| In November 1985, administrators at Phoebe Putney Hospital, in Albany, Georgia, were alarmed by a sudden rash of cardiac arrests in the intensive care unit. A review of hospital records showed six suspicious deaths, with an equal number of near-misses, since late October, and police were quietly notified. Post-mortem examinations blamed the six deaths on injections of potassium chloride, and homicide investigators went to work the case full-time. The first apparent victim had been 68-year-old Milton Lucas, pronounced dead on October 19, 1985. Next up was Minnie Houck, age 58, lost on November 7. Three days later, 36-year-old Joe Irwin joined the list, and Roger Parker, also 36, died on November 15. Andrew Daniels, age 73, lost his struggle for life on November 24, and he was followed two days later by three-year-old Norris Morgan. Survivors included patients Sam Bentley, George Whiting, Frances Freeman, and Jack Stephens, all of whom had suffered one or more unexplained cardiac arrests in ICU. By New Years, authorities were confident of six victims, but there may have been more. Lee Creech, a 26-year-old jail inmate, had died under treatment on December 21, and detectives were suspicious of three or four other deaths, dating back to mid-August. By March, their investigation had focused on a 24-year-old nurse, Terri Eden Maples Rachals, and on March 13 she reportedly confessed to injecting five patients with lethal doses of potassium chloride. On March 25, 1986, Rachals was indicted on six counts of murder and 20 counts of aggravated assault against nine patients. Some of them had received multiple injections, with Creech and Parker holding the record at six and four jolts, respectively. At trial, in September, the prosecution contended that Rachals "felt like a second-class citizen all her life," desirous of "power and control" that she ultimately sought "on the dark side of the street," by murdering her patients. Reference was made to her confessions, but Terri took the stand on September 23, recanting her statements, denying any memory of the attacks. On September 26, jurors returned a verdict of guilty but mentally ill on one count of aggravated assault, acquitting Rachals on all other charges. Members of the panel said that, while she may indeed have been responsible for several deaths, the prosecution simply had not proved its case. On October 1, Rachals was sentenced to a 17-year prison term, with three years of probation on release.
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