The Monday night episode of Murder By Medic on Crime & Investigation focuses on Reta Phyllis Mays, an American serial killer who murdered at least seven elderly military veterans between July 2017 and June 2018. Mays carried out these killings while working as a nursing assistant at the Louis A. Johnson Veterans Medical Center in Clarksburg, West Virginia.
Born in Reynoldsville, West Virginia, in 1975, Reta Mays had served in the United States Army West Virginia National Guard and deployed to Iraq and Kuwait. In June 2015, she began working at the Louis A. Johnson Veterans Medical Center with no certification or license to care for patients. Despite this, she was assigned to work overnight shifts on Ward 3A in July 2017, where a disturbing pattern of patient deaths began to emerge.
Over an eleven-month period, several elderly patients on the ward suffered mysterious acute drops in blood sugar level, resulting in their deaths. Hospital staff eventually attributed these fatalities to hypoglycemia. An investigation into the deaths began in June 2018 and lasted over two years, during which Mays was questioned three times but denied any involvement.
In July 2020, Reta Mays was arrested and initially charged with the murders of eight individuals. The charges were later amended to seven counts of second-degree murder and one count of intent to commit murder. Mays pleaded guilty to all charges and was sentenced to seven consecutive life sentences, plus an additional 20 years for assault with intent to commit murder.
Murder By Medic: Reta Mays airs Monday, 2 September 2024, at 8:00 pm on Crime & Investigation.
