Number of victims: 12+
Date of murders: 1984
Method of murder: Strangulation / Poisoning
Location: St Petersburg, Florida
Born in Woodlawn, Illinois, Bobbie Sue Terrell grew up to be an overweight and painfully shy girl who was obsessed with religion. After graduating high school, she decided on a nursing career, her choice motivated by the medical afflictions of her siblings, four of who suffered from muscular dystrophy. She received her nursing diploma in 1976 and shortly thereafter married Danny Dudley. The couple later adopted a son, when it was learned that Bobbie Sue could not bear children.
Bobbie Sue Dudley was distressed at not being able to bear children, but in other ways her life appeared to be on track. Then her adopted son was hospitalized due to a drug overdose and her husband accused her of feeding tranquilizers to the child. Divorce followed and Bobbie Sue was also stripped of custody. Alone again, her health and mental health began to decline. She was hospitalized five times for various ailments and ended up in a state mental hospital for over a year.
Yet despite her mental health issues, Terrell was back working as a nurse soon after her release. Before long, however, colleagues were reporting bizarre occurrences involving Terrell, including incidents of self-harm. As a result, she was moved on from several positions, ending up eventually at North Horizon Health Center, in St. Petersburg, Florida. No long after, patients on Terrell’s late night shift began dying.
No alarm was raised when Aggie Marsh died on November 13, 1984. The patient was, after all 97-years old. But the death toll soon mounted. Five more elderly women died in under two weeks. Then, on November 26, five patients died in a single day. That resulted in a full-scale investigation leading to Terrell’s dismissal.
That, of course, wasn’t the end of her problems. In January 1985, the authorities obtained exhumation orders for nine patients and as a result of the autopsies charged Terrell with four murders.
Bobbie Sue Terrell’s trial eventually got under way in February 1988. By then she had struck a deal with the D.A. and pled guilty to second-degree murder. She was sentenced to a 65 years in prison.
Bobbie Sue Dudley was distressed at not being able to bear children, but in other ways her life appeared to be on track. Then her adopted son was hospitalized due to a drug overdose and her husband accused her of feeding tranquilizers to the child. Divorce followed and Bobbie Sue was also stripped of custody. Alone again, her health and mental health began to decline. She was hospitalized five times for various ailments and ended up in a state mental hospital for over a year.
Yet despite her mental health issues, Terrell was back working as a nurse soon after her release. Before long, however, colleagues were reporting bizarre occurrences involving Terrell, including incidents of self-harm. As a result, she was moved on from several positions, ending up eventually at North Horizon Health Center, in St. Petersburg, Florida. No long after, patients on Terrell’s late night shift began dying.
No alarm was raised when Aggie Marsh died on November 13, 1984. The patient was, after all 97-years old. But the death toll soon mounted. Five more elderly women died in under two weeks. Then, on November 26, five patients died in a single day. That resulted in a full-scale investigation leading to Terrell’s dismissal.
That, of course, wasn’t the end of her problems. In January 1985, the authorities obtained exhumation orders for nine patients and as a result of the autopsies charged Terrell with four murders.
Bobbie Sue Terrell’s trial eventually got under way in February 1988. By then she had struck a deal with the D.A. and pled guilty to second-degree murder. She was sentenced to a 65 years in prison.
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