Legacy.com is the leading provider of online obituaries for the newspaper industry. Some of the witnesses testified that he hated elderly people, and that he believed that they "should be gassed. In 1993, Majors started work at the Vermillion County Hospital in Clinton, Indiana. will certainly expose one to death, this nurse was no ordinary health care provider. However, prosecutors chose to focus on just seven to keep from overwhelming the jury. Explore Chicago Tribune archive, both historical and recent editions. This list shows serial killers from the 20th century to … Orville Lynn Majors ... Harold Shipman (Born, January 14, 1946): Known as Doctor Death, he killed hundreds. To that end, here are two high-profile murder cases that were solved using the expertise of skilled forensic toxicologists. "Serial Murder by Healthcare Professionals." After a former roommate recalled seeing potassium chloride and epinephrine vials in their house, police obtained a search warrant and discovered numerous vials that could be traced back to the hospital. (8) (8) MAY : Albert Fish, Anthony Hardy, Catherine Birnie, David Copeland, H H Holmes, Karla Homolka, Michael Ryan, Ted Kaczynski, Richard … Find newspaper articles and clippings for help with genealogy, history and other research. Vulnerable and sick, hospital patients assume that while under the care of nurses, they are in good hands.  But, unfortunately for the people of a small Indiana community in the mid-1990s, their trust was misplaced. Amelia Ullman Memorial Scholarship for Music Established by Gilbert Ullman in 1981 in honor of his late mother, Amelia, a former music teacher in Florence Kansas, and to remember her efforts to instill in literally hundreds of students an appreciation for music and to celebrate his love of tennis and long-time … She was a homemaker, and attended Spring Valley Free Will Baptist Chruch in Hulbert, OK. Our biographical files contain clippings on individuals, while our subject files categorize articles by topic. Like a macabre broken record, Gibbs once again killed a year later. [7][3], Majors appealed to the Indiana Supreme Court, which let the verdict stand in 2002. Houston.[3]. 1997 Orville Lynn Majors, 36, arrested for many deaths under his care; 1997 Russia signs agreement to build a $3B nuclear power plant in China; 1997 Cricket Women's World Cup: Australia defeats New Zealand by 5 wickets; 1998 Leaders of the Khmer Rouge apologize for the 1970s genocide in Cambodia that claimed … She was born March 12, 1915 to Orville E. and Hazel Satchel Burway. ( Log Out /  We discussed him on our Worst Serial Killers article. There’s something so disturbing about poison cases. Presiding judge Ernest Yelton described Majors' crimes as "diabolical acts" and "a parallel of evil at its most wicked," and concluded that "the maximum sentence is the minimum sentence in this case. "[10], VCH, which had been renamed West Central Community Hospital after ousting Majors, was slapped with wrongful-death suits by the families of 80 patients who died at Majors' hands. will certainly expose one to death, this nurse was no ordinary health care provider. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! There were still plenty of old-school professors around, though, and History majors still had to take an honest-to-god Western Civ class as juniors (we didn’t have to declare majors until end of sophomore year, but most people knew and took classes in their major track before that), and my senior adviser I swear … (Janie Lou Gibbs). Academia.edu is a platform for academics to share research papers. An autopsy was immediately conducted on Robert, who was found to have ingested a lethal amount of arsenic. We hand over a lot of trust to those who work in the medical field. The story of the police investigation and prosecution of Majors is featured in a segment of an episode of The New Detectives entitled "Broken Trust" (Season 9, Episode 11). All five victims had their causes of death changed from natural to homicide by poison. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Though he was only tried for seven murders and convicted of six, he was believed to have committed additional cases between 1993 and 1995, the period of time for which he was employed by the hospital where the deaths occurred, and for which he was investigated. Gibbs was initially found mentally unfit to stand trial and was confined to a mental institution. BENTONVILLE, ARKANSAS: Gwlynndora Berkley, 92, died July 23, 2007. In 1999, the killer died of natural causes. Forrest, Jacquetta Lannan, and Donna Russell. the of and to a in that is was he for it with as his on be at by i this had not are but from or have an they which one you were all her she there would their we him been has when who will no more if out so up said what its about than into them can only other time new some could these two may first then do any like my now over … That’s right, she killed her own children and grandchild. His death, like the others before, was attributed to a natural cause. His serial killing spree lasted for a couple of years in the mid-1990s, and the only reason his actions were brought to light was due to a routine study conducted by the hospital. They called in electrophysiologist Erik Prystowsky to look at the EKGs. Finally, Gibbs’ “luck” had run out. 116: 13 "Stolen Youth" June 12, 2004 () Photo courtesy of fanphobia.net. If Frederick Mors had not chosen to turn himself in, he might have gone on a poisoning spree similar to that of another nurse, Orville Lynn Majors. The story was also covered in an episode of Oxygen's License To Kill, entitled "Lethal Injections.". Who is Jacob Anthony Chansley? With only one living child remaining, the sadistic killer struck yet again. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. A family physician grew suspicious after the back-to-back deaths of a healthy newborn and his equally healthy father. With this in mind, in September 1995, state officials began exhuming 15 patients who had been witnessed getting injections and had widening heart patterns around the time they died. Cases include: Reyna Marroquín, whose remains were found in a barrel thirty years after her disappearance; Orville Lynn Majors, a nurse who was convicted of murdering his patients. Night Flight has always been a right of passage, a trip of entertainment discovery, old and new. 6 counts of murder… One patient died every 156 hours at Vermillion County Hospital in Indiana during … And, she donated some of her son’s life insurance proceeds to her church – again. No new deaths were recorded in Van Buren County. Law enforcement was notified by the hospital of this spike in deaths. Experts believe Majors was responsible for the death of more people, but his skill in mixing poison cocktails allowed him to use the defense of ‘death by natural causes.’. [11] The hospital was subsequently fined $80,000 for negligence and code violations, and was briefly forced to shut down after losing its accreditation. Are you aware of any poison cases as troubling as those above? The State Administration of Market Regulation has kicked off investigations into the Alibaba Group, laying claim that the company has been involved in monopolistic conduct such as "forced exclusivity" by requiring e-commerce merchants to pick only one platform as their exclusive distribution channel, according to the South … Orville Lynn Majors (April 24, 1961 – September 24, 2017) was a licensed practical nurse and serial killer, who was convicted of murdering his patients in Clinton, Indiana. Less than a year later, this wife and mother from hell poisoned her youngest son, Marvin, Jr. And how did she do it?  Rat poison and arsenic. Born on Christmas in 1932, Gibbs was an active member of her local church, and a dedicated home daycare operator. The problem was, the soup was laced with arsenic. There are gaps of time between the killings, which may range from a few days to months, or many years. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. definition of - senses, usage, synonyms, thesaurus. He took care of his elderly grandmother as a teen, and the experience led him to go into nursing. Legacy.com enhances online obituaries with Guest Books, funeral home information, and florist links. Gay Orville Lynn Majors: 60 murderers, charged with six. APRIL: Alexander Pichushkin, Henri Desire Landru, Orville Lynn Majors, John Reginald Christie, Judy Buenoano, Robert Black, Herbert Mullin and Steven Wright. Berrien update. ( Log Out /  2018 Bronze Medal for Mystery from Readers’ Favorite, 2018 Finalist from BookViral Millennium Book Award, SCENE OF THE CRIME, A Chip Palmer Forensic Mystery, Pingback: Forensic Genealogy Finds the Killer: 3 Cold Cases Recently Solved #crime #coldcase | Author Jennifer Chase. Of course, while acting as a nurse in an I.C.U. Yorker, Beatrice, Kenneth W. Kizer, Paula Lampe, A.R.W. Online Dictionaries: Definition of Options|Tips Options|Tips ( Log Out /  A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more people, in two or more separate events over a period of time, for primarily psychological reasons. Majors was suspended pending investigation. Prosecutors were able to definitively tie Majors to six deaths, even though the killer had been alone with many more of the patients who passed away. [3] Alarmed, she alerted hospital officials, who called in the Indiana State Police. [3][7], After a two-year investigation, Majors was arrested in December 1997 and charged with seven murders. Most likely it’s a combo of both. Our subject files … ORVILLE LYNN MAJORS: Murdered Patients He Thought Were Demanding Or Whiny Orville Lynn Majors. After 18 years of marriage to her husband, Marvin, she decided one evening to kill him by putting rat poison in his dinner. If you’ve ever worked a job in the service industry, you are well aware of how inconsiderate and annoying … [7], Eventually, Majors' coworkers began noticing a correlation between the spike in deaths and when Majors was on duty, joking about when the next patient would die. Change ). Read the latest in the Forensic Mystery Award-winning Series. He suspected that there were only three explanations for these patterns–a potassium overdose, a sudden heart attack, or a large clot in the lung. However, in 1995, nursing supervisor Dawn Stirek was concerned enough to check the time cards to see who was on duty at the time of the deaths. The death rate of the hospital’s patients soon skyrocketed. Then, one day, something changed. Held by The Filson Historical Society Title: Newspaper Clippings Files Scope and Content Note The Filson maintains newspaper clippings files separated into 2 categories: biographical and subject. Latest News. [3], However, suspicion developed when the death rate at VCH jumped significantly after Majors returned to Indiana. [3] He graduated from Nashville Memorial School of Practical Nursing in 1989, and took a job at Vermillion County Hospital in Clinton, north of Terre Haute. [7], The state police medical team noticed several patients' heart patterns widening around the time Majors was on duty. Cass County added one new COVID-19 death over the weekend, bringing the county’s death toll to 54. Find archives for Chicago Tribune, The Chicago Weekly Tribune, . She discovered that Majors was on duty for 130 of 147 deaths between 1993 and 1995. Legacy.com is the leading provider of online obituaries for the newspaper industry. Majors was sentenced to a staggering 360-year prison sentence but passed away in 2017 due to – ironically – heart issues. [8] They also determined that a patient at VCH was 42 times more likely to die when Majors was on duty. Of course, while acting as a nurse in an I.C.U. In addition, another presumed death was added to the … Forensic toxicologists conducted tests, which revealed the lethal doses of the substances injected by Majors. The results of the study revealed that by 1994, the intensive care unit had a death rate of 120, despite the number being only 31 during years’ prior. ( Log Out /  [7] He was sentenced to six consecutive terms of 60 years, the maximum possible penalty under Indiana law at the time, virtually assuring that he would die in prison. [5] After Majors started working at the facility, however, this rate skyrocketed to more than 100 per year, with nearly one out of every three patients admitted to the hospital dying. He was an addict doctor who took the lives of many of his patients using large doses of morphine. Authorities chalked up his death to his unfortunate inheritance of his father’s liver disease. Forensic toxicology is one of the many fields of science that populates the intriguing world of investigative forensics. Most of them settled the suits and were compensated by a state patients' fund. Legacy.com enhances online obituaries with Guest Books, funeral home information, and florist links. Combining biology with pharmacology, forensic toxicologists play vital roles in murder investigations in which the suspected cause of death is poison. Viral Video: Leonardo DiCaprio-Kate Winslet's 'Titanic' has alternative climax, leaves netizens in splits 'Absolutely defeated': Black nurses struggle with mental health support while battling Covid-19 Majors' crimes were also disussed at length in the Infamous Murders episode "Angels of Death". This time, she poisoned another one of her sons. Or the slow painful death. Between 1993 and 1995, a nurse named Orville Lynn Majors was linked to 130 of the 147 deaths at the Intensive Care Unit of Vermillion County Hospital in rural Indiana. On January 9, Angeli was arrested and... brought up on U.S. federal charges of "knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, and with violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds". Some died from an erratic heartbeat following respiratory arrest, a reverse of the normal pattern. The main purpose of forensic toxicology is to aid law enforcement in understanding the extent to which ingested substances contributed to a person’s impairment or death. [12] He served his sentence at Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, where he died of heart failure on September 24, 2017 while arguing with correctional staff, Officer R. Maybe it’s the deliberate premeditation. Marvin didn’t die, but instead was admitted to the local hospital after falling ill from what the doctors believed to be – naturally occurring liver issues. Now we can finally get closer to that original cable TV experience we’ve all been missing with NF Plus, an all-access membership to the original … In one of the most disturbing poison cases of the last century, Janie Lou Gibbs was responsible for the deaths of her husband, three sons and grandson. As mentioned above, investigators believed he killed 100 to 130 people. [3] Prosecutors and the state police were hamstrung at first; while they believed from the beginning that Majors was a killer, they could not prove how he did it. Although he is not officially blamed for 130 deaths, there is a great deal of suspicion surrounding these deaths due to Majors’ exposure to these patients. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. [3] At the same time, patients began coding at an alarming rate. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. [3][7], Investigators subsequently determined that when Majors was on duty, there was an average of one death every 23 hours, or almost one death per day–a pattern that held when he worked on weekdays or weekends. An eye opening taste of counter culture, smoked with timeless jewels of artistic buds. [7] A total of 79 witnesses were called to the stand at his trial in 1999. [9], Majors adamantly denied wrongdoing. A Capitol police special agent was quoted as … [2], Majors was born in Greenville, Kentucky in 1961. None of the bodies had signs of a heart attack or clotting in the lung, which proved they had been murdered. View pages/Author-Jennifer-Chase/208188122534165’s profile on Facebook, View jenniferchase75’s profile on Pinterest, View JenniferChase1’s profile on LinkedIn, View UC_BGK3QEPh-9I-jsQKtAc7g’s profile on YouTube, From Love to Murder: 2 High-Profile Valentine’s Day Killings, Murder by Poison: Two High-Profile Forensic Toxicology Cases, Forensic Genealogy Finds the Killer: 3 Cold Cases Recently Solved #crime #coldcase | Author Jennifer Chase, What’s the Difference: Criminology v. Criminalistics, BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT: Cover Reveal & Pre-Order for THE FRAGILE ONES, Detective Katie Scott Thriller: Book 5 #Bookouture #CrimeFiction, Forensic Genealogy Finds the Killer: 3 Cold Cases Recently Solved #crime #coldcase, An Overview of the Texas Rangers: Elite Lone Star Law Enforcement, 📚 Pump Up Your Book Presents LAST GIRLS ALIVE Virtual Book Publicity Tour #CrimeThriller, NEW RELEASE: Last Girls Alive: A Detective Katie Scott Thriller #Bookouture #Crime, GOLD MEDAL WINNER! In the year before his return to VCH, an average of around 26 patients died annually at the 56-bed hospital and four-bed intensive care unit. [4], Majors was one of the most popular nurses at VCH, especially among elderly patients. He soon died of “liver disease.”. But, this time, Gibbs skipped a generation and killed her newborn grandson, Raymond. He briefly took a higher-paying job in Tennessee, but returned to VCH in 1993. He received glowing evaluations. While running a pet store in his hometown of Linton, he hired a lawyer and made the rounds of talk shows to proclaim his innocence. In a surprising twist, Gibbs donated a significant amount of Marvin’s life insurance proceeds to her church. An investigation was opened, and 15 bodies were immediately exhumed for autopsies. Flowers On Her Grave #Bookouture #Thriller, Analyzing Crime Scene Characteristics #crimefiction #writing, Cover Reveal & Pre-Order for LAST GIRLS ALIVE #Bookouture, 5 Writing Tips for Punching up Fight Scenes for any Genre, The Feds: 6 of America’s Top Law Enforcement Agencies, 9 Key Steps for a Successful Crime Scene Investigation, Offender’s Signature vs. Modus Operandi. However, after Majors began his public relations offensive, several relatives of patients who died at VCH called the state police to report suspicious behavior on Majors' part before their loved ones died. International Award-Winning Author & Criminologist. When he was off duty, the death rate dropped to one every 23 days. BEL listener Barbera Brown of Madisonville KY called on the air to say that she was a relative of Majors, and that he was a known homosexual. "[10], Majors was convicted on October 17 for six murders; the jury deadlocked on a seventh because the victim took longer to die than the others. Less than a month later, Gibbs poisoned her son, Robert, who was the father of the murdered baby. Forensic toxicologists worked with investigators in exhuming and testing the bodies of Gibbs’ other deceased family members. Others died from conditions they did not have when they were admitted or took a sharp downturn despite being otherwise healthy. Berrien County reached 200 confirmed COVID-19 deaths over the weekend. By 2009, it had been taken over by Terre Haute-based Union Hospital and renamed Union Hospital Clinton. As the sweet wife she was, Gibbs decided to bring homemade soup to the hospital so that Marvin could enjoy a home cooked meal. [1] It was reported that he murdered patients who he claimed were demanding, whiny, or disproportionately added to his work load. Orville Lynn Majors (April 24, 1961 – September 24, 2017) was a licensed practical nurse and serial killer, who was convicted of murdering his patients in Clinton, Indiana.Though he was only tried for seven murders and convicted of six, he was believed to have committed additional cases between 1993 and 1995, … (Indiana Department of Corrections) Confirmed # of Victims: 6 Suspected # of Victims: 130. [7] The Indiana State Nursing Board suspended Majors' license for five years after it determined he had exceeded his authority by giving emergency drugs and working in an ICU without a doctor, and VCH fired him. 115: 12 "Price of Murder" May 8, 2004 ()??? Gibbs escaped without any suspicion. Between 1993 and 1995, a nurse named Orville Lynn Majors was linked to 130 of the 147 deaths at the Intensive Care Unit of Vermillion County Hospital in rural Indiana. Herbert Mullin - started researching into "eastern religions" aged 20 and became obsessed with reincarnation after the death of his friend Dean Richardson, although he would often condemn ... Michael Lupo, Michael Ryan, Orville Lynn Majors, Patrick MacKay, Peter Bryan, Randall Woodfield, Ray Fernandez & Martha … 3. Years later, she was successfully prosecuted, convicted and sentenced to five life terms. In her elder years, Gibbs was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and released to the custody of her sister. Forensic Science 51.6 (2006): 1362-1371, List of serial killers in the United States, List of serial killers by number of victims, "Angels of Death: The Male Nurses (Troubled Caretaker)", Court TV Legal Documents: Orville Lynn Majors Affidavit, "Nurse With Tender Touch Is Held in 6 Killings", "Orville Lynn Majors, 56, 'Angel of Death' in Patient Killings, Is Dead", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Orville_Lynn_Majors&oldid=1008481218, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 23 February 2021, at 14:44. [6], The circumstances of the deaths also raised eyebrows, even though most of them were elderly. Dubbed the “Angel of Death,” Nurse Majors was convicted in 1999 for injecting six patients with heart-stopping, lethal doses of epinephrine and potassium chloride. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. Gibbs’ plan did not immediately work. They recalled that their loved ones either coded or died within minutes of Majors giving them injections, in some cases before he left the room.