Snapped is investigating the heinous crimes of serial killer Reta Mays, a nurse at a veterans hospital in Clarksburg, West Virginia, who murdered seven of her patients by injecting them with insulin.
Between July 2017 and June 2018, Mays was responsible for the murders of Army veterans Robert Lee Kozul Sr., 89, Archie Edgell, 84, Felix Kirk McDermott, 82, and William Holloway, 96; Navy veteran Robert Edge Sr., 82; Air Force veteran George Nelson Shaw Sr., 81; and Army and Air Force veteran Raymond Golden, 88.
She was also convicted of attempting to murder Navy veteran 92-year-old Russell Posey. He died two weeks after Mays injected him with insulin, and the coroner was unable to determine if it was the insulin that caused his death.
The victims were veterans of World War II, Korea, and Vietnam.
Mays worked nights at the Louis A Johnson Veterans Medical Center. She was not authorized to administer medicine but would often sit unsupervised with her victims.
She once, chillingly, told her colleagues as they tried to save one of her victims, “Something always happens when I’m in the room, and I don’t know why.”
The killer tried to claim that she was providing mercy killings for her victims. And her defense team explained her actions by pointing to her mental health issues stemming from post-traumatic syndrome and sexual abuse.
Watch the Latest on our YouTube ChannelNurse Reta Mays was a cold-blooded killer of 7 veterans
However, the prosecution argued that the men had suffered greatly from the insulin injections and that Mays had shown “extraordinary callousness” and acted coldly and methodically.
Mays had also done research into female serial killers, especially nurses, and was allegedly comparing her tally to other killers.
In July 2020, Mays pleaded guilty to seven counts of second-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.
At the sentencing, US District Judge Thomas Kleeh told Mays she was a monster of the “worst kind. You are the monster no one sees coming.” Kleeh sentenced her to seven life sentences plus 20 years for the attempted murder of Russell Posey.
Serial killer Reta Mays showed some remorse and apologized to victims’ families
Mays was tearful at the sentencing and apologized for her actions. She told the court, “I can only say that I’m sorry for the pain that I caused the families and my family.”
The FBI investigated the case, and Mays will be serving her time in federal prison. After the sentencing, FBI Agent Carlton Peeples said in a statement, “It is beyond disturbing that someone would seek out the opportunity to work as a medical professional to aid the sick, and then twist their duty and willingly end the life of their patients. I hope today’s sentence brings peace and closure to the families of these veterans.”
Snapped airs Sundays at 6/5c on Oxygen.