Bio

Timea Faludi was born in 1977.

She worked as a nurse.

In 1994 she joined the staff at the Gyula Nyiro hospital in Budapest.

She was assigned to a special unit that cared for terminally ill patients and often worked night shifts.

Colleagues noticed her long black hair and habit of wearing black clothing. They called her the "Black Angel."

Murder Story

Timea Faludi, born in 1977, was a nurse in Budapest, Hungary. She became known as the "Black Angel." Reports say she worked in a unit for terminally ill patients from May 2000 to February 2001. Investigators listed the method as poisoning by lethal injections. She was arrested on February 19, 2001.

The case began when hospital staff noticed more deaths than usual on her night shifts. The medical director saw the rise in deaths. Controls on drug use showed a shortage of tranquillisers. A colleague reported seeing injections given without a doctor’s order. Police were called and an investigation started.

During the probe, Faludi told police she had killed many patients. She at first confessed to about 30 to 40 deaths, then later withdrew parts of her statements. Police were able to identify eight cases where she was strongly suspected. The court said she had given intravenous injections to seven seriously ill patients and that the patients died shortly afterwards. The court found her directly responsible for three deaths. Many alleged victims had been cremated, so no material evidence was left.

At her trial, Faludi admitted some killings but said she wanted to ease suffering. The court rejected a murder verdict and instead convicted her on multiple counts of attempted murder and intentionally endangering lives. On December 2, 2002, a Budapest court sentenced her to nine years in prison and banned her for life from working as a nurse.

The court noted that euthanasia is illegal in Hungary. It said the term euthanasia could not apply because the patients had not expressed a wish to die. A court psychiatrist reported that Faludi had a strong ability to empathise but also felt internally that she was like God. The court said she took decisions instead of doctors or patients.

The case led to a national review of hospital procedures. Hungary’s health minister ordered inquiries at hospitals across the country. Hospital managers said nurses were not allowed to give intravenous injections without doctors’ orders, and they said the hospital had shown no earlier signs of serious problems. Colleagues had given her the nickname "Black Angel" because of her long black hair and dark clothing.