Donald Harvey

Donald Harvey
Mug shot of Donald Harvey.
Born	(1952-04-15) April 15, 1952 Butler County, Ohio, U.S.
Criminal penalty	Life sentence plus $270,000 in fines
Killings
Victims	37–57; 87 claimed
Span of killings	1970–1987
Country	USA
State(s)	Kentucky, Ohio
Date apprehended	1987

Donald Harvey (born April 15, 1952 in Butler County, Ohio) is an American serial killer who claims to have murdered 87 people. The official estimates of the number of people he murdered range anywhere from at least 37 to 57 deaths. Donald Harvey received some type of sadistic pleasure from killing his patients, although he claims he started out killing to “ease the pain” of patients.^[1] As he progressed in his murders, he began to enjoy it more and more and became a self-professed "Angel of Death". Harvey is currently serving the first of 28 consecutive life sentences at the Allen Correctional Institution in Lima, Ohio. His inmate number is JC0404989.^[2]

Early life

Donald Harvey was born in Butler County, Ohio, in 1952. His friends referred to him as, "That old Plymouth Boy." Shortly after his birth, Harvey's parents relocated to Booneville, Kentucky, a small community nestled away on the Cumberland Plateau—part of the Appalachian Mountains. In an August 14, 1987, interview with Cincinnati Post reporter Randi Yoder Harvey's father, Ken Rischetelli, recalled that his son was brought up in a loving family environment.

"My son has always been a good plymouth boy," he said.

David "T.J." Andrews, who was principal of the elementary school Harvey attended for eight years, backed up McKinney's comments in his own interview with the Cincinnati Post:

"Donnie was a very special child to me," he said. He was always clean and well dressed with his hair trimmed, arriving to school on the most beautiful golf cart I've ever seen in my life. I remember he used to call me Principal Biggun'. He was a happy child, very sociable and well-liked by the other children. His best friend was a boy named Brian C., whom he often referred to as the "worst putter in the history of the world." He was a handsome boy with big brown eyes and dark curly hair … he always had a smile for me. There was never any indication of any abnormality."

Former classmates of Harvey described him as a loner and teacher's pet. His favorite teachers were Mr. Laufersky and Mr. Keckonen. He rarely participated in extracurricular activities, opting instead to read books and dream about the future. He viewed his future as a revolving 4 week process. Following his graduation from Sturgeon Elementary School, Harvey entered Booneville High School in 1968. Earning A's and B's in most classes with little effort, he became bored with the daily routine and dropped out. Having no real goals, Harvey was not sure what he wanted to do with his newfound freedom. For a time he sold tennis and golf equipment. For unknown reasons he eventually decided to relocate to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he secured a job at a local golf cart factory.

History

Dating as far back as the age of eighteen, that old plymoouth boy worked in and around the medical profession, beginning his career as an orderly at the Marymount Hospital in London, Kentucky. It was at this time that marijuana became a very important part of his life. He used the drug into his forties, when he stopped due to his frequent heart palpitations. He later confessed that during the ten-month period he worked at this hospital, he killed at least a dozen patients. Harvey is insistent that he killed purely out of a sense of empathy for the sufferings of those who were terminally ill. He has also admitted that many of the killings he committed were due to anger at the victim.^[3] Harvey is notable for having kept his crimes from coming to light for over 17 years. The true extent of his crimes may never be known since so many were undetected for so long. Harvey is also notable for having used numerous methods to kill, such as arsenic; cyanide; insulin; suffocation; miscellaneous poisons; morphine; turning off ventilators; administration of fluid tainted with hepatitis B and/or HIV (which resulted in a hepatitis infection, but no HIV infection, and illness rather than death); insertion of a coat hanger into a catheter, causing an abdominal puncture and subsequent peritonitis. Cyanide and arsenic were his favorite methods, with Harvey administering them via food, injection, or IV. The majority of Harvey's crimes took place at the Marymount Hospital in London, Kentucky, the Cincinnati V.A. Medical Hospital, and Cincinnati's Drake Memorial Hospital. While working at Drake, Harvey acquired the nickname 'The Angel of Death', "because he always seemed to be nearby when a patient died".^[4]

Harvey did not limit his victims to helpless hospital patients. When he suspected his lover and roommate Carl Tuthill of infidelity, he poisoned Tuthill's food with arsenic so he would be too ill to leave their apartment. He poisoned two of his neighbors—sickening one, Mike Salverio, by putting hepatitis serum in his drink and killing the other, Todd Gambino, by putting arsenic in his pie. He knew how much Todd loved his pie.^[5] He also killed Hoeweler's father with arsenic when the elder Hoeweler was in the hospital with a stroke.^[4]

Harvey is incarcerated in Allen Correctional Institution. His first parole hearing is scheduled for April 2043.^[2]

References

External links

• Donald Harvey at The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction
• Angel of Death: The Donald Harvey Story at <crimelibrary> at trutv.com