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Search warrants reveal new details of former Atrium Health WFBH nurse charged with murder

Johnathan Hayes is charged with attempted murder and two felony murder counts after multiple Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist patients died in early 2022.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Johnathan Hayes was a nurse in the Intensive Care Unit at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist when investigators charged him with one count of attempted murder and two felony murder charges.

Nine pages of unsealed search warrants detail the three separate incidents for which Hayes has been charged.

Investigators claim that two patients, Gwen Crawford and Vicky Lingerfelt both died in the ICU after experiencing an episode of hypoglycemia(low blood sugar). 

Search warrants say both women were given over 100 units of insulin which attributed to their death, which were both ruled homicides.

Search warrants claim surveillance video captured Hayes taking insulin from a medication room but Hayes says he threw the medications away in a sharps container.

Warrants go on to say claim that Hayes did not follow the hospital's “dual verification” method properly before giving certain medications, including insulin.

Other details included in the unsealed search warrants include:

  • “Johnathan Hayes explained his haphazard nursing practices and policy violations by stating that his methods saved time.”
  • “When Johnathan Hayes was told that 100 dosage units of insulin were administered to Gwen Crawford, he replied that was an incredible amount of insulin and that someone would have had to administer that much intentionally. Hayes denied injecting Gwen Crawford with 100 units of insulin. Hayes also stated that if they (Baptist Hospital Risk Management) ‘say I did it, then I did it.’”
  • “Johnathan Hayes stated that it was a possibility that he had given Gwen Crawford the insulin he had drawn up, but he would have had to be way “off his game”. Johnathan Hayes said he may have made a mistake because he had been working a lot due to the COVID pandemic.”
  • “Johnathan Hayes was asked what happened with these two patients and he said, “I guess I gave it to her, that would make sense”. Johnathan Hayes was told we needed to know the truth and not what, “they said” happened or what he thought happened, at which time he responded by saying, “I gave it to her”. Johnathan Hayes was asked if tat was a question or if he was telling us what happened and he said if that made it right, then he did it. Johnathan Hayes stated he “guessed he did it”. Johnathan Hayes said if it would make it right for these people and their families to have someone to pin it on, he could live with that.”
  • “Johnathan Hayes later said he was confessing to these incidents because of all of the evidence we and Risk Management had tried to push through to him, but he could not confess to it if he did not do it.”
  • “On May 3, 2022, Detectives met with Pamela Little at her residence regarding her hyperglycemic episode… Pamela Little said she only received insulin one time while at the hospital (from a female nurse) and that she normally did not take insulin. Pamela Little said she was scared of a male nurse because he was sneaky. Pamela Little stated she saw the male nurse two times then she had her ‘attack’. Pamela Little said the male nurse put a white pill in her IV line and then when another nurse came in the room, the male nurse removed the pill from her IV. Pamela Little did not remember the male nurse’s name, but she said he wore glasses, he was tall and he had ‘salt and pepper’ hair. That general description fits the general description of Johnathan Hayes. Pamela Little passed away on May 05, 2022.”

Jacky Jones is Gwen Crawford's brother and was her medical power of attorney at the time of her death. 

Jones says Crawford was living at his home in Winston-Salem and had multiple health issues under control, including daily dialysis. 

Crawford was hospitalized in January 2022, after suffering a heart attack before she died on January 8, 2022. 

Jones says he has no ill will against Johnathan Hayes, the man accused of killing his sister.

Jones says he and his family withdrew life-saving measures in an effort to honor his sister's wishes. 

"I don’t really care about her investigation, I don’t care," said Jones. "It’s not gonna make any difference to me. We withdrew on my sister, we withdrew on my sister. So they can say anything they want about somebody killing her, but she did not stop breathing until we told them to stop and that’s the bottom line so I have no animosity toward anybody because I know what happened."

In April 2022, a third patient, Pamela Little also suffered an episode of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar).

In May of last year, Little told investigators she had a female nurse, but had seen another male nurse in her room who placed a white pill in her IV. 

Little said the male nurse removed the pill after another nurse entered the room. The nurse she described matched Hayes’ description, according to warrants.

Little but died just a few days after talking to investigators.

Johnathan Hayes is not scheduled to appear in court again until October 2023.

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