Murder victims:
1970s – Several patients in Iowa, possibly murders,
Nevada, Iowa
Feb. 20, 1985 – Paul Kinsey, 72, survived, Little Rock,
Arkansas
Apr. 5, 1985 – Opal Kinsey, 71, died, Little Rock, Arkansas
Sep. 18, 1986 – Marion Doyle, died, Little Rock, Arkansas
***
A resident of Nevada, Iowa, Dorothy Matajke began working as
a nurse’s aide and professional companion for the elderly and ailing in the
1970s. It came as no surprise to anyone when several of her patients died, and
there were no suggestions of foul play except where money was concerned. In
1973, Matajke was convicted of fraud and sentenced to five years in prison. She
escaped in February 1974 and remained at large until 1980, when she was
recaptured and returned to finish out her sentence. Despite the prison break,
she won parole in 1983, serving less than the original five years.
Upon release, Matajke moved to Little Rock and picked up
with her old profession as a live-in nurse. On March 24, 1985, she moved in
with Paul Kinsey, 72, and his wife Opal, age 71. When Opal died on April 5, the
cause was listed as a recently-discovered cancer.
Paul Kinsey’s health began deteriorating rapidly after his
wife’s death, but relatives attributed his lapse to grief and loneliness.
On September 9, 1986, Matajke acquired a new client, elderly
Marion Doyle. Another cancer patient, Doyle survived nine days of nursing by
Matajke, but her death was not ascribed to cancer. Rather, a police report
suggested that the woman had committed suicide. A routine inventory, made by
the executor of Doyle’s estate, discovered several checks made out to Dorothy
Matajke, totaling almost $4,000. There was something curious about Doyle’s
signature, and on a hunch, her body was exhumed for reexamination. Tissue
samples showed sufficient drugs to cause a fatal overdose.
Meanwhile, Paul Kinsey’s health continued to decline. The
old man stubbornly refused to eat or take his medication, telling relatives that
every meal or dose prepared by his “companion” left him deathly ill. Kinsey
ordered Matajke out of his house on October 28, and three days later he was
hospitalized in critical condition. Dorothy Matajke bullied her way past
relatives and doctors to visit her ex-patient in the emergency room, and she
was still by his side when detectives arrived to arrest her.
Initially, the “nurse” was charged with forgery and theft
for looting Marion Doyle’s bank account. Subsequent charges included felony
possession of a firearm, and additional counts of forgery relating to checks
written on Paul Kinsey’s account. A search of Matajke’s home yielded mislabeled
bottles of drugs and tranquilizers, along with three bottles of arsenic-based
ant poison, and more serious charges were added.
On November 24, 1986 she was accused of first-degree murder
in the death of Marion Doyle and first-degree battery in the non-fatal
poisoning of Paul Kinsey. Opal Kinsey’s body was exhumed December 5, with the
results of laboratory tests kept secret pending disposition of the standing
charges. After Paul Kinsey died, on February 10, 1987, assault charges were
replaced with another count of first-degree murder.
In June 1987, Matajke was convicted of Paul Kinsey’s murder
and sentenced to life. Two months later, in a negotiated plea bargain, she
received another term of 60 years for killing Marion Doyle. Charges are pending
[as of 1991] in the case of Opal Kinsey, and new investigations are expected in
the deaths of several patients “cared for” by Matajke in Iowa.
[from: Michael Newton, Hunting
Humans, 1991, Breakout Productions]
***
[1498-1/4/21]
***
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