Born in United States · Nationality American — Crime / mafias / terrorism / criminal cases
Documented profile covering 9 controversies, including “Death in prison following assault by fellow inmate” and “Thirty-seven murders ultimately judicially established; much higher personal claims”.
Profile No. 2463 · Updated on 13 October 2026
§ Legal statuses reflect the documented sources as of the date shown; they replace neither court decisions nor the presumption of innocence. Counts are not a rating. Methodology
28–30 March 2017
Harvey was found seriously injured in his cell at Toledo Correctional Institution and died two days later, aged 64. Authorities suspected that another inmate was responsible.
Last verified: 15 September 2026
Case · 5 documented stages
1987–années 1990
In total, Harvey pleaded guilty to thirty-seven murders. However, he claimed on various occasions to have killed more than fifty people, with figures varying between interviews and interlocutors.
Last verified: 15 September 2026
années 1970–1987
After Kentucky, Harvey worked at the Cincinnati Veterans Administration Medical Center and later at Drake Memorial Hospital, among other facilities. He admitted a long series of patient murders using cyanide, arsenic, suffocation, the disconnection of medical equipment and other methods.
Last verified: 15 September 2026
March 1987
The death of John Powell, a patient at Drake Memorial Hospital, triggered the decisive investigation when an autopsy revealed a lethal quantity of cyanide. Harvey subsequently admitted introducing the poison into the patient's feeding tube.
Last verified: 15 September 2026
18 August 1987
Harvey pleaded guilty in Ohio to twenty-four murders, four attempted aggravated murders and one felonious assault. He secured the removal of the death penalty and received multiple life sentences, with a very long period before any theoretical possibility of release.
Last verified: 15 September 2026
années 1980
Harvey did not target patients exclusively. The Ohio proceedings included attempted poisonings of acquaintances or relatives and a serious assault on his partner, to whom he administered arsenic to cause pain and illness.
Last verified: 15 September 2026
June–August 1987
Following the initial arrest, Drake employees told a local television station that Harvey had frequently been present at unusual deaths and that concerns had already circulated internally. The report led to a much wider investigation and the exhumation of bodies.
Last verified: 15 September 2026
Case · 2 documented stages
2 November 1987
In Kentucky, Harvey pleaded guilty to eight murders and one manslaughter involving nine Marymount Hospital patients. He received life sentences plus twenty years, to run concurrently with his Ohio sentences.
Last verified: 15 September 2026
1970–1971
As a young hospital orderly at Marymount Hospital in London, Kentucky, Harvey stated that he had begun killing patients as early as 1970. He later claimed to have killed thirteen people at the hospital; nine deaths ultimately formed the basis of guilty pleas.
Last verified: 15 September 2026
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