Serial killer nurse William George Davis, who is now serving time on death row, killed four patients at a Tyler, Texas, hospital between 2017 and 2018 by injecting air into their arterial lines. He was captured on surveillance entering the victims' room minutes before their conditions worsened.
In October 2021, Davis was convicted on four charges of capital murder and sentenced to death regardless of the defense's claims that the patients died due to the hospital's negligence and treatment procedures.
An upcoming episode of ID's Evil Lives Here will revisit the case of William George Davis this Wednesday, February 22, 2023. The synopsis of the episode states:
"Detectives rely on surveillance footage at a hospital in Tyler, Texas, when patients mysteriously start dying in the intensive care unit."
The all-new episode, titled Angel of Death, airs on the channel at 9 pm ET.
William George Davis: Three quick facts to know about the convicted serial killer nurse currently on death row
1) Surveillance footage captured Davis moments before he committed the crimes
While the deaths of John Lafferty, Ronald Clark, Christopher Greenaway, and Joseph Kalina initially seemed like coincidences, further investigation led the CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances Louis and Peaches Owen Heart Hospital staff to believe that one of their nurses, William George Davis, may have been responsible for their deaths.
According to reports, Davis was captured in surveillance footage entering the patients' rooms minutes before their conditions worsened as they experienced severe stroke-like symptoms. The four aforementioned patients died, while others were left gravel scarred for life. He was dismissed from work in February 2018 amid rising suspicions.
2) William George Davis was indicted on multiple charges to which he pleaded not guilty
In April 2018, Davis was arrested and charged with four counts of capital murder and five counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, among other counts. It was alleged that he injected air into their arterial lines, which resulted in brain damage and killed John Lafferty, Ronald Clark, Christopher Greenaway, and Joseph Kalina.
On September 28, at the start of the trial, William George Davis entered a not-guilty plea. But Dr. William Yarbrough, a pulmonologist and professor of internal medicine, testified how injecting air into the brain arteries causes brain damage, inevitably leading to death. Yarbrough claimed that he was able to prove that there was air in the victims' brains' arterial system by examining brain scan images.
3) He was found guilty of capital murder and sentenced to death
William George Davis, 37, was found guilty on all four counts of capital murder on October 19, 2021. The decision came despite the defense's assertions that Davis was being used as a fall guy and that the patients' deaths or injuries were caused by the hospital's treatment methods or simple carelessness.
The prosecution, meanwhile, denied such assertions, claiming that the hospital did not experience any similar occurrences even while they continued using the same methods after Davis was dismissed.
Davis was sentenced to death on October 27, 2021, and is currently serving time on death row in the Allan B. Polunsky Unit in Polk County, Texas.