01x01 - The k*ller Nurse

[bunniefuu]

Glenn: There´s no better place
for a serial k*ller to hide

than a hospital.

Their charge is the
Hippocratic Oath to do no harm.

He was really conducting
his own sick experiments.

Burckley: And it wasn´t
just once or twice.

It was four times, and
it might be more times.

This was totally
out of character

to the person we know.

Many people were just
outraged at the accusation.

There was never any motive.

It´s insane.

Davis: So to be honest with
you, I´m glad you came.

I´ve been waiting for an
opportunity like this.

Alright, guys, so obviously,

we´ve been working
this case for quite...

I´m Bryanna Fox.

I´m a psychological
criminologist

and a former FBI special agent.

I study violent
offenders to evaluate

their personality traits
and patterns of behavior.

And I developed
psychological profiles

to help law enforcement
catch dangerous criminals.

As a former FBI special agent,

I learn techniques to
interrogate and analyze

some of the nation´s most
violent serial offenders.

Now I´m a professor at the
University of South Florida,

where I´m training the next
generation of criminologists.

Together with a team of
my top graduate students,

we are reinvestigating violent
crimes in order to learn

how to probe the mind of
a convicted m*rder*r...

Davis: I´m not a serial monster,

if that´s what you´re wondering.

Fox: to understand, why
did this k*ller k*ll?

Do you believe that you´re
going to heaven? I do.

♫♫

♫♫

♫♫

[ Cell door slams ]

♫♫

Farmacka: My dad was
a very easygoing man.

My mom and dad were
married for 50 years.

They had just had
their 50th anniversary.

They had only dated
for, like, three months.

So that´s pretty crazy
that they would, you know,

be together for 50 years.

He liked to be the hero.

You know, if me and my
brother needed something,

he took pride in being able
to provide for his family.

Super easy to talk to
and very, very animated

when he told stories.

Everybody loved my dad.

[ Siren wailing ]

You know, he went
in to the hospital,

and they did the
bypass that morning.

You know, they expected him
to make a full recovery.

♫♫

I first found out something
was wrong with my dad...

My mom and my brother called.

I kept asking, "Is
he okay? Is he okay?"

They wouldn´t tell me.

They just said,
"You need to come.

Come up here."

When I got to the hospital, they
told us that he was brain dead.

You know, my dad was
just laying there and...

that we...

We just couldn´t
talk to him anymore.

And about six months later,
I´m on my way to work

and I hear a, you
know... Over the radio,

they were saying the news
about this Tyler nurse

that had just been arrested,

that had been
k*lling his patients.

When I heard that, I
thought, "That was my dad.

That had to be my dad."

The only question, you
know, I kept asking myself

is, "Why did he choose my dad?"

♫♫

♫♫

Fox: In 2017 at the Heart
Hospital in Tyler, Texas,

patients began
mysteriously dying.

There´s risks involved with
every medical procedure.

And so when things go poorly,
sometimes that´s not unexpected.

These were just
unexplained events.

Roberts: Medicine is pretty
highly advanced these days.

When the patients come
in, they score them

based on their probability
of how well they should do.

And people that were
scoring really high

and should have
done well were not.

Dr. Turner, he knew
something was not right,

and he couldn´t quite
put his finger on it.

When another patient,
Mr. Greenaway,

had a negative outcome,

he ordered a CT or a
CAT scan of the head.

It was a genius
move, in my opinion.

And it captured
air in the brain,

which should not occur
under these circumstances.

Most of the patients who died
died from massive strokes

caused by air embolisms.

♫♫

Fox: Based on the
scans, experts conclude

that someone has been
deliberately injecting air

into the patient´s
arterial lines.

Your brain´s gonna die
within about six minutes

of it having an air block there.

Fox: Finally, the
hospital realized

patients were being m*rder*d,

but it wasn´t until they
put security cameras up

that they realized
who was responsible.

Roberts: So when they
put the video cameras up,

a pattern started to emerge
that Mr. Davis was on duty.

On several of the victims, he
was in the room at the time

that they had their significant
event while they´re crashing.

And he really had no reason
to go in those rooms.

They were not his patients.

Law enforcement was consulted

and an investigation was started

by the Tyler Police Department

and the Smith County
District Attorney´s Office.

Fox: Ultimately, registered
nurse Will Davis was linked

to seven victims who died

and five who were left with
permanent neurological damage.

In 2021, Davis was sentenced
to death for his crimes.

♫♫

♫♫

♫♫

What would make a nurse who
took an oath to do no harm

become a serial k*ller?

To try to understand,
my students

need to build a profile
of his characteristics.

But first, they
need to understand

the basic facts of the case.

So to start, I´d like to talk

about what do we know
about Will Davis?

We know that he worked
at a heart hospital

and was convicted of
these four murders.

My name is Jordan Teuber.

I work for the state attorney´s
office in Hillsborough County.

My specialty is drilling
down on the evidence

so that we can really build
a case for prosecution.

We know that 12 in total were
investigated by Tyler P.D.,

and we got convictions
for four of them,

but if 12 are
being investigated,

there´s certainly a possibility

that there are others that
were his victims that just...

My name is Jacquie Burckley,

and I was a cryptologic
technician for networks

for the United States
Navy for eight years.

So we know his method of
m*rder was injecting the air

into the arterial
line. So it says...

My name is Vanessa Centelles.

My research lies
with victimology,

which basically means
that I´m more interested

in the facts of the victim
rather than the offender.

And for some patients,
he even injected it

straight into their veins.

My name is Xavier Burch,
and my role in the team

is to challenge every
piece of evidence

to make sure that
we get to the truth.

He´s very religious.

You know, I wonder
how he can reconcile

these actions with
his religiosity.

My name is Nate Lawshe.

I´ve always been
a statistics guy.

I really love getting,
like, a data set together.

And what I bring to the table
is I´m the human computer.

There´s not a lot
known about Will Davis.

He didn´t even testify
at his own trial.

But incredibly, he agreed
to do an interview with me.

So what is it that we want
to get out of this case?

What are our main goals?

Burckley: I think one of
the most important things

that we need to find out,
if we can, is the motive.

Why did he do this?
Burch: And I also think

that we should really try to
see if there´s more victims

that he can possibly
admit to or talk about.

Centelles: And I think
it´s really important

to try to bring that closure
to those families, too.

♫♫

One thing we know
is that Will Davis,

even after he was charged
with these crimes,

he was in jail for
two and a half years

before he was ultimately
convicted of them.

And that entire time, he
maintained his innocence.

But after Davis was convicted,

he finally took
responsibility for his crimes.

I think that really leads
up to one important moment.

Nate, would you mind queuing
up the audio phone call?

Yeah, sure thing.

[ Telephone rings ]

He says a potential
reason for it.

So maybe he´s got some
mitigation in his mind.

I mean, we know that, you know,

theoretically, sometimes people

that endure excessive
financial stressors

or, like, multiple stressors

are more likely to engage
in criminal behavior.

Burch: But come on now,
it doesn´t make sense.

Like sicker people,
you may get overtime,

but dead people, you´re
not gonna get anything.

I do not think he told
us the real reason

about why he k*lled
those people. Not at all.

Fox: To begin the process
of building a profile,

we need to speak to
people who knew Will Davis

to help us understand
his past and behavior.

What do you guys think we
should investigate next?

Maybe his mom or
his family members?

Teuber: I think it´ll
also be really interesting

to hear from some
of the other nurses.

Burch: I think we should
also talk to the wife as well

to see if she has some
insight on the stress.

Absolutely. Maybe
there´s something

that could help us
understand why he did this,

the real reason.

♫♫

♫♫

Fox: Vanessa and I travel
to Henderson, Texas,

to meet Will Davis´ mother,

who has kindly agreed to
talk with us about her son.

Anyone who knew Will Davis
as a child calls him Billy.

Reagan: Billy loved football.

Centelles: Was he a natural

or did he have to
work a little harder?

Billy would play
on the front lines.

He didn´t care if
they were tree trunks.

He was bringing them down.
That´s just how he played.

This is when he
was in the parade.

He was Mr. West Rusk,

and he was driving
homecoming queen.

She was on the back of the car.

Fox: Holy cow.

So what did his dad say when...?

Oh, he was very proud
of that picture.

He was very proud of
Mr. West Rusk and...

Oh, yeah, yeah, most
definitely proud.

We were all proud of that

because he, um, he
excelled very well.

He did very well. The
teachers are who elected

Mr. West Rusk and
Miss West Rusk.

Really? They always
elected them.

Yes. They loved
him. Yes, they did.

Fox: Typically when we´re
looking at serial-k*ller cases,

there´s a lot of
dysfunction in the home.

They´re not doing
well in school.

There´s a lot of
trauma or abuse.

It was unusual that that´s
not what we heard from Brenda.

[ Birds chirping ]

As someone who knew
Will Davis well,

we´re eager to hear
from his ex-wife.

She prefers to
protect her identity.

Ex-wife: Whenever I
first met William,

he was already a
registered nurse.

He wanted to excel
in his career.

He was very funny.
William was very funny.

William would make faces,
just being humorous.

He would cross his
eyes on purpose

and we would just laugh.

You know, he was just carefree.

Fox: However, to
a fellow nurse,

Davis´ jokes weren´t
always so funny.

Nawaz: When we were

in our critical-care
nursing residency together,

I was a new nurse.

I was there to learn

and constant, you know,
disruption from him

and an instructor having to
pause and tell Will to be quiet.

I mean, it was a little...
Definitely a little annoying

because we were not in
high school anymore.

There was a particular
prank that he pulled.

We had a nurse, and Will
did put some medicine...

It was a laxative-type medicine
that he put in her coffee.

So, I mean, it was a
little unprofessional.

Not to mention just a
little cruel to someone,

you know, that´s
a friend of ours.

And I think he might have
just liked the attention.

Well, that was a poor
choice and maybe shows

that he wasn´t really thinking
through his decisions.

That´s not entirely uncommon
with serial K*llers.

A lot of them are very
narcissistic, grandiose.

That is actually the early
indicators of what later

became the lack of empathy that
facilitated serial k*lling.

I mean, the years he was in jail

awaiting trial,
he´s calling you.

Was he maintaining his
innocence that whole time?

Well, yes.

Uh, yes, it... Yeah.

I think parts of me are
still in shock over all this,

because the day that
they said he was guilty,

we had no idea whatsoever
until that time

that he was guilty of
this. We didn´t know.

So that was a big shift.

Because there was
never any motive.

They can never give us a motive

as to why he would do
something like that.

He´s going on this
trajectory, which seems great.

Wonderful plan.

Wonderful plan, family, house,

lives, you know, a great life.

And so what do
you think changed?

Well, I can´t talk about that
because I know what changed.

But... but when you...
When you talk to him,

he´ll tell you whatever he
wants you to know about that

because it´s his story.
So it was very...

The answers are very
difficult for me to hear.

In 2017, I did not know
there was any issues

going on with the patients.

In fact, the first
time we were told

there was any kind of issue

was after Will was put
on administrative leave.

William was very
nonchalant about it.

Of course, he didn´t
want me to worry.

He said, you know, there...
there is some stuff

that´s going around
the hospital.

They´re trying to blame
me for a patient coding.

And it´s just all
a misunderstanding.

He was terminated and
his license was revoked.

That´s whenever they handcuffed
him and put him in jail.

At that point, that´s
whenever I was like,

"This... This is a big deal."

[ Handcuffs clicking ]

Nawaz: Will Davis was...

I feel like he was
an excellent nurse.

He was certainly someone
you could count on

to help you with whatever
it is you needed.

But there were many people
just couldn´t believe

that somebody they knew would
do something heinous as this.

Ex-wife: He called me crying.

He was like, you know,

"I can´t believe
this is happening."

And, you know, "We´re still
gonna fight through this."

And I believed in him for
eight years after that.

Certainly, we were all
a little bit up in arms

because we felt that if...
If this can happen to him,

this can happen
to any one of us.

One of the biggest things we did

was the GoFundMe
page that was set up.

And we raised almost
$10,000 for that.

Ex-wife: He even told me
that he wanted to go back

into the nursing field
whenever he got out of jail.

He had goals.

And in the midst of all that,
he knew exactly what he did.

And he led me and my family and
his family on for so many years.

[ Sniffles ]

Scary.

Fox: Will Davis had
charmed everyone so well.

Many couldn´t believe he
had committed these crimes.

However, charm can
often be superficial,

which is another
characteristic of narcissism.

But that doesn´t
make him a k*ller.

So what was going
on inside his head?

Fox: So far, there
aren´t many red flags

in Will Davis´ background, but
some combination of factors

must have pushed
him over the edge.

Fox: You have
three other sons?

I do. In Billy´s
mind, let´s say,

how did he feel he was
comparing to his brothers?

I felt like because
he was the oldest,

maybe he felt like he
should do very well.

Do you feel like that was
just a lot of pressure?

Maybe even he was putting on
himself? It was self-imposed.

Oh, yeah. Oh, I
believe that. Big time.

Now, I wanted to
show you this one

because this is the first...

This is a really nice
picture of Billy and his dad.

He was about a year
old at that time.

But Billy´s daddy...

Now, don´t get me wrong,
he loved his children,

very much so.

His boys were very
important to him.

He wanted them to
do very, very well.

And I think that if they
didn´t do very, very well,

I think they feel like
they let him down.

He gave them the impression
that they couldn´t fail.

Fox: So how might an
inner pressure to succeed

have manifested in later life?

Were you guys pretty
financially stable yourselves?

No, I think because

they did not have a lot
of things growing up.

So I think Billy
wanted to make sure

that his children did
have all those things,

you know, growing up.

Right. He did want to.

I will say in the beginning
I did create a budget book

because he obviously
struggled with his finances.

He started handling the
finances himself in 2006

and everything was
fine for a while.

Fox: Will Davis´ k*lling
spree begins in June 2017.

So what was happening
just before that?

So we actually
went house hunting.

And initially, I wanted
something smaller.

And that´s whenever
William looked at me

and he said, you
know, "Trust me,

if I couldn´t afford this house,

we wouldn´t even
be looking at it."

He had a new vehicle.
And I think at that time,

he was talking about
putting in a swimming pool.

Fox: Pools are
really expensive.

I think this one
was around $40,000.

Holy cow.

That´s where he may get

a lot of his self-esteem
and gratification.

There was always
something external to him

that was giving him
that positive feedback

and making him feel like,

"Oh, this is my identity.
This is why I feel good."

Nawaz: I felt like
it was a little bit

living outside of his means.

I knew what kind
of money he made

because I made the, you
know, similar amount.

Ex-wife: There would be
times where the hospital

would call William in for work.

Honestly, I just wanted him
to stay home for family time.

And I´m like,
"Well, financially,

if we´re doing okay, I
mean, do we really need it?"

He would work from
7:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m.

He worked night shifts.

Then he´d come home and study.

And his study,
alongside of that,

was for acute care
nurse practitioner.

And then we decided
to extend our family

and that´s when we planned
to have my daughter.

Did he ever come to you

and talk to you
about any of that?

You know, say how he was
feeling or say how he was...

The stress he was under

or discuss it with
you in any way? No.

No. Because he knows
what I would have said.

You need to be in church
and you need to be praying

and you need to be
reading your Bible.

Man on television: to survive.

Ex-wife: He never
verbally came out to me

and said anything
about the struggles

or the finances or anything.

You never think in
a million years,

"Oh, well, he´s committing
heinous crimes like...

Like a serial k*ller."

There was a great
deal of stressors.

It was a perfect storm.

Fox: If stress is a factor
that contributed to Will Davis

committing these murders,

then we might be able
to see a correlation

between those stressors
and the murders themselves.

I asked the students to dig
into Davis´ financial history

and the patient deaths in
the Tyler police report.

Comparing the timing of these
stresses, the known murders,

and the other mysterious
deaths at the hospital

may also reveal more victims.

There´s a lot of events
to go, a lot of dates.

Let´s just get it on the board.

So let´s start with the
earliest thing that we know of,

which I believe is
the bankruptcy battle

that he went through
in 2014, 2015, right?

Lawshe: When I looked
through his bankruptcy files,

I saw that he had
$135,000 in debt.

So, I mean, yeah, he
was really deep in debt.

Teuber: We also have 2015,

where he begins his
master´s degree in nursing.

So January 7, 2017,
we have Patient "A,"

who suffered a health incident.

There was no neurological
component to that,

but it was investigated
under Davis.

Then in May of 2017,
his wife found out

she was pregnant
with baby number two.

They also had just
bought a house.

We have June 14th, where
Davis texted a co-worker

for anxiety meds.

That very night, a patient
had a health episode.

You´re saying that
was the same night?

It was the same night
that he said that...

He asked for those anxiety meds

and he used the words
before he gets into trouble.

There´s no imaging of the brain,

but the hospital
didn´t even know

to look there at
that point. Right?

Centelles: That´s all assuming
that he had something to do

with that particular one.

Teuber: And then just two days
later, June 16, for patient "D."

Burch: And then
also on June 16,

there is a patient "E" who
died of an insulin overdose.

How many people in that hospital

have ever died from
an insulin overdose,

let alone during this
exact same time period?

He could have been
perhaps experimenting,

you know, what is
the best method

and what´s the least
traceable method.

Burckley: And so then the
next day, I think we have

another patient, right?
- Yep. Patient "F."

And then on June 22nd,

you have Patient "G," who dies.

Centelles: Which
actually leads us

to one of the first
convictions...

John Lafferty, and he
dies of an air embolism.

Burckley: That´s on the 25th?

There´s a pattern here, guys.

How many of these can
be attributed to him

and how many more are there?

Lawshe: From the trial
and, like, my notes,

it´s just... the... It
only points to one nurse.

I mean, there´s not like
this cabal of nurses

going around, you know,
like, k*lling people.

People think once in a while,
there´s an unusual death.

It wasn´t until maybe June

that these deaths started
happening so rapidly,

everyone took notice.

The June 14th date
sticks out to me

where he has this
anxiety-medication request.

I think the anxiety-meds request

was a call for help.

Like, "Please help me,

I´m gonna do something wrong."

And it´s like he knows

he´s hurtling towards
this terrible place.

And, you know, it´s just
that perfect concoction

that really, like, puts
him into overdrive.

Fox: We know that there
are lots of people

that experience
stressors like this

and do not go on
this negative path.

Just to show people, how
many of you guys experience

these types of stressors...
The financial pressures,

being in grad school,

having somebody that you
know of be sick or pass away,

having a new family member?

Have any of you guys
experienced one or all of those?

Multiple. All of us.

Oh, yeah.

How many of us have
committed m*rder?

None. I think that really
shows these murders are...

Even though he´s
expressing that they´re due

to the stressors he was under,

we´ve all experienced
these stressors

and none of us are
responding the same way.

The data reveals some useful
patterns in Will Davis´ life,

but there are other
ways to try and discern

his possible motivation.

So I´ve arranged a
re-creation of the crime

at the USF Nursing College.

I want my students to understand
what Will Davis experienced,

to be in that room
for one minute

and see the consequences
of his actions.

Jacquie will spend one
minute in the patient´s room,

just as Davis did.

Burckley: Ready.

Teuber: One minute.

[ Monitor beeping ]

♫♫

♫♫

Time´s up, Jacquie.

Fox: Will Davis´ actions
resulted in a code alarm.

Now USF student nurses
and doctors simulate

a response, using a mannequin.

Mr. Jones!

I got a code in 22.

I have no idea what happened.

He just started coding.

What´s going on
with this patient?

He had heart surgery yesterday.

He was extubated this morning...

Fox: As the nurses try to
save the patient´s life,

Will just stands and watches.

Let´s get the board
underneath him.

Okay. 30 seconds
to pulse check.

♫♫

♫♫

Okay. Pulse check,
rhythm check.

Everybody, hands off.

Got v-fib on the monitor.

Charging 150.

[ Paddles charging ]

Okay, everybody
clear. Hands up.

[ Flatline ]

Doctor: Time of death
called at 12:04 a.m.

♫♫

[ Indistinct conversations ]

- That was intense.
- Yeah, it was.

Centelles: That was a dummy.

I can´t even imagine
a real person.

Lawshe: I am deeply disturbed.

You know, I felt pity
for him, I think.

But I just... I
don´t know anymore

after watching that, like, uh...

Yeah. I don´t know.

Burch: I just think of
everybody in the room

and how hard they were working
to actually try to help.

For someone to do
that to someone

and then you have the audacity
to stand in the doorway

and watch it happen,

I mean, it´s just no
words to describe it.

I mean, it really
made me upset. Right?

And so to think that
this was an actual person

and it wasn´t just
once or twice.

It was four times, and
it might be more times.

Right?

Fox: So thinking about
Will Davis´ risk factors,

there´s something
that was missing

or something that he
felt like he didn´t have,

that he had to turn to doing
something as horrible as this

to feel like it was filling it.

What do you guys think that was?

- Control.
- Control and power, yep.

Just had control
over the situation.

It was just him and the patient.

You know, there´s no one
else to tell him, to say no.

And, guys, how did you feel...

I mean, you´re criminologists,
you study crime.

But a lot of the time, we study
it in terms of data points.

I think our field needs to
be a little bit more hands on

and stop sitting behind a desk.

Every data point is a person.

And I think that this experience

has really drilled
that into my head.

All of this is still
only preparation

for the ultimate part
of our investigation...

An interview with
Will Davis himself.

Fox: While stress seems to have
been a contributing factor,

it is unlikely it
is the only cause

of Will Davis´ m*rder spree.

We´re developing a theory

that Davis was seeking
control over other people.

If that´s true, where did that
need for control come from?

♫♫

♫♫

How did you know Will Davis?

He started working
for my family,

and we went to church together.

And that´s how he got to
know your cousin as well?

Yes. How old was
she at the time?

Say, about 12 or 13, I guess.

And how old was he at the time?

16, 17.

Tell me about
their relationship,

between Will and your cousin.

It was like he had to
know where she was,

who she was with,
what she was doing.

I think she was just
liking the attention.

He came off as very, like,
charismatic and smart,

and, like, the ability
to do anything.

What kind of things would he do

when he then wasn´t
the charming Will?

He would, like, push
on her and grab her

and make her go
where he was going.

Or, like, it was always a fight.

She was so young and moldable

that he could
almost, in a sense,

make her believe everybody
was against her but him.

What do you think his
goal was of doing that?

Making her solely
dependable on him.

I really, truly
believe a lot of that

came from a relationship,
like, with his dad.

He had to be in control, too,

and we all seen it.

His dad would, like,
degrade the kids at times.

He had to be better in a sense.

And I think that Billy picked up

a lot of those traits, you know,

and that´s why he pushed so hard

to be so great at football
or so great at this,

because he had to be
better than somebody.

I think he really
wanted to be liked.

When we see people

that are in such need
for control over others,

it´s very difficult because they
also sometimes want to be liked

by these people that
they want to control.

And the active
ingredient in that

to make that happen
is manipulation.

Except that doesn´t
usually last very long.

I think she really
started to get scared.

And so they went and put a
restraining order on him.

And did he respect
the restraining order?

[ Sighs ]

No.

That´s when, I think,

the true colors started showing.

He said, "If I
can´t be with you,

then I will k*ll your mom.
I will k*ll your dad."

Like, "We will be together.

Nothing will stop me
from being with you."

And that´s when he, you know,

went as far as trying
to drive his vehicle

through their house.

♫♫

Just luckily, there was a tree.

When he hit the
ditch, he hit the tree

and not the house, you know,
because that was her bedroom.

That´s where she was asleep.

As awful as it sounds,

he´s right where he
deserves to be, so...

That makes me emotional, so...

Just because I watched
him torment her.

Yeah. I´m sorry.

So... sorry for
being so emotional,

but it´s...

I think her life
probably could have been

a lot different if he
was never a part of it.

Humans are not the same
way in every situation.

I can be nice to my mother,

but if I am feeling very
insecure, out of control,

I have this deep-seated
need for power over others

and I am having that
power be taken away,

I can act out
extremely aggressively

and that really actually
helps build out this profile

because I heard under what
circumstances Will could act

in a way that
would be so unusual

compared to the circumstances

that his mother was
telling me about

and maybe who he is on a
general consistent basis.

But then to say, like,

he k*lled and harmed
innocent people,

people that had nothing
to do with him, you know,

nothing to contribute
to his life, basically.

You know, I think that´s
what catches me off guard

because is it just
a control thing?

♫♫

Maybe only Will
Davis knows for sure.

But will he tell the truth?

I still need more information
so I can cross-examine

his version of events
when I finally meet him.

Fox: In Will´s jail phone call,

he claimed the hospital
denied him work.

Davis implies that he was trying
to control his opportunities

for overtime,

but would a busy hospital
really deny him work?

That certainly wasn´t
true for Will´s co-worker.

Nawaz: I wasn´t a
full-time employee,

but I was working
full time hours.

And so in that time, I was
doing three days a week

and then some extra
here and there

and there´s only
seven days in a week.

There´s only so many
hours you can work.

Management was very
supportive of the staff.

This was not due
to staffing issues.

This was a new nurse.

Okay, then, you know, we could
have gone a different route.

But this was a highly
experienced nurse

that was doing
something like this.

Very deliberate.

Fox: So if there was a
lot of work available,

why would Davis jeopardize it?

How would patients
dying be useful to him?

Research shows over 90% of
serial K*llers choose strangers

to be their victims.

But that doesn´t mean victims
were selected at random.

♫♫

One man who studied Davis
closely during the investigation

is Detective Greg Roberts.

Roberts: He could
have made overtime

without hurting or
causing harm to people.

That´s available in
the medical field.

I can tell you that for certain.

He was picking particular
people for particular reasons,

not his patients,
different ways of doing it.

So, I mean, this is meticulous
in a way. Very organized.

So did you get the feeling

he was willing to
do this to patients,

but he almost didn´t want it
to be happening to his patients

because it would
make him look bad?

Well, one of the
theories that came out...

That´s a very good question...

Was that at the particular time,

he was studying to be
a nurse practitioner,

which is a higher
level of care provider

that he was aspiring to be.

He was actually in
school for that,

which would give him more
practice, more money,

a more prestigious position.

So one of my theories was maybe

he was pushing these negative
outcomes on these people

so that he could say,

"Well, when I´m the
nurse practitioner,

I can help because
all of my patients,

I recovered them successfully.

These other people did not."

They were worse. Interesting.
So almost he´s the hero.

But that´s where he
clearly wants to be.

But he didn´t think he could
do it on his own merit.

We don´t want to leave
anything to chance

when we can control
it or manipulate it.

And that comes in from
that narcissism, I think.

Even when it comes to
hurting and k*lling people.

Yeah, he´s gonna
do whatever he can

to make himself the top dog.

So if we´re trying to
look into whether or not

there´s more victims, I
know the data are lacking.

So do you have any
suggestions for us?

I would probably go
straight to him and ask him.

He could shine
that light for us.

Great advice. Hopefully we´ll be
able to do that later this week.

If Will Davis was doing all of
this just to advance his career,

then the patients were truly
just collateral damage to that.

But what about the
surviving victims?

What do they think about
why Davis did this?

Lawshe: Would you tell me

a little bit about
what happened,

if you don´t mind
talking about it?

Well, I never dreamed
that I would ever be

in jeopardy in a hospital.

I woke up and I felt
like I couldn´t breathe,

and I had tubes everywhere.

And I told them I
couldn´t breathe.

From what I can understand,

Will Davis was not even
assigned to me, period.

He wasn´t even associated
with my case at all.

Until I saw his
picture in the paper,

I couldn´t even tell you
what the man looked like.

Nor my family.

Wow.

How has your life
changed since then?

You know, I mean, it´s
kind of a big question.

It´s changed dramatically.

I mean, the strokes I had
affected my left side.

I picked up a plate.

For example, I get a hamburger.

My hand just go to
jumping and shaking

and I throw it all
over the house.

I just can´t control it.

Taking that into account,
I mean, how do you...

How do you feel now?
Do you feel safe?

If I´m awake and breathing,

I´ve got a g*n on. Yeah.

´Cause that´s...
Even when somebody

pulls up in my yard,
I don´t trust anybody.

During the trial or...

When did you see
that security footage

and what did you think about it?

He actually was
skipping down the hall.

It blew my mind.

I couldn´t believe somebody was

as sadistic... and...

And... And you want to know why.

I think Will enjoyed it.

I think it started out

him just seeing how
much power he had.

And Will got to
where he liked it

and exactly what they
said in the courtroom.

There´s no better place
for a serial k*ller to hide

than a hospital.

Fox: When we began
this investigation,

we hoped to understand
Davis´ motive

to help bring closure for
victims like Ricky Glenn.

♫♫

So far, we´ve gathered a lot
from people who knew Davis.

But for all our theories,
there´s one person

that may know the answers
better than anyone else...

The man himself.

♫♫

♫♫

[ Laughing ]

I´m sorry.

Okay. Hi, Will.

Hi, Miss Fox.

Hello. You can
call me Bryanna.

Bryanna? Yes. Thank
you for having me.

One thing I really wanted
to talk to you about

was, you know, your childhood.

I think that was maybe
one of the first times

that you started feeling

a lot of anxiety and
depression. Depression.

I had a lot of depression
in the fall of 2000.

Went to Kilgore College.

I felt like there is
like no hope in life.

I didn´t know what I
wanted to do for a career.

I´d went to the doctor
at that time for that,

and he had prescribed me,

I guess, an SSRI for depression.

And then I wasn´t
on it very long.

And after that, and
then that´s when

I tried to run my truck
into a tree, commit suicide.

And then I cut
myself a few times.

I had a bunch of
different acts like that

that, you know,
weren´t... weren´t good.

They said I was bipolar,

put me on Depakote and
lithium at that time.

To be honest, I really...
I don´t feel like...

I never really
thought I was bipolar,

but I know they had
mentioned bipolar.

I never went back to
get on that medication.

I just kind of more
or less turning

to anti-anxiety,
anti-depressive type...

What, if any, financial
stressors did you have

and when did they begin?

I´m gonna be honest,

I´m horrible when it
comes to finances.

When I became a nurse, I
already had built up debt.

I paid my bills on time.

It´s just what the
problem was, over time,

I started suffocating
myself with so much stuff

where I´m just, like, basically
paying the minimum payment

just to keep my credit
good each month.

You´re just
overwhelmed, stressed.

You think there´s no hope,
there´s no way out of this.

How am I gonna... You know,
what have I done to myself?

And all of these
financial pressures?

I mean, can you
explain mentally,

like where you were at while
you´re going through them?

Well, I was taken
Lexapro for depression,

and then I stopped taking
Lexapro about April of ´17.

I was having sexual
side effects from it.

And so it was very hard
as a man, your pride,

your confidence, everything.

You know, it´s
like, "Oh, my gosh,

what in the world´s going on?"

It´s like... And so
I stopped taking it.

The first incident was,
I think, June 15th.

But prior to that, I
had gotten called off

a couple of different
times and I thought,

"Okay, well, I´m
going into overtime.

They need to call me off,
let somebody else go in."

And so I thought,
"Okay, that´s fine."

But then when I got to work
the next time I go to work,

my co-workers would
say, "Hey, Will,

where were you at last night?"

You know, "Well,
I got called off.

They said I was
gonna be in overtime.

So they had to call me
off," and they said,

"Oh, man, we could have
used you last night.

We were... We were...
got hammered."

You know, they´re basically
stressed out, low staffs.

So it just started
building on my mind, like,

it really made me...
I got really angry.

My co-workers are
sitting there struggling.

I think that, for
a lot of people,

you´re, you know, this young,
upstanding nurse, citizen

and then this thing happened.

If I go ahead and
explain, I think what...

I guess if I can
explain. Please.

From the first, uh...

Like I said, started
in June 2017,

Mr. Sanders, the
very first patient,

that night,

everything started going
went through my head,

like, about everything...
Especially at the hospital.

More the upper people because
I feel like, you know,

they´re up here sitting in
the office getting bonuses,

taking and putting
all these orders out

for us to do all these things.

And they don´t even
know how hard it...

What we´re really doing

and they´re not
down here with us.

I had to go check a blood sugar.

He was on an insulin drip.

And when I went in there,

it´s like I didn´t even
see, like, the patient.

Mr. Sanders. I didn´t
even see Mr. Sanders.

It´s like
Mr. Sanders is there,

but my head is somewhere else.

I had a flush in my pocket.
I had to check a blood sugar.

So you have to use the
arterial line for that.

I took the syringe. How
to explain it exactly...

I pulled it back. I
put it back on there,

and I pushed it in there.

And while I was doing this,
I´m getting this euphoria...

Like, this exhilarating force

going through my
body in my head.

And I´m just like...
It is feeling

like I´m out of this world.

You´re thinking, "Oh, my
gosh," almost like a drug.

Like you´re getting high
off a drug or something.

But then that
feeling afterwards,

whenever people
would come rushing in

or you´d have the
code button going off

and people would rush
in, you would get like...

It would amplify
that feeling I had.

It gave me this
control, the power,

that euphoria that went through,

that exhilarating rush that
goes through your body.

After Mr. Sanders,

the next night
was Mr. Lafferty.

I would walk in, go
in, do the same thing,

and even afterwards, having
that peace and that calm.

It´s like I didn´t
worry about bills,

I didn´t worry about...
Think about money.

I didn´t think about
the stresses of life.

It was like I just
kind of relaxed.

But then thereafter, it really
became more of an addiction.

It´s horrible. I can´t even...

I don´t even like
talking about it.

It´s... it´s horrible.

One question that
I was wondering,

now is the opportunity, if
there´s any other families

or any other people that
you want to, you know,

I would say, you know,
confess or have absolution,

get off your chest.

There was the 96-year-old
elderly lady in 2016.

I did fail to mention her.

And that was more
of a mercy thing.

She was 96. She was a
DNR, do not resuscitate,

and she was basically
end of life.

It´s hard to sit there
and watch her suffering.

Oh, my gosh. This is
it. This is the moment.

And you´re wanting
to react to that.

You want to say, "How
could you do that?

Why did you lie about
it for so long?"

You want to yell
all of that out,

but if you do, he´s
gonna shut down.

Can you just tell me really
quickly more about that?

So that was the first time.

And how... how did
you go about that?

So basically, I just...

I gave her potassium
chloride to stop her heart.

I gave her pain medicine,
so she´d be comfortable.

I shouldn´t have played God.
I should have done that.

I was wrong. But I just...

It was hard watching her suffer.

I do believe that
maybe by doing that,

it might have opened a door
that I shouldn´t have opened.

And this is my last question.
You mentioned it earlier,

but do you believe that
you´re going to heaven?

I do. I do.

I´ve... I´ve been... You
know, I feel like, you know,

Jesus, I´ve turned my
life around, back to him.

I focus on the Lord,
and he´s forgiven me.

So... That was all I had.

I´m sorry it went so fast, Will.

I know it was quick.

I was hoping to get that,
you know, that off my chest.

Lawshe: Wow.

So where to begin? Burckley:
I´m, like, I don´t even know.

I have done... dozens, if
not hundreds, of interviews

and asked people if they
had committed other crimes,

let alone a m*rder.

And I don´t think
I´ve had any at all

confessions to m*rder occur.

This is the first one.

I don´t know that
we ever anticipated

that we would actually
get that to happen.

I personally was shocked

that he had confessed
to another m*rder.

My biggest thing is, throughout
this entire interview,

did he cry once? Did
he get emotional?

Really emotional once?
This entire time,

I´m staring you
dead in your eyes.

And there´s nothing on your
face that says, "I´m sorry."

But do we really
believe he waited then

a whole year, year and a half,

before he committed
the next one?

Fox: How did you
feel watching that

and hearing him
explain it so honestly?

Horrified. One of the
things that we learned

throughout the arrest report

was that just before his arrest,

he ended up doing
an Internet search

for the list of serial
K*llers by number of victims.

So I think that goes the
point of manipulation is,

does he want this notoriety?

He compares himself to
the higher-ups in admin,

that he still can´t obtain the
goals and they somehow can.

And so he turns to illegitimate
means to kind of deal

with those negative emotions.

But he´s also throwing things
in there that he came with

after the fact that it happened,

after you spent three
years in prison,

you were like, "Oh, okay,
yeah, that´s what it was."

You had time to sort it out.

But at that time, he
was more so confused.

It had nothing to do
with the people above.

Because he himself has to
live with those actions.

So he is rationalizing
those actions to himself.

Teuber: Is he playing us and
trying to make us feel like

it was all these sad things
that happened in his life

and these hardships?

Or is he trying to play us?

I have no pity for him. He
gets no pity from me at all.

I mean, I don´t care how
much you´re going through.

You k*lled 12 people,
and then you come

and say you have stress.

I don´t care.
You stop being...

I´m sorry, but stop
being a little punk.

I mean, it´s just that simple.

It´s almost as a revenge tactic.

Because he was upset
with the hospital.

It´s insane.

And you can see that
rationalization, too.

Like, she was end
of life, right?

She was going to die anyway.

And he felt like he was,

you know, cutting...
Cutting her suffering short.

But his reasons for doing
it are completely different.

Never once did he invoke
his medicine, his stressors,

his financial troubles,

anything that was going
on... The hospital.

Instead, he said it
was a mercy k*lling.

All the reasons, he said, for
all the rest of the killings,

now all of a sudden
went out the window.

I think the one
constant, though,

is that need for
power and control.

You know, regardless of
whether it was frustration

with the administration,

whether he thought, you
know, he could invoke

this God-like sense for
that first mercy k*lling.

For some people who feel

like they have a lack of
control in their life,

they feel like they have to
do things, like use substances

or have eating disorders or
have anxiety or depression.

Maybe Will Davis´ method
was actually taking control

by taking control of other
people´s futures and lives.

But no matter what,
this is still somebody

that thought m*rder
was an option.

But then he talks about how
he felt during the killings.

I just feel like you can´t
just... just make that up,

like this euphoric feeling

and then this addiction
to taking people´s lives.

And, you know, and he
was talking about, like,

the come up and the come
down like it was a drug.

It´s like a
redirection of emotion

and feeling where it´s like,

"Now I´m not just
like a drug addiction.

I´m not feeling these
negative emotions.

It´s a feeling of euphoria.

It´s more of I enjoyed
the feeling itself."

Fox: A need for control may
have made Davis a k*ller,

but it was his addiction
to the thrill of k*lling

which made him a serial k*ller.

Burch: My biggest thing is how
many people have you passed by

who has k*lled someone?

A lot of people think of
serial K*llers as evil.

They´re, you know, you
can spot them a mile away.

But the Will Davis that we´ve
come to know is not like that.

So I think that also just
should shift our mentality

about what serial
K*llers are like,

what evil is like,

what maybe even the reasons
that people commit crimes,

even if they don´t have
a justifiable reason,

there still are reasons. Okay.

Our second major
goal was identifying

if there are other
potential victims.

I think now our next steps

are turning this information
over to the prosecutors

and the police
department and seeing

if they can identify the
woman who he had k*lled

to see if that can bring
closure to her family.

[ Line ringing ]

♫♫

Hello. This is
Detective Roberts.

Hi, Detective Roberts,
this is Bryanna Fox.

I promised you I would call you

after my interview
with Will Davis,

and so I wanted to
call you right away

and let you know what happened.

♫♫

♫♫