1990s ‘Angel of Death’ serial killer dies in Indiana prison
MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. (WISH) — A serial killer dubbed the “Angel of Death” during his criminal investigation has died in prison, state officials announced Monday.
Orville Lynn Majors Jr. died Sunday, the Indiana State Prison said in a news release Monday. A preliminary autopsy showed cardiac issues with death due to natural causes.
A licensed practical nurse, Majors, 56, of Linton, was sentenced Oct. 17, 1999, to six consecutive 60-year prison terms in Clay County for performing lethal injections on six patients at the Vermillion County Hospital in Clinton. He injected the patients with potassium chloride in 1994 and 1995, according to media reports about the sentencing. A 400 percent increase in deaths at the hospital, many in the four-bed intensive care unit where Majors worked, initiated the investigation. Investigators believed Majors may have been responsible for more than 100 deaths from 1993 to 1995.
The investigation and trial brought national media attention to the small city of Linton.
His earliest projected release date had been July 1, 2177.
On Sunday, correctional officers were assisting with a medical pass for Majors, who was breathing heavily and became unresponsive, the release said. The prison staff performed CPR and applied an automated external defibrillator, and LaPorte County emergency medical responders later continued the CPR as he was taken to Franciscan Health Michigan City hospital, where the county coroner said Majors died at 5:11 p.m.
