On May 30, 1970, Logan Evans, an 88-year-old white male patient at Marymount Hospital in London, Kentucky, was murdered by 18-year-old hospital orderly Donald Harvey. Evans, who had suffered a debilitating stroke and was incontinent, reportedly smeared feces on Harvey, prompting the young orderly to smother him using a pillow and a sheet of blue plastic. Harvey later confessed to listening to Evans' heartbeat with a stethoscope until it ceased, after which he cleaned the body and notified the attending nurse, showing no immediate fear of being caught.
This act marked the beginning of Harvey's serial killing spree, which spanned from 1970 to 1987. During this period, he claimed responsibility for the deaths of up to 87 individuals, though he was convicted of 37 murders. His victims were primarily patients under his care in various hospitals across Ohio and Kentucky. Harvey employed multiple methods to kill, including poisoning with arsenic and cyanide, suffocation, and tampering with medical equipment. He often justified his actions as 'mercy killings,' though many were driven by anger or personal grievances.
Harvey's crimes went undetected for years due to the trust placed in healthcare workers and the natural deaths of many patients. It wasn't until 1987, after the suspicious death of a patient at Drake Memorial Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio, that an autopsy revealed cyanide poisoning, leading to Harvey's arrest. Subsequent investigations uncovered the extent of his crimes, resulting in multiple life sentences. Harvey died in prison in 2017 after being assaulted by another inmate.
