'She is evil personified': Victims' families face killer nurse Heather Pressdee in court

Grief. Fury. Sadness. Guilt. Heartache. Regret. Rage.

As each of the victims’ loved ones stood to explain the impact of Heather Pressdee’s actions on their families, the defendant sat between her attorneys at counsel table, hair pulled back, handcuffed, staring straight ahead.

She never looked at them. For hours, she never reacted — even as the granddaughter of one of the men the ex-nurse killed shouted an expletive at her, prompting the courtroom to break out in applause.

It was only in the afternoon that Pressdee showed any emotion, beginning to cry as the daughter of one of her victims told her that Jesus would forgive her.

Pressdee, 41, of Harrison pleaded guilty Thursday morning in Butler County Common Pleas Court to three counts of first- degree murder and 19 counts of attempted murder. She admitted to administering often-lethal doses of insulin and killing patients at five nursing homes in Allegheny, Armstrong, Butler and Westmoreland counties between December 2020 and May 1, 2023.

In all, 17 patients died. Twenty-two people have been identified as victims, who ranged in age from 43 to 104.

“In all instances, this was done with the intent to kill,” Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Baxter told the court.

The plea agreement — which spared Pressdee from a possible death sentence — called for her to serve three consecutive terms of life without parole, plus an additional 380 to 760 years.

Judge Joseph Kubit imposed that sentence late in the afternoon as the proceedings concluded. The sentencing immediately followed the plea, which came just shy of a year after Pressdee was arrested.

Executive Deputy Attorney General Michele Kelly Walsh spoke briefly afterward.

“Being in the courtroom for today’s proceedings, the evidence of her depravity and darkness was only outshone by the light and love of the families that she victimized,” she said. “They told the court and everyone present of the lives that their loved ones led and the grace and beauty with which they did. No one has the right to take that life away.”

‘Because I am guilty’

As the hearing began, defense attorney James DePasquale questioned his client.

“Come on, Heather,” he said to her, calling her to the front of the courtroom. As she stated her name, “Heather Irene Pressdee,” DePasquale cautioned her.

“Heather, calm down. Slow down.”

There, in mostly one-word answers, she told the court that she wanted to plead guilty, that she had not been coerced to do so and that she understood her right to go to trial.

“Why have you offered to plead guilty?” DePasquale asked.

“Because I am guilty,” she answered.

For 17 minutes, Baxter recounted the facts underlying each of the charges against the defendant.

Pressdee pleaded guilty to first-degree murder for killing Gerald Shrum Sr., 90, on March 25, 2023, while he lived at Sunnyview Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Butler.

She pleaded guilty to first-degree murder for killing Nicholas Cymbol, 43, who died May 1, 2023, at Sunnyview.

She pleaded guilty to first-degree murder for killing James “Matt” Bartoe, 55, who died Dec. 4, 2022, while a resident at Quality Life Services in Chicora.

Although the defense called no witnesses on Pressdee’s behalf, she addressed the courtroom briefly before her sentence was imposed.

“I just wanted to say I’m very sorry for what I’ve done,” she began. “I know I’ve impacted a lot of lives, including my parents’, and I’m deeply deeply sorry for what I’ve done.”

Pressdee’s parents, who sat behind the defense table throughout the day and showed no emotion, said nothing.

Nicholas Cymbol

One by one, small groups of loved ones approached the lectern in the courtroom — some holding photographs or poster boards full of pictures.

Cymbol’s sister, Melinda Brown, spoke first. She said her brother was diagnosed with diabetes at 10 years old and managed it well into adulthood. But in May 2016, he thought his insulin pen had failed and ended up giving himself two doses.

His family found him unresponsive. He had suffered from a lack of oxygen to his brain, and doctors believed him to be in a persistent vegetative state.

But Cymbol responded to his niece’s voice as she made the same monkey sounds that they had playfully uttered throughout her childhood.

“When she did the monkey call, his brain waves went crazy, like he was doing the monkey call back to her in his brain,” Brown told the court. “That’s when we knew he was still there. We knew he just needed more time.

“He lived seven more years.”

Doctors said he was a miracle, Brown said.

Cymbol recovered and was able to live at home with caretakers.

But he had to move to Sunnyview temporarily when his caretakers both got covid-19, his sister said. He intended to return to his home.

Brown had made plans to adopt for him a Great Dane named Winnie the Blue, who was able to detect low blood sugar levels.

“Everything Nick loves was intentionally stolen from him and all of us,” she said.

Pressdee told investigators that she deliberately gave him too much insulin, according to the criminal complaint.

Cymbol’s sister called what Pressdee did “a truly cowardly act for someone who thought they had the right to decide who deserved to live or die.

“As much as you believe you may have the powers of God, you are not God.”

Gerald Shrum Sr.

Shrum’s family spoke next.

“We feel like we don’t even know who we are anymore,” said his daughter, Mary Beth Graham.

Shrum had six children and was a veteran of the Korean War. He got his pilot’s license later in life and was involved in many clubs and veterans’ groups.

“All he wanted to do was come home,” Graham said.

After learning that Pressdee killed her father, she continued, the family had nothing but questions: Did he know she was trying to kill him? Was he frightened of her? Was she abusive toward him?

“The guilt and sorrow were relentless,” Graham said.

Pressdee told investigators that she gave him insulin and then flushed his IV port, which she thought would kill him by causing an air embolism.

Linda White, another of Shrum’s daughters, said she was the one who moved her dad to Sunnyview so she could visit him often.

“There’s a huge empty place in my heart now, and the love has been replaced by fury at Heather Pressdee,” White said. “She is not sick. She is not insane. She is evil personified.

“I looked into the face of Satan myself the morning she killed my father.”

James “Matt” Bartoe

James “Matt” Bartoe was diagnosed with brain cancer at age 27, battled it for 10 years and beat it, his brother, Vincent Bartoe told the court.

His brother said Matt had a big heart, loved Chevrolets and Dale Earnhardt and was proud of his Tweety bird tattoo on his arm.

He was a good artist, enjoyed completing 3-D puzzles, and caring for his cats — Flash was his favorite.

By Matt’s late 30s, their mom could no longer care for him, so he moved into Quality Life Services in Chicora.

Vincent took Matt, who had a magnetic personality, out on day trips every other Friday.

Their mom, Helen Bartoe, told Pressdee she visited her son at the nursing home twice a day.

“Now I visit his grave,” she said. “I want you to know you put a hole in my heart that will never heal.”

Irene Simons

Elizabeth Ozella stood with her brother, Matthew Simons, in front of the court, to talk about their mother, Irene Simons, who raised them on her own.

Doctors told Irene Simons that Matthew, who has Down syndrome, would likely be unable walk or live a normal life, Ozella said. But she proved them wrong.

“His entire world was our mom,” Ozella said, as Matthew hugged her and sobbed into her shoulder.

She called their mom, who was living at Sunnyview, Matthew’s “soul lifeline.”

“My mommy was a good mother to her family,” Matthew said.

Addressing Pressdee directly, Ozella said her mother was a religious woman.

“Our mother, the faithful woman she was, would probably forgive you, Heather. She would tell me to do the same,” Ozella continued. “I’ll have to pray for that for a very long time.”

Pressdee, Ozella said, had the gall to send their family flowers and a sympathy card.

Ozella then addressed the other families in the courtroom, many of whom already had expressed guilt and remorse.

“I want the other families to know it didn’t matter if you were there every day,” she said. “I was, and I still couldn’t stop her from doing it.”

James Fair

Debra Bly asked Pressdee to look at her as she talked about her father, James Fair, who died at Quality Life Services in Chicora, on Aug. 6, 2022, just hours after Pressdee clocked in that day.

The defendant refused.

“I need to say I forgive you for what you did to my family and the families here,” Bly said.

Fair’s granddaughter, Julie Marshall, also wanted Pressdee to look at her.

“I want to see her face. I want to see her pain. I want her to know how I feel.”

Marshall recalled how, as a child, he would bring her HoHos and in a strong voice say, “Hello, sweetie!”

When Fair was in the nursing home, Marshall said, she was the one taking him HoHos.

“Heather Pressdee stole that from me,” she said. “His life was slowly and painfully snuffed out with each injection.”

Several of the families throughout the day said that Pressdee’s actions forced them to grieve for their loved ones twice — the first time when they died, and then all over again when the state attorney general’s office notified them Pressdee was responsible.

Elmer Allbee

Elmer Allbee is one of Pressdee’s victims who survived.

But he’s never been the same, according to his son, Eric Allbee.

Eric said his dad grew up poor in a bad neighborhood in Pittsburgh.

“He wanted to make a better life for his family.”

Elmer Allbee joined the U.S. Army at age 16 and served in Vietnam. When he returned, he got his GED, went to night school and got a job at the post office, where he worked for 30 years.

He also served 22 years in the Army Reserves.

“He has never returned home since you poisoned him, not even for a visit,” his son said. “You have devastated every ounce of his life that was important to him.”

“I hope prison, the judicial system and God have zero mercy on you.”

Louise Skinner

Alysha Gallagher spoke lovingly of her favorite person in the world, her grandmother, Louise Skinner.

“I couldn’t list the ways she impacted my life,” she said. “She called me her best friend, and I called her mine.”

Skinner, who had just turned 90, was married for 68 years to her husband.

She loved cooking and baking, trips to the beach, camping at Pymatuning Lake, playing baseball in the backyard with her grandchildren and her flower beds.

She was active into her mid-80s.

Gallagher said one of her favorite things was watching her own children interact with their great-grandmother, who cared for them when she went back to work after they were born.

“It will crush their souls into pieces if they find out there are actual monsters in the world who want to take away the people we love.”

When Gallagher and her family got the call that Skinner was rapidly declining, they rushed to her side.

Pressdee offered them chairs, tissues and condolences.

“That’s another level of cruel,” she said.

Skinner was only around Pressdee for two weeks.

“How in two weeks could you deem her not worthy of living?” Gallagher asked. “How dare you.”

Their family, she continued, feels immense guilt.

“We blame ourselves for not taking care of her better,” she said. “We should not have to feel that way.”

Ruth Erikson

Ruth Erikson, 89, had a love for all living creatures, and growing up, her son recalled they had all manner of pets, including dogs, cats, snakes and mice, including one who required a trip for emergency veterinary care.

Mark Erikson’s mother loved classic movies, music and family.

In 2020 while at Concordia at Rebecca, his mom developed covid-19, but appeared to be on the path to recovery. She had just ordered Christmas cards before she died on Dec. 17, 2020.

Mark Erikson told Pressdee he cannot bring himself to forgive her.

“My mother had not given up,” he said. “She was not ready to die. It was her battle to fight.”

Pressdee feared death penalty

As the hearing concluded, Pressdee’s defense attorneys asked the court to allow them to withdraw from the case.

“I am done with this as of this moment,” DePasquale told Judge Kubit.

After the hearing, the defense said that Pressdee pleaded guilty to avoid capital punishment.

“There was no doubt in our mind, she was going to get the death penalty,” DePasquale said.

After she was initially charged, Pressdee agreed to sit down with the Attorney General’s Office and talk to them about what she’d done and what other victims there were, he said.

“And at the proffer session, she came out with even more people,” DePasquale said.

Defense attorney Phil DiLucente said that Pressdee wanted to plead guilty from the beginning.

“She wanted to fess up to what she had done,” he said.

DiLucente noted that Pressdee previously worked for a veterinarian where she would sometimes euthanize animals.

“As ironic as it might sound to people, she really believed, at that juncture, she was helping people,” he said. “But we know that’s not the case, and she knows that’s not the case.”