Medical Murders

Over the ages, arsenic has had many lives — beauty fad, household product, medical prescription… and weapon of choice wielded by killers everywhere from Alabama to ancient Rome. Brine your turkey, knead your dough, and listen to our Thanksgiving Special on the regime-changing, assassination-aiding King of Poisons. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

By 1848, Dr. J. Marion Sims had gone from just experimenting on enslaved women, to becoming an enslaver himself. His quest for fame while finding a cure for vesico-vaginal fistulas meant performing inhumane surgeries on the women he held captive. Women whose plight would remain unknown for over a century. Women who would ultimately take down Sims’ legacy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After a failed start to his medical career, Dr. J. Marion Sims settled in Alabama to continue his training. There he found success and started his own practice — specializing in the treatment of enslaved women and their children. But as Sims’ business grew, so did his ego. His desire to experiment on patients meant many of them didn’t make it out of his operating room alive. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the wild frontier days of turn-of-the-century South Africa, women were expected to settle down young and produce a legion of children. Daisy de Melker dared to pursue a nursing career first. When she finally did find herself in the constraints of a marriage, she just as quickly set herself free. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jack the Ripper’s crimes have gone unsolved for nearly 150 years, stirring up controversy even today. While many possible theories have been presented, new technologies bring unexpected leads — including a suspect with no medical training at all. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

During the autumn of 1888, an infamous serial killer terrorized civilians across London, brutally slaying at least five women. While many call him “Jack the Ripper,” little else is known of his identity. However, his murders may offer one major clue about who he may have been: a doctor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After murdering his pharmacist wife, French con artist Jean-Claude Romand began a baffling murder spree. By the end of his crimes in 1993, even the liar himself couldn’t be sure what was true. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For years, everyone believed Jean-Claude Romand was a prestigious international doctor, not an unemployed con man living off stolen money. But once someone asked for their money back, people ended up paying... with their lives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Fresh out of school, Ben Geen became an emergency nurse at a hospital in Oxfordshire, England. But his growing arrogance spiraled into a quest to prove himself. One by one, Ben’s patients fell victim to unexplained respiratory attacks while in his care. It would take months for his colleagues to realize: it was no coincidence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Prestige, profit, and private practice were the three things that Dr. Anthony Pignataro wanted most. When he couldn't obtain it on his own merit, he forged documents to help achieve his dreams. But not even a patient's death or a jail sentence was enough to reform this con man. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

He wanted a life of opulence and success as a doctor, but failed his way through three different residency programs. So Anthony Pignataro did the next best thing. He took on plastic surgery as an unqualified surgeon... and the results would be deadly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

She was a first-generation Colombian immigrant who paid her own way through dental school. After graduation, she married a handsome orthodontist from a good Christian family. Clara Harris thought she had everything. But when she discovered her husband was having an affair, she knew somebody would pay the price. And she didn't care who it was. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After the death of his son Sean, Dr. John Dale Cavaness was forced to go head-to-head with detectives. It quickly became apparent that even though he was a beloved member of the community, it didn't mean he could get away with murder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dr. John Dale Cavaness was a godsend for patients strapped for cash in Eldorado, Illinois. But fueled by alcohol, unbridled rage, and mountains of debt, he was a cruel abusive father, especially to his son Mark, who died mysteriously in 1977. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When Scottish travel agent Colin Norris took up a career as a nursing student, he seemed to think it would give him authority and power. What he found instead was burnout and resentment. Rather than find a healthy outlet, Collin weaponized insulin — lethally injecting his elderly patients. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When May Greineder dies in a public park, it looks like the work of a serial killer. But intrepid detectives believe May’s allergist husband may be behind the crime. With the family taking sides, law enforcement races to determine whether the doctor really did murder his wife. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dr. Dirk Greineder had everything. An Ivy League education. A thriving career as an allergist. And a beautiful family. But beneath this facade, he hid dark secrets. Secrets that wouldn't come to light until his wife’s murder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

During a six week span in the summer of 1975, dozens of patients at the Ann Arbor VA Hospital suddenly stopped breathing. Two Filipina nurses went on trial for five counts of murder, ten counts of poisoning, and one count of conspiracy. The only problem was that they didn't do it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When Vickie Dawn Jackson was still a teenager, she looked up to Florence Nightingale and even modeled her career after the pioneering nurse. But as problems at home mounted, Vickie began taking her frustrations out on her patients. In two months, she killed at least ten people at a Texas hospital. Parcasters, we have exciting news! Our first book hits bookshelves July 12th. Don’t miss this chilling summer read that takes you deep into the darkest sides of human nature. Learn more at www.parcast.com/cults! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Enabled by his wife, Tommie, Dr. John Kappler continued to hide his mental illness instead of getting the help he needed. Then one day in April 1990, he altered the lives of three people forever. Countdown to the CULTS book release! Parcast’s first book hits shelves July 12th. It’s an unflinching exploration of shame, secrecy, power, exploitation, and destruction. Learn more at www.parcast.com/cults! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

He had a difficult childhood filled with death and traumas. But instead of seeking treatment for his grief, Dr. John Kappler suffered silently, never showing the pain he truly felt. His wife, Tommie, told him he was sick. But the voices in his head told him otherwise. Parcasters, we have exciting news! Our first book hits bookshelves July 12th. Don’t miss this chilling summer read that takes you deep into the darkest sides of human nature. Learn more and grab your copy at www.parcast.com/cults! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

By the end of 1914 dozens of residents at the Archer Home had died suddenly and suspiciously. It would take local reporters, community members, and police working together to bring “Sister Amy” down, and end the wickedness of her “Murder Factory” once and for all. Parcasters, we have exciting news! Our first book hits bookshelves July 12th. Don’t miss this chilling summer read that takes you deep into the darkest sides of human nature. Learn more and grab your copy at www.parcast.com/cults! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Just two years after the Archers opened their elder care facility in Windsor, Connecticut, rumors began spreading around town that “Sister Amy” was abusive and cruel. The reality would prove even worse: she was a serial killer who preyed on the vulnerable in order to turn a profit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Forced out of Callan Park, Harry Bailey began practicing at a private hospital. Without much oversight, he experimented with risky treatments involving barbiturate cocktails, electric shocks, and “holidays” for his patients’ brains. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the 1950s, Australia’s rising star in psychiatry was the young, charismatic Harry Bailey. He would go on to champion the deeply controversial and dangerous Deep Sleep Therapy, where patients were put into drug-induced comas for days and weeks. Some never woke up. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

By 1991, a court had blocked Dr. Kevorkian from helping patients end their lives. So he started meeting them in secret. Nearly a decade later, he took it a step further. Assisting suicides led to the more radical — and more legally dubious — medical euthanasia. The doctor directly killed a patient. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the 1980s and ‘90s, Dr. Jack Kevorkian pushed the ethical limits of healthcare with his controversial ideas around death and suffering. What he believed in most was a patient’s right to die with the help of a physician. And for a decade, he assisted in the deaths of over 130 terminally ill patients. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In New York, a wealthy medical student prescribed his young wife morphine to help with her chronic headaches. Only, the pills contained a lethal dose. When 19-year-old Helen Potts died, her husband’s secrets and scandals were finally exposed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A South African doctor living in New Zealand meticulously poisoned his wife until she died. Colin Bouwer had money, freedom, and several mistresses. So why did he resort to murder? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As the days count down to Hale-Bopp’s arrival, 39 people prepare for ascension. They’d abandoned their old lives, embraced a new ideology, weathered the death of a beloved leader… and finally, made themselves worthy of the Next Level. Now, the comet was coming. And with it, the spaceship that would ferry them onward. In March of 1997, they left everything behind. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The group’s belief system had never been infallible. There had been adjustments along the way; revisions meant to keep the wheels turning whenever prophecies didn’t manifest. But then, in 1985, Bonnie Lu Nettles died. And her passing threw Heaven’s Gate’s whole world askew. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

1976 was a turning point for Heaven’s Gate. The spaceship that was promised had not arrived. Members were defecting. Nettles and Applewhite gathered their truest believers in Wyoming and made it clear: Things were going to be different from here on out. Much different. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When Bonnie Lu Nettles and Marshall Applewhite meet in Houston in 1972, it’s not for the first time — at least, not according to their birth charts. They’ve known each other in a past life. And in this lifetime, they have a joint mission. They set out, amid a wave of social and political upheaval, to find it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Apprehending Mary Mallon was not a one-time affair. After she was forced to quarantine, she was allowed to reenter society under one condition: she would never cook for anyone again. But “Typhoid Mary” refused to play by anyone’s rules. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In what became one of history’s most infamous accounts of contagion, a domestic cook spread typhoid to dozens of people in New York through her trademark dessert: homemade peach ice cream. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Scotland Yard built its case against Dr. John Bodkin Adams, who was believed to have killed over a hundred of his elderly patients between 1935 and 1956. The impending trial would lead to notable changes in the medical and legal systems. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

He rose to prominence in the 1930s treating the wealthy as a General Practitioner in the town of Eastbourne, England. But Dr. John Bodkin Adams didn't want to just treat the wealthy. He wanted to be IN with them. And he would do it by any means necessary. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

28-year-old Hans Peterson had spent four long years nursing rage against Dr. David Cornbleet, the dermatologist who prescribed a drug that's side effects turned Peterson's life upside down. And in October 2006, Peterson rented a car and drove it to Chicago for a final confrontation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A hospital murder unfolded at the intersection of grief and illness in January 2015. Stephen Pasceri, mourning the death of his mother, met with one of America’s top heart surgeons, Dr. Michael Davidson — not to seek treatment, but revenge. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In June 1992, Dr. John Kemink was fatally shot by a former patient, retired car salesman Chester Leo Posby. Posby blamed the doctor for an injury that had upended his entire life. But he also believed that Dr. Kemink was conspiring to kill him. In Posby’s delusion, the only way to save his own life was to take the doctor’s. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In January of 2013, Dr. Ron Gilbert was shot and killed in his office by a new patient who said his name was Allen Gold. Only he wasn't a new patient and his name was actually Stanwood Elkus. It had been 20 years since Dr. Gilbert originally diagnosed him, and Elkus was back for revenge. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the aftermath of Marilyn Sheppard’s murder, media speculation drove the narrative against her husband Sam. He was convicted and imprisoned for a decade before getting a second chance at freedom. Sam Sheppard finally had a new lease on life — but his reinvention would come at a cost. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dr. Sam Sheppard and his wife Marilyn fell asleep at home watching a movie with friends on the evening of July 3rd, 1954. Early the next morning, Sam awoke to a horrific scene. Marilyn and her unborn baby were dead. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As we look ahead to the new year, we want to take one last chance to say thank you for the year that was — and present our "Best of 2021"! Please enjoy this episode from our fan-favorite podcast, Solved Murders. In August 1969, actress Sharon Tate was living the Hollywood dream. Until it turned into the bloodiest kind of Hollywood nightmare. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For the better part of two decades, Charles Cullen homed in on a pattern that allowed him to continue his killing spree nearly uninterrupted. But in 2003, a nurse friend of his became an informant — piecing together exactly how he was able to outsmart hospital administrators and detectives alike. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Between 1987 and 2003, Charles Cullen worked at ten different medical centers across New Jersey and Pennsylvania. In that time, some suspect the lethal nurse claimed over 300 lives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After poisoning his wife and his mistress’s husband in 1991, Colin Howell tried and failed to outrun his guilt. Finally, years later, he did as his religion taught him to do: he confessed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Throughout his life, Colin Howell did everything he could to appear godly and upright. But in the early ‘90s, the staunchly religious dentist committed two murders in Northern Ireland — and got away with it for nearly two decades. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It takes a certain type of evil to poison a person, but a far greater kind to do it repeatedly, and to one's own wife nonetheless. It wasn't that Dr. Pritchard loathed the woman he married. She simply stood in the way of the inheritance he was after… and the maid he'd taken as his consort. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In May 1863, a young woman's charred remains were found resting in the surgical chair of a surgeon's home office. Whispers flew about town, claiming that Dr. William Pritchard had torched his own practice. As it happened, unsavory deeds were far from beneath Dr. William Pritchard, a man who married and meddled all for the sake of a shiny reputation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices