Donald Harvey

For other people with the same name, see Don Harvey.

Donald Harvey
Mug shot of Donald Harvey.
Background information
Birth name	Donald Harvey
Born	April 15, 1952 (1952-04-15) (age 59) Booneville, Kentucky, U.S.
Killings
Number of victims:	37–57; 87 claimed
Country	USA
State(s)	Kentucky, Ohio

Donald Harvey (born in Booneville, Kentucky, April 15, 1952) is an American serial killer who claims to have murdered 87 people. The official estimates of the number of people he murdered range anywhere from at least 37 to 57 deaths. Donald Harvey received some type of sadistic pleasure from killing his patients, although he claims he started out killing to “ease the pain” of patients.^[1] As he progressed in his murders, he began to enjoy it more and more and became a self-professed "Angel of Death". Harvey is currently serving three consecutive life sentences at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, Ohio. His inmate number is A-199449.

History

Dating as far back as the age of eighteen, Harvey had worked in and around the medical profession, beginning his career as an orderly at the Marymount Hospital in London, Kentucky. He later confessed that during the ten month period he worked at this hospital, he killed at least a dozen patients. Harvey is insistent that he killed purely out of a sense of empathy for the sufferings of those who were terminally ill. However, he has also admitted that many of the killings he committed were due to anger at the victim.^[2]

Harvey is notable for having kept his crimes from coming to light for over 17 years. The true extent of his crimes may never be known, since so many were undetected for so long. Harvey is also notable for having used numerous methods to kill, such as arsenic; cyanide; insulin; suffocation; miscellaneous poisons; morphine; turning off ventilators; administration of fluid tainted with hepatitis B and/or HIV (which resulted in a hepatitis infection, but no HIV infection, and illness rather than death); insertion of a coat hanger into a catheter, causing an abdominal puncture and subsequent peritonitis. Cyanide and arsenic were his favorite methods, with Harvey administering them via food, injection, or IV.

The majority of Harvey's crimes took place at the Marymount Hospital in London, Kentucky, the Cincinnati V.A. Medical Hospital, and Cincinnati's Drake Memorial Hospital. While working there, Harvey acquired the nickname "The Angel of Death", as it was noted that he was present around a number of patients who later died.

References

1. ^ Holmes, Ronald, & Holmes, Stephen. (2009). Serial murder. Sage Publications, Inc.
2. ^ Interview on Mindhunter, MSNBC, November 30, 2008

External links

• Donald Harvey at The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction
• Donald Harvey at CrimeLibrary.com

Persondata
Name	Harvey, Donald
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	April 15, 1952
Place of birth	Butler County, Ohio, U.S.
Date of death
Place of death