1987: Donald Harvey Sentenced to Triple Life Terms for Poisoning 24 Patients

Donald Harvey, an Ohio hospital orderly who described himself as an 'angel of death', was sentenced to triple life terms after pleading guilty to poisoning 24 patients. Harvey claimed to have begun killing in 1970 to ease the suffering of the terminally ill, smothering his first victim, 88-year-old Logan Evans, with a pillow at Marymount Hospital in London, Kentucky. His methods expanded to include arsenic, cyanide, morphine, insulin, and suffocation, deployed across multiple hospitals over 17 years.

Harvey ultimately claimed 87 murders, with 37 confirmed victims. To avoid execution, he pleaded guilty and received 28 life sentences in total. He died in custody at Toledo Correctional Institution on March 30, 2017, one of the most prolific hospital killers in American history.

Male nurse
Male nurse

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2005: BTK Killer Dennis Rader Sentenced to 175 Years for Ten Murders

Dennis Rader, a church council president and compliance officer from Wichita, Kansas, was sentenced to ten consecutive life terms totalling 175 years in prison for a killing spree that began in 1974 and claimed ten lives over three decades. Methodical and media-savvy, he bound, tortured, and killed his victims, earning the acronym BTK. He stalked neighbours, executed families, and kept trophies, all while living an unremarkable suburban life.

Rader had evaded capture for thirty years before his own need for notoriety led to his undoing. In 2004 he resumed contact with police and local media after a long silence. A floppy disk he sent to a television station was traced back to his church computer, and he was arrested in February 2005. He pleaded guilty to all ten murders in June 2005 and was sentenced in August of that year, using his final court appearance to describe each killing in cold, methodical detail.

Forensics expert examining floppy disk with magnifying glass
Forensics expert examining floppy disk with magnifying glass

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1959: The Birth of the Man Who Would Become David Koresh

Vernon Howell was born on this day in 1959, destined to become one of the most notorious cult leaders in American history. The Branch Davidians, the sect he would eventually command, were themselves an offshoot of the Davidians, a reform movement within the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Howell later renamed himself David Koresh, drawing on biblical symbolism to cement his claim as a messianic figure. His leadership of the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas would end in a 51-day federal siege in 1993, a catastrophic fire, and the deaths of 76 of his followers.

Waco, Texas - November 11, 2024: The gate at the entrance to the Branch Davidian Memorial site compound | ID 344668604 © Mkopka | Dreamstime.com
ID 344668604 © Mkopka | Dreamstime.com

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1960: Francis Gary Powers Pleads Guilty at Moscow Spy Trial

On 17 August 1960, American pilot Francis Gary Powers stood trial in Moscow after his U-2 reconnaissance aircraft was shot down over Soviet airspace on 1 May 1960. Powers, flying a CIA surveillance mission, had been captured alive when his high-altitude spy plane was struck by a Soviet surface-to-air missile near Sverdlovsk.

Powers pleaded guilty to espionage charges before a Soviet military tribunal, in a trial that became a Cold War spectacle broadcast to the world. He was sentenced to ten years, serving nearly two before being exchanged for Soviet spy Rudolf Abel at the Glienicke Bridge in Berlin in February 1962.

Spy aerial view
Spy aerial view

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On This Day in True Crime History

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