German Nurse Serving Life For Murder Charged With 97 Additional Murders

German nurse who is already serving a life sentence in prison for two murders has just been charged with killing 97 more people. Yes, that’s ninety-seven.

Niels Hoegel stands accused of killing 97 patients at two hospitals in northern Germany between 1999 and 2005. These new charges were expected, after officials said back in November they believed Hoegel was responsible for killing over 100 patients.

Hoegel was convicted in 2015 of two murders and two attempted murders in Delmenhorst and was given a life sentence. Those particular charges were laid while he was serving time in prison for an earlier attempted murder.

During his trial, he admitted that he deliberately induced cardiac crises in patients because he liked the feeling of being able to resuscitate them. He reportedly liked the feeling of being considered a ‘saviour’ by other staff at the hospital. That admission led investigators to dig into the toxicology reports at the hospitals Hoegel worked at, leading to suspicions about other deceased patients.

As part of the investigation, authorities exhumed 134 bodies from 67 cemeteries, and questioned Hoegel six times.

Interestingly, there is no such thing as consecutive sentencing in Germany – meaning that even if he is convicted of these additional murders, it may not have an impact on his actual sentence. However, it is likely to challenge his likelihood of parole, which generally is considered after 15 years for prisoners serving a life sentence.

There are currently separate investigations to determine whether other staff and employees of the hospitals Hoegel worked out should be considered culpable for at least some of the murders. Authorities argue that deaths could have been prevented if staff raised the alarm about their suspicions earlier.

 

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