Heather Pressdee

A nurse is linked to the death of at least 10 patients at two Butler County nursing homes and is accused of administering lethal doses of insulin to numerous patients at care facilities across Western Pennsylvania, the Attorney General’s Office announced Thursday, Nov. 2.

Heather Pressdee, 41, of Natrona Heights, was charged in the death of at least six patients at Sunnyview Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Butler Township and two additional patients at Quality Life Services in Donegal Township, according to Attorney General Michelle Henry.

She is facing charges related to alleged mistreatment of 22 total patients at Butler, Westmoreland, Allegheny and Armstrong county nursing homes. Charging documents indicate Pressdee admitted to harming, with intent to kill, the patients in a series of incidents between January 2020 and May 2023.

“The allegations against Ms. Pressdee are disturbing. It is hard to comprehend how a nurse, trusted to care for her patients, could choose to deliberately and systematically harm them," Henry said. “The damage done to the victims and their loved ones cannot be overstated.”

Charges filed in May accuse Pressdee of killing two patients and causing the hospitalization of one other at Quality Life Services in December 2022. At that time, she was charged with homicide in the deaths of a 55-year-old man and an 83-year-old man. The third victim, a 73-year-old man, survived after emergency hospitalization.

The charges filed Thursday relate to the mistreatment of 19 additional patients at five care facilities. Pressdee was charged Thursday with two counts of first-degree murder, 17 counts of attempted murder and 19 counts of neglect of a care-dependent person.

According to Henry, Pressdee is charged with first-degree murder in the cases where physical evidence is available to support the cause of death. She was charged with attempted murder in the cases where the victims either survived the excessive dosage of insulin, or the cause of death could not be determined, Henry said.

Pressdee was arraigned Thursday by Butler County Common Pleas Court Judge Maura Palumbi, who was assigned to the case when charges were filed in May. Pressdee waived her preliminary hearing on these charges and remains in custody at Butler County Prison without bail.

Charging documents indicate Pressdee, a registered nurse, worked at 12 facilities across Butler, Allegheny, Westmoreland and Armstrong counties between October 2018 and May 2023. She is accused of killing or attempting to kill patients at five of the locations.

Within Butler County, she is charged with at least four deaths at Quality Life Services, where was employed from May to November 2022, and at least six deaths at Sunnyview Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, where she worked from January to May 2023.

Additionally, she is accused of crimes while employed as a registered nurse at Concordia at Rebecca Residence in West Deer Township, Allegheny County; Guardian Healthcare operating as BelAir Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center in Lower Burrell, Westmoreland County; and Premier Armstrong Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Kittanning, Armstrong County.

Her employment history includes working at the Orchards of Saxonburg in Saxonburg from February to April 2020. She also worked at these Allegheny County facilities: Encompass Health Rehabilitation Hospital of Harmarville, Allegheny Valley Hospital, Platinum Ridge Center for Rehabilitation & Healing, UPMC Passavant – McCandless, Woodhaven Care Center and Cheswick Rehabilitation and Wellness Center.

“Pressdee often took steps to ensure her victims would expire prior to shift change so that they wouldn’t be sent to the hospital where her scheme could be discovered through medical testing,” agents said in charging documents.

“If Pressdee sensed the victim would ‘pull through,’ there is a pattern of her taking additional measures to kill the victims before they could be sent to the hospital by either administering a second dose of insulin or the use of an air embolism to ensure death.”

In regard to each incident recorded in the affidavit, agents said Pressdee typically administered the lethal doses of insulin during overnight shifts when staffing was low and the emergencies would not prompt immediate hospitalization.

Agents said coworkers disclosed Pressdee would “religiously” say that residents “just needed to die.”

During the investigation, agents said they observed numerous instances on Facebook and in text messages where Pressdee threatened people.

There are more than 20 instances detailed in the affidavit where Pressdee used the words “kill,” “stab,” “die,” or “murder” in text messages to her mother between April 2022 and May 2023. The messages refer to doctors, nurses and residents, according to the document.

Agents noted that Pressdee also posted on Facebook in 2018 about the dangers of insulin overdose, and that she was familiar with insulin administration due to her mother’s diabetes.

Pressdee had posted in 2018 to a Facebook group, where she acted as a moderator, about a nurse who injected air into patients, leading to seven deaths, documents showed.

Anyone with information about these incidents or Heather Pressdee is asked to contact the Office of Attorney General’s tipline at 888-538-8541.

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