While in school, Swango worked part-time as a paramedic and would never miss a shift, reported theChicago Tribune. McNairs final and most notorious escape was in 2006 when he packed himself into a shipment of mail leaving the prison. In the summer of 1984, Swango returned to Quincy, where he obtained a job as anemergency medical technician with the Adams County Ambulance Service, reportedThe New York Times. 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. In both Virginia and South Dakota, he used his inherent charm and a variety of forged legal documents to re-establish his career in the medical field. Only he knows how many people he killed, and only he knows why. He could have been great. Nobody is going to see it.. They told him that on the day he was due to be released, he would be extradited to Zimbabwe to face charges of murder and attempted murder. Michael Joseph Swango (born October 21, 1954) is an American serial killer and former physician who is estimated to have been involved in as many as 60 fatal poisonings of patients and colleagues, although he admitted to causing only four deaths. Prosecutors Say Doctor Killed To Feel a Thrill - New York Times Why would you do this? It was originally nicknamed the Diamond Tooth Gang because of the glass shards that some members put in their teeth. Former SIU medical student sentenced to life for murders Serial Killer Michael Swango's Timeline of Crimes - Columbus Monthly He used a local storage facility to hide his stolen goods, but the manager contacted the police after noticing that the contents looked suspicious. [13] The government used this time to amass a dossier of Swango's crimes. That gave us a window to start the investigation and make a determination on whether he had killed anyone, Sackman said. They became ill, and some vomited so hard that blood vessels in their eyes broke, reported the Los Angeles Times. Oxygen Insider is your all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more. Michael Swango was sentenced to three life terms for his heinous crimes. Sackman spent 32 years working for the federal government, including 25 with the Veterans Administration, investigating crime within the department. Michael Swango, a serial-killing doctor who may have poisoned 60 of his patients, is serving three consecutive life sentences; Larry Hoover, the Gangster Disciples kingpin made famous by rappers . Guzman began his own cartel operations, trafficking more cocaine, marijuana, meth, and heroin into the United States than any other drug dealer in history. There, he met the alleged killer in the flesh. Wed, November 19th 2014, 9:24 PM PST. Michael Swango (born Joseph Michael Swango) was a physician who spent most of the 1980s and '90s using his . He was once a sergeant at an Air Force base in Minot, North Dakota, but while he was stationed there, he began a string of burglaries. I'm not a big Dirty Harry kind of guy, but I like the work. [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. He called Richard Thomesen, who was stationed in the DEA's Manhattan field office to discuss the case. While Swango eventually pleaded guilty to just four murders, his victim countmay be as high as 60. When they came back, the tea was sweet, and it later tested positive for arsenic, according to the Los Angeles Times. 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. Michael Swango was found atop a car in the midst of a horrible accident, he was trying to take pictures of the victims who were still inside the car. That investigation extensively outlined in Sackmans book paid off with the conviction of Swango's involvement in four deaths. 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. Between 1978 and 1995, Kaczynski sent sixteen hand-made bombs to figures he felt represented technology, killing three people, and injuring twenty-three. I could never do any of the things that have been alleged Ive done, he said. The symptoms were consistent with arsenic poisoning. To the outside observer, this would seem like the likely end to his medical career in any shape or form. 'Double-O Swango': What happened to Dr. Michael Swango, who left trail Standard procedures for checking applicants were not followed, former school dean Dr. Jordan Cohen toldPeoplemagazine. And shortly thereafter, Swango did the same. I dont see how he could control himself, and the more work he did, the better he got at it.. [6] In both cases, Swango forged several legal documents that he used to reestablish himself as a physician and respected member of society. [4] Prosecutors in Franklin County, Ohio (where Columbus is located) also considered bringing charges of murder and attempted murder against Swango, but they decided against it for lack of physical evidence.[1]. . That Thanksgiving Day, the Discovery Channel aired an episode of Justice Files that included a segment on Swango. Top 10 Worst Prisoners At The Colorado Supermax Prison The End: Michael Swango meets his fate. Swanson went to rob a store and in the process, he had to kill the storekeepers. Could be. 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. Security guard Richard Jewell led a partial evacuation of the area and was originally the main suspect but was eventually cleared and hailed as a hero. Unmisig said. During his time there, several employees sought medical attention with complaints of persistent and increasing stomach pains. Ive heard and Ive read and weve discussed that it was somewhere in the vicinity of 60 people. Lessons from the Worst-Case Scenario | Journal of Ethics | American In August 1985, he was found guilty of aggravated battery and sentenced to five years in prison, reportedThe New York Times. Oct.2000: Swango pleads guilty in Columbus to the 1984 slaying of 19-year-old Cynthia McGee, a Dublin native who died at University Hospital while recovering from an automobile accident. Mr. Brown, on the steps of United . However, his work had been so slovenly that OSU pulled its residency offer after his internship ended in June. Management more often than not supports the accused and not the whistleblower. Please enable javascript and refresh the page to continue reading local news. March1992: Secures a residency at a university hospital in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, using forged documents. February1985: Ohio State law school dean James Meeks investigates the universitys handling of Swango during his internship. 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. He is serving a life sentence. [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]. From what he identified as the text of ''My Secret Life,'' Mr. Swango was inspired to copy: ''I love it. As a result of suspicions of the medical director there, Dr. Christopher Zishiri, Swango was suspended. Without them, we wouldnt even be having this conversation, Sackman said. Eventually, prosecutors agreed to not pursue the death penalty or extradition in return for Swango accepting a sentence of life in prison without parole. Murders A-Z is a collection of true crime stories that take an in-depth look at both little-known and infamous murders throughout history. 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. His most notorious attack was when he planted three pipe bombs filled with nails in the main square of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, killing 44-year-old Alice Hawthorne, causing a fatal heart attack for 40-year-old Melih Uzunyol, and injuring over a hundred others. 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. 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. When he was re-captured, he was sentenced to two life sentences at the North Dakota State Penitentiary. Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! 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. Swango admitted to McGee's poisoning whenhe pleaded guilty in the New York killings so . 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 . 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. Everyone. Sackman said. He had suspected that sudden deaths of some patients were due to Swango, but had no proof at that stage. These clippings confirmed toxic levels of arsenic in the hair. 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. It takes a team to do it. KHQA reached out to Michael Swango for a face-to-face interview at ADX Florence in Colorado. It takes observant, brave professionals calling out what they see as suspicious activity when they see it. After being released from prison in 1989 on the poisoning charges, he worked for a time in Virginia before finding his way to Sioux Falls, where he again took up position as a doctor, this time with what is now Sanford Health. The federal indictment came after the victims bodies were exhumed and tested positive for poison. WhenDr.Michael Joseph Swangowasasked 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. Many who knew him say the same thing:. Currently, Michael Swango is 68 years, 6 months and 8 days old. He murdered a number of our nations heroes in Veterans hospitals. 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. 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. It was a case that stunned many in both the healthcare profession and law enforcement. State Rep. Dobos called himself MIT grad for decades. Colleagues fall ill and suspect Swango of poisoning them. [15] A week before the indictment was handed up, FBI agents interviewed Swango in prison. In addition to writing his book, Sackman has become an in-demand speaker due to his work in the field of medical killers. One day, Swango brought a box of doughnuts to work. [14], Additionally, prosecutors found evidence that Swango lied about the death of Cynthia Ann McGee, a patient he treated during his internship at OSU. It was reported on another occasion that he emerged from a dying patient's room with a smile on his face. He eventually resurfaced again at Northport, where he came to the attention of Sackman before bolting to places unknown. [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. Swango served in the Marine Corps, graduating from recruit training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego. Police Officer's Daughter Writes to Serial Killer, Hoping for Answers, Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. [12] When placed in the Supermax prison, his hook hand prosthetic was replaced with a plastic spork. Link your TV provider to stream full episodes and live TV. He soon confessed to the crimes, and would admit to one additional slaying. 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. He had taken phone calls before about tips that led nowhere, but this phone call would prove to be like no other he had ever received. He was tan, wearing aviator sunglasses. July2000: Days before Swango is to be released, federal investigators charge him in the 1993 deaths of three of his VA hospital patients whose exhumed remains have been found to contain poisons. 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. 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. Michael Swango - Age, Bio, Faces and Birthday ?s mind is still a mystery. Not all of Swangos poisonings ended in death. Sources: Media reports; Meeks report; Blind Eye, by James B. Stewart. [22] He developed a deep resentment for what he called industrial-technological society. His classmates found him strange and fiercely competitive, according toThe Washington Post. local. 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. No doubt Swango wanted these pictures for his scrapbook of death. Michael Swango's story began right here in the Tri-States, but few could have ever guessed where it would end. 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 . In a sharply worded report, Meeks concludes the hospitals inquiry was far too superficial.. They also knew that they had a limited amount of time to amass that proof. He is assigned to a Veterans Administration hospital. Yet investigators suspect that during his crime spree, which spanned 1981 to 1997, Swango may . Swango is arrested and charged, but goes into hiding. He served in the military and was based in Vietnam. I think things were going well for him, but I dont see how he could resist the temptation of taking someone out. 1954. 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. They feared that if they could not find enough evidence to convict Swango, he was likely to kill again. POISONOUS PASSION - Daily Press Columbus leaders ID corridors . CNN is airing a show about my investigation of Dr. Michael Swango, this 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. Although he was a brilliant student, he preferred to work as an ambulance attendant rather than concentrate on his studies. Most states will not grant a medical license to a violent felon, considering such a conviction to be evidence of unprofessional conduct. Michael Swango, former physician who authorities say poisoned patients from Ohio to Zimbabwe but continued to find medical jobs, will plead guilty in federal court to charges that he killed three . Unbeknownst to the FBI, it was Hanssen himself who had revealed them. Medical serial killers kill so many people that even when they cooperate, they cant even remember. It takes the work of law enforcement officials acting on those suspicions. 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. 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. He is fired. Wherever he went, death followed. While he was training at one hospital, he even gained the nickname Double-O Swango, referencing James Bonds license to kill. Hes really smart.. He was immediately fired. I always like to say thank you to the very professional doctors and nurses who brought these cases to our attention. Swango seemed to always be on duty whenever these incidents occurred. [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. In August 1985, he was found guilty of aggravated battery and sentenced to five years in prison, reported. ADX Florence federal prison 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 by Ross Green. 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. September 8, 2018 10:43am. 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. 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. And he was not what Sackman was expecting. By that time, Swango had fled the country. 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. Despite almost getting thrown out of Southern Illinois University, Swango was accepted into an internship program at Ohio State University Medical Center in 1983 that put him on track to become a neurosurgeon. 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. 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. 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 . 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. [3] Swango graduated from Quincy summa cum laude and was given the American Chemical Society Award. It looked like he had just come in from the golf course, Sackman recalled. 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. 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 he had committed no further crimes after his "misdemeanor" and was leading an "exemplary lifestyle". 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. Soon after his arrival, however, staff were alarmed by an unusual number of patient deaths or illnesses, according to theLos Angeles Times. [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. Like Father, Like Son. [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. He planted several false clues in the bombs to mislead authorities, however, his own work would lead to his downfall.
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