Not only were the killings performed by a certified doctor who was sworn by oath to do no harm in hospitals surrounded by other patients and medical colleagues but he also managed to elude criminal charges for years while continuously finding employment in new locations. Michael Swango is an American serial killer and a former physician who is serving three consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole at the ADX Florence supermax prison near Florence, Colorado. February1984: A nursing student reports that Swango tampered with an IV just before the patient suffers a seizure and respiratory arrest. And when scrutiny would come closing in around him or his superiors would discipline him for infractions, he would eventually move on to another health care outpost, ready to take up another role that put him in a position to begin his work all over again. During the trial, the prosecution also argued that Palerma was involved in the kidnapping of three U.S. contractors in 2003, and a former guerilla testified against him about the kidnapping of a former mayor. history. . Former SIU medical student sentenced to life for murders Their answers reflect what many still wonder. July 12, 2000 / 11:23 AM / CBS. His reign of terror came to an end in 1997, when he was arrested at Chicagos OHare International Airport and subsequently convicted and sentenced to three consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole. POISONOUS PASSION - Daily Press The former wasn't even supposed to be working at the Crossroads Convenience Store in Algona on November 15, 2010, yet she'd clocked in anyways after another . Michael Swango (born Joseph Michael Swango) was a physician who spent most of the 1980s and '90s using his . [15] At his sentencing hearing, Swango admitted to causing three murders, lying about his role in causing a fourth death, and lying about his 1985 conviction.[17]. "If I could see him today? In the early 2000s, authorities charged him and 28 other gang leaders with a litany of charges in an attempt to sentence many of them to death. [1] He was valedictorian of his 1972 Quincy Catholic Boys High School class. Prosecutors said Michael Swango killed for pleasure, and they read entries from a handwritten journal in which he mused about "the sweet, husky, close smell of indoor homicide." Another entry suggested that murder was "the only way I have of reminding myself that I'm still alive." Swango, 45, pleaded guilty to three counts of murder in a plea . He committed multiple incidents of forgery and assault so that he could continue his disastrous medical career, but he was eventually charged by both U.S. and Zimbabwean authorities and is serving three consecutive life sentences. Doctor of Death: The Twisted Crime Spree of Michael Swango He crossed the border to Zambia and subsequently to Namibia, where he found temporary medical work. Killers part of OSU's past - The Lantern Combine that with his skill in administering poisonous doses of chemicals that were difficult to track and his smooth people skills, it becomes more clear how he was able to avoid detection. They feared that if they could not find enough evidence to convict Swango, he was likely to kill again. Amid the AMA report and calls from frightened colleagues, Sanford fired Swango. Prosecutors read lurid passages from Swango's notebook, describing the joy he felt during his crimes. In 1987, however, he was caught red-handed by a staff member while robbing the offices of the Farmers Union and he shot the man and then killed a truck driver as he fled the building. 81 ratings12 reviews. In March 1997, he applied for a job at the Royal Hospital in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, using a false rsum. In a phone call, she implored him to look closer into Swango, whom she suspected of killing patients at her facility. Michael Swango returned to New York two days after Kristin's memorial service. Swango could very well have remained in Sioux Falls for some time, but he committed a critical blunder. [13] In his book Blind Eye, Quincy native James B. Stewart estimated that counting the suspicious deaths at SIU, circumstantial evidence links Swango to 35 suspicious deaths. If you think about it, youre working where death is a common occurrence. [9] From 1997-2003 he was the imam of the Finsbury Park Mosque in London and voiced his support for terrorism, including 9/11 attacks. Link your TV provider to stream full episodes and live TV. Yet investigators suspect that during his crime spree, which spanned 1981 to 1997, Swango may . Swango was released from prison in 1987, after serving only two years. At the ages of 47 and 61, respectively, both Vicky Bowman-Hall and Sheila Meyers of Iowa were innocent gas station clerks with families of their own when they abruptly lost their lives. By making a deal with prosecutors, he was spared the death penalty, and the government of Zimbabwe agreed not to . Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! Soon, many of the paramedics on staff began noticing that whenever Swango prepared the coffee or brought any food in, several of them usually became violently ill, with no apparent cause. In the beginning, he shot Vicky Bowman-Hall at a convenience store in Algona. It was a damning piece of television, which Sackman had just happened to miss when it was broadcast the night before. The FBI believes he may be responsible for as many as 60 deaths, which would make him one of the most prolific serial killers in American history. Police arrested him at Chicagos OHare Airport on fraud charges for presenting a false statement to Stony Brook and illegally distributing controlled substances, according to theOffice of Inspector General. Thats part of the reason why he was only convicted in the involvement of four deaths he confessed to them in exchange for not being extradited to Africa and to avoid the death penatly in the United States instead of the dozens he is suspected of, Sackman said. He called Richard Thomesen, who was stationed in the DEA's Manhattan field office to discuss the case. When not studying, he was frequently seen jogging or performing calisthenics on the Quincy University campus, and he was known to perform pushups as a form of self-punishment when criticized by instructors. With Donnie Wahlberg, Mary Anne Sharkey, Bobbi Montanari, Ron O'Brien. But he would break this oath dozens of times, as he was convicted of killing four people, and possibly killed up to 60 while he worked as both an EMT and a physician. [28] He escaped prison twice in Mexico but was extradited to the U.S. in 2017 and sentenced to life in prison plus thirty years on ten different charges. report from 2007 describes this maximum-security prison as a 21st century Alcatraz, where many inmates spend 23 hours a day locked in their cell. The Neurosurgeon Serial Killer Who Took Upto 60 Lives - Medium Many investigators worked on the case, including Bruce Sackman. The writer analyzed the factors that make Michael Swango as a psychopath by using theories of personality by Sigmund Freud after found out the characteristic of Michael. At the time, a unanimous vote was required for a student to be dismissed. He serves two years of a five-year sentence. He has consulted with foreign police on cases, as well. Michael Swango used to tell colleagues that his favorite movie was ''The Silence of the Lambs.'' That was not a reassuring datum, considering the rumors being whispered among the nurses, and the epidemics of cardiopulmonary arrest that seemed to follow whenever Swango happened to be working a floor. His patients, many of whom were considered stable, began to mysteriously die without explanation. Again, patients die mysteriously. Thats true the world over, Sackman said. 1979: Graduates summa cum laude from Quincy College. [1], Although the FBI, the VA, and prosecutors for the Eastern District of New York were convinced Swango was a serial killer, they knew it would be difficult to prove beyond a reasonable doubt. In October of that year, Swango was arrested by the Quincy Police Department after arsenic and other poisons were found in his possession. And he was not what Sackman was expecting. I received the phone call that changed my life, literally. Michael Swango's story began right here in the Tri-States, but few could have ever guessed where it would end. Only with their help can people like Sackman and his team bring justice to those who were the victims of murderers like Swango. Rudolph grew up in Florida and North Carolina before moving with his mother to a Missouri compound run by the Christian Identity movement,[14] a racial interpretation of Christianity that believes Europeans are the chosen descendants of the Israelites and Jews are the cursed descendants of Cain. Under intense questioning from the head of Stony Brook's psychiatry department, Alan Miller, Swango admitted he had lied about his poisoning conviction in Illinois. Michael Strahan Death Hoax Dismissed Since Footballer Is 'Alive And Well'. In 1989, he was working at a medical-career vocational school in Newport News, Virginia, when three co-workers became ill. although no charges were ever filed, according to CBS News. He was sentenced to two life sentences for one of the abortion clinic bombings that had killed a police officer, and later two more life sentences for the Atlanta bombing. Like Father, Like Son. Even earlier, several students and faculty members had raised concerns about Swango's competence to practice medicine. Born in Sinaloa, Mexico in 1957, Guzman started his journey into the drug world early by growing marijuana with his father. He was only 17 years old then but was stilled charged as an adult considering the level of his crime. In fact, one of the good things to come about from the case is how medical credentialing has improved dramatically, because nobody wanted to hire a guy like this ever again.. The program also noted that he had actually been imprisoned for a time for poisoning his own co-workers on an ambulance crew. Federal inmates must serve at least 85 percent of their sentences before being eligible for time off with good behavior, meaning that they likely had only three years to prove Swango was indeed a murderer. Guzman began his own cartel operations, trafficking more cocaine, marijuana, meth, and heroin into the United States than any other drug dealer in history. He showed a fascination with dying patients, and preferred working as an ambulance attendant instead of studying. He murdered a number of our nations heroes in Veterans hospitals. Could be. 1983: Graduates from Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, where classmates nickname him Double-0 Swango and faculty raise concerns about his performance. After his release, Swango ended up in New York, where he killed at least three people at the, Before the long arm of the law could catch up to him, he flew to Africa, where his penchant for poisoning people and murder continued. Born in Sinaloa, Mexico in 1957, Guzman started his journey into the drug world early by growing marijuana with his father. In 2000, Swango was sentenced to life in prison at USP Florence ADMAX in Florence, Colorado. To the outside observer, this would seem like the likely end to his medical career in any shape or form. Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! An internal probe of Swango brought about no conclusive evidence, but the school still ended his neurosurgery residency, according toThe Washington Post. [16] On September 6, he pleaded guilty to the three murder counts, as well as counts of wire fraud and mail fraud, before Judge Jacob Mishler. However, when he attempted to join the American Medical Association (AMA), it conducted a more thorough background check than Sanford and found out about the poisoning conviction. July1984: Finds work as a paramedic in Quincy. 1993: Several healthy patients die. Michael Strahan dead 2023 : Footballer killed by celebrity - Mediamass He is serving fifteen consecutive life sentences.[6]. Because there has to be a reason to do things like this," he said. He used his job as prison reporter to gain information about the layout of the prison, and then escaped through the air ducts in 1992 along with two other prisoners and remained free for nine months before being re-captured. In 1993 a rival cartel attempted to assassinate Guzman at an airport, but accidentally killed the Cardinal Archbishop of Guadalajara and six other bystanders. After that he was gone and went to Zimbabwe, and when he was there he killed men and women and children. Dr. Michael Swango is one of the prolific medical serial killers in history. While Swango eventually pleaded guilty to just four murders, his victim countmay be as high as 60. Swango admitted to McGee's poisoning whenhe pleaded guilty in the New York killings so . [12] When placed in the Supermax prison, his hook hand prosthetic was replaced with a plastic spork. However, he was forced out after being caught working on a scrapbook of disasters on work time. An autopsy would later reveal that a ball of gauze had been placed down DeLongs throat. I think it was watching too many Columbo television shows, Sackman told the Mitchell Republic about how he became interested in investigative work in his younger days. FARC, or the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, was a group of Marxist-Leninist fighters who were responsible for up to 12% of civilian deaths during the Colombian conflict in the 1960s. "I've always felt like it's old news, but at the same time, as long as it gets attention, it might help prevent something like this from happening again," Cashman said. He was tan, wearing aviator sunglasses. Swango seemed to be obsessed with violence and kept scrapbooks of newspaper clippings of disasters, accidents, crime scenes and other incidents, according toThe Columbus Dispatchnewspaper. Eventually, prosecutors agreed to not pursue the death penalty or extradition in return for Swango accepting a sentence of life in prison without parole. But it happened, and thats what got me involved in that case, and it changed the course of my career., Sackman outlines his investigation of the Swango case, and the cases of other medical serial killers who also preyed hospitalized veterans, in his book In 1985, it's where a judge sentenced him to five years in prison. Now 68, Swango is incarcerated atUSP Florence ADMAX, a maximum-security federal penitentiary in Colorado known as The Alcatraz of the Rockies., To learn more about Dr. Swango, watch Oxygen's series "License to Kill.". He was a gifted medical student and doctor and a former Marine. I think things were going well for him, but I dont see how he could resist the temptation of taking someone out. [5] Hanssen pled guilty to escape the death penalty and was convicted of fourteen counts of espionage and one count of attempted espionage. Detective's daughter became pen pals with serial killer Michael Swango Later, it emerged that OSU officials feared that Swango would sue if he were fired without cause, and resolved to quietly push him out of the hospital as soon as possible after his internship ended. Hospital leaders conduct interviews and dismiss these suspicions. Before the long arm of the law could catch up to him, he flew to Africa, where his penchant for poisoning people and murder continued. With patients, he sometimes used poisons as well, but usually, he administered an overdose of whichever drug the patient had been prescribed, or wrote unnecessary prescriptions for dangerous drugs.[1]. ?s Ross Green sent Swango a letter asking him to re-consider; Swango did not reply. Nobody is going to see it.. Sackman had no proof, and without it Swango could decline Sackmans request to search his room. It takes observant, brave professionals calling out what they see as suspicious activity when they see it. In the 1980s, he began to take a deeper interest in his religion and became inspired by the Iranian revolution. [1] Kinney went back to Virginia soon afterward after suffering from violent migraines. Most states will not grant a medical license to a violent felon, considering such a conviction to be evidence of unprofessional conduct. Prosecutors Say Doctor Killed To Feel a Thrill - New York Times [30] Marcellos own father was killed while collecting a mob debt in 1973, perhaps leading to his sons life in the criminal underbelly of the city. Several of his sons have also been convicted of terrorism and other charges. October 1984: Ohio State University police are joined by the Franklin County prosecutor and the state medical board in investigating Swangos time at Ohio State. Again, his patients began dying mysteriously. Updated. It takes a team to do it. [8], Swango established a sterling reputation at Sanford. [1][10] Before he resigned, Cohen sent a warning about Swango to all 125 medical schools and all 1,000 teaching hospitals across the US, effectively blacklisting Swango from getting a medical residency at any American institution. He was employed until 1991, when he resigned his position to seek out a new position as a doctor. [17] He was sent to ADX at his own request; he had been stabbed by another inmate while serving time for lying to the VA, and feared he would be attacked again if he were placed in general population. He immediately jumped back into the medical profession, claiming his battery conviction was the result of a bar fight, and at one point changing his name to David Jackson Adams. His mother, Muriel, was a housewife, and his father, John, was a military officer. Swango ultimately pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three and a half years in prison. COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- A former doctor who prosecutors say enjoyed killing people pleaded guilty Wednesday to fatally poisoning a woman at Ohio State University's hospital in 1984 while she was under his care. But for years in the 1980s and 1990s, he stalked the rooms and hallways of hospitals across the country, where he developed a suspicious reputation after his patients would begin mysteriously dying on his watch. He also said, in his experience as an investigator, whistleblowers to crimes would often face blowback in the form of accusations of paranoia, which could make it unappealing for an individual to step forward with shocking claims. But as the pressure increased from Sackman, cracks began showing in Swangos facade. He falsified his criminal record, changing his aggravated battery conviction and prison sentence into a misdemeanor for getting into a fight with coworkers, resulting in six months in prison as opposed to the five years he actually received for felony poisoning. Why would you do this? Abdul Rahman Yasin is still at large, and the FBI is offering up to $5 million for any information that leads directly to his arrest. Download FREE with Kindle Unlimited. Since he the age of three, he had become fascinated with stories about violent deaths. Vicky Bowman-Hall and Sheila Meyers Murders: Where is Michael Swanson The infamous ADX Florence has earned the nickname The Alcatraz of the Rockies because of its extreme security. Dr. Michael Swango is now serving three consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole at He is assigned to a Veterans Administration hospital. We had quite a team of people working on this thing, because thats what it takes, Sackman said. During his time there, several employees sought medical attention with complaints of persistent and increasing stomach pains. The lab reports were passed on by the Zimbabwe Republic Police Criminal Investigation Department (CID) through Interpol to the FBI, who subsequently visited Zimbabwe to interview Cotton and the pathologist in Bulawayo, Stanford Mathe.

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