A former nurse has been sentenced to life in prison for killing three patients and attempting to murder 19 others, the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office said in a statement.
Heather Pressdee, 41, pleaded guilty to the charges, which included three counts of first-degree murder and 19 counts of attempt to commit murder. She was sentenced to three consecutive life prison terms for the murders, plus an additional 380 to 760 years on the remaining charges.
Pressdee admitted to injecting patients at five Pennsylvania healthcare facilities with lethal doses of insulin between 2020 and 2023, in an attempt to kill them. There is no known motive for the crimes.
“The defendant used her position of trust as a means to poison patients who depended on her for care,” Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry said in the 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. I offer my sincere sympathy to all who have suffered at this defendant’s hands.”
According to prosecutors, Pressdee was able to hide her crimes by ensuring the victims died before her nursing shift was over. That way, they would not be sent to a hospital where her scheme might be discovered.
Many of the patients did not even need insulin. Pressdee’s known 22 victims ranged from 43 to 104 years old, and it is not entirely clear how many people died as a result of her crimes.
The Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General first investigated Pressdee in 2022 after receiving tips of suspicious deaths. She was arrested and charged in May of 2023 and has remained incarcerated ever since.
The life sentence is the result of a plea deal that guaranteed Pressdee did not receive the death penalty.
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