GERMANY - In November 2025, a nurse in Germany was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of murdering 10 patients and attempting to kill another 27.
Now, two more inquiries have been opened by prosecutors in regions where the nurse previously worked, with one prosecutor planning to exhume 60 bodies and have new autopsies performed after noticing a "correspondingly high number of suspicious cases," PEOPLE reported.
The 10 deaths all occurred between December 2023 and May 2024 at the Rhein-Maas hospital in Wüselen, a town located 50 miles west of Bonn near the country's border with the Netherlands.
The chief public prosecutor in the nearby city of Aaachen, Katja Schlenkermann-Pitts, is now claiming that there may be additional victims — as many as 100 more. In her interview with BBC, the prosecutor said that "a correspondingly high number of suspicious cases" were currently being examined and a number of bodies exhumed so that autopsies could be performed.
Prosecutors alleged during the trial that the nurse had killed his victims by administering large doses of sedatives and painkillers while working the night shift, often targeting patients who were seriously ill.
The nurse had worked at the hospital since 2020, and according to the BBC, the cases which are being reexamined are largely from before that period. Nearly 60 bodies are set to be exhumed as part of this new inquiry and while that process is underway authorities are still awaiting autopsy reports for others.
A separate inquiry was also launched by prosecutors in Cologne, where the nurse had also previously worked. It is unclear whether prosecutors plan to file additional charges against the man, who continues to maintain his innocence.
Prosecutors said the drugs were sometimes given repeatedly and that the defendant was aware of the potentially fatal consequences. Judges concluded that the actions were driven by personal unease and a desire to impose order during night shifts.
He has claimed that he did not realize he was administering fatal doses of medication to his patients — a claim that was rejected by hospital administrators, police, prosecutors, and a jury of his peers.
The case is eerily similar to that of former nurse Niels Högel, who was handed a life sentence in 2019 after he was convicted of murdering 85 patients at two hospitals in northern Germany.
Now, two more inquiries have been opened by prosecutors in regions where the nurse previously worked, with one prosecutor planning to exhume 60 bodies and have new autopsies performed after noticing a "correspondingly high number of suspicious cases," PEOPLE reported.
The 10 deaths all occurred between December 2023 and May 2024 at the Rhein-Maas hospital in Wüselen, a town located 50 miles west of Bonn near the country's border with the Netherlands.
The chief public prosecutor in the nearby city of Aaachen, Katja Schlenkermann-Pitts, is now claiming that there may be additional victims — as many as 100 more. In her interview with BBC, the prosecutor said that "a correspondingly high number of suspicious cases" were currently being examined and a number of bodies exhumed so that autopsies could be performed.
Prosecutors alleged during the trial that the nurse had killed his victims by administering large doses of sedatives and painkillers while working the night shift, often targeting patients who were seriously ill.
The nurse had worked at the hospital since 2020, and according to the BBC, the cases which are being reexamined are largely from before that period. Nearly 60 bodies are set to be exhumed as part of this new inquiry and while that process is underway authorities are still awaiting autopsy reports for others.
A separate inquiry was also launched by prosecutors in Cologne, where the nurse had also previously worked. It is unclear whether prosecutors plan to file additional charges against the man, who continues to maintain his innocence.
Prosecutors said the drugs were sometimes given repeatedly and that the defendant was aware of the potentially fatal consequences. Judges concluded that the actions were driven by personal unease and a desire to impose order during night shifts.
He has claimed that he did not realize he was administering fatal doses of medication to his patients — a claim that was rejected by hospital administrators, police, prosecutors, and a jury of his peers.
The case is eerily similar to that of former nurse Niels Högel, who was handed a life sentence in 2019 after he was convicted of murdering 85 patients at two hospitals in northern Germany.
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