'Angel of Death' murderer who killed up to 87 people in the 1970s and '80s dies two days after being beaten 'by a fellow inmate' in his Ohio prison cell
- Serial killer Donald Harvey, 64, died Thursday, two days after he was attacked in his prison cell at the Toledo Correctional Institution, in Toledo, Ohio
- Prison spokeswoman says Harvey was found by state troopers badly beaten
- He became known as 'Angel of Death' after pleading guilty to 37 murders in 1987
- He had worked as a nurse's aide at hospitals in Cincinnati and London, Kentucky, and claimed he was trying to end his patients' suffering
Serial killer Donald Harvey died Thursday, two days after he was attacked in his cell
The 'Angel of Death' serial killer, who admitted to killing three dozen hospital patients in Ohio and Kentucky during the 1970s and '80s, has died after being attacked in his prison cell.
A prisons spokeswoman says 64-year-old Donald Harvey died Thursday at 9.08am, two days after state troopers say he was found beaten in his cell at the state's prison in Toledo.
The assault happened around 2.20pm on Tuesday, and Lt. Robert Sellers told the Toledo Blade that they have a suspect, but did not release anymore information.
Harvey became known as the 'Angel of Death' after pleading guilty in 1987 to 37 murders.
Harvey pleaded guilty to murdering 37 people in 1987, but later said that he had killed as many as 50 more.
He committed the murders while working as a hospital aide, using a variety of methods, including turning off ventilators, giving patients fluid infected with hepatitis B, and suffocation.
A prisons spokeswoman says the 64-year-old was found beaten at the state's prison in Toledo. He is pictured above in 1987 standing before a judge during sentencing in Cincinnati
Harvey became known as the 'Angel of Death' after pleading guilty in 1987 to 37 murders. He is pictured above in 1987 being led back to jail after pleading guilty to eight murder charges and one voluntary manslaughter charge
But many of the killings involved his two favorite poisons, arsenic and cyanide, which he would administer in food, using injections, or through an IV.
Harvey had suffered sexual abuse at the hands of his uncle and a neighbor between the ages of four and 20, and was raped by his male roommate in 1970, when he was 18.
He also became fascinated by witchcraft and neo-Nazi groups as he grew older.
His first kill came on May 30, 1970 when he killed 88-year-old Logan Evans with a sheet of plastic and a pillow, and listened to his heart with a stethoscope as he died.
The following day he accidentally killed James Tyree, 69, when he used the wrong size catheter on him.
His third victim, claimed on June 22, was also the first of a series of 'mercy killings'. He said Elizabeth Wyatt, 42, had been praying to die so he turned down her oxygen supply until she died.
His victims were claimed while he was at Marymount Hospital in London, Kentucky; the Cincinnati VA Medical Hospital; and Cincinnati's Drake Memorial Hospital.
But his murders weren't restricted to hospitals, a Radford University psychology report said.
Harvey later claimed to have killed 18 more patients. Pictured above is the exterior of the Toledo Correctional Institution, in Toledo, Ohio where he was being held on multiple life sentences
When he suspected his lover, Carl Hoeweler, had been cheating on him, he dosed him with arsenic so he would be too ill to leave their apartment.
Hoeweler didn't die, but his father and brother-in-law were less lucky.
Harvey poisoned Carl Hoeweler, 82, with arsenic, while brother-in-law Howard Vetter died after Harvey accidentally served him wood alcohol instead of vodka; both died in 1983.
Between 1983 and 1985, Harvey also killed neighbors Helen Metzger, 63, and Edward Wilson, 32, with arsenic because he felt they threatened his relationship with Hoeweler.
After being caught, he agreed to a plea deal that allowed him to avoid the death penalty and was serving 15 life sentences.
He would have been eligible for parole in 2043 at 91 years old.
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