True Crime-Paranormal-Conspiracy Theories Stories Part V #Wattys2023

Donald Harvey

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. 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. 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.

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.

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. The plea agreement allowed prosecutors to seek the death penalty if more murders came to light. With this in mind, that November Harvey pled guilty in Laurel County (Kentucky) Circuit Court to killing nine patients at Marymount in the 1970s. He was sentenced to life plus 20 years, to run concurrently with the Ohio sentence. Ultimately, Harvey pled guilty to 37 murders. However, he confessed to killing as many as 50 people.

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

Death

On March 28, 2017, authorities reported that Harvey had been found in his cell severely beaten. He died on March 30, 2017. On May 3, 2019, fellow inmate James Elliott was charged with aggravated murder and other charges related to the death of Donald Harvey. In September 2019, he was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison after pleading guilty to killing Harvey. The sentence was originally ordered to run consecutively to his other sentences, but was later changed to run concurrently. Elliott would have become eligible for parole in 2046, when he would have been 71 years old.

Known victims

Logan Evans 88 M Kentucky May 31, 1970 Intentional, non-premeditated Suffocation; smothered with a pillow and plastic bag

James Tyree 69 M Kentucky May 31, 1970 Accidental Harvey gave Tyree the wrong catheter, causing him to vomit blood and die

Elizabeth Wyatt 42 F Kentucky June 22, 1970 Intentional, non-premeditated Suffocation; cut off her oxygen supply

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

Harvey Williams 82 M Kentucky July 12, 1970 Accidental Cardiac arrest; was given a faulty oxygen tank