All language subtitles for CrimeFeed S01 E10_track4_[eng]

[narrator] This week on
CrimeFeed.

The murder case rocking
a Hollywood power family.

TV producer
Sam Haskell the 4th

accused of murder
and shirtless in court.

His wife's body
chopped into pieces.

His dad, a famous
Hollywood power player.

Breaking details
in the mystery.

And a nurse is
someone you can trust.

But a nurse is accused
in the deaths of more than
a dozen people.

The chilling clinic details.

This week onCrimeFeed
with Nancy Grace,

private investigator
Derrick Levasseur,

and investigative journalist
Mara S. Campo.

Good evening, I'm Nancy Grace
and this is CrimeFeed.

Thank you for being with us.

Those stories,
but first to LA.

Have the police apprehended
a serial killer?

Jerrid Joseph Powell, 33,

suspected in the stalking
and killings

of four people.

And breaking in Texas,

Texas Rangers arrest a suspect
in the murder

of a 16-year-old teen girl.

A cheerleader found dead
in the bathtub.

Loving mom Jacqueline worry
when her high school daughter

doesn't show up
at a Christmas parade

where she was said to cheer.

Mom Jacqueline goes to work
that morning, 6:00 am.

When she gets home that night,
finds her daughter, Lizbeth,

in the family bathtub,
still wearing her PJs,
dead.

The mom tells reporters quote,

"The most horrible way
a mother could find
her child.

She was murdered
in cold blood."

Rafael Romero
arrested for capital murder,

which makes him eligible
for the death penalty,
if convicted.

I'm so upset about this mom

finding her 16-year-old
little girl.

The mom had just
relocated to Texas, Edna,

about 6,000 people live there,
very small town,

so she could get a new job.

And just she and the daughter
had keys to the apartment.

Mom gets up 6:00 am
and leaves,

wakes up the daughter for her
little cheerleading event.

When mom gets off from work
that night and she's not
at the event,

no one has seen the daughter
since 7:30 that morning,
or talked to her.

I just hate it so bad for her.

Well, it's every mother's
worst nightmare,

and actually the story,
as it turns out,

is even worse than it seems
on the surface

because the mother
went home after work

-to change for this
Christmas event...
-[Derrick] Mmm-hmm.

...that her daughter was
supposed to be cheering in.

-[Derrick] Right.
-She goes to the event,
the daughter's not there.

She starts calling the phone,
it goes straight to voicemail.

Of course, that's when
any parent would panic.

She goes home and she finds
the daughter in the bathtub.

And it turns out
the daughter had been there

-the entire time...
-Right.

...when the mother was home
changing her clothes

to go see her baby
in this Christmas event.

Her daughter was
dead in the bathtub
and she didn't even know it.

Yeah, and the suspect
in this case is 23-year-old
Rafael Romero.

It's interesting 'cause
we were researching this case,

and when we got this case,
we didn't have a suspect yet.

And I was writing my notes
for today's episode

before they had this arrest,
and I said,

"It's gotta be someone
that is connected to her
somehow."

They're gonna look at her
phone records, they're gonna
look at her GPS coordinates,

because this,
they're in this
apartment complex,

so it's not a house.

So, there's other people
that could see her

going and coming
from that residence.

Police had put out
some information
about a suspect,

-potential suspect vehicle.
-A picture.

A picture of the vehicle
and also--

Running toward a Ford Taurus,
I believe it was.

That's right.
And the suspect had
possibly a tattoo on his neck.

So, it's all gonna come out.

I think we're gonna find
that there's probably
a connection there.

-I don't know
if it's from social media.
-Well, you know the mother

saw him and said
she doesn't recognize him.

-[Derrick] That--
-Has never seen him
in her life

and doesn't know him.

And she went on to state
that her daughter was a quote,

"Good girl, uh,
all-A student, cheerleader,

and was planning
to study nursing at
Arlington University."

And now this.

Well, but the mother
also noted that there was
no forced entry.

-So, there are questions
about whether she...
-[Nancy] Mmm-hmm.

...knew this person
in some capacity
and let him in.

There's gonna be
a lot more to this, you know?

Remember, he's being charged
with capital murder,

so there's probably
another charge,

another crime
associated with that.

That's gonna explain
the motive, I think,
a little bit more.

And now
to a Hollywood producer
suspect number one,

when a woman's torso
discovered in a dumpster.

Surveillance footage
catches a man in a white SUV

dumping a black bag
in a dumpster.

The torso ID'd as the wife
of Hollywood player

Sam Haskell Jr., age 35.

You've gotta see this.

This was the scene
just a few days ago.

Haskell making
an appearance in court,

half naked, disheveled.

The story made headlines
across the country

because Haskell, his family,
both famous.

I don't think anyone
was expecting this scene
in court.

Mara, what do we know?

Yeah, this is not something
that we see very often.

And the scene in court
was disturbing.

Sam Haskell the 4th,
also known as Sam Haskell Jr.

was shirtless in court
this week.

He'd been wearing
a Velcro vest

as a precaution
because authorities worried

that in his mental state,
he could attempt suicide.

But the Velcro vest
slipped off,

leaving him
half naked in court.

Haskell is now being held
without bail,

and his arraignment has been
extended until January.

Sam Haskell's wife,
Mei Haskell,

and her parents,
Yanxiang Wang and Gaoshan Li,

were last seen
on November 6th.

Two days later, a homeless man
discovered a human torso

inside a duffel bag
that had been tossed
into a dumpster

in the LA neighborhood
of Encino.

Well, a review
of security footage

shows what police say
is Sam Haskell Jr.

tossing a bag into the same
dumpster the night before.

And get this,
earlier that day,

Haskell had allegedly hired
four day-laborers

to remove several bags
from his home.

And here is their account
of what they saw
in those bags.

[man 1] I started opening it.

I started seeing
parts of a body.

Bellybutton, stomach.

[man 2] This man
had tricked us.

I said to my friends,
"Come look. Come look."

And when they saw, they said,
"These are human parts."

Unbelievable. The workers,
who remained anonymous,

returned the money
and the bags
to Haskell's residence,

and then contacted
police immediately.

Now, Sam Haskell Jr.
has lived under the shadow
of his father,

Sam Haskell Sr.
his whole life.

Haskell Sr. is the president
of Magnolia Hill Productions.

And he's worked with major
talent like Dolly Parton,

George Clooney,
and Whoopi Goldberg.

Listen to Haskell Jr.
speak about his own career
in comparison.

Yo, shoutout to LinkedIn
for just making it, like,

so much more streamlined

for me to be told
"no" repeatedly.

Like my resume says,
"unhappy, bitter, resentful."

Um, and like,
"Really good at ordering
off the menu."

Yeah, this guy was
really upset with the way
things were going.

Obviously, as you said,
his father was a super
successful producer.

And here he is,
he's putting out these films
that he's producing.

-And what's interesting
about the films that...
-[Nancy] But did you think

-that was a film right there?
-No, no, that's not a film.

But what we're gonna
play right now, I'm gonna
play it in a second.

The films that he was
coming out with, which now,

in hindsight,
knowing what he's
allegedly responsible for,

-contained a lot of violence,
a lot of blood.
-[Nancy] Slasher.

Yeah, let's play those quick
for the audience.

[heavy metal
rock music playing]

[gunshots firing]

[man 3 speaks indistinctly]
...what? Stay in your lane.

[man 4] I would never...

Mmm, mmm, five...
Oh, wait, my mom's calling.

-Yeah, seeing those now
adds another...
-That was the film?

-That's the film. It adds
another layer to the story.
-[Nancy] Yeah.

Yeah, you know what, uh,

there are other rants
he does online

where he's actually
complaining about
a restaurant,

about a guy that overdid
his filet mignon.

What a brat.

And the other thing
I've learned,

this guy never worked.

Did you know, Mei, his wife,

worked multiple jobs
to pay the house note.

And the Haskells did not help.

Maybe they were just
sick of Sam Haskell,
their son,

and didn't want anything
to do with him.

But there she is,
making a $7,000-a-month
house payment,

working multiple jobs,

including as a consultant
to parents abroad

that want their children
to go to school in the U.S.
like she did.

Did you know her parents
had to sell their home

for her to go to
accounting school?

And that is where
she met Haskell.

And you talk about
him being spoiled,

I think the ultimate
depiction of that is

thinking you can
hire day laborers,

you can outsource
the disposal of people that,

if the allegations are true,
you have just murdered.

And it almost seems as though,
because police have not found
the bodies

-of the parents who they
believe were murdered as well.
-[Derrick] That's right.

[Mara] So, if they haven't
found the bodies
of the parents,

but they did find
the torso of the wife,

you have to almost imagine
that he did the work of

disposing of
the parents' bodies
and then said to himself,

"This is just
too much work for me.

-I'm just gonna
hire somebody else to do it."
-[Derrick] Mmm-hmm.

And if not for those workers
trusting their instincts,
and then going to

-three police stations...
-[Nancy] Trusting
their instincts?

Wait, they saw body parts.

Well, but first he had
told them that the bags
were full of rocks.

-Right.
-And when you look at
surveillance video,

-there's newly released
surveillance video...
-[Nancy] Hmm.

...that shows them
carrying those bags
from his house.

It takes two men
to carry one bag,
so that's how

-heavy they were.
-[Nancy] Don't you know
they didn't wanna

get pinned with it,
disposing of a dead body?

Hey, you know that film
as you just played for us?

You know what's interesting?
It just hit me.

So you see all this violence,
and slashing, and guns,

and then all of a sudden
one of the perp says,

"Ooh, hold on, it's my mom,"

and picks up the phone.

-[Derrick] Mmm-hmm.
-That's a real window into
his bratty little soul.

You know he ran to his parents
all the time for money,

instead of going out
and getting a job like a man!

-Yeah, we're starting--
-Making Mei do all the work
and raise the children!

And we're starting
to hear more about
the family dynamic.

Right? We're hearing from
friends and family
who are saying,

"Listen, Sam,
this entire time,

really didn't like
Mei's parents, didn't really
even speak to them."

They didn't speak English,
but he would ignore them,

he would treat them poorly.

-And--
-[Nancy] He wouldn't even
speak to them.

He wouldn't even
speak to them.

And we're learning now that,
yes, they haven't found
their bodies yet.

But, police believe that they
were actually dismembered
and disposed of first.

That's why you're seeing
the dumpster video
after the fact.

And I feel like
we're at the tip of the story

because they have
GPS coordinates,

they have security footage,
they have plate readers.

I feel like right now,
police behind the scenes

are trying to
locate their bodies.

And with all the technology
in that area, it's still
very possible.

Unless they're in a landfill.
Then it gets complicated.

Guys, when we come back,
a disastrous court appearance

with Haskell showing up
half dressed.

But what has become
of Mei's mother and father?

And tonight,
one patient after the next
drops dead,

including a set of suitemates.

Is an angel of death
lurking the halls

of an established
healthcare facility?

A human torso,

an adult nepo baby
obsessed with samurai swords

with a missing wife
and missing in-laws?

Will money buy
Sam Haskell the 4th,

aka Junior,
out of trouble again?

Now with us, LA Times
investigative reporter,

Richard Winton.

Richard, what an incredible
article you wrote.

And I gotta give you credit.
A lot of what I learned,

I first heard from you.

I can't believe this.
When all the other mothers

realize what was wrong,
that something was wrong,

when Sam Haskell
took the children to school

and arranged a play date,
they're like,

"That has never happened
in 10 years. Where's Mei?"

Now, that really speaks
to his fathering.

He's never taken them
to school or on a play date.

You know, I'm all about
the school drop-off
and the play date,

but let's get back to murder.
Tell me everything.

Well, basically,
I'm told by the prosecutor
Beth Silverman

that basically they have
evidence that,

um, he didn't only kill Mei,

but they have evidence
of physical, possibly,

dismemberment
of the parents as well.

They know that he's
disposed of the parents.

They just do not know
where at this point.

-And it's probably...
-But I don't get it.
WIth the GPS coordinates

and pinging his phone,
unless he had the sense

not to take
his phone with him,
which I doubt.

I can't understand why
they're not able to locate it?

Of course, he had many,
many days lead on them.

Those remains could be
anywhere, Richard.

Yeah, I mean he literally,

the prosecutor told me
he drove all over the county.

I mean, he's probably aware,
and we've seen this recently

in other murders
in Los Angeles,

license plate readers,

technology of pinging towers,
geofencing.

They know where you are,
they know where you've gone.

So, he's basically
driven around a lot of places

and made it
as hard as possible.

And reality is,
Los Angeles is pretty big.

And we also have
a lot of greenery, forest,
and other places

where people are typically
dumping bodies.

I mean, we have
a couple of searches
going on right now

in the Angeles National Forest
for bodies and suitcases.

Here's my concern, right?

If we look at, you know,
best predictor of future
behavior is past behavior.

And we see what he did
throughout the day
with Mei's body.

My concern is that even though
they have the GPS coordinates,

and they can see
where he was stopping
throughout the day,

if he dumped their bodies
in another dumpster,

and those dumpsters
were emptied,

it's not like you can
just go there and say,
"Okay, you know what?

We're gonna
go to the landfill.
Here's where it is."

You could have
ten, 15, 20 feet of trash

from that city
now piled on top of them.

It's a very big undertaking
to find them,

even if they can find them.

Could that be
the situation here,

where he dumped
their bodies as well
into a dumpster,

unfortunately,
someone didn't notice it,

and those dumpsters
were emptied before
they got to 'em?

Yeah, I mean,
that's the most
likely scenario,

is this is a landfill case.

And in landfill cases
they scour the landfill,

but I've had many,
many murders where...

-[Derrick] Yup.
-...they did not
recover the body.

And they become
no body murder cases.

And those are not uncommon
in Los Angeles.

They're not frequent,
but we do have them.

Richard, Sam was described
as a very weird guy.

One person said
that he had quote,

"Jeffrey Dahmer vibes."
But setting that aside,

do you have any information
on what a possible motive

here would have been
if he did in fact commit
these murders?

[Richard] Uh,
the biggest indication
so far is, you know,

-the word freeloader is one
that his, the relatives, uh...
-[Nancy] A mooch.

-Richard, he was a mooch.
-...Mei's parents used.

[Nancy] He mooched off
his parents his whole life,

then started mooching
off his wife who was afraid
to divorce him

because she thought
the Haskell money
would get involved

and she would never see
her children again.

That they would take
the children legally.

Yeah, I mean, basically,
we got...

I heard from people
who worked with him
in Hollywood

that he wasn't exactly
the easiest person
to get along with.

So, he wasn't exactly getting
a lot of work.

And it sounds like she was
working round the clock and

they have a pretty nice house,
a big house

-but apparently she was paying
that $7,000 mortgage.
-[Nancy] Ooh!

Ooh! That hurts.
$7,000 a month.

But I guess out there
that's normal.

I don't know if you've ever
covered a landfill search,

a dump, so to speak,
you have to do it by grids.

It is excruciating.

Uh, like Derrick said,
the trash can be
10, 20 feet tall,

and you're out there
in a hazmat suit
with cadaver dogs.

Now, I... I've seen, um,

tissue... a finger,
a little finger
as a matter of fact

found in a dump.
It can be done.

But again, just what Derrick
and Mara are saying, Richard,

when you don't know a horse
look at its track record.

He threw Mei's body
in a dumpster

but it wasn't that far
from the house.

I mean, he didn't have
the sense to go further away
from his home?

So, that tells me
that's exactly what he did
in the case of her parents.

And, oh, what you wrote about
the in-law's brother,

when he couldn't get in touch
with his sister which is
Mei's mother,

he went to her WeChat
and someone had taken down
all of her pictures,

everything from
the last ten years.

You tell us, tell us about
her family.

Well, I mean,
this is one of the
weirder indications

and it was actually something
I don't think law enforcement
also knew about.

It looks like he...
It has to be him 'cause
he's the only person left,

somehow has removed the photos
which are in their stream.

Now, I wondered if there's
a location or something
in there

which is revealing about
where he did whatever he did
to the parents.

Because he's definitely
tried to remove a lot of
information, um...

-This is clearly a case--
-Isn't that weird, Richard?

I mean,
you've got a spree killer

but why did he go on
to his mother-in-law's
WeChat

and then, delete all of her
10 years' worth of pictures
and everything?

And all this business
about how he doesn't
like his in-laws.

His in-laws
put Mei through college

who was supporting him now.

So, he better like 'em.

[Richard] Uh, yeah.
Well, obviously,

unfortunately, this is a
horrible situation where now
they're just trying...

the other relatives are
just trying to find out
where... what's going on.

I understand that his family
now has the children,

based on some conversations
I heard at call.

And, so, you know,
Mei's family are trying
to find out

what's exactly going on.

They were with the, uh,
detectives at call.

We obviously wanna
try to find Mei's parents.

But even if we don't,
last time we covered this case

we talked about their vehicles
that they were searching for

They found the vehicles
in San Fernando valley.

I think based on
the crime scene,

crime scene technicians
were able to deduce

that based on what they found
there was probably more than
one body

that was dismembered there
and we'll leave the details
out of that.

So, that coupled with the
totality of circumstances
surrounding what they do know,

that's why they were
able to charge him with
all three murders.

Yeah, in this case they have
one of the... the...

the true choice prosecutor
on this case, Beth Silverman.

She's prosecuted a lot of
high profile murders
in Los Angeles.

And is probably the prosecutor
you want if your fa...

something happens
to your family.

Man, you're right about that,
Richard Winton.
She is awesome.

Richard Winton, thank you.

And we'll be reading
all of your articles.
Thank you so much.

Guys, up next,
when we say nurse

we think of
Florence Nightingale

and all the other millions
of caretakers

that have seen us and
our families through
major illnesses,

maybe even saving our lives.

Not necessarily true
at a Pennsylvania
healthcare facility.

Did an angel of death
claim the lives of nearly
20 patients?

And that's that we know of.

We trust nurses with the lives
of the ones we love the most.

But what if that
seemingly caring nurse

is really an angel of death?

One female nurse now connected
to over 20 victims.

Mara, what happened?

Nancy, prosecutors say Nurse
Heather Pressdee's actions

led to the deaths
of multiple patients

and that her behavior
went undetected for
nearly three years.

Investigators in
western Pennsylvania

revealed that Pressdee
was linked to the deaths
of all these patients

at multiple care facilities.

[narrator] In May, 2023

41-year-old Heather Pressdee,
a registered nurse

at Quality Life Services
nursing facility at Chicora,
Pennsylvania

was charged with homicide
and attempted murder

after two patients died
and a third was hospitalized
while under her care.

Further investigations
revealed that Pressdee

harmed with the intent to kill
19 other patients

whose ages ranged from 43
to 104.

She allegedly admitted to
giving her victims excessive,
often lethal doses of insulin

at five different
care facilities since 2020.

According to authorities,
Pressdee often took steps to
ensure her victims would die

during overnight shifts,

when staffing was low and the
emergencies would not prompt
immediate hospitalization.

But the question
still remains... Why?

[Nancy] Now, Pressdee has
confessed to "harming with
intent to kill.

more than a dozen patients.

As of November, 2023
she has been charged with
four counts of murder,

18 counts of attempted murder,

and 22 counts of neglect of
a care-dependent person.

A total of 17 patients

under her care have died
and five patients

that she confessed
to trying to kill
actually, survived.

Pressdee could now be facing
the death penalty and remains
in custody

at Butler County,
Pennsylvania prison
without bail.

Now, Nancy, what's shocking
about these numbers

when we talk about
17 people, possibly,
that she's responsible for,

those are major
serial killer numbers.

Jeffrey Dahmer is tied
to 17 deaths and that's what
we're seeing here.

And somehow this has been
taken less seriously
than cases like Dahmer.

And I'm wondering if it's
because she's a female
or she is a nurse.

Listen, when my children,
John David and Lucy,

were born so prematurely

they were at the hospital
in the NICU

and the nurses took care
of them.

And, uh, I'm still in touch
with those nurses today.

I think about them and
I think about this woman...

Can I just tell you some texts
that I found out she sent?

Get ready. You sitting down?

You may need to lay down
for this.

Text, "Can I kill this man
at Taco Bell?"

Sounds funny, right?
Keep listening.

"She's gonna die.
I'm murdering my aides.

I drugged him already.
I don't know how
he's still awake.

I can't with this
lady tonight.

She's going to get
pillow therapy."

That's not funny.

[Mara] Yeah,
and she repeatedly joked
about "pillow therapy".

So, this was clearly something
that she was thinking about.

Yeah, and what's concerning
to me is this isn't just

something that came out
of the woodwork, right?

There's... there's a history,
a pattern of behavior here

and it's concerning to me
that this woman was still
in this profession.

We go back to December 7th
of 2018,

she was disciplined for not
following the dosage orders
by a doctor regarding insulin.

Then from April 2021
to February 2022

staff at the Belair facility
were saying, "Listen,
we're concerned

that she's killing
the patients."

They actually referred to her
as the "killer nurse".

-So, I don't understand--
-[Nancy] Whoa, whoa, whoa.

-That kills me.
-[Derrick] Yeah, I don't...

-I don't know how
she was still practicing.
-They called her the

"killer nurse". All the nurses
knew about it.

Eleven facilities
in five years.

She had reportedly provided
fake references

with fake telephone numbers
to get new jobs

yet she was consistently moved
on and on and on.

And one of the things
that's most disturbing...

Now these were care...
long-term care facilities,

so, a lot of these patients
were chronically ill

and they had...
they required care for years.

She reportedly,
if some of the patients

looked like they were going
to pull through,

she would take extra steps
to kill them.

And here's what we have
from the complaint.

"If Pressdee sensed the victim
would 'pull through'

there was a pattern of her
taking additional measures

to try and kill the victims
before they could be sent
to the hospital

by either administering
a second dose of insulin

or the use of an air embolism
to ensure death.

[Nancy] And some of these
patients had diabetes,
some did not.

You know,
nurses do God's work.

Anyone who has been
in the hospital...

-[Nancy] They saved
my children.
-...or has... or has been--

A... a... a... and they also
attended to my mother
so beautifully.

I mean, anyone who's had
any experience in a hospital

knows that the work
they're doing is so important

and what kills me in this case
is that she is trying

to position herself
as an angel of mercy.

She's saying,
"Oh, these people had
a terrible quality of life."

-[Nancy] That's her defense.
Did you know that?
-[Mara] Yes.

She said, "They looked at me
like they wanted to die."

[Nancy] Oh, she said
one lady looked at her
like an animal.

So, she wanted to put her
out of her pain.

That defense
is not going to work.

Right, and you think about it,
when we talk about
assisted suicide,

whether you agree with it
or not, that's a
different conversation,

but the reality is
none of these individuals

asked for her help
in this way.

This is not
an assisted suicide,
this is murder.

Also, I wanna go back
to this because

when I was doing IA
for the police department

we would do background check
on potential police officers,

-and we would look at their
social media history.
-Yeah.

Let's go back
to December of 2018.

She writes,
"I may kill a doctor today"
on her Facebook post.

Then in February 7th, 2018,
she puts up another post
of two spoons.

One containing
two units of insulin

one containing ten units and
she basically says,

"Hey, listen.
Two units, you'll be okay,

ten units could kill you
in a couple hours."

Do you think, if they're doing
a background check,

if they're not they should be,

this would be something
that if they saw in 2018
she would've been hired later.

I would hope not.
That's my frustration here.

You know another thing
that she did allegedly

is that she would wait
till the night shift

and on weekends
when there were
fewer personnel there,

that's when she would
administer the insulin

and it would take
a couple of hours
for the person to die.

And in fact,
she came up to one nurse

who had a special relationship
with a victim

and she pops her on the back
and went, "Well,

at least you got to say
goodbye before they
kicked the bucket."

-Just like that.
-So in... inhumane.

And, you know, going back
to her claim

that this was all about
mercy killings,

you know, she would say,
"Well, these people had

terrible quality
of life, anyway.

Who would want to live
like that?"

But that certainly
was not always the case.

There were some patients
who were doing quite well.

One of which, uh, they wrote
in the... in the documents.
Her quote,

"Mood appears pleasant.

She was oriented to people.
Her meds were effective."

That's what they wrote
in her medical records

right before her care started
to deteriorate

because Pressdee
was taking care of her.

I wanna pose
something to you guys because
we're talking about motive,

I truly believe,
based on what we know,

she got gratification
from watching these...

-[Nancy] Oh! I'm so glad
you said that.
-These people pass away.

Do you know she used to be
a vet tech?

Fourteen years she practiced
doing euthanizations.

Knowing what we know now,

seeing these animals expire
at her hand

could that corelate
to these human beings?

I think
there's a pattern there

-and I think she was gratified
by this.
-You know, we're not shrinks

but I think you're right.

She seemed to get into
euthanizing animals
way too much.

-And now all these people--
-[Derrick] This is
an escalation.

-You're absolutely right.
-This is an escalation

-from animals to human beings.
-I gotta tell you,
that just gave me chills

when you said that.

I... These families
have got to stay on it.

I don't want this to be
a cheap plea.

Just because the victims
are elderly

-what, we're just gonna
write it off?
-One of them was 40 years old.

-Hey, I'm ab...
about to turn 40.
-Yeah, you're right.

-You're right.
-We're not elderly yet.
We're still there.

Um, guys, a trusted nurse

even promoted
to Director of facility

instead of healing,
allegedly, commits murder.

Stalking the halls
to single out her next victim
when no one's watching. Why?

Next, inside the mind
of a killer.

And next, a murder case
rocking an entire nation.

And what people
are really talking about

is the killer's excuse.
The reason she said
she did it.

Coming up.

This defendant
was a medical professional

charged with caring
for these individuals.

Instead of caring for them,
she intentionally
and maliciously

injected them with insulin
to kill them.

My office will prosecute her

and seek
to hold her accountable

for her actions.

That is the Pennsylvania
Attorney Generals

vowing to get justice

for the alleged victims
of Heather Pressdee.

In 2023, the 41-year-old
registered nurse

charged for the murder
of some of her own patients.

Motive still unclear.

So an angel of mercy
turns angel of death.

But what makes people
whose job is to do good

actually turn bad?

With us now a real expert,

Dr. John Delatorre,
forensic psychologist.

Dr. Delatorre,
thank you for being with us.

When I think about my mother
who is turning 92

and my grandmother
before she passed away,

the thought of sending them
to extended care is so scary

'cause you don't know

who's really
taking care of them.

This woman,

not that motivation
has to be proven

in a court of law,

but why?

Well, you are right
to be scared, Nancy,

'cause you can't...

There's no profile
for someone like this.

It's always
about a pattern of behavior

that we're never going to see

until it's far too late

and too many lives
have already been lost.

So it's one of
those things where,

usually, someone gets a thrill
off of the power.

They take on this mantle of
"They know better,"

whether it's a nurse
or a doctor,

they take this mantle on,

and no one
can tell them otherwise.

But they know,

deep down inside,
they know it's wrong,

because they always try
to make a secret out of it.

They always try to hide
what they do,

by taking overnight shifts
or adjusting medical records

to make it so that

no one ever catches
what they've been doing.

Is there
an addictive quality to it?

Why so many?

And why continue to do it
for so many years?

According to her explanation,

they were patients who had
a poor quality of life,

but then
we start to see patients

where that was not true.

So why continue to do it?

I don't know
that I call it addictive,

but it is a power,
thrill-seeking aspect to it.

It's one of those
where you do it enough times

and you get this sense
of power and control

that you have
over another person's life,

you're going to want to
keep doing it.

Nothing... No one can stop you

once you already have
that thing

running inside of you.

[Nancy] Have we
considered the fact

that she's just
a nasty, evil person?

She didn't like the doctors,

she didn't like
her colleagues.

They called her
the killer nurse.

I'm surprised
that didn't raise a red flag.

She said things
about her victims such as,

one, "Should not be alive."

One female patient,
104 years old,

she said,
"That was a disgusting..."

That the woman was disgusting.

Another person, she said,

"When is she
going to die already?"

It goes on and on.

I mean, if I heard a nurse
talking like that

about one of
my family members,

I'd give her
a little finger necklace

-right there on the spot...
-[laughter]

...but these families
had no idea.

But the system knew.

They saw the red flags
and they did nothing.

It's sad, but even worse,
it's a betrayal.

'Cause these are the people
that we entrust to

those times when we're sick,
when we're vulnerable.

When we need someone
to protect us,

these are the people
that we look to.

And then all of a sudden,

they take their opinion

more than the opinion
of the doctors,

or even more than the opinion
of the actual patient, right?

'Cause none of these patients
asked for this.

Right.

And so they take that on,

these people
who are willing to engage

and abuse
their power of authority,

they take that on

and they make it so that

we can no longer trust
the people

that are supposed
to protect us.

We were talking
in the previous segment

about her past history
as far as what she used to do.

I know with serial killers

sometimes you'll see
this evolution

where they start
with small animals,

things of that nature.

We're finding out now

that she worked
in veterinary care

for 14 years

and worked on euthanizations.

Do you think there could be
a connection to that,

where there's
this gratification

of seeing the animals die,

seeing them expire,

and now evolving to humans,

or do you think
it's just a coincidence?

No, there are no coincidences
in murder cases, number one.

So we have
to think about, well,

these individuals know that
it's wrong to harm animals.

Everybody knows that
it's wrong to do the harm,

they just don't care.

And they also know

that once you start
getting found out,

people are going to flag you,

people are going
to start targeting you.

So they try to find ways
in order to make it so that

they don't get found out.

You can find
all of these people

ingratiating themselves

in other aspects
of our community,

and you'd never know

that they were
secretly thinking about

how they could end your life.

[Mara] And to your point
about trying to hide it,

you know, insulin
is not a controlled substance,

so she had
a lot of access to it.

It's also
much harder to detect

that that
is the cause of death

when your patient is diabetic

and would have been
administered insulin anyway.

Do you have any thoughts
as to why somebody like this

would even go into nursing

if you have so much contempt
and loathing

for those who need
medical care?

Why be in that field?

It's about the authority
that you get

from being that person

that actually
holds the needle.

It's the authority
and the feeling that you get

where you walk into a room

and everybody
kind of genuflects to you

because you're wearing
the white coat.

It's one of
those things where,

yes, you're not
always killing people,

but the moment
you walk into a room,

everybody looks to you

as if you are
the absolute authority--

[Nancy] But what
is her deal, Delatorre?

Break it down for me.

Why is she the way she is?

And why didn't they
catch it sooner?

Did she leave
those other facilities,

at least seven of them,

very quickly,

because she kills somebody
and moved on

and didn't want to get caught?

Was she fired?

What is wrong with this woman?

And don't start with insanity.

Because she knew

what she was doing was wrong.

[Dr. Delatorre] No,
I would never say that.

She's clearly sane.

She absolutely made the choice

to kill these people.

That's number one.

Why was she like this?

What happened to her?

Who knows?

And she can make up

all different kinds of stories

about abuse or whatever else,

but she chose
to do this thing.

That's what's clear.

[Derrick] You know,
for police officers,

before we give them a gun,

they're evaluated
by a psychologist.

Do we need
more thorough vetting

when it comes
to nurses and doctors,

maybe
psychological evaluations,
before they're giving--

Oh, please, she's gonna get
pillow therapy?

I'm not a shrink.

Sorry, Delatorre.

But I know that that's wrong.

And they knew
she was saying that.

If you're the psychologist,

and somebody
doing a background on them

prior to them being hired,

you can potentially
prevent this...

Like, we're talking about
what she did.

I think we got to go
look at this and say,

what can we do to prevent it
from happening again?

[Dr. Delatorre]
It'd be difficult

because it would
have to be something

that's ongoing.

A lot of these individuals

did not actually start off
wanting to do this,

but there are aspects
of an empathy depletion,

where they start
viewing these people

as less than people,

especially in long-term,
hospice cares and stuff,

stuff like that,

where all of a sudden
you're thinking,

these people aren't
going to live much longer.

So how... what psychological
assessment could I give

other than actually talking
to these people.

That would be a drain
on resources.

[Nancy] Are they seeking
the death penalty?

I mean, how many people
have to be killed

by the "Angel of Death"

before you seek
the death penalty?

Well, to me, one is too many.

As soon as one happens,
that's it.

I mean,
you've lost all sympathy

and empathy from me
'cause you made that choice.

And it's clear
she made that choice.

Guys, when we come back,

the Twinkie defense,

the sleepwalking defense,

the full moon defense,

the cough syrup defense,

the owl defense,

even the affluenza
"I'm too rich" defense.

We've heard it all.

But now there's
the TV and novels defense.

A 23-year-old woman

crime show-junkie

tells a judge she stalked
an English language teacher

and stabbed her dead

because she wanted to
"try out a murder"

stoked by curiosity

from true crime books
and TV shows.

Mara, Derrick, what happened?

According to
South Korean police,

Jung Yoo-jung
was an unemployed loner

who lived
with her grandfather.

She obsessively read
and watched true crime,

telling authorities it,

"Piqued her interest
for months."

She tried to design
the perfect crime.

She checked books out
at the library for tips.

She looked up stuff like

"murder without
a physical body"

in her web browser.

And then, of course,
she had to pick a victim.

She gets on a tutoring app

and poses as the mother
of a 14-year-old student

who wants to learn English,

and in May of this year,
after contacting 54 people,

she dresses up

in a school uniform

she bought online,

shows up to the house

of a 26-year-old woman

who police have not yet named,

and stabs her

more than 100 times.

And if that
wasn't gruesome enough,

Jung dismembers
the victim's body,

places parts of it
into a suitcase

and changes
into the woman's clothing.

She then takes a cab

to dump her remains
in a wooded area

by a local river.

The cabbie senses
something is off

and alerts police.

Now, Jung has
changed her story

a couple times at this point,

but eventually she confesses.

Prosecutors wanted to seek
the death penalty,

but she asked for leniency,

claiming she's got
mental health issues

and hallucinations.

They agreed to life in prison

with the possibility of parole
in 20 years.

I don't think anybody
really bought

her theory of hallucinations.

In fact, the judge
spoke clearly and said,

"It's really hard to accept

your defense
of a mental disorder

when you very carefully
planned this whole thing,

buying
the schoolgirl's uniform,

stalking this
English language teacher,

going to her home."

That picture we just showed,

that was her
dressed up that day,

caught on closed circuit TV,
on surveillance cam.

And we know
that some of the body parts

were thrown in the river.

Guess where?

The other body parts
were in her home.

-Yeah?
-Okay?

We need a shrink now.

Help me, Delatorre.

I don't know
that I can help you, Nancy,

'cause here's one of
the bigger problems is that

because she changes her story
so many times,

how can we trust anything
that she actually says?

I don't know that she actually
suffered from hallucinations.

Generally when we think--

Okay, well, I can
answer that for you.

She did not, okay?

That's another thing
she learned

on one of
her true crime shows.

She did not
have hallucinations.

She might as well have ordered

the whole murder
up on Amazon, for Pete's sake.

But Nancy, this is something

that you and I
disagree on often,

is that, you know,
just because somebody

carries out
something logically,

they plan it

or they take steps
to cover it up,

does that mean that they are
still not mentally unwell?

Can both things be true?

Can you be logical
and reasonable

in planning a crime,

but also be
really, really mentally ill?

If murdering a stranger

and dismembering their body
doesn't make you insane,

what does?

There is
a real fine line to walk

when it comes to
answering that question

because there is
no mental illness

in which violence
is a primary component.

However, there are
absolutely opportunities

where someone is so disordered

or they're so psychotic
in their thinking

that the hallucinations
are a manifestation

of some underlying desire,

some underlying wish.

Is it possible
to have an organized thought

when someone is insane?

It absolutely is.

I'm not convinced

that's what happened
in this case.

So guys, it's not
mental disorder.

The standard,
the gold standard is insanity.

Insanity,
the M'Naghten Rule is

did you know
it was right from wrong,

at the time of the act?

The fact
that she hid the body parts,

that she had elaborate lies,

that she changed her story.

The first one was that

she killed the tutor
after an argument.

Another one was that
someone else killed the tutor,

and she just
got rid of the body.

She also
dismembered this woman.

All this woman did
was answer the door.

But then why?
How do we explain this?

She said she wanted to see
what it felt like.

Just like Brian Kohberger.

Is that ringing a bell?

[Derrick] Well, you brought up
Brian Kohberger,

and I think it brings, like,
a macro issue, right?

True crime.

We're here
covering cases right now.

We do podcasts.
We do all these things.

Doc, are we...

We want to educate,
we want to inform.

That's why we do this.

But are we also
contributing to this--

I am not a part
of this discussion.

Right.

I cover crime

because I want to stop crime.

Right, but are people
watching your show--

That's their problem!

And that's what I'm saying.

Like, what's the...

When you have someone
who's watching these shows,

maybe not
for the right reasons,

are they learning
from what we're covering

and applying it
to their own situations?

Yeah, but that would be true
for everybody.

Everybody who watches this
is wanting to learn something,

they want to be educated
in some way.

Generally speaking,
we're looking at people

who want to feel more safe,

who want to understand,
sort of, the criminal mind

or they want to understand

how to be safe
out in the world

so that they can protect
themselves and their family,

but we can't control
who watches what.

We have to simply
put the information out there,

that's easily digestible
and made understood.

What someone else
does with it,

that's their choice.

Good point.

That what that judge said.

He said he was angry
at Jung Yoo-jung

because she stoked fear

and people began
to distrust the system.

And they should have.

And capturing her
and prosecuting her

really alleviates
a lot of that fear.

Dr. Delatorre,

it's so great having you here
on the set with us.

Guys, every week,

Crime Feedbrings you
crime stories

from across our great nation.

Some ripped
from the headlines,

some you may never
have heard of.

From Mara, Derrick and myself,

we'll see you next week.

Happy and blessed holidays
from us to you.

Good night for now.

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