In the summer of 1974, Petersburg General Hospital experienced a worrying cluster of unexplained patient deaths in the coronary care unit. One of the victims was 84-year-old Martha Avery, who died on June 25, 1974, as part of that spike in mortality that hospital staff could not medically explain.

Investigators focused on a 21-year-old nurse’s aide, Lee Roy Hargrave Jr., who had been on duty during each of the suspicious deaths. Exhumations and toxicology reportedly showed victims, including Martha Avery, had been given lethal doses of lidocaine that had not been prescribed. Hargrave was arrested in August 1974 and later indicted in connection with six deaths.

The prosecution’s case emphasized the pattern of fatalities coinciding with Hargrave’s shifts and his access to the medication used. If anyone knew Martha Avery, her time at Petersburg General, or has information about those events in 1974, please share what can help clarify her death.