Police believe nurse Kristen Gilbert may have committed up to 60 murders at a hospital in Massachusetts. Some say an affair drove Gilbert to murder while others think her narcissism caused the death of these innocent patients. -Prescription for Death, Snapped Notorious, Oxygen (S23, E17)

Dates: March 1989-February 1996
Date of Arrest: July 11, 1996
Offender: Kristen Gilbert, 32, Department of Veterans Affairs Nurse
Location: Department of Veterans Affairs, Northampton, Massachusetts
Homicide Victims: Stanley Jagodowski, 66, Army veteran (August 21, 1995); Henry Hudon, 35, Air Force veteran (December 8, 1995); Kenneth Cutting, 41, Army veteran (February 2, 1996); Edward Skwira, 69, WWII Army veteran (February 15, 1996)
Circumstances: The number of deaths increased dramatically at the Northampton VA Medical Center in 1995, a co-worker was surprised by all the codes at the hospital, when a patient codes, it means the heart stopped, some can survive codes but the patients at the VA died, the deaths didn’t make sense, February 29, 1996, the police received a call from the VA Center, they reported that the deaths doubled at the medical center, nurses came forward with concerns that one of their co-workers was killing patients and they thought they were dealing with a serial killer, one common denominator was the presence of Kristen Gilbert, KG came from ordinary family, she was intelligent, a great student, she had a bubbly personality, was sophisticated and had a lot of friends, she was addicted to getting attention, she needed more and more, she had a constant need to be the center of things, she had narcissistic personality disorder, she manipulated others to get her way, she threatened to kill herself if she didn’t get the attention she wanted from boyfriends, she also had Borderline Personality Disorder, her obsession was thrill and attention, she graduated from nursing school in 1988 and was hired at the VA Medical Center in Northampton the following year, she got great reviews from her bosses, she went undetected because she volunteered for extra work, she wore a mask of normality but underneath she was an evil person, Kristen met her future husband in New Hampshire, they were married and had two children, she had a volatile relationship with her husband, chased him around with a knife, but her husband wanted to hold the marriage together for the children, then Kristen had an affair with a security guard at the VA and as a result Kristen’s marriage ended, then patients started coding and the doctors were not able to save them, one of them was Stanley Jagodowski, the codes and death continued, a second suspicious death occurred, a young veteran was admitted for the flu, he coded three times and his heart gave out the third time, Kenneth Cutting was admitted for sepsis, later that night Kenneth coded and died of cardiac arrest, it appeared he died for no apparent reason, authorities learned KG injected patients with epinephrine to initiate cardiac arrest, they would code and then she was one of the people who rushed to the scene to deal with the crisis, as a result she got a lot of attention from her security guard boyfriend, they worked together to save the patients lives, she put patients into crisis to get attention from the security guard, she developed a callous attitude about the patients, authorities learned her boyfriend wasn’t involved, he was an innocent bystander, the nurses thought she had bad luck because patients died when she was around, she was known as the Angel of Death, Edward Skwira was the fourth suspicious death, he was admitted for alcoholism, that night he died from cardiac arrest and this should not have happened, her fellow nurses became suspicious, the nurses started looking for evidence and they found used bottles of epinephrine, record keeping allowed her to dip into the epinephrine supply with no detection, February 29, 1996, the cops got a call from the VA Medical Center, the nurses believed Kristen was killing patients, death followed Kristen from shift to shift to shift, the security guard ended the relationship when he began to suspect Kristen too, she took the break up badly and began panicking, when backed in a corner, her type turns to the extreme, authorities put her under surveillance, in September 1996, the VA received a bomb threat and the patients were evacuated, it turned out to be a bogus bomb threat, the police were watching Kristen and the same phone she used was traced to the VA bomb threat, after the bomb threat, she went home and the police got a warrant, the police found the jacket she had on when she placed the phone calls, she had operating directions on how to change your voice in her pocket, they also found a talk boy which changes the sound of your voice, this was the instrument most likely used to change her voice on the bomb threat call, they found medical books, computer records, journals, a page dog eared at epinephrine, but the police needed something more concrete to make their case, meanwhile she was held accountable for the bomb threat and received a 15 month sentence, when serving the sentence, there was a suicide attempt, she was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, they use whatever they need to keep drawing attention to themselves, they are always the victim to keep the focus on themselves, while she was in jail, the police continued the investigation, they needed to prove what she did so they could win at trial, authorities exhumed some of the patients who died under Kristen’s care to find evidence of epinephrine in their system, the families were cooperative and thankful the police were investigating, the autopsies found much higher amounts of epinephrine than should be there, the patient’s hearts were good, and the police finally had their proof, the prosecution moved forward with homicide charges, some claimed she did it for love, her desire to get the attention of her boyfriend, she was tried in a federal capital felony case and was eligible for the death penalty, Kristen was cold during the entire trial, Kristen is a classic female serial killer, she has what they call intrinsic locus, it’s all about her, she is the number one priority in her own life and she’s self absorbed, she played the hero so she could save the day all in an effort to garner attention, if people have to die, its okay with her, she is a master of deceit, she is one of the most dangerous and evil
Disposition: In 2001, Kristen Gilbert was found guilty of four counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder; the jury sentenced KG to life in prison as opposed to the death penalty; law enforcement officials believe she could be responsible for killing up to 60 patients; Gilbert appealed the decision but dropped it once she realized prosecutors could pursue the death penalty in a new trial

Notable Quotes: “Healthcare serial killers are the most unlikely villains. They prey on vulnerable victims and use medicine as their murder weapons.” -Oxygen

Source: Kristen Gilbert, Snapped Notorious, Oxygen

Deadly Women:

Full Episode: Poison is an ancient weapon, convenient, non-confrontational and secretive. Women are five times more likely to use it than men. The poisoner is a particularly sinister killer able to sit back and watch someone die. -Poisonous Women, Deadly Women

Related Links:
Kristen Gilbert – Wikipedia
Kristen Gilbert | Murderpedia
Former nurse charged in 3 veterans’s deaths
Former Nurse on Trial in Patients’ Deaths
Kristen Heather Gilbert | Medical Bag
6 Facts about Female Serial Killer Kristen Gilbert
10 Nurses That Are Serial Killers
Kristen Gilbert – The Angel of Death
Kristen Gilbert – The Angel of Death – Serial Killing Nurse
Worst Female Serial Killers | Documentary | Female Killers
Caregiver or killer? | Boston Globe
She liked to play the star | Boston Globe
Death The Common Denominator
Ex-va Nurse Indicted In 3 Suspected Murders
Trial Begins Today for Nurse Accused of Killing Veterans
Nurse Killed 4 Patients for Thrill, Prosecutor Says
Former Nurse on Trial in Patients’ Deaths
Nurse sentenced to life in VA deaths
Murderous Nurse Escapes Death Penalty
Serial Killer Nurse Kristen Gilbert
When Serial Killers Strike: The Angel of Death on Ward C
Serial Killer Nurse Who Liked ‘Thrill’ of Emergencies Murdered Patients to Impress Boyfriend
Oxygen Media Pulls Curtain Back On Two Famous Serial Killers On Snapped Notorious: Prescription for Death
Judge’s fictional account gives inside view of death penalty trial
Doctors and Nurses Who Kill: Genene Jones, Charles Cullen and More Who Preyed on Their Patients and Others
17 Serial Killer Nurses Who Murdered Their Patients
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United States, Appellant, v. Kristen Gilbert, Defendant, Appellee (2000)
VA Nurse Kristen Gilbert Sentenced to Life in Prison for Killing Four Veterans: Stanley Jagodowski, Henry Hudon, Kenneth Cutting & Edward Skwira (March 26, 2001)
Kristen Gilbert | Poisonous Women | Deadly Women
Kristen Gilbert | Prescription for Death | Snapped Notorious: Kristen Gilbert (S23, E17)
Watch Notorious: Kristen Gilbert | Snapped on the Web