Gerona, Spain (dpa) - A 45-year-old nursing home worker in the
north-eastern town Spanish town of Olot told a court Tuesday he
killed at least 11 people in the home "out of pity" and a hope to
"free them from their troubles."
The man's lawyer confirmed the statement, made during a
preliminary hearing.
The man has confessed to killing three victims by forcing them to
drink household cleaners, another two with an overdose of insulin and
the rest with a deadly mixture of medications.
He has also claimed to have killed a twelfth victim, though it
remains unclear if that person might have died of natural causes or
from the poisoning.
The man came under suspicion after it became clear that a large
number of people were dying during his shifts. He was arrested a
month ago and confessed to three murders in an initial hearing.
That led to authorities ordering the exhumation of eight more
bodies, at which point the worker asked to change his confession and
took responsibility for all the deaths.
It is one of the worst series of serial murders in Spanish
criminal history.
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