Among the large number of known crazy serial killer nurses,
Bobbie Sue Terrell (nee Robinson) was nuttier than most. She had a rough
childhood, with four of her five brothers afflicted with muscular dystrophy.
She grew up to be a registered nurse. She married Danny Dudley in 1976.
In 1979, she was diagnosed as schizophrenic and took
medication. After her adopted child almost died from taking mom’s drugs her
husband divorced her and the child’s custody was given to dad. She became
increasingly depressed and developed a number of physical ailments. She
voluntarily entered a mental hospital and spent more than a year under
treatment. Following release, she became employed as a nurse.
In 1980 her 7-year-old adopted son almost died from an overdose
of drugs identified by St. Louis Children’s Hospital as tranquilizers of the
type prescribed for the mother.” It was suspected Bobbie Sue had poisoned him. As
a result, she was declared unfit as a parent in Edwardsville, Illinois court.
For two months in 1983 she was employed by old age home,
Hillview Manor, Greenville, Illinois. “She fainted frequently on duty, with no
apparent cause, and twice she slashed her own vagina with a pair of scissors.”
Fired for “mental problems.”
When working in Illinois, she was diligent in preparing
reports on patients’ deaths.
“She described very artistically how people died,” Dr.
Richard Garretson, who knew her, said,
explaining that although some nurses might write several lines about a dying
patient's condition on their shift. Terrell "literally used up an entire
page." He called it "a little over-attention to detail."
"It kind of indicates to me a little fascination with death. It's the only
thing I can make out of it." [St. Louis Post Dispatch, Apr. 12, 1986, p. 1]
In July 1984 she moved to St. Petersburg, Fl., “where she is
believed to have worked in three nursing homes.”
When she was night shift supervisor at St. Petersburg North
Horizon Health Care Center, where she began working on October 4, 1984, patients
in large number became ill. Twelve of them died, five of them in a single day.
The epidemic of unexplained deaths ended when Bobbie Sue left North Horizon.
An investigation was initiated. It was discovered that she
had access to the insulin supply – an overdose of which was determined to be the
cause of death of two autopsied patients. Police found, under the nurse’s
mattress, five pages of notes “listing the patients’ deaths, identifying them
by number and indicating what time they died.
Ultimately the nurse admitted injecting elderly patients in her care
with fatal doses of insulin. She was charged with killing four and
almost killing a fifth. On April 10, 1986, At the age of 33, Bobbie Sue
Terrell, was held without bond in Pinellas County jail, and was charged
with four counts of first-degree murder.
On February 23, 1988 Bobbie Sue pled guilty to four charges:
second degree murder; dangerous act (committed Feb. 23, 1985); First degree
murder; Attempted “death from drugs” murder (committed Nov. 25, 1984).
She was sentenced to 65 years in prison. “Bobbie Sue Dudley
Terrell would end up serving only 22 years of her sentence. She died in prison
in 2007.”
***
Bobbie Sue Dudley, at the time of the murders, married to
Danny Dudley; married Ron Terrell in February 1985.
***
CHRONOLOGY
Oct. 16, 1952 – Bobbie Sue Robinson (Dudley, Terrell) born,
Woodlawn, Illinois.
May 20, 1974 – Jul. 19, 1976 – employed as nurse’s aide at
Good Samaritan Hospital in Mount Vernon, Ill.
1976 – received nursing degree from Kaskaskia Community
College, Centralia, Illinois.
1976 – marries Danny Lynn Dudley.
1979 – divorced; following she is in mental institution for
about a year.
Mar. 3, 1980 – Edwardsville, Illinois;
judge declares unfit as a parent; sworn statements that she may have poisoned
her adopted son (7). “The boy almost died from an overdose of drugs identified
by St. Louis Children’s Hospital as tranquilizers of the type prescribed for
the mother.”
May 11, 1983 – Jul. 7, 1983 – employed by old age home,
Hillview Manor, Greenville, Illinois. “She fainted frequently on duty, with no
apparent cause, and twice she slashed her own vagina with a pair of scissors.”
Fired for “mental problems.”
Jul. 1984 – moves to St. Petersburg, Fl., “where she is
believed to have worked in three nursing homes.”
Oct. 2, 1984 – starts work at North Horizon Health Care Center,
St. Petersburg, Fl.
Nov. 14, 1984 – Aggie Marsh, 97, died. North Horizon Health
Care Center. Strangled.
Nov. 16 (ca), 1984 – Anna Larson, 94, nearly died from
insulin overdose; not a diabetic.
Nov. 23, 1984 – Leathy McKnight, 85, died.
Nov. 26, 1984 – Stella Bradham, 85, died. Strangled.
Nov. 26, 1984 – Mary Carter, 79, died.
Nov. 27, 1984 – Nurse Dudley found with a stab wound in her
side (self-inflicted).
Dec. 1984 – surrenders Illinois nursing license for “mental
instability and self-abuse.”
Jan. 1985 – Anna Larsen (94) dies. She had survived an
insulin injection.
Jan. 31, 1985 – Bobbie “entered a Pinellas County hospital
for medical and psychiatric treatment. By this time, she was already a prime suspect
in several deaths at North Horizon.”
Feb. 1985 – marries Ron Terrell (38), a plumber from Tampa.
Mar, 17, 1986 – charged with attempted first-degree murder
of an elderly female patient.
Apr.10, 1986 – Dudley, 33, held without bond in Pinellas
County jail.
Feb. 23, 1988 – Pleads guilty; sentenced to 65 years. Second
degree murder, dangerous act (committed Feb. 23, 1985); First degree murder;
Attempted “death from drugs” murder (committed Nov. 25, 1984)
2007 – “Bobbie Sue Dudley Terrell would
end up serving only 22 years of her sentence. She died in prison in 2007.”
***
SOURCES
[AP, “Nurse is sentenced to 65 years in prison; Guilty in deaths of four patients,” Ocala Star Banner (Fl.), 3B]
[Patrick E. Gauen, “Coroners To Check In Deaths,” St. Louis Post
Dispatch (Mo.), Apr. 1, 1986, p. 1]
[Patrick E. Gauen, “Nurse Worked Despite Her Troubled Past,”
St. Louis Post Dispatch (Mo.), Apr. 20, 1986, p. 1]
[Patrick E. Gauen, “Ex-Illinoisan Held In Deaths Of 4
Patients,” St. Louis Post Dispatch (Mo.), Apr. 12, 1986, p. 1]
[Earl Rinehart, “Nurse gets 65 years for 4 killings,” The
Tampa Tribune (Fl.), Feb. 24, 1988, p. B1]
***
***
***
***
***
For more cases, see Sicko Nurses
***
[1291-1/5/21;1603-9/15/21]
***
No comments:
Post a Comment