A North Carolina nurse is being accused of killing two patients and attempting to kill a third.
Authorities have charged 47-year-old Johnathan Hayes with the murders of Gwen Crawford, 60, and Vickie Lingerfelt, 61, at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C. Hayes allegedly administered lethal doses of insulin to patients under his care.
Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O’Neill said Hayes is also charged with one count of attempted murder in connection to the administration of a near-fatal insulin dose to another woman in December 2021, the outlet reports.
Hospital officials investigating the situation alerted authorities to the possibility that Hayes might be linked to a death in the hospital. “As soon as we identified a deviation in patient care as part of our established safety protocols, we took immediate action to remove the employee from the patient care environment and terminated his employment,” Denise Potter, a spokesperson for Atrium Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center said in a statement.
The Winston-Salem Police department, through their own investigation, felt that Hayes was responsible for the insulin-related deaths of the two victims. The findings also found that no other nurses were involved in the criminal behavior. DA O’Neil added, “”The totality of the information provided to me led me to only one conclusion: That probable cause existed to support charging what can only be described as a ‘rogue nurse’ with two counts of murder and one count of attempt.