Henry Cody, a 78-year-old man from Cincinnati, Ohio, died on November 4, 1986, after cyanide was introduced into his gastric tube. Accounts identifying Cody among the victims of hospital orderly Donald Harvey describe the poisoning as intentional and premeditated, with cyanide dissolved in water used to turn routine feeding equipment into the means of killing.

Harvey had been working in Cincinnati medical facilities during a period when several patients died under suspicious circumstances. His methods varied across cases, but investigators later linked him to cyanide and arsenic poisonings, suffocation, medication overdoses and other deliberate interference with patient care. Harvey was taken into custody in April 1987 after another patient’s autopsy detected a large amount of cyanide; he subsequently pleaded guilty in August 1987 to multiple counts of aggravated murder tied to a string of hospital deaths that included Cody.

Was anyone in Cincinnati at the time aware of unexplained deaths or unusual activity around hospital feeding supplies that winter?