That gave us a window to start the investigation and make a determination on whether he had killed anyone, Sackman said. Nobody is going to see it.. Although his first trial ended in a hung jury, his second trial ended with him being sentenced to sixty years in prison, where he remains to this day. August1985: Convicted in the nonfatal Illinois poisonings. Columbus leaders ID corridors . We started doing the background investigation and followed from when he was in medical school to the time he came to us, and thats when we found he left a trail of suspicious deaths as far back as medical school, Sackman said. [17] Palmera formed his strong political opinions while teaching economics at the Popular University of Cesar and helped create the socialist organization known as Los Indipendientes. This crime partially inspired the 1995 movie Casino. In 1984, Swango claimed he discovered the dead body of patient Ricky DeLong, 21, while performing his rounds. 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. Michael Swango is a convicted serial killer who used his position as a medical student, paramedic and later as a physicianto poison colleagues and patients. Prosecutors read lurid passages from Swango's notebook, describing the joy he felt during his crimes. Create your free profile and get access to exclusive content. It was here that coworkers began noticing a troubling trend. He was also fascinated with Nazis and the Holocaust, according to The Washington Post. [12] When placed in the Supermax prison, his hook hand prosthetic was replaced with a plastic spork. Because there has to be a reason to do things like this," he said. Swango's father was a career United States Army officer who served in the Vietnam War, was listed in Who's Who in Government 19721973, and became an alcoholic. It was reported on another occasion that he emerged from a dying patient's room with a smile on his face. License to Kill: Dr. Joseph Michael Swango's Disturbing 'House of Horrors'Quincy Police Department Chief Investigator Billy Meyer recalls searching Dr. Josep. Former SIU medical student turns serial killer Double-0 Swango sentenced to life in prison Less than two years after he graduated from the SIU School of Medicine in 1982, Michael Swango committed his first murder. [1] Nonetheless, it was another decade before OSU formally conceded it should have called in outside investigators. In late 1994, Swango used forged documents and false information to secure a job as a physician at Mnene Lutheran Mission Hospital in the city of Bulawayo. The television special she had seen outlined the unusual behavior of Swango, including the fact that death appeared to follow him almost everywhere he worked. The symptoms were consistent with arsenic poisoning. Sackman was serving as a special agent in charge for the United States Department of Veterans Affairs out of New York when he first became aware of Swango, who had recently been featured on a television program that caught the attention of a doctor at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Northport, New York. Accepted into the neurosurgery program at Ohio State University Medical Center. [9], Kinney's mother, Sharon Cooper, was horrified to find out that a person with Swango's history could be allowed to practice medicine. [6], The AMA temporarily lost track of Swango, who managed to find a place in the psychiatric residency program at the Stony Brook University School of Medicine in New York. 2 Joaqun Guzmn: "El Chapo". Can you imagine? Sackman said. 1994: Federal investigators obtain a warrant for Swangos arrest on fraud charges, but he flees to Zimbabwe, where he gets a job at a hospital in Mnene. I almost didnt believe this call. Sat, 29 Apr 2023 03:46:54 GMT (1682740014467), Michael Swango, seen here preparing for his 1985 trial in Quincy, would end up in a place unlike any other. Background screenings for hiring have improved greatly in the time since Swango stalked hospital hallways, Sackman said. The public outcry resulted in Cohen and Miller being forced to resign before the end of the year. He eventually graduated behind schedule. [1] He was valedictorian of his 1972 Quincy Catholic Boys High School class. Soon after his arrival, however, staff were alarmed by an unusual number of patient deaths or illnesses, according to the, A nurse would later tell police she saw Swango injecting an unknown substance into a patients IV right before they stopped breathing, according to the, An autopsy would later reveal that a ball of gauze had been placed down DeLongs throat. Thu, 20 Nov 2014 05:24:34 GMT Note: this is the conclusion to a three-part KHQA special report. On July 11, 2000, less than a week before he was due to be released from prison on the fraud charge, federal prosecutors on Long Island, New York, filed a criminal complaint charging Swango with three counts of murder, one count of assault and one count each of false statements, mail fraud, and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. After his release, Swango ended up in New York,where he killed at least three people at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Swango claimed she suffered heart failure; he had killed her by giving her a potassium injection that stopped her heart. The medical staff in Zimbabwe were competent, and they started to realize that something was going on, and they tried to charge him, but he beat the charges and had returned to the United States to renew his passport. Regardless of the allegations against Swango, several OSU doctors wrote him letters of recommendation for his application for a medical license. But doctors are revered in American culture, and deaths are a common occurrence at hospitals. [16], The man known as Simon Trinidad was actually named Juvenal Ovidio Ricardo Palmera Pineda and was one of the first high-ranking members of this violent guerilla group to be arrested. Swango, awaiting trial and still spending time with a girlfriend in Columbus, contacted Harp and asked to see the items the police had taken. 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. June1997: Swango is hired by a hospital in Saudi Arabia. [11], Since the latest Swango incident took place at a Veterans Affairs facility, federal authorities got involved. His death would be ruled a homicide, and his family sued Swango in 1986, believing him to be the murderer, according toUPI. At various stops during his career, some colleagues had reported seeing Swango inject patients with an unknown substance shortly before they died. Doctors, toxicologists, forensic nurses. Swango admitted to McGee's poisoning whenhe pleaded guilty in the New York killings so . He was tan, wearing aviator sunglasses. He was sentenced in 2000 to three consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole, and is serving his sentence at ADX Florence at his own request. From what he identified as the text of ''My Secret Life,'' Mr. Swango was inspired to copy: ''I love it. local. A nurse would later tell police she saw Swango injecting an unknown substance into a patients IV right before they stopped breathing, according to theLos Angeles Times. [12] Because of the failure to perform adequate autopsies, no firm conclusions could be drawn. In 1984, he poisoned his co-workers there. Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, List of serial killers in the United States, List of medical and pseudo-medical serial killers, 2011 Stepping Hill Hospital poisoning incident, "Former Doctor Charged in Death of 3 Patients", "Man to Admit to Murdering 3 L.I. His team also attempted to establish a terrorist training camp in Oregon,[10] leading to U.S. involvement in his case. 10 Inescapable Prisons People Somehow Escaped From, Like every other medical professional, Dr. Michael Swango swore an oath to do no harm. The gang started as a white counterpart to African-American prison gangs when prisons began to desegregate, but has since grown to 20,000 members[25] They operate on a blood in, blood out motto which implies that members must kill or assault another prisoner or correctional officer to join, and the only way to leave the gang is death. Richard McNair is not the type of man that one would expect to find in the Supermax stacked up against the other people on this list. Sackman said many people are stunned by how easy it appeared for Swango to continue his killing despite suspicions. MIT says not true. ?s mind is still a mystery. In the beginning, he shot Vicky Bowman-Hall at a convenience store in Algona. A co-worker said he saw Swango leave the area where the pitcher had been left. No charges are brought. These cases are extraordinarily hard to prove. KHQA asked three of the men who knew him what they would say to Michael Swango today, if given the opportunity. [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]. 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. Swanson went to rob a store and in the process, he had to kill the storekeepers. According to "Blind Eye," James B. Stewart's deeply researched 1999 book about the case, Swango, who has confessed to four killings, very likely murdered 35 people and perhaps 60 or more.He was convicted of injecting victims with poison while working in hospitals in Ohio and New . Hes really smart.. [1] Following his graduation, Swango went to medical school at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine (SIU). His past, again, comes out, and Swango is fired. Only with their help can people like Sackman and his team bring justice to those who were the victims of murderers like Swango. [8] His final re-capture came from rookie officer Constable Stephane Gagnon in 2007 after a long stint on Americas Most Wanted. Terrorists, spies, serial killers, and cult leaders live side by side. 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. Updated. Larry Getlen. He worked as a counselor at the state career development center in Newport News, Virginia. At this time, Swango rented a room in Bulawayo from a widowed woman who subsequently became violently sick after a meal she had prepared for herself and a friend. When Michael Swango was a student at the Southern Illinois . After she left Swango, the headaches stopped. Swango? As horrific as the allegations at his other career stops were, his time in Sioux Falls was marked by a notable absence of suspicious activity. His mother, Muriel, was a housewife, and his father, John, was a military officer. 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. Everyone. Sackman said. He grew up in Freeman, S.D., graduating from Freeman High School. Most of those cases were what he considered standard fair for his office fraud, prescription drug theft and other graft. Investigators suspected theymaynothave beenhis only victims at the facility. He sought medical work in other states including South Dakota, but was rejected after it was discovered he had forged documents and lied about his criminal past, reported, Standard procedures for checking applicants were not followed, former school dean Dr. Jordan Cohen told, As part of his residency, Swango began seeing patients at a Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Northport, New York. February1985: Ohio State law school dean James Meeks investigates the universitys handling of Swango during his internship. [1], In July 1984, Swango returned to Quincy and began working as an emergency medical technician with the Adams County Ambulance Corps even though he had been fired from an ambulance service in Springfield for making a heart patient drive to the hospital. At one point in the 2010s, law enforcement determined that despite being less than 0.10% of the prison population, they were responsible for 18% of prison murders. Is Dr. Michael Swango Still Alive? He now spends 22 hours a day in his 80 ft cell. With Donnie Wahlberg, Mary Anne Sharkey, Bobbi Montanari, Ron O'Brien. Colleagues fall ill and suspect Swango of poisoning them. During his time there, several employees sought medical attention with complaints of persistent and increasing stomach pains. Her death had interrupted yet another of Swango's attempts to complete his residency - training he needed in order to . February1984: A nursing student reports that Swango tampered with an IV just before the patient suffers a seizure and respiratory arrest. asked to leave his medical internship in Ohio after several suspicious patient deaths, he packed up his things and moved to Illinois, where he would be sent to prison for poisoning his co-workers. Virgil Swango was Michael's father. Thomesen's conversation focused on Swango lying on his government application to work at the VA, where he prescribed narcotic medications. Once again, his patients began dying for no explicable reason. While he worked in Rhodes Hall at OSU, nurses noticed that apparently healthy patients began dying mysteriously with alarming frequency. He can be reached at ekaufman@mitchellrepublic.com. Yet investigators suspect that during his crime spree, which spanned 1981 to 1997, Swango may . John Roca/NY Daily News Archive/Getty Images It was those who came forward and told us about it. That investigation extensively outlined in Sackmans book paid off with the conviction of Swango's involvement in four deaths. Dr. Michael Swango is one of the prolific medical serial killers in history. Swangos past becomes known. He was only 17 years old then but was stilled charged as an adult considering the level of his crime. by Ross Green. I think things were going well for him, but I dont see how he could resist the temptation of taking someone out. This was all pre-internet. 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. Michael Swango was born in Tacoma, Washington and raised in Quincy, Illinois, the middle child of Muriel and John Virgil Swango. He entered the hard drug trade under known king-pins Hector Salazar and later Miguel Gallardo until Gallardo was arrested in 1988. "Behind the Murder Curtain: Special Agent Bruce Sackman Hunts Doctors and Nurses Who Kill Our Veterans.". While there, he murdered at least three victims by lethal injection Thomas Sammarco, 73, George Siano, 60, and Aldo Serini, 62, according toThe New York Times. He doesnt beat people up or get into shootouts. Born in Sinaloa, Mexico in 1957, Guzman started his journey into the drug world early by growing marijuana with his father. A former doctor admitted Wednesday he fatally poisoned three patients in a Long Island hospital. McNairs final and most notorious escape was in 2006 when he packed himself into a shipment of mail leaving the prison. He murdered a number of our nations heroes in Veterans hospitals. "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. Thu, 20 Nov 2014 05:24:34 GMT Note: this is the conclusion to a three-part KHQA special report. As per our current Database, Michael Swango is still alive (as per Wikipedia, Last update: May 10, 2020). The sedative caused him to lapse into a coma, and Harris died on November 9, 1993. A graduate of the Southern Illinois University Medical . [1], Despite a very poor evaluation in his dean's letter from SIU, Swango gained a surgical internship at Ohio State University Medical Center in 1983, to be followed by a residency in neurosurgery. In 2003 the mosque was shut down by police as part of investigation into their possible production of the poison ricin, but al-Masri continued to give sermons from outside the gates. Get an all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! Guzman has had at least four wives, one of which he kidnapped, and at least twelve children, several of whom have also been convicted on drug charges or killed in cartel warfare. 1983: Graduates from Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, where classmates nickname him Double-0 Swango and faculty raise concerns about his performance. 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. Right before he was to be released from prison in early July 2000, Swango was charged with three counts of murder for the deaths at the Northport VA hospital, according toThe New York Times. His co-workers found him unusually grim. He and his brother Michael Mickey Marcello were convicted of murdering two other mafia brothers Michael and Anthony Tony The Ant Spilotro and dumping Anthonys body in a cornfield. "I don't think there's any anger. The sentencing judge ordered that Swango not be allowed to prepare or deliver food, or have any involvement in preparing or distributing drugs. Could be. Swango allegedly cheered TV reports of murders, professed his admiration for serial killers and told them that he fantasized about a busload of children being impaled by a tanker, according to the Los Angeles Times. As part of that investigation, prosecutors exhumed the bodies of three patients and found poisonous chemicals in them. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Aryan Brotherhood today is the largest and most deadly prison gang in the United States.[27]. Soon after the FBI alerted the company, Swango was fired for lying on his job application. While Dr. Michael Joseph Swango eventually pleaded guilty to four murders, his victim count may be as high as 60. 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. Dan Cook saw something in Swango long before 1984, when he was one of Michael's teachers at Christian Brothers High School in Quincy, the school from which Swango graduated as valedictorian in 1972. [1], While all this was happening, Tom Valery, chief investigator for the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), consulted with Charlene Thomesen, a forensic psychiatrist. And shortly thereafter, Swango did the same. Serial killer nicknamed "Dr. Death," serving three consecutive life terms. Swango is arrested and charged, but goes into hiding. FARC was offered a deal by the Colombian government that they would not extradite Palmera if FARC released 63 political and military hostages, but they refused. These clippings confirmed toxic levels of arsenic in the hair. [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. He is serving a life sentence. Soon after his arrival, however, staff were alarmed by an unusual number of patient deaths or illnesses, according to theLos Angeles Times. I could never do any of the things that have been alleged Ive done, he said. [1], Faced with hard evidence of his fraudulent activities and the possibility of an extended inquiry into his time in Zimbabwe, Swango pleaded guilty to defrauding the government in March 1998. By making a deal with prosecutors, he was spared the death penalty, and the government of Zimbabwe agreed not to . In June 1997, Swango returned to the U.S. to catch a flight to Saudi Arabia, where he had been offered a job as a doctor. He planted several false clues in the bombs to mislead authorities, however, his own work would lead to his downfall. While there, he murdered at least three victims by lethal injection Thomas Sammarco, 73, George Siano, 60, and Aldo Serini, 62, according to, After Stony Brook was tipped off to Swangos nefarious history, he was fired and effectively blacklisted from the medical industry in the U.S., reported, Before police could conduct a full investigation into the suspicious deaths at the Northport VA Hospital, Swango fled the country to Zimbabwe.