Stephan Letter (born 17 September 1978) is a German

serial killer A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...

and former nurse responsible for the murder of at least 29 patients while he worked at a hospital in Sonthofen,

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...

, between January 2003 and July 2004. His murders have been described as the largest number of killings in Germany since the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Biography

Letter was a nurse at a hospital that treated a large elderly population. During his employment from January 2003 to July 2004, a pattern of more than 80 deaths occurred on his shifts. Officials exhumed the bodies of more than 40 patients, but another 38 had already been cremated. Letter became a suspect after officials learned that large quantities of drugs, including the paralytic drug

Lysthenon Suxamethonium chloride, also known as suxamethonium or succinylcholine, or simply sux by medical abbreviation, is a medication used to cause short-term paralysis as part of general anesthesia. This is done to help with tracheal intubation or ...

, had gone missing from the hospital. Unsealed medication vials were found in Letter's apartment. In February 2006, Letter was brought to trial for the deaths of 29 patients. His charges included 16 counts of murder, 12 counts of manslaughter and one count of killing on request. Most of the patients were older than 75, but they ranged in age from 40 to 94. Letter also reportedly gave an inappropriate injection to a 22-year-old soldier with minor injuries from a fall; she lost consciousness but recovered. Letter confessed to some of the killings but insisted that he had acted out of sympathy and a desire to end the suffering of sick patients. However, the prosecution indicated that Letter was not the assigned nurse for some of the patients and that some of them were in stable condition and due to be released from the hospital. In November, Letter was found guilty of the murders and was sentenced to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence (law), sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed te ...

.Germany's Angel of Death Sentenced to Life in Prison
''Times Online''. Retrieved 24 June 2013. He is imprisoned in

Straubing Straubing () is an independent city in Lower Bavaria, southern Germany. It is seat of the district of Straubing-Bogen. Annually in August the Gäubodenvolksfest, the second largest fair in Bavaria, is held. The city is located on the Danube f ...

. Letter's killings have been characterized as the worst killing spree in Germany since the

References

External links

BBC news entry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Letter, Stephan 1978 births German people convicted of murder German prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment German serial killers Living people Male nurses Male serial killers Medical serial killers Nurses convicted of killing patients People convicted of murder by Germany People from Herdecke Poisoners Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Germany

Biography

See also

References

External links