WASHINGTON – When federal investigators contacted the Shaw family at their farm in rural West Virginia last winter, they had an unusual request: They wanted to exhume the body of George Nelson Shaw, Sr., who had died several months earlier, to examine his body for foul play.

The family had thought his death was suspicious. They didn’t understand how in just a few weeks the retired Air Force veteran had gone from bowling to hospice at the local VA medical center.

Last month, investigators returned to the 111-acre farm to tell the family what they had learned: Shaw had not died of natural causes. He had been killed – one of a string of suspicious deaths at the hospital.

It’s the second death at the hospital that USA TODAY has learned was ruled a homicide after autopsies by an Armed Forces medical examiner at Dover Air Force Base.

Those two are among 10 at the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center in Clarksburg, West Virginia, that have drawn the scrutiny of investigators with the FBI and the VA Office of Inspector General.

The body of another victim, 82-year-old Army veteran Felix Kirk McDermott, was exhumed and autopsied in October. Like Shaw, his death was declared homicide by insulin injection.

Suspicious deaths:Authorities investigating 10 deaths at VA hospital, including one ruled a homicide

Diabetics can take insulin to control their blood sugar levels. But if a person without diabetes receives an insulin injection, it can lower their blood sugar too much and cause death.

Authorities are investigating a "person of interest" in the case, according to the office of U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia. On Wednesday, he urged authorities to quickly wrap up their investigation and establish a hotline to answer questions, saying seven families have contacted his office.

After learning how Shaw died, his daughter Mary Wood spent the rest of the day in a daze.

"How does one react to that information, that their loved one did not just pass away, that it was a homicide? And that it happened at a VA hospital," she told USA TODAY in an exclusive interview.

"We put all our trust and faith into that hospital to take care of him, and in the end? We got nothing, absolutely nothing."

Wesley Walls, a spokesman for the VA hospital, said in a statement issued Wednesday night that hospital officials alerted the VA Office of Inspector General about the suspicious deaths in June 2018. "For the sake of all of West Virginia veterans and their families, we hope the IG’s more than yearlong investigation will yield detailed findings soon," he said.

Mike Nacincik, spokesman for VA Inspector General Michael Missal, referred to a statement issued Tuesday acknowledging his office is working with law enforcement "to investigate allegations of potential wrongdoing resulting in patient deaths" at the hospital.

The FBI has referred inquiries to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in West Virginia. A spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Bill Powell that the office doesn’t confirm or deny the existence of an ongoing investigation.

'Complete and total betrayal'

Attorney Tony O’Dell, who represents McDermott’s family in a wrongful death claim against the VA, said the deaths represent "a complete and total betrayal of the trust of our veterans and their loved ones. There are system failures at work here that allowed so many veterans to die in the same manner."

Shaw’s wife of nearly 59 years, Norma, told USA Today on Wednesday that he had been feeling a little off when they went to the VA hospital on March 22, 2018. His blood pressure was low, and he was tired and dehydrated.

He was admitted to the hospital, where he was administered fluids. He responded well, Norma Shaw said. "He was walking the halls."

But the morning of March 26, everything changed. His blood-sugar crashed. Norma Shaw watched as medical workers checked it every 15 minutes.

"It started going back up and then it crashed again," she said. "After that, he just went downhill. He couldn’t feed himself, he didn’t talk, he couldn’t go to the bathroom by himself."

Her husband would never recover. He died on April 10, 2018 – a day after McDermott, the other confirmed homicide.

Shaw’s family, confused by the sudden turn of events, requested an autopsy. It was performed the next day and concluded he had died of heart failure.

The family thought that was the end. They gathered to celebrate a life well lived and a man well loved.

Shaw grew up on the farm, one of nine children. He joined the Air Force, where he spent 28 years as a communications specialist before retiring. He married Norma in 1959. They went on to have three children, nine grandchildren and 22 great grandchildren.

After retiring from the military, he took a job at the Clarksburg VA hospital, where he worked in the mail room for eight years, Norma recalled. Serving veterans was a natural choice, she said. Between him and other relatives, this family has racked up a century of service in the U.S. military, his daughter Linda Kay Shaw said.

So when federal investigators showed up and told them his death at the VA hospital was suspicious, Norma Shaw said she was "floored. ... It just blew my mind."

A second autopsy

The family granted permission to have his body exhumed. The casket, which contained five dried-out flowers, was sent to Dover where the second autopsy was conducted in January.

The medical examiner found four injection sites – two on the left arm, one on the right and another on his right thigh – that tested positive for insulin, according to the autopsy report. Shaw had no history of diabetes or prescribed insulin administration.

The medical examiner corroborated the first autopsy’s findings that Shaw had "significant natural disease," including congestive heart failure, but concluded insulin injection had killed him.

"We in our hearts felt this is what happened, but to actually read it and see it, it was gut-wrenching," Wood, Shaw’s daughter, said.

Norma said hearing the results "was like going through his death all over again."

She and her daughters have hired a lawyer, David C. Glover of Glover Legal in Clarksburg, to examine their options. The decision was not a hard one.

"This cannot happen to another family, ever," Linda Kay Shaw said. "It’s got to be stopped. Whoever’s accountable, needs to be held accountable, and that goes all the way to the top."

Kevin Johnson contributed reporting.