North Carolina District Attorney Jim O'Neil said Tuesday that a former nurse at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center had been charged with two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.
Johnathan Hayes, 47, is accused of killing two patients by injecting them with lethal insulin doses. He is then said to have nearly killed a third patient, who was able to survive, according to theNews Herald.
Pamela Little was given the near-fatal dose on Dec. 1, 2021, but survived, O'Neil said.
Gwen Crawford died on Jan. 8 from one of the lethal doses, O'Neil said at a news conference. It was three days after Hayes was said to have administered the lethal dose.
Vickie Lingerfelt died from a lethal insulin dose on Jan. 27, O'Neil said. That was five days after she was injected on Jan. 22, according to O'Neil.
O'Neil said that he and police detectives met with hospital officials on March 21, and that's when the investigation started.
“We were presented on that day with information by an investigative team that appeared to show that a nurse, Johnathan Hayes, may have administered a lethal dose of insulin causing the death of that patient and perhaps others,” he said.
Investigators believe that Hayes acted alone. Hayes was fired in March after the investigation started. He was then taken into custody on Tuesday.
Police have dedicated a phone line for any possible victims to share information at 336-757-0357.