The Nation - News from Jan. 3, 1989

Gary Heidnik, sentenced to death for torturing and killing two of six women he abducted and held in his Philadelphia home, was in a coma after an apparent New Year’s Day suicide attempt in prison, his lawyer said. Heidnik, 45, apparently took an overdose of Thorazine, a prescribed anti-psychotic drug, in his cell at the State Correctional Institution in Pittsburgh, his attorney, A. Charles Peruto Jr., said. A prison guard making his rounds found Heidnik unconscious early Sunday, Lt. William Balzer said. Heidnik was taken to the West Penn Hospital in Pittsburgh, where he was under a police guard, Balzer said. Peruto said Heidnik was in critical condition. Heidnik was convicted July 1, 1988, of first-degree murder, kidnaping, rape, aggravated assault and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse.