The Intuition That Uncovered a Murder
Charlie was a proud, retired Marine who was admitted to the Clarksburg VA Medical Center in 2017 for a brief, 72-hour stay to treat minor lung issues. He was completely lucid, calling his daughter Courtney every single day to chat. But shortly before his scheduled release, he died suddenly. His medical charts attributed his death to renal failure, noting that he had suddenly shown signs of “dementia” in his final hours.
Two years later, while working from home, Courtney saw a television news report about Reta Mays, a hospital aide who had been caught injecting elderly patients at the Clarksburg VA with lethal doses of insulin. In that instant, Courtney’s intuition flared. Because Charlie had donated his body to science, he had already been cremated, meaning there was no physical evidence left to test. Undeterred, Courtney spent weeks fighting for his medical records. When she and some medical friends reviewed his final 24 hours, the truth was glaring: Mays had entered his room shortly before his blood sugar crashed, triggering the “dementia” symptoms that masked his fatal hypoglycemic shock.
“I told her at the time, ‘This is what happened to dad.’ Like I just knew.”
The Bittersweet Cruelty of a Life-Saving Hormone
In a twist of fate that feels almost too heavy to believe, Courtney’s five-year-old son, Lane, was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes just two months before her podcast interview. Thanks to an episode of a reality show that mentioned diabetic symptoms, Courtney recognized the warning signs in Lane and took him to the pediatrician immediately, catching the disease before he could slip into dangerous diabetic ketoacidosis.
While she was incredibly relieved to have caught the diagnosis early, it brought a profound and painful emotional hurdle. To keep her young son alive, Courtney had to learn how to inject him with insulin, the exact same substance that had been weaponized to take her father’s life.
“Sitting at the hospital knowing I had to inject him with something that took my dad was so incredibly hard.”
Fighting for Change and Finding Hope
Rather than letting these two life-shattering events break her, Courtney has stepped into “action mom mode” to fight for a safer future. On the legislative front, she is actively advocating for hospitals to implement strict, standardized protocols to test for potential insulin-related deaths so that future medical murderers cannot hide behind the cover of a patient’s old age.
At home, she and her husband are focusing on giving Lane a normal, happy childhood. Even as they navigate the unpredictable “honeymoon” phase of Lane’s diagnosis, they are using modern technology, like continuous glucose monitors and a kid-friendly “sugar pixel” display, to turn diabetes management into a family team effort.
“We are trying to get legislation to where hospitals will come up with their own protocol to look for potential insulin death when this stuff happens.”
Are you ready to hear Courtney tell this unbelievable, emotional story in her own words? You won’t want to miss a single second of this powerful interview. Head over to the original video to watch the full episode of Creepalachia.
