Jane Toppan, Nightmare Nurse

Jane Toppan was a nurse near the turn of the 20^th century, but she was not your Florence Nightingale type. Toppan ended up killing her patients with lethal injections, and wiped out an entire family before she was caught.

Jane Toppan was born Honora Kelly. Her early years were not happy by any means. Her mother died shortly after Jane was born. Jane's father, who owned a tailor shop, subsequently went insane. One day he felt compelled to sew his own eyes shut. In 1863 she and her sister were sent to an orphanage. They were then sent to families to be indentured servants. Her foster mother Ann Toppan did not officially adopt, but did pass on her last name. Ann was abusive, and Jane was always jealous of Elizabeth, her foster sister.

Later in life, Jane Toppan was engaged but ended up being jilted; several suicide attempts followed. During nursing school, she had a morbid fascination with autopsies.

1901 proved to be a tough year for the Davis family of Boston, who was under Toppan's care. Mrs. Mattie Davis was visiting her when she died of "heart failure". Mrs. Davis' grief stricken daughter Annie turned to Toppan for comfort. Annie shortly died after receiving some "therapeutic" injections. Captain Alden Davis, head of the family, soon met the same fate. He supposedly died of a massive stroke.

A second daughter of the family, Mary, died just days after her father. Finally someone became suspicious. Mary's husband insisted on an autopsy despite Toppan fighting the idea tooth and nail. Mary's autopsy showed she died of a lethal injection consisting of atropine and morphine.

Jane Toppan fled but was arrested in Amherst, New Hampshire. The arrest was made on October 29, 1901 after managing to kill her foster sister. Toppan insisted she was innocent.

Investigators discovered many other patients of Toppan had died suddenly. She eventually admitted to a psychiatrist that she killed the Davis family and seven others. Allegedly, she told her attorney later that the actual total was much higher - thirty one.

Jane Toppan's trial occurred in 1902. After doctors testimony, and her own, the court was convinced of her insanity. It was also suggested her insanity was hereditary since her father and sister ended up in asylums. She was declared insane and sent to an asylum. She died in an insane asylum in 1938. She was 84 years old.

Sources:
The A to Z Encyclopedia of Serial Killers; Schechter, Harold and Everitt, David; Pocket Books, 2006.
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