Female nurse in TX pleads guilty to mercy killings of 2 elderly nursing home residents,gets 25-50 yr.sentence
Joe1orbit
Hello,
Over in Texas, a 39 year old former nurse named Susan Hey is facing at least
25 years in prison, after pleading guilty to murdering two elderly male nursing
home residents, aged 80 and 83. She committed these two killings, in serial
fashion, in 1996, and claims to have acted out of compassion for their
suffering and old age, when she injected them both with fatal doses of
potassium. There is no indication that she has killed other people in this
fashion, and so, with only two victims to her credit, she sadly cannot gain the
status of being a genuine serial killer, since 3 or more victims would be
required for that designation to be made.
Sentencing is set for today, and Susan likely will get 50 years in prison on
the double murder, but will be eligible for, and very likely will make parole,
in 25 years, when she is 64 or so years old. At least she should be able to
live out her golden years in freedom. This was a plea bargain agreement, if our
Angel of Death had pled not guilty, she would faces Life in prison with no
chance for parole, had she been convicted.
Both elderly men were originally declared to have died from natural causes.
Susan was NOT a suspect at all. There was no SUSPICION even, that either man
had died of anything but purely natural causes. No autopsy was done on either
dead man. Guess what Susan did, however? She sunk her OWN ship! She chose, for
NO rational reason, to TELL he HUSBAND that she had killed the two men by
injecting the potassium into their feeding tubes. STUPID woman, that is what
Susan was. Loose lips sink ships. She was a FOOL to flap her big mouth, and so
she now will pay the price, with 25-50 years in prison. Damn, I just despise
the stupidity of humans. Susan kills two people, in a truly UNDETETABLE manner,
and then she has to TALK about what she did. She decides to TELL her hubby that
she killed two men! How tactically STUPID that is! Did she TRUST him? Did she
think he would not BETRAY her? Damn idiot, is what she was.
The hubby was a believer in the insane god myth. So he went to his priest AND
his marriage counselor and told him what his wife had confessed to. One of them
managed to gain hubby Mark's "permission" to go to the police, and turn Susan
in. I have NO pity for Susan. She was stupid. She chose of DESTROY herself. She
chose to destroy two perfect and undetectable murders, for which she NEVER
would have been punished in any way, if only she would have kept her mouth
shut!
Oh well, people who act in tactically stupid ways, are punished by their
society. So be it. Susan had her fate in her own hands. She chose to make a
ridiculous and irrational choice, and so she will have to pay the price. I
mourn the lost opportunity that she had, to get away fully with these two
murders, and possibly to commit future killings and reach full status as a
serial killer.
We also get some valuable tactical tips on how potassium can be useful to
aspiring murderers, both those employed in the medical profession, as well as
just ordinary citizens. Injected overdoses of potassium, even in lethal doses,
are apparently IMPOSSIBLE to detect by medical examiners, even when a
comprehensive autopsy is performed. This piece of info can certainly be useful
to aspiring murderers, under some circumstances.
If you would like to see a facial photo of Susan, along with an archive of
2-3 additional news articles on this case, simply point your web browser to:
http://www.austin360.com/news/001metro/05may/05/hey5.htm
Among the archived articles you will be able to read about how Susan helped a
fellow inmate give birth to a baby, back in December.
Take care, JOE
The following appears courtesy of today's United Press International news
wire:
Tuesday May 5, 1998
Ex-nurse faces prison in mercy killings
AUSTIN, Texas, May 5 (UPI) A former nurse is facing 50 years in prison after
pleading guilty to the mercy killings of two elderly men at an Austin nursing
home in 1996.
Susan Hey's lawyer says she acted out of compassion when she administered
potassium overdoses to the men. The 39-year-old ex-nurse today faces at least
25 years in prison before she becomes eligible for parole.
Attorney Linda Icenhauer-Ramirez says: ``We decided we had no choice. If she
was convicted of (capital murder), it was going to be an automatic life
sentence.''
Hey admitted killing the elderly men with the potassium when she worked as a
nurse at the home. She was sentenced to two, concurrent 50- year sentences on
Monday after pleading guilty.
The deaths of 80-year-old Walter Lee Kelley and 83-year-old Harry Waddell were
originally ruled to be from natural causes.
Icenhauer-Ramirez says Hey had grown close to both men and ``truly cared'' for
them. When their health began deteriorating, she says her client injected
potassium in their feeding tubes.
Kelley and Waddell had been buried without autopsies. The deaths probably would
have never raised suspicion if Hey had kept silent.
Hey told her husband, Mark, what she had done. He was unsure if she was telling
the truth, but he later confided it to their pastor and marriage counselor, who
called police with Mark Hey's permission.
---------------------------------------------------------
The following appears courtesy of the 5/5/98 online edition of The Austin
American-Statesman newspaper:
Ex-nurse pleads guilty to 2 counts of murder
Susan Hey must serve at least 25 years for killing two patients at South Austin
nursing home
Susan Hey: According to her lawyer, deaths caused by overdoses of potassium
were mercy killings.
By Dave Harmon
American-Statesman Staff
Published: May 5, 1998
Susan Hey's lawyer said compassion led Hey to kill two patients in 1996 in the
Austin nursing home where she worked, and the realization that she would
probably lose a jury trial led Hey to plead guilty to two counts of murder on
Monday.
Hey, 39, admitted to killing the men with potassium overdoses when she worked
as a nurse at the Cannon Oaks Rehabilitation and Nursing Center on William
Cannon Drive. On Monday, she was sentenced to two 50-year sentences, which will
run concurrently.
Hey, who originally faced a capital murder charge, must serve at least 25 years
in prison before she becomes eligible for parole.
"We decided we had no choice,'' said Linda Icenhauer-Ramirez, Hey's lawyer. "If
she was convicted of (capital murder), it was going to be an automatic life
sentence.''
Walter Lee Kelley, 80, died at the nursing home on July 13, 1996. On July 28,
Harry Waddell died at age 83. Both deaths were ruled to be from natural causes
at the time.
Icenhauer-Ramirez said Hey was close to both men, and when their health
deteriorated dramatically, she injected potassium in their feeding tubes.
"I think she truly cared for these people and felt she was doing the right
thing, although now she will tell you it was not the right thing,''
Icenhauer-Ramirez said.
Kelley and Waddell were buried without autopsies. The deaths probably would
have never raised suspicion if Hey had been able to keep her silence.
But she told her husband, Mark, what she had done. Mark Hey, unsure whether his
wife was telling him the truth, wrote it down in his diary and did not tell
anyone for five months.
He eventually confided in their pastor and marriage counselor, Mark Weaver, who
called the police -- with Mark Hey's permission -- to see whether Susan Hey's
story could be true.
That sparked an investigation that led to Hey's confession to police. She later
recanted and tried to fight the charge.
Police had a tough time getting physical evidence, even after exhuming the
men's bodies, because while a large dose of potassium can stop the heart, the
natural potassium level in a body rises after death, masking an overdose.
Icenhauer-Ramirez said Hey also hurt her own defense by confessing to neighbors
and friends, who would have been called to testify by the state.
The law doesn't recognize any distinction between mercy killing and any other
murder, so testimony about her motive would not have been allowed in a trial,
Icenhauer-Ramirez said.
-----------------------------------------------
The following appears courtesy of the 1/6.97 online edition of The Austin
American Statesman, via the newspaper's archives:
Fatal dose went unnoticed by all until anonymous tip
By Bob Banta
American-Statesman Staff
Published: Jan. 6, 1997
The potassium injection that police say killed an 83-year-old nursing home
resident almost certainly would have gone unnoticed if not for an anonymous
tip, Travis County's top forensic expert said Sunday.
Susan Lynne Hey, 38, formerly a nurse at Cannon Oaks Rehabilitation and Nursing
Center in South Austin, was in jail Sunday in lieu of $100,000 bail on a charge
of murder. Police said she told them she injected a fatal dose of potassium
into the feeding tube of Cannon Oaks resident Harry Waddell in July.
Travis County Medical Examiner Robert Bayardo said the tip and Hey' s statement
to police are vital.
An autopsy was not conducted on Waddell because his death occurred in a medical
facility and he had a terminal illness. However, even if an autopsy had been
done, Bayardo said, "It is impossible to determine a potassium overdose."
Bayardo said it is normal after death for blood cells to break down and release
potassium into body fluids.
"Because of this, it is normal for potassium to show up in high levels, " said
Bayardo, the county's medical examiner since 1978. "The longer the body is
dead, the higher the potassium content."
He said high doses of potassium can cause an irregular heartbeat that stops the
heart and causes death.
Waddell, a retired trucking company employee from California, died July 28.
Police said detectives began investigating Waddell's death on Thursday night
after they received a tip from an anonymous caller who said that Hey had
injected an elderly nursing home resident named "Harry" with a lethal dose of
potassium.
According to arrest affidavits, Austin homicide detectives Robert Merrill and
Paul Johnson went to Hey's home at 3804 Holt Drive, near McCarty and Brodie
lanes, and asked her to come to police headquarters for questioning.
Merrill said Hey told them she administered potassium to Waddell "in an amount
which she knew could cause heart arrhythmias (irregular heartbeats) and cause
Waddell to die."
Police will not say what they believe Hey's motive was.
Merrill said Hey told the officers she administered 60 cubic centimenters of
potassium through Waddell's feeding tube, which goes down the throat to the
stomach and is used to feed patients who have difficulty swallowing.
Bayardo said Sunday he believes 60 cubic centimeters of potassium would not be
enough to cause death unless the victim's kidney's kidneys did not function
properly. Nursing home officials would not disclose Waddell's illness, and
family members declined to give interviews Sunday.
"It may be that the district attorney will ask for an exhumation," Bayardo
said. "We could determine by microscopic examination whether the kidneys were
in good shape."
A small plaque
Hey's husband, Mark, declined to discuss the case or talk about his wife
Sunday.
"I just got back this morning from taking our children to church, " he said. "I
have no comment." The couple has three children.
Administrator James Whitis said Sunday he would not reveal details of Hey's
employment at the nursing home, or why she left her job.
Whitis said Hey's credentials, including her nurse's license and a criminal
background check, were examined before she was hired.
Cannon Oaks, 1015 W. William Cannon Drive, is owned by Beverly Enterprises
Inc., a company based in Arkansas with 640 nursing homes nationwide.
A $168,000 fine
Last year, federal regulators rescinded a $168,000 fine imposed in July against
Cannon Oaks, according to officials with the federal Health Care Financing
Administration in Dallas.
Sharon Flippen, a Beverly representative in Texas, said in September that the
company fought the $168,000 fine because it was excessive.
Among problems state inspectors found, records show, the nursing home staff
gave the wrong medication to residents and failed to give medication on time.
Whitis said Sunday that the facility corrected the flaws and that Texas
Department of Human Services inspectors found that the facility conformed to
standards during inspections on Aug. 21 and Sept. 16.
Advocates of nursing home residents said Sunday they were saddened by Waddell's
death.
Marie Wisdom, president of Advocates for Nursing Home Reform, said her lobbying
group is trying to push new regulations through the Texas Legislature that
would require more supervision of nurses in residential care centers.
She said the group also wants checks on the criminal background of nursing
applicants at care centers to be done from a nationwide database instead of the
current practice of only checking whether a nurse has a criminal record in
Texas.
"But even with close supervision, it is difficult to catch a criminal if they
are going to play God," Wisdom said.
Debby Sobwick
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