Jan 22, 2026, 1:06 p.mJan 22, 2026, 1:06 p.m
An ex-nurse already convicted of ten murders in Germany could be responsible for more than 100 additional deaths.
The ex-nurse was convicted of 10 counts of murder by the Aachen regional court in November 2025. (symbol image)Image: sda
There is a correspondingly high number of “suspicious cases,” said senior public prosecutor Katja Schlenkermann-Pitts in Aachen. The subject of the new investigations are possible crimes beyond several cases that have already been tried.
The ex-nurse was sentenced to life imprisonment in November 2025 by the Aachen Regional Court – in West Germany, on the borders with Belgium and the Netherlands – for 10 counts of murder and 27 counts of attempted murder. It was also determined that the guilt was particularly serious – release after 15 years is usually ruled out.
The court was convinced that the man had arbitrarily administered excessive amounts of sedatives to seriously ill people during his night shifts in a clinic in Würselen near Aachen (North Rhine-Westphalia) – sometimes in combination with painkillers and sometimes several times. The trigger is said to have been a personal feeling of disruption and one’s own idea of order.
The nurse said he did not administer medication with the aim of shortening life. (symbol image)Image: Getty
The nurse himself had rejected the allegations in the trial. He said in a statement in May 2025 that he did not administer drugs with the aim of shortening lives.
Suspected cases are well over 100
The crimes at issue in these proceedings occurred between December 2023 and May 2024. The new suspected cases are now about possible homicides in the previous period. The German had been working at the clinic in Würselen since 2020. After the verdict, the Aachen public prosecutor’s office had already announced that further charges were likely.
Now there is an initial overview of what a new indictment could contain. “The suspected cases in the ongoing proceedings are currently well over 100,” explained senior public prosecutor Katja Schlenkermann-Pitts. At the same time, she emphasized that it was an initial suspicion. “Of course it can also be omitted.” There have already been 27 exhumations in connection with the new allegations. About 30 are still outstanding.
Also exhumations in Cologne
The case now extends beyond Aachen: an investigation is also underway in Cologne. The man worked there until 2020. The Cologne public prosecutor’s office confirmed exhumations in December.
Similar cases cause horror again and again. The case of ex-nurse Niels Högel is considered the largest series of murders in German post-war history to date: the Oldenburg regional court sentenced him to life imprisonment in 2019 for 85 murders.
“Nursing and medicine don’t turn anyone into a serial offender. However, care and medicine continue to make it far too easy for serial perpetrators,” criticized the chairman of the German Patient Protection Foundation, Eugen Brysch, in light of the new suspected cases. “There is a lack of a culture of looking.” (sda/dpa)