Army veteran Reta Mays, 46, pleaded guilty to seven counts of second-degree murder and one count of assault with intent to murder on Tuesday, following a two-year investigation into the suspicious deaths of seven elderly patients at a veteran’s hospital in West Virginia.
Mays is accused of killing veterans Robert Edge Sr., Robert Kozul, Archie Edgell, George Shaw, Felix McDermott, Raymond Golden and a patient identified only as W.A.H., and of administering unnecessary insulin to another patient who was not diabetic, with the intent to kill him.
Mays, who was employed at the Louis A. Johnson Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Clarksburg, West Virginia faces up to life in prison for each count of second-degree murder. She has pleaded guilty in federal court to killing seven hospital patients by injecting them with unnecessary insulin, and assaulting another patient with intent to murder.
The U.S. attorney prosecuting the case called her acts “evil” and an FBI agent involved in the case said the veterans were betrayed. Up until Tuesday, authorities had not identified Mays publicly.
“These eight veterans deserved respect and honor. They served our country and we all owe them a debt of gratitude,” FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge Michael Christman told reporters Tuesday. “They didn’t deserve to die at the hands of a nursing assistant who intentionally inflicted pain on them and their families.”
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