Guilt admitted in 7 VA hospital killings

A former employee at a West Virginia veterans hospital pleaded guilty Tuesday to intentionally killing seven patients with doses of insulin, capping a federal investigation into the mysterious deaths at the medical center.

Reta Mays, a former nursing assistant at the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center in Clarksburg, was charged with seven counts of second-degree murder and one count of assault with the intent to commit murder of an eighth person. She faces life sentences for each death.

At a plea hearing, Mays, 46, admitted to purposely killing the veterans, injecting them with unprescribed insulin while she worked overnight shifts at the hospital between 2017 and 2018. Her voice cracked throughout the hearing as she answered the judge’s questions. As a nursing assistant, Mays wasn’t qualified or authorized to administer medications.

U.S. Attorney Bill Powell told reporters that Mays’ motive is still unclear, saying that authorities did not receive a “satisfactory response” to questions about the reasoning behind her actions.

Mays