Dorothy Jean MATAJKE
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics: Poisoner - Live-in "nurse" who robbed and poisoned elderly clients
Number of victims: 3
Date of murders: April 5, 1985 / September 19, 1986 / February 20, 1987
Date of birth: 1930
Victims profile: Opal Marie Kinsey, 70 / Marian Doyle, 74 / Paul Calvin Kinsey, 71
Method of murder: Poisoning (arsenic)
Location: Little Rock, Pulaski County, Arkansas, USA
Status: Sentenced to life in prison + 60 years on two counts in Arkansas, 1987
A resident of Nevada, Iowa, Dorothy Matajke began working as a nurse's aide and professional companion for the elderly and ailing in the 1970s. It came as no surprise to anyone when several of her patients died, and there were no suggestions of foul play except where money was concerned.
In 1973, Matajke was convicted of fraud and sentenced to five years in prison. She escaped in February 1974 and remained at large until 1980, when she was recaptured and returned to finish out her sentence. Despite the prison break, she won parole in 1983, serving less than the original five years. Upon release, Matajke moved to Little Rock and picked up with her old profession as a live-in nurse.
On March 24, 1985, she moved in with Paul Kinsey, 72, and his wife Opal, age 71. When Opal died on April 5, the cause was listed as a recently-discovered cancer. Paul Kinsey's health began deteriorating rapidly after his wife's death, but relatives attributed his lapse to grief and loneliness.
On September 9, 1986, Matajke acquired a new client, elderly Marion Doyle. Another cancer patient, Doyle survived nine days of nursing by Matajke, but her death was not ascribed to cancer.
Rather, a police report suggested that the woman had committed suicide. A routine inventory, made by the executor of Doyle's estate, discovered several checks made out to Dorothy Matajke, totaling almost $4,000.
There was something curious about Doyle's signature, and on a hunch, her body was exhumed for reexamination. Tissue samples showed sufficient drugs to cause a fatal overdose. Meanwhile, Paul Kinsey's health continued to decline.
The old man stubbornly refused to eat or take his medication, telling relatives that every meal or dose prepared by his "companion" left him deathly ill. Kinsey ordered Matajke out of his house on October 28, and three days later he was hospitalized in critical condition.
Dorothy Matajke bullied her way past relatives and doctors to visit her ex-patient in the emergency room, and she was still by his side when detectives arrived to arrest her. Initially, the "nurse" was charged with forgery and theft for looting Marion Doyle's bank account. Subsequent charges included felony possession of a firearm, and additional counts of forgery relating to checks written on Paul Kinsey's account.
A search of Matajke's home yielded mislabeled bottles of drugs and tranquilizers, along with three bottles of arsenic-based ant poison, and more serious charges were added. On November 24, she was accused of first-degree murder in the death of Marion Doyle and first-degree battery in the non-fatal poisoning of Paul Kinsey.
Opal Kinsey's body was exhumed December 5, with the results of laboratory tests kept secret pending disposition of the standing charges. After Paul Kinsey died, on February 10, 1987, assault charges were replaced with another count of first-degree murder.
In June 1987, Matajke was convicted of Paul Kinsey's murder and sentenced to life. Two months later, in a negotiated plea bargain, she received another term of 60 years for killing Marion Doyle.
Charges are pending in the case of Opal Kinsey, and new investigations are expected in the deaths of several patients "cared for" by Matajke in Iowa.
Michael Newton - An Encyclopedia of Modern Serial Killers - Hunting Humans
Woman Pleads Innocent In Arsenic Poisonings
Apnewsarchive.com
November 25, 1986
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) _ Police say they may exhume the bodies of five senior citizens who died under the care of a live-in companion charged with poisoning a 74-year-old woman with arsenic.
Dorothy Jean Matajke, 56, of Little Rock, pleaded innocent Tuesday to a charge of first-degree murder in the Sept. 19 death of Marian Doyle, and to a charge of battery of Paul Kinsey, 70. Kinsey remains in serious condition at St. Vincent Infirmary where he has been for a month.
Kinsey's wife, Opal Kinsey, 70, died April 5, 1985, and her body will be exhumed to check for arsenic, said Lt. R.L. ''Bert'' Jenkins, a police spokesman. If tests show arsenic in Mrs. Kinsey's body, four other bodies may be exhumed.
Kinsey became ill and Ms. Doyle died after apparently consuming arsenic placed in their food and drink, Sgt. John Martin of the police homicide division said at a Monday news conference.
Steve Nawojczyk, chief deputy coroner in Pulaski County, said symptoms of arsenic poisoning are similar to flu symptoms. ''Small amounts (of arsenic) over a period of time can make it look like natural death,'' he said.
Authorities arrested Ms. Matajke Oct. 8 and later charged her with forging checks totaling $2,600 on Ms. Doyle's account, Jenkins said. She is being held without bond in the Pulaski County Jail. The forgery was reported by the executor of Ms. Doyle's estate.
Police had said Ms. Doyle, who had cancer, committed suicide by drug overdose. She had been under Ms. Matajke's care about two weeks, Martin said.
After Ms. Doyle's body was exhumed Oct. 23, tests for cyanide and arsenic showed there was enough arsenic in Mrs. Doyle's body to kill her.
Ms. Matajke also has been charged with five counts of forgery, two counts of theft by receiving, being a felon in possession of a firearm and perjury.
Ms. Matajke was convicted of forgery Sept. 5, 1973, at Nevada, Iowa, and was sentenced to seven years in prison. She escaped in 1974, was caught Oct. 7, 1980, and was paroled in December 1983.
As a live-in companion, Ms. Matajke performed light chores, such as feeding her clients, paying their bills and buying their groceries, police said.
Police allege Ms. Matajke poisoned Kinsey while staying at his residence after she told him she had nowhere else to live.
Woman Charged With Poisoning 74-Year-Old Woman
Apnewsarchive.com
November 25, 1986
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) _ A live-in companion to senior citizens accused of poisoning two clients with arsenic pleaded innocent today to charges of first-degree murder and battery.
Police said they would exhume the body of one person, and possibly five others, who died while under Dorothy Jean Matajke's care in the last two years.
Ms. Matajke, 56, of Little Rock, was arraigned today on charges of murder in the Sept. 19 death of Marian Doyle, 74, and battery in the alleged poisoning last month of Paul Kinsey, 70, who is in serious condition in St. Vincent Infirmary. A public defender was appointed for Ms. Matajke, but no court date was set.
Ms. Doyle and Kinsey apparently consumed arsenic placed in their food and drink, police Sgt. John Martin said.
Ms. Matajke, who was arrested Oct. 8 on check forgery charges, is being held without bond in the Pulaski County Jail.
She also has been charged with theft by receiving, being a felon in possession of a firearm and perjury.
Authorities say Ms. Matajke, who served half of a seven-year sentence on a 1973 forgery conviction in Iowa, forged checks totaling $2,600 on Ms. Doyle's account and $200 on Kinsey's account.
Police originally reported that Ms. Doyle committed suicide by drug overdose. She had cancer and had been under Ms. Matajke's care about two weeks, Martin said. But after Ms. Doyle's body was exhumed Oct. 23, a toxicological report showed she had died of arsenic poisoning, police said.
Authorities plan to exhume the body of Kinsey's wife, Opal, 70, who died in April 1985, said police spokesman Lt. R.L. ''Bert'' Jenkins.
Ms. Matajke cared for Kinsey's wife, who was suffering from a bone disease, for about two weeks in 1985 until her death, which was listed in police reports as being from natural causes.
If tests show that she died of arsenic poisoning, authorities will seek to exhume the bodies of four other people who died while under Ms. Matajke's care in the last two years, he said.
As a live-in companion, Ms. Matajke performed light chores, such as feeding her clients, paying their bills and buying their groceries, police said.
Steve Nawojczyk, chief deputy coroner in Pulaski County, said symptoms of arsenic poisoning are similar to flu symptoms. ''Small amounts over a period of time can make it look like natural death,'' he said.
