All language subtitles for FBI.True.S06E06.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH_track3_[eng]

- We've had vulnerable military
veterans who were given

insulin, which killed them.

And so now, we're dealing
with a murder case.

- There was one
employee, Reta Mays,

who was working when all of
these hypoglycemic

events occurred.

- We need to
examine the bodies.

The problem is they've all
been buried for several months.

The medical examiner issues
a report that says the cause

of death was homicide.

- So we go to pull
her Facebook messages.

And one message, she talks,
I could kill this patient.

We know we need a third
and maybe final interview.

- This is going to be our
best chance of getting

a confession in this case.

- We're just waiting for
her to say the right thing,

to be able to go right across
the hall and put the cuffs on.

- It's all down to Reta
Mays at this point.

And we're willing
to do everything

we can to prove this case.

- In the FBI, we make
a lot of headlines--

drug busts, mob stings,
terrorist takedowns.

We understand why people want
to tell stories about us.

- Mark it.
- Freeze.

- FBI.
- FBI.

- Action.

- But they don't
know the half of it.

What really goes down, we
save that for each other

when we're talking
agent to agent.

This is FBI True.

- We're starting to put
the puzzle pieces together.

Now, we have the medical
evidence coming along

with that circumstantial case.

We still need to
make it better.

It still has to get better.

So we're going to look at
that electronic evidence.

And that's when
we started to look

toward her Facebook messages.

- We had talked to
several coworkers

who, hey, we sometimes
discuss patients on shift.

And looking back, there's
some strange messages that you

might be interested in.

So we go to pull her
Facebook messages.

None of those are there,
which indicate that she

went in and deleted them.

And so we work with Facebook.

We end up recovering
those messages.

One message, she talks, I
could kill this patient.

I had this other patient
calm and resting.

And now, he's got
him all wound up.

Innocuous, you could
say that facetiously.

But when that patient then dies
after that message is sent,

that starts to bring something
else into the picture.

- What also raised
eyebrows for us as well,

when she would leave shift,
she was sending text messages

to employees back on shift.

What happened to this person?

What happened to that person?

She inquired about three room
numbers pertaining to three

of our confirmed victims.

- This could be
evidence of her checking

to see if what she had done
is actually taking effect.

- What else were you learning
from her electronic profiles?

- So while she
was at work, there

were several times
where she had some very

significant and disturbing
search terms through the search

engines, through the VA
network, one of which

was Elizabeth Bathory, a
Hungarian noblewoman who

is known and
recognized by Guinness

World Records as the most
prolific female serial killer.

- So we also served a
search warrant on Netflix.

So we pulled those records.

We saw not only did she
watch Nurses Who Kill,

several of those
episodes involved

the administration of insulin.

- And look, from a
prosecutor's perspective,

we're not going to
be arguing to a jury

that because you watched
that show, you are a killer,

but it does show that you have
some understanding of the fact

that insulin can be
used as a murder weapon.

- So she's down in the mail
room keeping busy down there.

The investigation continues.

What are the steps
we're taking?

- We tore into
Reta's personal life.

We were interviewing her family
members, her prior places

of employment,
basically just trying

to get any morsel
of direct evidence

to be able to bring
the case together.

- Reta was married.

She had two children.

And her husband
was also a veteran.

- Where's her husband work?

Is he around?

- Her husband's in prison.

He's in federal prison on
charges of child pornography.

- Since her husband is serving
time for child pornography,

you have access to
their phone calls.

- Absolutely.

She basically had a daily
recurring phone call with him

when she would get off shift.

- This call is from--

- Gordon Mays.

- An inmate at a
federal prison.

This call is being recorded
and is subject to monitoring.

- She would not only talk
about the prior night shift.

- But she would
actually go into detail

regarding the patients
that she had to sit with.

- But at one call,
in particular,

that she explicitly talks
about one of our victims

and essentially says
that, had the staff just

let him drift off
and go to sleep,

he would not have woken up.

- And then we check
and he actually

had a blood sugar of
30, even though she

wasn't the one who tested it.

- We're saying to ourselves
from investigators,

how would you know what?

- At this point, we're
in it for the long run.

We've had murders of
vulnerable military veterans

who just went to the
hospital to get medical care,

and they never went home.

- They deserve the
best medical care.

And when they didn't get that,
they deserved the best of us

to prove it.

- And so at this point, we
are willing to do everything

we can to prove this case.

- We're looking at how we might
want to go forward with not

just the investigation,
but how we approach

Reta Mays specifically.

Now, that we've had one
interaction, how can we also

focus on getting
her to start talking

and telling us her story?

- So there's really three
things we're looking

to address going forward.

The first is that insulin is
what killed these patients.

The second is that
someone administered

that insulin to them.

And the third is that
Reta Mays was that person.

- So really, on
that first piece,

we need to start to
examine the bodies.

The problem is they've all
been buried for several months.

So these investigators
had the unenviable task

of knocking on the
doors of family members

and asking for that permission.

- On top of that, not only are
we asking to exhume their loved

ones body and
conduct an autopsy,

we're informing
them that we think

their loved one died of
unnatural causes done

by someone else.

- And to not only have each
of the families a blessing

and their consent to do the
autopsy, to do the exhumation,

but to then bring
the family members

together for a reburial
and to re-initiate

full military rites.

It was absolutely
gut wrenching.

However, they knew
something was wrong.

The prevailing theme was, we
want to help you all figure

this out however we can.

We don't want this to
happen to a fellow veteran

and a fellow veteran's family.

- So as a prosecutor, and as
investigators, as we all know,

we can suspect, believe, know.

But to prove it
is another thing.

We need to have that
homicide reading to charge.

- We need the intentionality,
of course, to prove murder,

that someone intended to kill.

In this case, we
made an arrangement

with the medical examiner at
Dover Air Force Base, Paul

Uribe, so they could be treated
with the typical respect,

obviously, that the
veterans deserve.

- We had special agents
who were veterans

themselves actually
transporting

the bodies to Dover and back.

- So what's the process
once we get to Dover, to

the medical examiner's office?

- First, there's going to be a
visual inspection of the body.

And the medical examiner
saw bruising on the abdomen

of one of the patients.

That indicated to
him that there might

have been an injection point.

He took a tissue sample.

And he found
insulin positivity.

And this was a
non-diabetic patient.

- So every shot that a patient
received in the hospital,

whether it was insulin
or it was something else,

is charted by the nurse or
the doctor who administers it.

We were seeing other injection
sites that were not charted.

- So Dr. Uribe
issues a report that

says, the cause of
death of this patient

was homicide by exogenous
or pharmaceutical insulin.

That's a major turning
point in this case.

And it's followed up with
three total reports that

are homicide at that time.

But the other ones
are undetermined.

And so now, Dr. Uribe
is going to have

to consult with another
professional endocrinologist

that deals with diabetes,
Diane Krieger out of Miami.

We need her to look at
what caused the crashes.

- When you experience
hypoglycemia,

you're given this dextrose
solution, which brings

your blood sugar back up.

But these poor victims, even
after receiving dextrose,

their blood sugar
was not stabilizing.

- And you could
chart it out and see

the hills and the valleys.

And that told her
insulin is the only thing

that could have caused this.

So Dr. Uribe
changed his opinion

from undetermined to homicide
in four additional cases.

And now, it's official.

There's a murderer.

- We've now got these
official rulings

from the medical
examiner's office

that these are homicides.

So what happens next
in this process?

- We're closing in
on a third interview.

- How is it that we
get her to have a chat?

- By this time, Reta's husband
had been released from prison

and was out on probation.

- Totally separate
from our case,

state search warrant
had been executed

following her husband's
violation of his probation.

They went in and seized
electronic devices

to include Reta's cell phone.

Local police actually
had her cell phone.

And so they were
releasing it back to her.

The circumstances are right.

Reta Mays would be
entering a police station.

And we could be there to see if
she was curious enough to sit

with us for a third interview.

There is an agent in Virginia,
Special Agent Liza Ludovico.

She's a veteran who is
a former Army nurse.

She has done interviews
similar to this.

She has this skill set.

Let's bring her over.

We can at least talk to
her about what the case is,

make sure we're not
missing anything obvious

that maybe she understands
from a nursing perspective,

a medical perspective, and,
ultimately, because of all

the similarities,
we make the decision

that Liza will be there
to conduct the interview.

Liza was able to
approach her, introduce

herself, and why she was here.

Hey, I'm taking a look
at the case of what's

happening up at the VA.

Would you like to
come see what we got?

Reta Mays ultimately makes that
decision to walk into that room

and sit down.

- This is going to be our
best chance of getting

a confession in this case.

We have an interviewer
who checks all the boxes.

We have the opportunity to
lay out the case against her.

- We have positioned this room
to look like our war room.

We have our charts on the wall.

We have all the pictures
of Reta and of her husband,

the hospital.

Front and center, we have
all the victims' pictures.

- This is a
voluntary interview.

She doesn't have to talk to us.

She could have just
said, I'm not interested.

I don't want to participate.

- It wasn't
intimidating in any way.

It was just like, hey, I'm
going to explain it to you.

- Is she affable?

Is she distant?

Is she-- like,
what's her demeanor?

- For the first several
hours, she's fully engaged.

She's sitting up in her seat.

- There was a warmth there.

There were a lot of
complimentary things

said about Reta.

And that was a good way to
start off the interview.

- Was there ever a point
where she is actually

processing the evidence
in front of her,

where Reta became animated?

- Yeah.

She got very adamant
that she had never

injected any of these men.

- Liza immediately came
back and said, well,

maybe you administered
insulin in another way.

Maybe you pushed it
through the IV line.

She says, maybe you put
insulin in these IV syringes

called flushes.

Reta went from being very
adamant to really stepping

back like, oh, my gosh.

- We want her to
understand that we

know everything
there is to know

and here is proof on the walls.

- Liza asked her at one
point during the interview,

what would you say if
you were the prosecutor

seeing all this evidence?

- So she's saying, if I
tell you, I killed people,

I don't see how you
can help me with that.

- Now you're seeing all
the cards on the table.

This is why we know
not only is it you,

but it couldn't have
been anybody else.

And as much as I think
she wanted to say it,

and it was on the
tip of her tongue,

I think reality kicked in.

Hey, if I just
keep my mouth shut,

I'm able to get up
and walk out of here.

- She doesn't confess,
but she's clearly

contemplating confessing.

- We were like, we actually
think she needs legal advice

to get her over that hurdle.

She doesn't know what's
good for her at this point.

- Now, what happens?

- So we're going
to the grand jury.

We're putting witnesses
into the grand jury.

And we are going to indict
by the end of this month.

And the indictment would
be for the death penalty.

That's the elephant
in the room.

I'm told by the attorney,
she is ready to enter

into plea discussions.

We know we've had a
long investigation.

And if we go death penalty,
long process there.

We've already had a widow who
died during the investigation.

We have another widow who
is in poor health, a son

of a victim in poor health.

All these things are going
into play deciding how the best

way is to resolve this case.

I was very open with
the defense counsel,

but said, look,
we're going to be

willing to offer a plea
agreement that does not

result in the death penalty.

- So, Jared, when does
this finally get completed?

- After a full day
at the grand jury,

I got this voicemail from
one of the attorneys.

This thing is going
to result in a plea.

You have eight cases.

She's going to prison for life.

- Did she ever talk about
a motive at any point?

- She tried to claim some
sense of mercy killing.

But on the other hand,
said that part of it

was for control that her life,
both at home and at work,

were out of control.

- It was all about
her problems.

She's hyper focused
on her issues.

And so the killings likely had
nothing to do with the victims

and had everything
to do with Reta Mays.

- Did Reta Mays show any
remorse at any point?

- I think her remorse came
from the fact she got caught.

It wasn't remorse necessarily,
for the things she did

and the men that
were no longer here.

It was the fact that her
life was now impacted, again,

by what we had discovered.

- None of us could
have done this

from an individual standpoint.

So bringing all of the
law enforcement, DOJ,

the community, the
families, the experts.

Had any one of those
components not been there,

I shudder to think
where we'd be.

- Coming into the bureau, you
hope bad things don't happen,

but knowing that
they do and getting

to a resolution that at
least brings some closure,

it means a lot.

- If I'm fortunate to
be a federal prosecutor

for another three
decades, I'll never

have a case like this again,
one that is at the same time

emotionally challenging
but also the most rewarding

when you can tell those
families that this is

the person who did
your family wrong,

and we've put it
as right as we can.