An ex-nurse convicted of murdering 10 patients in western Germany may be linked to more than 100 additional deaths, an official has said.
The chief public prosecutor in Aachen, Katja Schlenkermann-Pitts, told the BBC that there was a correspondingly high number of suspicious cases under review.
She cautioned that the cases represented preliminary suspicions and that some could be dismissed following forensic examination.
In November last year, a regional court in Aachen convicted the former palliative care nurse, who has not been publicly named, of 10 counts of murder and 27 counts of attempted murder, sentencing him to life imprisonment.
The court found that during night shifts at a hospital in Würselen, the man had administered excessive doses of sedatives and painkillers to seriously ill patients without medical justification.
Prosecutors said the drugs were sometimes given repeatedly and that the defendant was aware of the potentially fatal consequences. Judges concluded that the actions were driven by personal unease and a desire to impose order during night shifts.
The defendant denied the charges during the trial, stating that he had intended to help patients sleep and had not believed the medication posed a lethal risk given their underlying illnesses. But prosecutors accused him of playing master of life and death.
As part of the expanded inquiry, investigators have ordered around 60 exhumations, with 27 already carried out. Prosecutors in Cologne are also looking into deaths linked to hospitals where the nurse had previously worked.
Overall, the investigation continues, drawing a chilling parallel to the notorious case of former nurse Niels Högel, who murdered 85 patients, feared to be the most prolific killer in Germany's history.
