Dr. Michael Swango, the notorious Dr. Death, was connected to at least 35 lethal injections and pleaded guilty to a total of four murders. Sources: Media reports; Meeks report; Blind Eye, by James B. Stewart. [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. Although everyone there has a horrific record, these are ten of the worst of the worst. The woman consulted a local surgeon, Michael Cotton, who suspected arsenic poisoning and persuaded her to send hair samples for forensic analysis to Pretoria, South Africa. While he was training at one hospital, he even gained the nickname Double-O Swango, referencing James Bonds license to kill. Still, when the course was over and the hospital asked participants to write down what they enjoyed most about the class, Swango wrote, "Kristin Kinney." Swango attached himself to Kristin. "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. [3] Hanssen began working as a Special Agent in 1976 and in 1979, he was given the project of collecting Soviet intelligence for the agency. He was employed until 1991, when he resigned his position to seek out a new position as a doctor. 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. [1] Nonetheless, it was another decade before OSU formally conceded it should have called in outside investigators. 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. The sentencing judge ordered that Swango not be allowed to prepare or deliver food, or have any involvement in preparing or distributing drugs. [31] In 2007, Marcello was tried alongside four others: mobsters Joey the Clown Lombardo and Frank Calabrese Sr., jewel thief Paul Schiro, and former Chicago police officer Anthony Doyle. If you think about it, youre working where death is a common occurrence. I'm not a big Dirty Harry kind of guy, but I like the work. September 8, 2018 10:43am. His father was a prominent U.S. Army officer and Vietnam War veteran, who allegedly bragged about his combat kills and suffered from alcoholism, according to theNew York Post. 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. Eventually, the school allowed him to graduate one year after his entering classmates, on condition that he repeat the OB/GYN rotation and complete several assignments in other specialties. Before police could conduct a full investigation into the suspicious deaths at the Northport VA Hospital, Swango fled the country to Zimbabwe. Many who knew him say the same thing:. 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]. I received the phone call that changed my life, literally. [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. During his time as imam, al-Masri sent trainees around the world to participate in violent acts, including the kidnapping of sixteen westerners in Yemen, four of whom were killed. [12] When placed in the Supermax prison, his hook hand prosthetic was replaced with a plastic spork. Overwhelmingly, medical professionals are the salt of the earth., Courtesy / Sioux Falls Argus Leader file photo. But later that same year, he would reach out to the Soviet Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) and become a double agent. 2 Joaqun Guzmn: "El Chapo". Currently, Michael Swango is 68 years, 6 months and 8 days old. 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. 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. Even earlier, several students and faculty members had raised concerns about Swango's competence to practice medicine. Valery was called by the FBI to discuss holding Swango. 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. In 2006, Bingham and several others were convicted of murder and racketeering, but federal prosecutors failed in securing the death penalty. Again, patients die mysteriously. 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 . In 1989, Swango was released from prison. The couple fell in love and planned to marry. When they came back, the tea was sweet, and it later tested positive for arsenic, according to the Los Angeles Times. "If I could see him today? Michael Swango will celebrate 69rd birthday on a Saturday 21st of October 2023. Investigators suspected theymaynothave beenhis only victims at the facility. As part of that investigation, prosecutors exhumed the bodies of three patients and found poisonous chemicals in them. Unmisig 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. 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. That's all Michael Swango has left; the twisted answers inside a once-brilliant mind - all alone, in a prison cell, for the rest of his life. 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. In the 1980s, he began to take a deeper interest in his religion and became inspired by the Iranian revolution. Real Name: Joseph Michael Swango Aliases: Michael Kirk, David Jackson Adams, Jack Kirk, Michael Swan, "Double-O Swango" Wanted For: Making False Statements, Questioning in Murders Missing Since: October 1993 Details: On February 7, 1984, at the State University Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, an intern, Dr. Michael Swango, checked on a sixty-nine-year-old woman, Rena Cooper, who was recovering . I just dont really know the answer, Sackman said. Unbeknownst to the FBI, it was Hanssen himself who had revealed them. Many investigators worked on the case, including Bruce Sackman. He was charged in absentia with poisonings. The victims many times are very ill, and many times they could have expired from the natural disease process.. Swango was released from prison in 1987, after serving only two years. Standard procedures for checking applicants were not followed, former school dean Dr. Jordan Cohen toldPeoplemagazine. Around this time, Swango met Kristin Lynn Kinney, a nurse at Riverside Hospital. Now 68, Swango is incarcerated at, To learn more about Dr. Swango, watch Oxygen's series ". Swango could very well have remained in Sioux Falls for some time, but he committed a critical blunder. It was originally nicknamed the Diamond Tooth Gang because of the glass shards that some members put in their teeth. Download FREE with Kindle Unlimited. "I don't think there's any anger. He had suspected that sudden deaths of some patients were due to Swango, but had no proof at that stage. 2023 www.columbusmonthly.com. Ive heard and Ive read and weve discussed that it was somewhere in the vicinity of 60 people. These cases are extraordinarily hard to prove. [13], Eric Rudolph spent five years on the FBI Most Wanted List for terrorism until he was arrested by a rookie police officer while digging through the dumpster behind a Save-A-Lot grocery store. Most of those cases were what he considered standard fair for his office fraud, prescription drug theft and other graft. After that, Swango was gone.. After a number of patients died on his watch, his classmates began mockingly calling him Double-O Swango like the fictional spy James Bond, he had a license to kill, they would say, according toThe New York Times. On August 16, HLN (CNN Headline News) aired the show Very Scary People - Dr Death, detailing the investigation and conviction of this doctor based largely upon my book Behind The Murder . [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. The Swango case almost sounded too sensationalistic to be believed, Sackman said. 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 the, 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 to, On Sept. 6, 2000, Michael Swango pleaded guilty to three counts of murder and was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole, according to the, His subsequent guilty plea that October in the McGee murder earned him another life sentence, according to CBS News. 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. [8] His final re-capture came from rookie officer Constable Stephane Gagnon in 2007 after a long stint on Americas Most Wanted. While he worked in Rhodes Hall at OSU, nurses noticed that apparently healthy patients began dying mysteriously with alarming frequency. He worked as a counselor at the state career development center in Newport News, Virginia. "I don't think there's ill will. After that he was gone and went to Zimbabwe, and when he was there he killed men and women and children. Guzman began his own cartel operations, trafficking more cocaine, marijuana, meth, and heroin into the United States than any other drug dealer in history. 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 . 1 Swango killed hospitalized patients, those under his care or others just in the wrong place at the wrong time. 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. 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. Your Friend, Michael:Police Officer's Daughter Writes to Serial Killer, Hoping for Answers, 1954: Born James Michael Swango in Tacoma, Washington, 1972: High school valedictorian in Quincy, Illinois, 1976: Honorable discharge from the Marines. On this coming Sunday August 16, 2020 at 9PM EST on HLN (CNN Headline News) the show Very Scary People - Dr Death, will detail the investigation and conviction of this doctor based largely upon my book . 1979: Graduates summa cum laude from Quincy College. She contacted a friend of Kinney who was a nurse at Sanford, who in turn alerted Sanford's dean, Robert Talley, to Swango's whereabouts. One day, Swango brought a box of doughnuts to work. Patients", "Ex-Doctor Pleads Not Guilty in Murder and Fraud Case", Prosecutors Say Doctor Killed to Feel a Thrill, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Michael_Swango&oldid=1151889846, American prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment, Medical practitioners convicted of murdering their patients, Military personnel from Tacoma, Washington, People convicted of making false statements, Articles with dead external links from January 2018, Articles with permanently dead external links, CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, David J. Adams, Jack Kirk, Michael Kirk, Michael Swan, This page was last edited on 26 April 2023, at 21:37. After she left Swango, the headaches stopped. It was reported on another occasion that he emerged from a dying patient's room with a smile on his face. [1] The FBI obtained a warrant charging Swango with using fraudulent credentials to gain entry to a Veterans Affairs hospital.[10]. 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. Eventually he fled as far as Africa, but a return trip to the United States gave law enforcement the chance they needed to collar him, and thus his final downfall began. 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. He even faked a letter from the governor of Virginia that stated his right to vote and serve on a jury had been restored. ADX Florence federal prison He is serving a life sentence. From what he identified as the text of ''My Secret Life,'' Mr. Swango was inspired to copy: ''I love it. 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. 10 Inescapable Prisons People Somehow Escaped From, Like every other medical professional, Dr. Michael Swango swore an oath to do no harm. From his earliest days working as a volunteer ambulance driver during his undergraduate years, patients seemed to die around Swango at a higher than normal rate. Swango was initially arrested for lying to government investigators, not murder. We had quite a team of people working on this thing, because thats what it takes, Sackman said. Talley telephoned Jordan Cohen, the dean at Stony Brook. Management more often than not supports the accused and not the whistleblower. After two years in college, he enlisted in the Marines, but later returned to school at Quincy College to pursue a career as a doctor, reported theChicago Tribune. Michael Swango was born in Tacoma, Washington and raised in Quincy, Illinois, the middle child of Muriel and John Virgil Swango. He was also a mass serial killer and a talented con artist. Oxygen Insider is your all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more. In 1985, it's where a judge sentenced him to five years in prison. A ? In addition to writing his book, Sackman has become an in-demand speaker due to his work in the field of medical killers. Virgil Swango was Michael's father. A fascination with dying patients was observed during this time. The AMA review spotted his conviction for poisoning, and once again Swango was on the run. Swango rarely changed his murder methods. He murdered a number of our nations heroes in Veterans hospitals. Hospital leaders conduct interviews and dismiss these suspicions. Columbus leaders ID corridors . The program also noted that he had actually been imprisoned for a time for poisoning his own co-workers on an ambulance crew. Lessons from the Worst-Case Scenario. Michael Swango returned to New York two days after Kristin's memorial service. 1993: Several healthy patients die. Two bald eagles and visitors are back along the Scioto River. Without them, we wouldnt even be having this conversation, Sackman said. "A physician takes the Hippocratic Oath, and he's vowed to preserve and protect and provide the necessary means to sustain life and here's this guy looking at that oath and basically burning it," former co-worker Brent Unmisig said. Michael Strahan Death Hoax Dismissed Since Footballer Is 'Alive And Well'. His patients, many of whom were considered stable, began to mysteriously die without explanation. He crossed the border to Zambia and subsequently to Namibia, where he found temporary medical work. Only with their help can people like Sackman and his team bring justice to those who were the victims of murderers like Swango. Over the next two decades, Hanssen would leak vast amounts of intelligence to the Soviets about spy identities, FBI investigations, and detailed technological information.
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