Crime & Punishment: Nursing Student Threatens to Blow Up Hospital After Not Being Invited to Classmate's Wedding

Theresa Burden, a nursing student at St. Vincent's Medical Center, was upset at being left off the guest list of a classmate's wedding, so — sensibly enough — she sent a barrage of threatening letters to the Bridgeport hospital, according to police. St. Vincent's first received a letter signed in the name bride-to-be saying she was going to blow up the hospital because coursework was interfering with her wedding planning. Though she denied sending it, St. Vincent's suspended her. The letters, each attributed to a student, continued: "I put explosives on the first floor," "I will blow up St. Vincent's," "Get some MRSA and die." That last one referred to a bacteria and contained a white swab. Police gathered up the nursing students to take a handwriting sample from each, at which point Burden, 37, allegedly broke down and admitted to sending the letters, reports the Connecticut Post.

By Nick Keppler

March 5, 2013