Högel Niels

Niels Högel is a German nurse and serial killer who was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of six patients. 

Högel has confessed to killing 30 patients but in 2017 a police investigation concluded that he was responsible for at least 90 deaths. In November 2017, German prosecutors said that the number of victims was at least 100. Högel worked as a nurse at clinics in Delmenhorst and Oldenburg between 1999 and 2005. Högel was first arrested in 2005 after he was caught injecting a patient with medicine. He was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to seven and a half years in prison in 2008. As a result of media coverage of Högel's 2008 trial, a woman whose mother died at a clinic where Högel worked became suspicious and told police that her mother could have fallen victim to him.

This led to a new investigation, during which Högel admitted to administering 90 unauthorized injections, as a result of which 30 patients died and 60 others were successfully resuscitated. He expressed regret and denied killing any other patients. Högel was convicted of murder and attempted murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. Prosecutors said Högel acted out of boredom and the desire to show off his resuscitation skills. Amidst mounting suspicion that Högel was a serial killer, police launched a major investigation in October 2014, after which 200 suspicious deaths were identified.

More than 130 bodies in Germany, Poland and Turkey were exhumed. Police announced on 28 August 2017 that they had concluded that Högel was responsible for the deaths of at least 90 patients, including 6 for which he had already been convicted. Högel admitted to an undisclosed number of deaths but in most cases was unable to remember specific details, although he did not deny the possibility that he was responsible. As of August 2017, the deaths of 41 people are still being investigated.