Heather Irene Pressdee (born August 28, 1982) is an American nurse and convicted serial killer. She is serving life imprisonment, having been convicted of murdering three patients by lethal injection, and is connected to the deaths of 17 in total, which took place in Western Pennsylvania.
Pressdee had intentionally administered lethal doses of insulin to nursing patients throughout five nursing homes in Pennsylvania. The first two victims she was charged with murdering were 55-year-old James Bartoe and 83-year-old Joseph Campbell, both of whom had died on December 4 and 25, 2022, respectively.[2] Her third victim was 43-year-old Nicholas Cymbol, who died on May 1, 2023.[3]
Pressdee claimed she believed she was ending the suffering of a lot of people by doing what she did.[4]
Arrest and trial
Pressdee was arrested in May 2023. She had been charged in relation to three murders and 19 attempts to commit murder.[5] In total, she is connected to the deaths of 17 patients.[6][7] In order to avoid the death penalty, Pressdee pleaded guilty on all counts.[1] The murders in which she ultimately pleaded guilty to were of James Bartoe, 55, Gerald Shrum, 90 and Nicholas Cymbol, 43.[8] On May 2, 2024, she was sentenced to three consecutive terms of life imprisonment, as well as 380 to 760 additional years.[5] She is currently incarcerated at SCI Muncy.[9]