prison Beating". NPR. Archived from the original on April 11, 2022. Retrieved April 11, 2022.
  12. ^ a b c d e License To Kill: Killing Everything (Television Production). United States: Oxygen. 2019.
  13. ^ a b c Benjamin H. Smith (July 21, 2019). "Nurse's Aide Pleads Guilty To Murdering 37 Victims With Cyanide, Arsenic, Rat Poison and Other Chemicals". Oxygen. Archived from the original on July 24, 2019. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
  14. ^ Marais Jacon-Duffy (March 30, 2017). "From The Vault: 'Angel of Death' case was unlike anything seen in Tri-State". WCPO-TV. Archived from the original on June 6, 2019. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
  15. ^ Dirk Johnson (August 19, 1987). "Ex-Nurse's Aide Admits Murders of 24 In 4 Years". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 24, 2019. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
  16. ^ "Former Nurse's Aide Admits 9 Killings in Hospital". The New York Times. November 3, 1987. Archived from the original on July 24, 2019. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
  17. ^ "Prisoner gets no sympathy after death". Toledo Blade. March 31, 2017. Archived from the original on December 6, 2020. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
  18. ^ "Donald Harvey, "Angel of Death" serial killer, dead at 64". CBS News. March 30, 2017. Archived from the original on March 30, 2017. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
  19. ^ "'Angel of Death' serial killer Donald Harvey dies after prison attack". Fox News. March 30, 2017. Archived from the original on March 30, 2017. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
  20. ^ Elliott, James D. (May 3, 2019). "Inmate charged in Cincinnati 'Angel of Death' Donald Harvey's fatal prison beating". WCPO. Archived from the original on June 20, 2021. Retrieved August 16, 2021.
  21. ^ "Inmate charged in fatal 'Angel of Death' prison beating". Fox News. May 3, 2019. Archived from the original on May 4, 2019. Retrieved May 4, 2019.
  22. ^ "Inmate sentenced in fatal 'Angel of Death' prison beating". Local12. September 25, 2019. Archived from the original on January 23, 2023. Retrieved March 19, 2021.
  23. ^ "Whitley, Knox native gets life in prison for killing 'Angel of Death' serial murderer". News Journal. September 26, 2019. Archived from the original on October 27, 2021. Retrieved March 19, 2021.
  24. ^ "Inmate admits to fatal 'Angel of Death' prison beating". FOX19NOW. September 25, 2019. Archived from the original on April 19, 2021. Retrieved March 19, 2021.
  25. ^ "Elliott sentenced to concurrent prison terms for 'Angel of Death' beating". The Blade. Archived from the original on August 28, 2022. Retrieved April 11, 2022.
  26. ^ "Offender Details". appgateway.drc.ohio.gov. Archived from the original on September 14, 2023. Retrieved April 11, 2022.
  27. ^ Neus, Elizabeth (August 23, 1987). "Harvey Victims: Not Just 'Cases'". The Cincinnati Enquirer. p. A-12. Archived from the original on November 16, 2022. Retrieved November 16, 2022.
  28. ^ Logan, S. (March 4, 2021). "The Marymount Hospital "Serial Killer"". Kentucky Historic Institutions. Archived from the original on August 30, 2021. Retrieved December 29, 2023.
  29. ^ Bovsun, Mara (January 24, 2015). "Donald Harvey, serial killer who claims to have murdered 87 in 'mercy killings,' served 15 life sentences". New York Daily News. Archived from the original on December 29, 2023. Retrieved December 29, 2023.
  30. ^ "Cincinnati News, Sports and Things to Do | Cincinnati Enquirer". The Enquirer. Archived from the original on February 18, 2020. Retrieved December 3, 2022.
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