Nurse made chilling statement before being sentenced to 380 years in prison for the deaths of 17 patients
Bec Oakes
Featured Image Credit: Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General / CBS PITTSBURGH/YouTube
A nurse who killed at least 17 patients has been sentenced to hundreds of years in prison - and her final statement will send shivers down your spine.
On 2 May, 41-year-old Heather Pressdee was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to three counts of murder alongside 19 counts of attempted murder.
Pressdee, who'd worked as a nurse in Pennsylvania, injected lethal or potentially lethal doses of insulin into numerous patients under her care.
She often carried out her crimes during the night shift when staffing was low, and between 2020 and 2023, she played a role in the deaths of at least 17 people.
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Her victims ranged in age from 43 to 105.
Pressdee was initially charged with killing two nursing home patients and injuring a third in May of last year.
An investigation into these incidents led to dozens of further charges against her and her nursing licence was subsequently suspended.
During a February hearing, Pressdee indicated that she wanted to plead guilty for her crimes.
When her attorneys asked why, she made a short but chilling statement.
"Because I am guilty," she said.
In the Butler County courthouse where the sentencing took place earlier this week, nearly 40 of her victims’ family members spoke about how her crimes had affected their lives.
Local TV station WTAE reported that Elizabeth Simons Ozella - whose mother, Irene Simons, was one of Pressdee's victims - said she would 'never forgive [her] for what she did.'
“She took someone from this earth that she had no right to take, and she played God when she didn’t have that right.”
Melinda Brown, whose brother Nicholas Cymbol also died from an insulin overdose administered by Pressdee, added: "She’s pure evil."
And another told the court: "She is not sick. She is not insane. She is evil personified. I looked into the face of Satan myself the morning she killed my father."
Pressdee didn’t look at the speakers or react to their statements during the hearing but later apologised for her crimes, saying: "I’m very sorry. I’m sorry for what I’ve done."
By pleading guilty, Pressdee avoided a trial as well as the possibility of execution by lethal injection.
Instead, the judge presiding over her case handed her three consecutive life sentences for the murders she'd committed.
Pressdee was also ordered to serve a further 380 to 760 years in prison for the attempted murders.