Witnessed: Devil in the Ditch - Introducing... Witnessed: Night Shift

Episode Date: August 26, 2024

Night Shift reinvestigates a case involving a series of suspicious deaths and a man who may be one of the most prolific killer nurses in the United States. In 1992, an unusual cluster of deaths at the Columbia VA hospital in Missouri all seemed to have one thing in common: the same male nurse. The nurse, Richard Williams, may have murdered dozens of veterans. But rather than investigate the deaths, the hospital leadership seemed only to care about keeping the case quiet. Journalists Jake Adelstein and Shoko Plambeck (co-hosts of Sony/Campside Media’s The Evaporated: Gone with the Gods) go back to Jake’s hometown to investigate the crimes, the families, the cover-up, and the whistleblowers — including Jake’s own father, Eddie Adelstein. They’ll work on tracking down the primary suspect, the nurse, and try to uncover: What really happened on the night shift? From Campside Media and Sony Music Entertainment, this is Season 7 of Witnessed: Night Shift  Unlock all episodes of Witnessed: Night Shigt, ad-free, right now by subscribing to The Binge. Plus, get binge access to brand new stories dropping on the first of every month — that’s all episodes, all at once, all ad-free. Just click ‘Subscribe’ on the top of the Witnessed: 19 Days show page on Apple Podcasts or visit GetTheBinge.com to get access wherever you get your podcasts. Find out more about The Binge and other podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts and @campside_media To connect with Night Shift's creative team, plus access behind the scenes content, join the community at Campsidemedia.com/join Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's 1992, and something eerie is happening at the Harry S. Truman Veterans Hospital in Missouri. On the hospital's fourth floor, more veterans than usual are dying. Dying in the same place, around the same time, during the night shift. There were so many of them at the same time. These codes are happening on 4 East. These weren't patients who were expected to die. In fact, many of them were getting ready to go home.

And the deaths had another thing in common. The same nurse, present at their bedside. The nurse was a young man who came across as competent and clinical. He was quiet, pale as a ghost, almost invisible. He worked nights, a shift when fewer people were around to look over one shoulder. But over time, strange tales began to spread. We went in to see the patient, and everything was normal.

And about an hour later, the coat blue is called. My name is Jake Edelstein, and I know this story because my dad was a doctor at the Truman VA Hospital. In fact, he was the man who ordered an investigation into the deaths. I felt certainly he was killing people. But when the allegations that a killer might have been prowling the halls of the Columbia VA reached the hospital's higher-ups, they did not jump into action like everyone expected. On the contrary, they seemed to want to bury the story. It looks like something terrible has happened.

Let's keep it as quiet as we possibly can and not let it get any bigger than it already is. They just wanted to drop it and move on. A handful of brave whistleblowers did whatever they could to make sure the VA didn't just drop it. But speaking out came with a cost. His phone was being tapped, he was being followed, and he wasn't sure what was going to happen to him. They thought that it was all going to be swept under the rug. Maybe these guys were serious, but then somebody above them said, shut up about it. On this season of Witnessed, I'm going back to my hometown

to explore the unsolved 30-year-old mystery of what might have been one of the most prolific serial killers in U.S. history. Join me in an effort to find the main suspect, the nurse, and investigate what really happened during the night shift. So they would rather see a whole bunch of innocent people the nurse, and investigate what really happened during the night shift. So they would rather see a whole bunch of innocent people killed than to do anything

about it. I mean, my gosh, what do you want him to do? Clear out half the hospital? From Campside Media and Sony Music Entertainment, this is Witnessed, Night Shift, coming September 1st. Subscribe on Apple Podcast to binge all episodes or listen weekly wherever you get your podcast.