Michael Swango
Encyclopedia
Joseph Michael Swango is an American
serial killer
and former licensed physician
. It is estimated that Swango has been involved in as many as 60 fatal poisonings of patients and colleagues, though he admitted to only causing four deaths. He was sentenced to life imprisonment
without the possibility of parole
, and is serving that sentence at ADX Florence
.
, the middle child of Muriel and John Virgil Swango. Swango's father was a career U.S. Army officer who served in the Vietnam War
but was troubled by alcoholism. Upon his return from Vietnam, Swango's father became depressed and was divorced by Muriel.
Growing up, Swango saw little of his father and as a result, was closest to his mother.
Michael Swango was class valedictorian
at his 1972 Quincy Catholic Boys High School
graduation. During high school he played clarinet and was a member of the Quincy Notre Dame band. Although he attended a Catholic school, he was raised Presbyterian.
Swango served in the Marine Corps
, graduating from recruit training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego; he received an honorable discharge in 1976. He saw no action overseas during his service, but his training in the Marines left him with a lifelong commitment to physical exercise; when not studying, he was frequently seen jogging
or performing calisthenics
on the Quincy campus, and he was known to perform pushups as a form of self-punishment when criticized by instructors.
Swango attended Quincy College
, graduating summa cum laude
being awarded the American Chemical Society
Award. Following his graduation from Quincy, Swango matriculated to medical school at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine
.
Swango displayed troubling behavior during his time at SIU. Although he was a brilliant student, he was known as lazy, preferring to work as an ambulance
attendant rather than concentrate on his studies. It was also noted at this time that he had a fascination with dying patients. Although no one thought much of it at the time, many patients on which Swango was assigned to do checkups ended up "coding," or suffering life-threatening emergencies, with at least five of them dying.
Swango's lackadaisical approach to his studies caught up with him only a month before he was due to graduate, when it was discovered that he had faked checkups during his OB/GYN rotation. A number of his fellow students had suspected he'd been faking checkups as early as his second year. He was nearly expelled, but was allowed to remain when one member of the committee voted to give him a second chance; at the time, a unanimous vote was required for a student to be dismissed. Even before then, however, several students and faculty members had raised concerns about his competence to practice medicine. Eventually, the school allowed him to graduate a year after his class on the condition that he repeat the OB/GYN rotation and complete several assignments in other specialties.
in 1983, to be followed by a residency
in neurosurgery
. While he worked at the Rhodes Hall wing, nurses began noticing that apparently healthy patients began dying mysteriously with alarming frequency. Each time, Swango had been the floor intern. One nurse caught him injecting some "medicine" into a patient who later became strangely ill. The nurses reported their concerns to administrators, but were met with accusations of paranoia
. Swango was cleared by a cursory investigation in 1984. His time as a resident included a month rotation at Columbus Children's Hospital. There were suspicions at this point and he was required to have someone else with him at all times while at Children's. Nurses were instructed not to call him even if he was listed as the doctor on call. He was not hired as a resident physician after his internship ended in June.
In July 1984, Swango returned to Quincy and began working as an emergency medical technician
with the Adams County
Ambulance Corps even though he'd been fired from another ambulance service for making a heart patient drive to the hospital. Soon, many of the paramedic
s 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 October of that year, Swango was arrested by the Quincy Police Department, who found arsenic
and other poisons in his possession. On August 23, 1985, Swango was convicted of aggravated battery
for poisoning co-workers. He was sentenced to five years imprisonment.
Swango's conviction set off recriminations at Ohio State. A scathing review by Law School Dean James Meeks concluded that the hospital should have called in the police, and also revealed several glaring shortcomings in its initial investigation of Swango. Nonetheless, it would be another decade before Ohio State formally conceded it should have called in outside investigators. Franklin County, Ohio
prosecutors also considered bringing charges of murder and attempted murder against Swango, but decided against it for want of physical evidence.
In 1989, Swango, now released from prison, found work as a counselor at the state career development center in Newport News, Virginia
. He was forced out after being caught working on a scrapbook of disasters on work time. He then found a job as a laboratory technician for ATICoal in Newport News, Virginia
, now Vanguard Energy, a division of CITA Logistics. During his time there, several employees sought medical attention with complaints of persistent and increasing stomach pains. Around this time, he met Kristin Kinney, a nurse at Riverside Hospital. The two fell in love, and planned to marry once they got settled. He was employed until 1991, when he resigned his position to seek out a new position as a doctor. The FBI questioned employees on several occasions several months after his resignation.
In 1991, Swango legally changed his name to Daniel J. Adams and tried to apply for a residency program at Ohio Valley Medical Center in Wheeling, West Virginia
. In July 1992, he began working at Sanford USD Medical Center
in Sioux Falls
. In both cases, he forged
several legal documents that he used to reestablish himself as a physician and respected member of society. He forged a fact sheet
from the Illinois Department of Corrections that falsified his criminal record, stating that he had been convicted of a misdemeanor
for getting into a fistfight with a co-worker and received six months in prison, rather than the five years for felony
poisoning that he actually served. This was an important omission as most states will not grant a medical license to a convicted felon, considering a felony conviction to be evidence of unprofessional conduct. He forged a "Restoration of Civil Rights" letter from Virginia Governor
Gerald L. Baliles
, falsely stating that Baliles had decided to restore Swango's right to vote and serve on a jury
, based on "reports from friends and colleagues" that Swango had committed no further crimes after his "misdemeanor" and was leading an "exemplary lifestyle".
Swango established a sterling reputation at Sanford, but in October made the mistake of attempting to join the American Medical Association
(AMA). The AMA did a more thorough background check than the medical center, and found out about the poisoning conviction. That Thanksgiving Day, The Discovery Channel
aired an episode of Justice Files that included a segment on Swango. Amid the AMA report and calls from frightened colleagues, Sanford fired Swango. Kinney went back to Virginia soon afterward after suffering from violent migraines. However, after she left Swango, the headaches stopped.
The AMA temporarily lost track of Swango, who managed to find a berth in the psychiatric residency program at the State University of New York at Stony Brook School of Medicine. His first rotation was in the internal medicine department at the VA Medical Center
in Northport, New York
. Once again his patients began dying for no explicable reasons. Four months later, Kinney committed suicide. Her mother, Sharon Cooper, was horrified to find out a person with Swango's history could be allowed to practice medicine. She got in touch with a friend of Kinney's who was a nurse at Sanford. The nurse alerted Sanford's dean, Robert Talley, about Swango's whereabouts. Talley telephoned the dean at Stony Brook, Jordan Cohen. 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 and was immediately fired. The public outcry resulted in Cohen and Miller being forced to resign as well before the year was out. Before he resigned, Cohen, learning from the past mistakes of other medical facilities, sent a warning about Swango to all 125 medical school
s and all 1,000 teaching hospital
s across the nation—effectively blackballing Swango from getting a medical residency in the United States.
Since the latest Swango incident took place at a VA facility, federal authorities got involved. Swango dropped out of sight until mid-1994, when the FBI found out he was living in Atlanta and working as a chemist at a computer equipment company's wastewater facility. Soon after the FBI alerted the company, Swango was fired for lying on his job application. The FBI obtained a warrant charging Swango with using fraudulent credentials to gain entry to a VA hospital.
By that time, however, Swango had fled the country. In November 1994, he went to Zimbabwe
and got a job at Mnene Lutheran Mission Hospital in the centre of the country, based on forged documents. There again, his patients began dying mysteriously. As a result of suspicions of the Medical Director there, Dr Zishiri, he was suspended. Because of the failure to perform adequate autopsies, no firm conclusions could be drawn. During his suspension, he hired prominent lawyer David Coltart
to enable him to return to clinical practice. He also appealed to the authorities at Mpilo Hospital, Bulawayo, to allow him in the interim to continue working voluntarily there. However, this was opposed by Dr Abdollah Mesbah, a surgical resident, who had often found him snooping around mysteriously on the wards and in ICU even when not on call. He had suspected that sudden deaths of some patients were due to him, but had no proof at that stage.
At this time, Swango rented a room from a widowed lady in Bulawayo, who subsequently became violently sick after a meal he had prepared for her and a friend. The lady consulted a local surgeon, Michael Cotton, who suspected arsenic poisoning and persuaded her to send hair samples for forensic analysis to Pretoria. In due course these clippings confirmed toxic levels of arsenic in the hair. The lab reports were passed on by the Zimbabwe CID through Interpol to the FBI, who subsequently visited Zimbabwe to interview Mr Cotton, and the pathologist in Bulawayo, Dr Stanford Mathe. In the meantime, Swango had scented that the net was closing on him, and crossed the border to Zambia
and subsequently to Namibia
where he found temporary medical work. He was charged in absentia with poisonings. In March 1997, he applied for a job at the Royal Hospital in Dhahran
, Saudi Arabia
, using a false résumé
.
While all this was happening, VA OIG Criminal Investigator Tom Valery consulted with Charlene Thomesen MD, a forensic psychiatrist, to help him with the case. Because of her considerable clinical expertise, she was able to review documents and evidence and give a psychological profile of Dr. Swango, along with her assessment why he had committed such horrendous crimes. Valery was called by the FBI to discuss holding Swango; Valery called then DEA
Basic Agent Richard Thomesen who was stationed in the Manhattan DEA Office to discuss the case. Thomesen's conversation focused on Swango lying on his government application to work at the Department of Veterans Affairs, where he prescribed narcotic medications. This and other evidence was enough for Immigration and Naturalization Service
agents to arrest Swango in June 1997 while he was stopping over at Chicago-O'Hare International Airport
on his way to Saudi Arabia.
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. In July 1998, he was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison. The sentencing judge ordered that Swango not be allowed to prepare or deliver food, or have any involvement in preparing or distributing drugs.
The government used this time to amass a massive dossier of Swango's crimes. As part of that investigation, prosecutors exhumed the bodies of three of his patients and found poisonous chemicals in them. They also found evidence that he paralyzed Barron Harris, another patient, with an injection; Harris later lapsed into a coma and died. Additionally, prosecutors found evidence Swango lied about the death of Cynthia Ann McGee, a patient he'd been attending while he was an intern at OSU. While Swango claimed she suffered heart failure, he'd actually killed her by giving her a potassium injection that stopped her heart. 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 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
. At the same time, Zimbabwean authorities charged him with poisoning seven patients, five of whom died.
Swango was formally indicted on July 17 and pleaded not guilty. However, on September 6, he pleaded guilty to murder and fraud charges before Judge Jacob Mishler
. Had he not done so, he faced the possibility of the death penalty and extradition to Zimbabwe. At his sentencing hearing, prosecutors read lurid passages from Swango's notebook, describing the joy he felt during his crimes. Mishler sentenced him to three consecutive life terms; he is currently incarcerated at ADX Florence
.
In his book Blind Eye, James B. Stewart
(a Quincy native) estimated that counting the suspicious deaths at SIU, circumstantial evidence links Swango to 35 suspicious deaths. 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. The case was featured on the American crime show Unsolved Mysteries
.
service, he used poisons, usually arsenic
, slipping them into foods and beverages. With patients, he sometimes used poisons as well, but usually he administered an overdose
of whichever drug
the patient had been prescribed, or wrote false prescription
s for dangerous drugs for patients who did not need them.
Swango displayed a number of bizarre behaviors unrelated to his fascination with death. He is reported to have practiced compulsive hoarding
of food, and he slept on a mattress on the floor of his bathroom rather than in a bedroom. Many of his co-workers found him unusually talkative and physically restless, suggesting a hyperactivity disorder.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
and former licensed physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
. It is estimated that Swango has been involved in as many as 60 fatal poisonings of patients and colleagues, though he admitted to only causing four deaths. He was sentenced to life imprisonment
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
without the possibility of parole
Parole
Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French parole . Following its use in late-resurrected Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners giving their...
, and is serving that sentence at ADX Florence
ADX Florence
The United States Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility is a supermax prison for men that is located in unincorporated Fremont County, Colorado, United States, south of Florence. It is unofficially known as ADX Florence, Florence ADMAX, Supermax, or The Alcatraz of the Rockies...
.
Early life
Swango was raised in Quincy, IllinoisQuincy, Illinois
Quincy, known as Illinois' "Gem City," is a river city along the Mississippi River and the county seat of Adams County. As of the 2010 census the city held a population of 40,633. The city anchors its own micropolitan area and is the economic and regional hub of West-central Illinois, catering a...
, the middle child of Muriel and John Virgil Swango. Swango's father was a career U.S. Army officer who served in the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
but was troubled by alcoholism. Upon his return from Vietnam, Swango's father became depressed and was divorced by Muriel.
Growing up, Swango saw little of his father and as a result, was closest to his mother.
Michael Swango was class valedictorian
Valedictorian
Valedictorian is an academic title conferred upon the student who delivers the closing or farewell statement at a graduation ceremony. Usually, the valedictorian is the highest ranked student among those graduating from an educational institution...
at his 1972 Quincy Catholic Boys High School
Quincy Notre Dame High School
Quincy Notre Dame High School is a Roman Catholic co-educational high school in Quincy, Illinois in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield in Illinois, serving students in grades 9-12.- History :...
graduation. During high school he played clarinet and was a member of the Quincy Notre Dame band. Although he attended a Catholic school, he was raised Presbyterian.
Swango served in the Marine Corps
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
, graduating from recruit training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego; he received an honorable discharge in 1976. He saw no action overseas during his service, but his training in the Marines left him with a lifelong commitment to physical exercise; when not studying, he was frequently seen jogging
Jogging
Jogging is a form of trotting or running at a slow or leisurely pace. The main intention is to increase fitness with less stress on the body than from faster running.-Definition:...
or performing calisthenics
Calisthenics
Calisthenics are a form of aerobic exercise consisting of a variety of simple, often rhythmical, movements, generally using multiple equipment or apparatus. They are intended to increase body strength and flexibility with movements such as bending, jumping, swinging, twisting or kicking, using...
on the Quincy campus, and he was known to perform pushups as a form of self-punishment when criticized by instructors.
Swango attended Quincy College
Quincy University
Quincy University a private liberal arts Catholic university in the Franciscan tradition. It is located in Quincy, Illinois and currently enrolls around 1,300 students.-History:...
, graduating summa cum laude
Latin honors
Latin honors are Latin phrases used to indicate the level of academic distinction with which an academic degree was earned. This system is primarily used in the United States, Canada, and in many countries of continental Europe, though some institutions also use the English translation of these...
being awarded the American Chemical Society
American Chemical Society
The American Chemical Society is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 161,000 members at all degree-levels and in all fields of chemistry, chemical...
Award. Following his graduation from Quincy, Swango matriculated to medical school at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine
Southern Illinois University School of Medicine
Southern Illinois University School of Medicine is an allopathic medical school located in Springfield, Illinois, the state capital. It is part of the Southern Illinois University system, which includes a campus in Edwardsville as well as the flagship in Carbondale. The medical school was founded...
.
Swango displayed troubling behavior during his time at SIU. Although he was a brilliant student, he was known as lazy, preferring to work as an ambulance
Ambulance
An ambulance is a vehicle for transportation of sick or injured people to, from or between places of treatment for an illness or injury, and in some instances will also provide out of hospital medical care to the patient...
attendant rather than concentrate on his studies. It was also noted at this time that he had a fascination with dying patients. Although no one thought much of it at the time, many patients on which Swango was assigned to do checkups ended up "coding," or suffering life-threatening emergencies, with at least five of them dying.
Swango's lackadaisical approach to his studies caught up with him only a month before he was due to graduate, when it was discovered that he had faked checkups during his OB/GYN rotation. A number of his fellow students had suspected he'd been faking checkups as early as his second year. He was nearly expelled, but was allowed to remain when one member of the committee voted to give him a second chance; at the time, a unanimous vote was required for a student to be dismissed. Even before then, however, several students and faculty members had raised concerns about his competence to practice medicine. Eventually, the school allowed him to graduate a year after his class on the condition that he repeat the OB/GYN rotation and complete several assignments in other specialties.
Murders
Despite a very poor evaluation in his dean's letter from SIU, Swango got a surgical internship at Ohio State University Medical CenterOhio State University Medical Center
The Ohio State University Medical Center is a multidisciplinary academic medical center located in Columbus, Ohio, on the main campus of The Ohio State University . In 2010, the Ohio State University Hospital was ranked one of "America's Best" by U.S. News & World Report in 11 specialties...
in 1983, to be followed by a residency
Residency (medicine)
Residency is a stage of graduate medical training. A resident physician or resident is a person who has received a medical degree , Podiatric degree , Dental Degree and who practices...
in neurosurgery
Neurosurgery
Neurosurgery is the medical specialty concerned with the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, spine, spinal cord, peripheral nerves, and extra-cranial cerebrovascular system.-In the United States:In...
. While he worked at the Rhodes Hall wing, nurses began noticing that apparently healthy patients began dying mysteriously with alarming frequency. Each time, Swango had been the floor intern. One nurse caught him injecting some "medicine" into a patient who later became strangely ill. The nurses reported their concerns to administrators, but were met with accusations of paranoia
Paranoia
Paranoia [] is a thought process believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy concerning a perceived threat towards oneself...
. Swango was cleared by a cursory investigation in 1984. His time as a resident included a month rotation at Columbus Children's Hospital. There were suspicions at this point and he was required to have someone else with him at all times while at Children's. Nurses were instructed not to call him even if he was listed as the doctor on call. He was not hired as a resident physician after his internship ended in June.
In July 1984, Swango returned to Quincy and began working as an emergency medical technician
Emergency medical technician
Emergency Medical Technician or Ambulance Technician are terms used in some countries to denote a healthcare provider of emergency medical services...
with the Adams County
Adams County, Illinois
Adams County is the westernmost county of the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 67,103, which is a decrease of 1.7% from 68,277 in 2000...
Ambulance Corps even though he'd been fired from another ambulance service for making a heart patient drive to the hospital. Soon, many of the paramedic
Paramedic
A paramedic is a healthcare professional that works in emergency medical situations. Paramedics provide advanced levels of care for medical emergencies and trauma. The majority of paramedics are based in the field in ambulances, emergency response vehicles, or in specialist mobile units such as...
s 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 October of that year, Swango was arrested by the Quincy Police Department, who found arsenic
Arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As, atomic number 33 and relative atomic mass 74.92. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in conjunction with sulfur and metals, and also as a pure elemental crystal. It was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250.Arsenic is a metalloid...
and other poisons in his possession. On August 23, 1985, Swango was convicted of aggravated battery
Aggravated battery
Aggravated battery in criminal law is a more serious form of battery, and is considered a felony. Aggravated battery can be punished by a fine or more than a year in prison in some countries...
for poisoning co-workers. He was sentenced to five years imprisonment.
Swango's conviction set off recriminations at Ohio State. A scathing review by Law School Dean James Meeks concluded that the hospital should have called in the police, and also revealed several glaring shortcomings in its initial investigation of Swango. Nonetheless, it would be another decade before Ohio State formally conceded it should have called in outside investigators. Franklin County, Ohio
Franklin County, Ohio
Franklin County is a county located in the state of Ohio, United States. In 2010 the population was 1,163,414, making it the second largest county in Ohio and the 34th largest county in population in the United States. Franklin County is also the largest in the eight-county Columbus, Ohio...
prosecutors also considered bringing charges of murder and attempted murder against Swango, but decided against it for want of physical evidence.
In 1989, Swango, now released from prison, found work as a counselor at the state career development center in Newport News, Virginia
Newport News, Virginia
Newport News is an independent city located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia. It is at the southeastern end of the Virginia Peninsula, on the north shore of the James River extending southeast from Skiffe's Creek along many miles of waterfront to the river's mouth at Newport News...
. He was forced out after being caught working on a scrapbook of disasters on work time. He then found a job as a laboratory technician for ATICoal in Newport News, Virginia
Newport News, Virginia
Newport News is an independent city located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia. It is at the southeastern end of the Virginia Peninsula, on the north shore of the James River extending southeast from Skiffe's Creek along many miles of waterfront to the river's mouth at Newport News...
, now Vanguard Energy, a division of CITA Logistics. During his time there, several employees sought medical attention with complaints of persistent and increasing stomach pains. Around this time, he met Kristin Kinney, a nurse at Riverside Hospital. The two fell in love, and planned to marry once they got settled. He was employed until 1991, when he resigned his position to seek out a new position as a doctor. The FBI questioned employees on several occasions several months after his resignation.
In 1991, Swango legally changed his name to Daniel J. Adams and tried to apply for a residency program at Ohio Valley Medical Center in Wheeling, West Virginia
Wheeling, West Virginia
Wheeling is a city in Ohio and Marshall counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia; it is the county seat of Ohio County. Wheeling is the principal city of the Wheeling Metropolitan Statistical Area...
. In July 1992, he began working at Sanford USD Medical Center
Sanford USD Medical Center
Sanford USD Medical Center is a hospital in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, USA. It is operated by Sanford Health.With nearly 500 beds, Sanford University of South Dakota Medical Center is the second largest tertiary hospital in South Dakota behind Avera McKennan Hospital, serving as one the primary...
in Sioux Falls
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Sioux Falls is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Dakota. Sioux Falls is the county seat of Minnehaha County, and also extends into Lincoln County to the south...
. In both cases, he forged
Forgery
Forgery is the process of making, adapting, or imitating objects, statistics, or documents with the intent to deceive. Copies, studio replicas, and reproductions are not considered forgeries, though they may later become forgeries through knowing and willful misrepresentations. Forging money or...
several legal documents that he used to reestablish himself as a physician and respected member of society. He forged a fact sheet
Fact sheet
A fact sheet, factsheet or one-sheet is a presentation of data in a format which emphasizes key points concisely. The layout is simple and often standardized, e.g...
from the Illinois Department of Corrections that falsified his criminal record, stating that he had been convicted of a misdemeanor
Misdemeanor
A misdemeanor is a "lesser" criminal act in many common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished much less severely than felonies, but theoretically more so than administrative infractions and regulatory offences...
for getting into a fistfight with a co-worker and received six months in prison, rather than the five years for felony
Felony
A felony is a serious crime in the common law countries. The term originates from English common law where felonies were originally crimes which involved the confiscation of a convicted person's land and goods; other crimes were called misdemeanors...
poisoning that he actually served. This was an important omission as most states will not grant a medical license to a convicted felon, considering a felony conviction to be evidence of unprofessional conduct. He forged a "Restoration of Civil Rights" letter from Virginia Governor
Governor of Virginia
The governor of Virginia serves as the chief executive of the Commonwealth of Virginia for a four-year term. The position is currently held by Republican Bob McDonnell, who was inaugurated on January 16, 2010, as the 71st governor of Virginia....
Gerald L. Baliles
Gerald L. Baliles
Gerald L. Baliles was the 65th Governor of Virginia and is the director of the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia...
, falsely stating that Baliles had decided to restore Swango's right to vote and serve on a jury
Jury
A jury is a sworn body of people convened to render an impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Modern juries tend to be found in courts to ascertain the guilt, or lack thereof, in a crime. In Anglophone jurisdictions, the verdict may be guilty,...
, based on "reports from friends and colleagues" that Swango had committed no further crimes after his "misdemeanor" and was leading an "exemplary lifestyle".
Swango established a sterling reputation at Sanford, but in October made the mistake of attempting to join the American Medical Association
American Medical Association
The American Medical Association , founded in 1847 and incorporated in 1897, is the largest association of medical doctors and medical students in the United States.-Scope and operations:...
(AMA). The AMA did a more thorough background check than the medical center, and found out about the poisoning conviction. That Thanksgiving Day, The Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel is an American satellite and cable specialty channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It is a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav...
aired an episode of Justice Files that included a segment on Swango. Amid the AMA report and calls from frightened colleagues, Sanford fired Swango. Kinney went back to Virginia soon afterward after suffering from violent migraines. However, after she left Swango, the headaches stopped.
The AMA temporarily lost track of Swango, who managed to find a berth in the psychiatric residency program at the State University of New York at Stony Brook School of Medicine. His first rotation was in the internal medicine department at the VA Medical Center
United States Department of Veterans Affairs
The United States Department of Veterans Affairs is a government-run military veteran benefit system with Cabinet-level status. It is the United States government’s second largest department, after the United States Department of Defense...
in Northport, New York
Northport, New York
Northport is a village in Suffolk County, New York on the North Shore of Long Island. As of the United States 2000 Census, the village population was 7,606. Students attend the Northport-East Northport Union Free School District....
. Once again his patients began dying for no explicable reasons. Four months later, Kinney committed suicide. Her mother, Sharon Cooper, was horrified to find out a person with Swango's history could be allowed to practice medicine. She got in touch with a friend of Kinney's who was a nurse at Sanford. The nurse alerted Sanford's dean, Robert Talley, about Swango's whereabouts. Talley telephoned the dean at Stony Brook, Jordan Cohen. 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 and was immediately fired. The public outcry resulted in Cohen and Miller being forced to resign as well before the year was out. Before he resigned, Cohen, learning from the past mistakes of other medical facilities, sent a warning about Swango to all 125 medical school
Medical school
A medical school is a tertiary educational institution—or part of such an institution—that teaches medicine. Degree programs offered at medical schools often include Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, Bachelor/Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Philosophy, master's degree, or other post-secondary...
s and all 1,000 teaching hospital
Teaching hospital
A teaching hospital is a hospital that provides clinical education and training to future and current doctors, nurses, and other health professionals, in addition to delivering medical care to patients...
s across the nation—effectively blackballing Swango from getting a medical residency in the United States.
Since the latest Swango incident took place at a VA facility, federal authorities got involved. Swango dropped out of sight until mid-1994, when the FBI found out he was living in Atlanta and working as a chemist at a computer equipment company's wastewater facility. Soon after the FBI alerted the company, Swango was fired for lying on his job application. The FBI obtained a warrant charging Swango with using fraudulent credentials to gain entry to a VA hospital.
By that time, however, Swango had fled the country. In November 1994, he went to Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
and got a job at Mnene Lutheran Mission Hospital in the centre of the country, based on forged documents. There again, his patients began dying mysteriously. As a result of suspicions of the Medical Director there, Dr Zishiri, he was suspended. Because of the failure to perform adequate autopsies, no firm conclusions could be drawn. During his suspension, he hired prominent lawyer David Coltart
David Coltart
David Coltart is a Zimbabwean lawyer, Christian leader and politician. He was a founding member of the Movement for Democratic Change when it was established in 1999 and its founding Secretary for Legal Affairs. He was the Member of Parliament for Bulawayo South in the House of Assembly from 2000...
to enable him to return to clinical practice. He also appealed to the authorities at Mpilo Hospital, Bulawayo, to allow him in the interim to continue working voluntarily there. However, this was opposed by Dr Abdollah Mesbah, a surgical resident, who had often found him snooping around mysteriously on the wards and in ICU even when not on call. He had suspected that sudden deaths of some patients were due to him, but had no proof at that stage.
At this time, Swango rented a room from a widowed lady in Bulawayo, who subsequently became violently sick after a meal he had prepared for her and a friend. The lady consulted a local surgeon, Michael Cotton, who suspected arsenic poisoning and persuaded her to send hair samples for forensic analysis to Pretoria. In due course these clippings confirmed toxic levels of arsenic in the hair. The lab reports were passed on by the Zimbabwe CID through Interpol to the FBI, who subsequently visited Zimbabwe to interview Mr Cotton, and the pathologist in Bulawayo, Dr Stanford Mathe. In the meantime, Swango had scented that the net was closing on him, and crossed the border to Zambia
Zambia
Zambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west....
and subsequently to Namibia
Namibia
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...
where he found temporary medical work. He was charged in absentia with poisonings. In March 1997, he applied for a job at the Royal Hospital in Dhahran
Dhahran
Dhahran is a city located in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, and is a major administrative center for the Saudi oil industry. Large oil reserves were first identified in the Dhahran area in 1931, and in 1935 Standard Oil of California drilled the first commercially viable oil well...
, Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
, using a false résumé
Résumé
A résumé is a document used by individuals to present their background and skillsets. Résumés can be used for a variety of reasons but most often to secure new employment. A typical résumé contains a summary of relevant job experience and education...
.
While all this was happening, VA OIG Criminal Investigator Tom Valery consulted with Charlene Thomesen MD, a forensic psychiatrist, to help him with the case. Because of her considerable clinical expertise, she was able to review documents and evidence and give a psychological profile of Dr. Swango, along with her assessment why he had committed such horrendous crimes. Valery was called by the FBI to discuss holding Swango; Valery called then DEA
Drug Enforcement Administration
The Drug Enforcement Administration is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Justice, tasked with combating drug smuggling and use within the United States...
Basic Agent Richard Thomesen who was stationed in the Manhattan DEA Office to discuss the case. Thomesen's conversation focused on Swango lying on his government application to work at the Department of Veterans Affairs, where he prescribed narcotic medications. This and other evidence was enough for Immigration and Naturalization Service
Immigration and Naturalization Service
The United States Immigration and Naturalization Service , now referred to as Legacy INS, ceased to exist under that name on March 1, 2003, when most of its functions were transferred from the Department of Justice to three new components within the newly created Department of Homeland Security, as...
agents to arrest Swango in June 1997 while he was stopping over at Chicago-O'Hare International Airport
O'Hare International Airport
Chicago O'Hare International Airport , also known as O'Hare Airport, O'Hare Field, Chicago Airport, Chicago International Airport, or simply O'Hare, is a major airport located in the northwestern-most corner of Chicago, Illinois, United States, northwest of the Chicago Loop...
on his way to Saudi Arabia.
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. In July 1998, he was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison. The sentencing judge ordered that Swango not be allowed to prepare or deliver food, or have any involvement in preparing or distributing drugs.
The government used this time to amass a massive dossier of Swango's crimes. As part of that investigation, prosecutors exhumed the bodies of three of his patients and found poisonous chemicals in them. They also found evidence that he paralyzed Barron Harris, another patient, with an injection; Harris later lapsed into a coma and died. Additionally, prosecutors found evidence Swango lied about the death of Cynthia Ann McGee, a patient he'd been attending while he was an intern at OSU. While Swango claimed she suffered heart failure, he'd actually killed her by giving her a potassium injection that stopped her heart. 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 filed a criminal complaint charging Swango with three counts of murder, one count of assault and one count each of false statements
False statements
False statements generally refers to the United States federal false statements statute, contained in 18 U.S.C. Section 1001. This statute is used in many contexts. Most commonly, prosecutors use this statute to reach cover-up crimes such as perjury, false declarations, and obstruction of...
, mail fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud
Wire fraud
Mail and wire fraud is a federal crime in the United States. Together, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1341, 1343, and 1346 reach any fraudulent scheme or artifice to intentionally deprive another of property or honest services with a nexus to mail or wire communication....
. At the same time, Zimbabwean authorities charged him with poisoning seven patients, five of whom died.
Swango was formally indicted on July 17 and pleaded not guilty. However, on September 6, he pleaded guilty to murder and fraud charges before Judge Jacob Mishler
Jacob Mishler
Jacob Mishler was a federal judge for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Judge Mishler received a B.S. from University Heights College, New York University in 1931 and a J.D. from the New York University School of Law in 1933. He was nominated to the court by...
. Had he not done so, he faced the possibility of the death penalty and extradition to Zimbabwe. At his sentencing hearing, prosecutors read lurid passages from Swango's notebook, describing the joy he felt during his crimes. Mishler sentenced him to three consecutive life terms; he is currently incarcerated at ADX Florence
ADX Florence
The United States Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility is a supermax prison for men that is located in unincorporated Fremont County, Colorado, United States, south of Florence. It is unofficially known as ADX Florence, Florence ADMAX, Supermax, or The Alcatraz of the Rockies...
.
In his book Blind Eye, James B. Stewart
James B. Stewart
James Bennett Stewart is an American lawyer, journalist, and author.-Life and career:Stewart was born in Quincy, Illinois. A graduate of DePauw University and Harvard Law School, James B. Stewart is a member of the Bar of New York and Bloomberg Professor of Business and Economic Journalism at the...
(a Quincy native) estimated that counting the suspicious deaths at SIU, circumstantial evidence links Swango to 35 suspicious deaths. 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. The case was featured on the American crime show Unsolved Mysteries
Unsolved Mysteries
Unsolved Mysteries is an American television program, hosted by Robert Stack, from 1987 until 2002, and later by Dennis Farina, starting in 2008...
.
Modus operandi
Swango did not often vary his methods of murder. With non-patients, such as his co-workers at the paramedicParamedic
A paramedic is a healthcare professional that works in emergency medical situations. Paramedics provide advanced levels of care for medical emergencies and trauma. The majority of paramedics are based in the field in ambulances, emergency response vehicles, or in specialist mobile units such as...
service, he used poisons, usually arsenic
Arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As, atomic number 33 and relative atomic mass 74.92. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in conjunction with sulfur and metals, and also as a pure elemental crystal. It was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250.Arsenic is a metalloid...
, slipping them into foods and beverages. With patients, he sometimes used poisons as well, but usually he administered an overdose
Drug overdose
The term drug overdose describes the ingestion or application of a drug or other substance in quantities greater than are recommended or generally practiced...
of whichever drug
Prescription drug
A prescription medication is a licensed medicine that is regulated by legislation to require a medical prescription before it can be obtained. The term is used to distinguish it from over-the-counter drugs which can be obtained without a prescription...
the patient had been prescribed, or wrote false prescription
Medical prescription
A prescription is a health-care program implemented by a physician or other medical practitioner in the form of instructions that govern the plan of care for an individual patient. Prescriptions may include orders to be performed by a patient, caretaker, nurse, pharmacist or other therapist....
s for dangerous drugs for patients who did not need them.
Swango displayed a number of bizarre behaviors unrelated to his fascination with death. He is reported to have practiced compulsive hoarding
Hoarding
Hoarding or caching is a general term for a behavior that leads people or animals to accumulate food or other items in anticipation of future need or scarcity.-Animal behavior:...
of food, and he slept on a mattress on the floor of his bathroom rather than in a bedroom. Many of his co-workers found him unusually talkative and physically restless, suggesting a hyperactivity disorder.
See also
- John Bodkin AdamsJohn Bodkin AdamsJohn Bodkin Adams was an Irish-born British general practitioner, convicted fraudster and suspected serial killer. Between the years 1946 and 1956, more than 160 of his patients died in suspicious circumstances. Of these, 132 left him money or items in their will. He was tried and acquitted for...
- British doctor and suspected serial killer - Harold ShipmanHarold ShipmanHarold Fredrick Shipman was an English doctor and one of the most prolific serial killers in recorded history with 218 murders being positively ascribed to him....
- Doctor and Britain's most prolific serial killer - H. H. HolmesH. H. HolmesHerman Webster Mudgett , better known under the alias of Dr. Henry Howard Holmes, was one of the first documented American serial killers in the modern sense of the term...