In the winter of 1983, Kathryn Maxwell, an 86-year-old White woman, was a resident at the Kearsley Home in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, then the oldest operating nursing facility in the country. Her life ended violently and unexpectedly, though the truth of what happened to her would remain hidden for months, obscured by assumptions about her advanced age.
On February 12, 1983, a day marked by a blizzard, Ms. Maxwell was found deceased in her room at the home. Staff and officials initially attributed her death to a heart attack, a seemingly natural conclusion for an elderly resident. Following this determination, her body was donated to the University of Pennsylvania medical school for scientific and educational purposes, a final act that was intended to benefit the living. For months, there was no reason to suspect foul play.
The quiet assumption of natural causes began to unravel later that year as a disturbing pattern of deaths emerged at the Kearsley Home. In July, two other residents, Eugenia Borda, 90, and Mildred Alston, 83, were found dead in their rooms under suspicious circumstances. Autopsies revealed they had been raped and murdered. This horrific discovery prompted Philadelphia police to launch a full-scale investigation into a potential serial killer operating within the walls of the institution that was supposed to be a sanctuary for the elderly. Investigators began to look back at other recent deaths, including Kathryn Maxwell's.
Their suspicions led them to exhume Ms. Maxwell's body from the university medical school where it awaited use in an anatomy class. An autopsy was performed by the medical examiner, and the findings were shocking: she had been sexually assaulted and suffocated. Her death was not natural; it was a homicide. The investigation quickly focused on employees of the Kearsley Home, as the facility had security, suggesting the killer was someone with trusted access.
The focus of the investigation soon narrowed to Anthony Joyner, a 24-year-old kitchen worker and assistant nutritionist who was well-liked by staff and residents. When questioned by police, Joyner was initially cooperative but eventually confessed to a horrifying series of crimes. He admitted to the rapes and murders of six elderly women at the home between January and July 1983. His victims ranged in age from 83 to 92. Joyner explained that he gained access to their rooms from the cellar and would often smother them with a pillow to prevent them from identifying him.
In his confession, Joyner admitted to killing Kathryn Maxwell. His trial began in April 1984, where he initially confirmed his testimony in graphic detail before attempting to recant, claiming he was coerced by investigators. The jury was not convinced. In May 1984, Joyner was found guilty of five counts of first-degree murder, one count of second-degree murder, six counts of rape, and one count of burglary. The jury deadlocked on whether to impose the death penalty. As a result, the judge sentenced Anthony Joyner to a mandatory life sentence in prison without the possibility of parole. As of 2022, he remained incarcerated at a state correctional institution in Pennsylvania.
