A doctor suspected of killing four patients "just for the thrill of it" may have been responsible for the deaths of at least 60 people, having given them a lethal cocktail of drugs before setting fire to their homes. The medic, who worked for a nursing service in Berlin, Germany, is believed to have gone on a murder spree lasting years. The 40-year-old doctor, named only as Johannes M, was first arrested in August when police suspected him of manslaughter. Prosecutors now believe that the palliative care doctor killed elderly people out of sheer bloodlust and there may have been more than 60 victims.
In his doctoral thesis 12 years ago, Johannes M wrote about killing saying that it was "basically part of the behavioural spectrum of every human being". Now investigators are looking into whether he is of sound mind and if he can be held criminally responsible for his actions, with new reports in Germany saying that investigators are now looking into at least 60 suspicious deaths.
Investigators are exhuming bodies so they can be examined by a forensic pathologist. So far, in more than 10 cases, it has been confirmed that a lethal cocktail of drugs was allegedly administered by the doctor to elderly and seriously ill patients in their homes. He then allegedly set fire to their homes in a bid to cover up his sick crimes.
In his doctoral thesis, Johannes M devoted an entire chapter to the topic of "homicides of elderly people", according to German media. In it, he discusses a study that assumes a high number of unreported cases, since the murder of people in need of care is "not easy to prove", saying that the deaths are often "classified as natural deaths in the first autopsy".
