Heather Pressdee, who has become known as the “Killer Nurse,” pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree murder and 19 counts of attempted homicide Thursday morning and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
The Pennsylvania nurse was handed three consecutive life sentences — plus 380–760 years for the attempted murders — by Judge Joseph Kubit of the Butler County Court of Common Pleas, according to a statement from Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry.
Pressdee had worked as a nurse at nearly a dozen Pennsylvania nursing homes since she first joined the sector in 2018. She was charged in November with multiple counts of first degree murder, attempted murder and neglect of residents in her care at five of those facilities.
While working at nursing homes, Pressdee was known for saying residents “just needed to die,” according to reporting from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Physicians and coworkers at her former facilities had sounded the alarm on residents dying under her care to the Department of Health leading up to her eventual arrest.
Coworkers at one former facility also coined the “killer nurse” title due to their concerns about how residents were being treated under her care.
“The defendant used her position of trust as a means to poison patients who depended on her for care,” Attorney General Henry said in a news statement. “This plea and life sentence will not bring back the lives lost, but it will ensure Heather Pressdee never has another opportunity to inflict further harm.”
After Pressdee was originally charged with two homicide counts last year, families of other deceased patients came forward, leading authorities to significantly upgrade the charges.
While not every cause of death could be conclusively determined, Pressdee used overdoses of insulin in several of her attempts to kill residents. The victims ranged from ages 43 to 104.
A 32-page affidavit from investigators into the case said Pressdee admitted to attempting to kill residents — explaining that she was upset about their quality of life and “hoped they would just slip into a coma and pass away.”
Officials also revealed texts with darker overtones that Pressdee is said to have sent her mother in 2022 and 2023. In the texts, Pressdee complained about the behavior of coworkers and residents — saying she was “gonna murder my aides” in one message, according to reporting from NBC News.
In another message, Pressdee wrote that “I may kill this resident” to “set some sort of boundary with him,” in reference to a resident who was following her around a facility.
Pressdee’s first nursing home job was at Encompass Health Rehabilitation in Harmarville, PA, where she worked from October 2018 through April 2019. That facility disciplined her for improper use of insulin before she left.
Other Pennsylvania facilities where she worked are defendants in various lawsuits by families of residents. Plaintiff claims include allegations that some facility leaders ignored or did not do enough about Pressdee’s conduct and, in at least one case, even went so far as to discipline staff for questioning the quality of her care.
Pressdee’s guilty plea came amid a Thursday morning hearing that was to continue through Friday, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Numerous relatives of Pressdee’s, who are profiled in this state’s attorney compilation, gave impact statements.
