German nurse accused of killing of at least 90 patients, most severe murder case after WWII
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A German male nurse serving a life imprisonment for murdering two patients with lethal drug injection deliberately has been confirmed to have in fact killed at least 90 patients in total, German police said on Monday, calling him the worst serial killer the country has seen since World War II.
Niels Hoegel, 40, was jailed in February 2015 for two murders and four attempted murders of intensive care patients at Delmenhorst hospital near the northern city of Bremen.
AFP Photo
AFP Photo
Police said Monday that forensics experts had since exhumed and analyzed more than 130 additional bodies and had found evidence of a vastly higher death toll at two hospitals where Hoegel had worked between 1999 and 2005.
"The insights we were able to gain are terrifying, they surpass what we could have imagined," said Johann Kuehme, police chief in the city of Oldenburg, where the other hospital is located.
Police chief Johann Kuehme presents information about the investigation against former nurse Niels Hoegel during a press conference in Oldenburg, northern Germany, on August 28, 2017. /AFP Photo
Police chief Johann Kuehme presents information about the investigation against former nurse Niels Hoegel during a press conference in Oldenburg, northern Germany, on August 28, 2017. /AFP Photo
There was "evidence for at least 90 murders, and at least as many (suspected) cases again that can no longer be proven," he told a press conference, declaring himself "speechless" at the outcome.
Hoegel has admitted to injecting patients with drugs that can cause heart failure or circulatory collapse so he could then save them and, when successful, shine as a savior before his medical peers.
After the revelations, police and prosecutors three years ago launched a special forensic commission dubbed "Kardio" (Cardio) to look into other patient deaths.
Presenting their findings, police said Monday that 134 bodies had been exhumed and tested for traces of the deadly drugs, and that police also reviewed scores of medical records and questioned hundreds of witnesses.
Niels Hoegel hiding his face behind a folder as he waits for the opening of another session of his trial on February 26, 2015 at a court in Oldenburg, northwestern Germany. /AFP Photo
Niels Hoegel hiding his face behind a folder as he waits for the opening of another session of his trial on February 26, 2015 at a court in Oldenburg, northwestern Germany. /AFP Photo
The cause of death in many cases could not be determined because the bodily remains had been cremated, said Kuehme.
Amid the media publicity, a woman then contacted police, voicing suspicion that her deceased mother had also fallen victim to the killer nurse.
The authorities exhumed several patients' bodies and detected traces of the drug in five of them, declaring it either the definitive or possible contributing cause.
Hoegel was jailed for life in 2015, but at the time it was clear he had murdered many more patients, with investigators admitting they may never know the true number.
"The murders could have been prevented," said Kuehme.