Deranged nurse escapes the death penalty as she admits to killing three patients – and has been connected to 14 more – by injecting them with lethal amounts on insulin
A Pennsylvania nurse who administered lethal or potentially fatal doses of insulin to scores of patients avoided the death penalty after pleading guilty to three murders.
Heather Pressdee, 41, was given three consecutive life sentences and another consecutive term of 380-760 years behind bars during a hearing in Butler, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) north of Pittsburgh.
When one of her lawyers asked her why she pleaded guilty, Pressdee replied, “Because I’m guilty.”
She played a role in the deaths of at least 17 patients living at five health care facilities in four provinces between 2020 and 2023, prosecutors said.
The total of 22 victims ranged in age from 43 to 104 years. Colleagues often questioned Pressdee’s behavior, saying she often showed contempt for her patients and made derogatory comments about them, authorities said.
Family members were quick to berate the ailing “Angel of Death” as she listened to them during her sentencing on Thursday. One said: ‘She’s not sick. She’s not crazy. She is the personification of evil. … ‘I looked Satan in the face the morning she killed my father.’
Heather Pressdee, 41, was given three consecutive life sentences and another consecutive term of 380-760 years behind bars during a hearing in Butler, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) north of Pittsburgh.
Pressdee, who could have faced the death penalty, pleaded guilty to three premeditated murders and 19 attempted murders.
She was initially charged in May 2023 with killing two nursing home patients and wounding a third.
Further investigation led to dozens more charges against her. During a February hearing in which she argued with her lawyers, she indicated she wanted to plead guilty.
Pressdee said little as she made her case, answering most questions with a single word.
The plea hearing was expected to last through Friday as several people wanted to provide victim impact statements, officials said.
Some who spoke in court Thursday told Pressdee that she had wrongly tried to play God, noting that while some of her victims were elderly or very ill, none were willing to die.
Pressdee did not look at the speakers or respond to their comments, even when someone shouted an expletive at her, causing the courtroom to erupt in applause, news reports show.
She was charged with the murders of Irene Simons, 78, (pictured) and Sandra Lincoln, 82, who died last year after unnecessary doses of insulin
When one of her lawyers asked her why she pleaded guilty, Pressdee replied: ‘Because I am guilty’
Prosecutors alleged that Pressdee, of Harrison, administered excessive amounts of insulin to 22 patients, including some who did not have diabetes.
Typically, she administered the insulin during night shifts, when staffing levels were low and emergencies would not require immediate hospitalization. Most patients died shortly after administration of the insulin dose, or some time later.
Her nursing license was suspended early last year, not long after the first charges were filed.
According to court documentsPressdee sent her mother text messages between April 2022 and May 2023 in which she discussed her accident with several patients and colleagues, and spoke of potential harm to them.
She also voiced similar complaints about people she encountered at restaurants and other places.
Pressdee had a history of “disciplinary action for abuse toward patients and/or staff at each facility, resulting in her dismissal or dismissal,” prosecutors said in court documents.
Pressdee held a number of jobs at nursing homes and facilities in western Pennsylvania for short periods beginning in 2018, according to the documents.
She was charged with the murders of Irene Simons, 78, and Sandra Lincoln, 82, who died last year after unnecessary doses of insulin.
This image provided by the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office shows Heather Pressdee
A typical room at the Quality of Life Services facility in Chicora, Pennsylvania
Their families filed separate wrongful death lawsuits against Sunnyview Operating LLC and Sunnyview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center last month.
They allege the companies were negligent, careless or reckless when they hired Pressdee “despite her alarming history of abuse by residents at ten previous facilities, including causing injuries and/or deaths to at least sixteen residents at the other facilities.”
DailyMail.com has contacted Sunnyview Operating LLC and Sunnyview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center for comment.