Any chance that he might have had to do any good for the families of those he murdered, though, ended Jan. 13 when he committed suicide in his cell at Wakefield Prison, northeast England, hanging himself by bedsheets and taking to his grave any explanation for what drove a trusted physician to murder more than 200 people -- one by one by one -- most of them middle-aged women and grandmothers who trusted him with their care.

The exact number of victims likely will never be known but an investigation completed in 2002 determined Shipman killed at least 215 people, probably 260 and perhaps more than 300, during nearly a quarter-century, undetected until 1998, when he lapsed into greed and his deeds were exposed.

The Japan Times Weekly: Jan. 24, 2004
(C) All rights reserved