On May 2, Attorney General Michelle Henry stated in a news release that former nurse Heather Presdee was sentenced to three life sentences in a row for murdering three patients. She also faces 380 to 760 years of consecutive incarceration for attempting to kill another 19 patients in her care, all without possibility of parole.

“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,” Attorney General Henry said. 

Presdee began these murders and murder attempts in 2020 and ended in 2023 when the Office of Attorney General filed charges for homicide and attempted murder. She had administered lethal doses of insulin to her patients during short-staffed night shifts working the medicine cart to make sure any medical emergencies prompted by her actions wouldn’t warrant immediate hospitalization. 

“Presdee often took steps to ensure her victims would expire prior to shift change so that they wouldn’t be sent to the hospital where her scheme would be discovered through medical testing such as C-peptide tests,” the criminal complaint stated.

Her murders took place in the five facilities she worked at during the three-year span, including Concordia at Rebecca Residence, Belair Healthcare and Rehabilitation, Quality Life Services Chicora, Premier Armstrong Rehabilitation and Nursing Center and Sunnyview Rehabilitation and Nursing Center. 

Relatives of the victims were given an opportunity to speak during Presdee’s sentencing hearing. Many of the speakers demanded Presdee look them in the eye as they spoke, which she did not do.

“We’re angry and hurt that she disguised herself as a caring nurse,” Elizabeth Simons Ozella, daughter of victim Irene Simons, said. “She took someone from this earth that she had no right to take, and she played God when she didn’t have that right.”

Victim Nicholas Cymbol’s sister Melinda Brown labeled Presdee as “pure evil” and said that justice will be served only when “she meets her maker.”

Though Presdee refused to make eye contact with the victims’ speakers, she did repeatedly apologize to the court for her actions, repeating “I’m sorry for what I’ve done” and “I’m very sorry.”

“There was a tear in her eyes, and some folks could see up in the jury box from the press that I handed her a handkerchief to wipe her tears away,” Phil DiLucente, Presdee’s defense attorney, said. “So, at the end of the day, we’re all human, and this is a very, very tragic — a tragic case.”