John V. Combs, 68, of the London, Kentucky, area, died at Marymount Hospital on January 26, 1971. At the time his death was not treated as a homicide; the death certificate and hospital records recorded what appeared to be a fatal decline in a seriously ill patient. More than sixteen years later, Donald Harvey confessed to killing multiple patients at Marymount during 1970–1971 and identified Combs as the last patient he killed there before leaving his job.

Harvey said he first tried to suffocate Combs with a plastic bag. When that failed he used defective oxygen equipment that made a hissing sound and looked as if oxygen were flowing but did not supply oxygen, depriving Combs of the oxygen he needed. No one was arrested in 1971; Harvey was later linked to Combs’s death after his 1987 confession and ultimately pleaded guilty in Laurel County to the Marymount killings.

If anyone knew John Combs, his health before January 26, 1971, or the Marymount Hospital ward where he was treated, share what you remember.