VA hospital serial killer given seven life sentences

A former nursing assistant who pleaded guilty to murdering seven elderly patients at a Virginia hospital and attempting to kill an eighth was sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday.

Reta Mays on Tuesday was sentenced to life in prison for all seven murders, in addition to 20 years for the eighth victim she attempted to murder, according to USA Today.

Mays, 46, last year admitted to murdering seven veterans with insulin at the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center between July 2017 and June 2018, USA Today reported. She also confessed to assault with intent to murder an eighth victim.

The victims’ ages ranged from 81 to 96 years old, and they served in the Army, Navy and Air Force during World War II and the wars in Korea and Vietnam, according to USA Today.

Norma Shaw, the widow of George Shaw, an Air Force veteran, said her husband was “trapped in his own body” when Mays administered him a deadly dose of insulin even though he wasn’t diabetic, USA Today reported.

U.S. District Judge Thomas S. Kleeh ordered Mays to pay more than $172,000 in restitution to a group made up of some family members, the VA and a handful of insurance companies, according to WTOV 9. 

According to USA Today, Mays is not eligible for probation for the seven life sentences.

Kleeh, during a hearing on Tuesday, said Mays was “the worst kind,” adding, “You are the monster that no one sees coming.”