A German nurse who is already serving a life sentence for two murders is now suspected of killing more than 100 other people, making him Germany’s deadliest serial killer if found guilty.
The man, who is identified only as Niels H, admitted during his 2015 trial to deliberately injecting patients with deadly drugs and then attempting to revive them in order to play the hero.
During that trial he was convicted of two murders, two attempted murders, and harming patients, and sentenced to life in prison.
Now investigators believe he may have killed another 62 patients at one clinic and 38 patients at another, between 1999 and 2005.
Investigators say he may have killed more, but potential victims have been cremated. The death toll may rise further still, as police are seeking the remains of some people to be exhumed in Turkey.
The investigation widened after Neils’ 2015 trial, when he admitted to killing up to 30 people. In total, investigators have exhumed 134 former patients, looking for traces of heart medication that could have shut down their cardiovascular systems.
The prosecutor’s office is likely to bring charges against him early next year.
Records at the Oldenburg clinic, where he’s suspected of killing 38 patients, showed rates of death and resuscitations rose when he was on shift, local media reports. But he received a good reference and went on to work at the Hoegl clinic, where death rates rose again.
He was caught when a nurse saw that a previously stable patient had developed an irregular heartbeat, and found empty medication containers in the bin.
During his 2015 trial he said he was “honestly sorry” and that his crimes had been “relatively spontaneous” decisions. He said each time someone died he resolved not to do it again, but his determination would fade.
He said he hoped the families of his victims would find peace.
