Richard Angelo (born August 29, 1962) is an American

serial killer A serial killer (also called a serial murderer) is a person who murders three or more people,An offender can be anyone: * * * * * (This source only requires two people) with the killings taking place over a significant period of time in separat ...

and former nurse who operated within

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

and West Islip, New York. In 1989, he was convicted of murdering several of his patients and sentenced to 50-years-to-life in prison.

Early life

Angelo was born on August 29, 1962, to parents who were both working in education. His mother was an economics teacher, and his father was a high school guidance counselor for the Lindenhurst school district on

. He graduated from St. John the Baptist Diocesan High School in 1980 and then entered a two-year nursing program at Farmingdale State College, where he was a well-regarded honor student.

Arrest

Angelo first came to the attention of the public in October 1987 when he was suspected of poisoning a patient at then Good Samaritan Medical Center. He was accused of injecting Gerolamo Kuchich with pancuronium, a muscle relaxant, via his I.V. The patient felt unwell after the injection, and later paged a nurse to help him. Angelo was arrested for assault on the 73-year-old patient because he was the only person to match the description given to the police. Following his arrest, Angelo confessed to having poisoned other patients with pancuronium and Suxamethonium chloride, both of which are paralytic agents used in

anesthesia Anesthesia (American English) or anaesthesia (British English) is a state of controlled, temporary loss of sensation or awareness that is induced for medical or veterinary purposes. It may include some or all of analgesia (relief from or prev ...

. As a result, as many as 30 recently deceased patients were exhumed and examined for traces of these powerful paralyzing agents. In all, Angelo was suspected of poisoning at least 35 people at the hospital while working there for seven months, though the medical examiner was unable to conclusively attribute the deaths to the injections. He claimed that his motive was to portray himself as a

hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or Physical strength, strength. The original hero type of classical epics did such thin ...

. After poisoning his victims, he would wait until they went into

cardiac arrest Cardiac arrest (also known as sudden cardiac arrest CA is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. When the heart stops beating, blood cannot properly Circulatory system, circulate around the body and the blood flow to the ...

and then come by and save them in front of his colleagues. He was held in Suffolk County Jail for more than a year, awaiting trial. He declined to pay his $50,000 bail, fearing for his safety given the high-profile nature of the case.

Victims

A total of 32 bodies were exhumed in order to collect tissue samples. The presence of Pavulon was detected in the following seven victims: * John Stanley Fisher, 75, of Amityville, died on September 8, 1987. * Milton Poultney, 75, of Lindenhurst, died on September 16, 1987. * Joseph Francis O'Neill, 79, of West Islip, died on September 21, 1987. * Frederick LaGois, 65, of

Babylon Babylon ( ) was an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia, within modern-day Hillah, Iraq, about south of modern-day Baghdad. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-s ...

, died on October 9, 1987. * Joan Hayes, 53, died on October 5, 1987. * Gerolamo Kuchich, 73, from

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

and visiting Dix Hills, was injected with a non-fatal dose of Pavulon on October 11, 1987. * Anthony Greene, 57, of North Babylon, died on October 16, 1987.

Trial and conviction

During the eight-week trial, 32 witnesses testified and more than 100 exhibits were entered into evidence. On December 14, 1989, Angelo was found guilty of two counts of second-degree murder: Poultney, Greene; one count of second-degree

manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th ce ...

: Fisher; one count of criminally negligent homicide: LaGois; two counts of first-degree assault: Kuchich; three counts of second-degree assault: Fisher, Greene, Poultney. Not guilty verdicts were returned for O'Neill and Hayes, despite having Pavulon in their systems. On January 24, 1990, a Suffolk County judge sentenced him to 61 ⅓-years-to-life. However, the maximum possible term, per state law, was 50-years-to-life. He is serving a life sentence at Sing Sing Correctional Facility and will become eligible for parole in 2049, when he is 87.

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