'ANGEL OF DEATH' ARREST EX-HOSPITAL THERAPIST HELD IN 6 MERCY KILLINGS.

Byline: Donna Huffaker Staff Writer

GLENDALE - The former hospital worker known as the ``Angel of Death'' was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of six murders, nearly three years after he admitted to killing up to 50 terminally ill people and then recanted.

Glendale police arrested Efren Saldivar, 31, of Tujunga without incident Tuesday morning in Granada Hills as he drove to work. The former respiratory therapist at Glendale Adventist Medical Center confessed to investigators in March 1998 that he killed up to 50 seriously ill patients by lethal injection or suffocation, then recanted the confession to a national television audience.

``We believe we have found the truth, as disturbing as it is,'' Glendale Police Chief Russell Siverling said. ``Of the 20 bodies we disinterred, we found evidence to conclude that six of these patients were, in fact, murdered.''

Saldivar's attorney, Terry Goldberg of Woodland Hills, who has denied that his client committed any mercy killings, scheduled a press conference for today to discuss the case.

District Attorney Steve Cooley also scheduled a news conference.

Saldivar is being held at Glendale City Jail without bail and is expected to be arraigned Thursday.

Siverling would not release the names of the six alleged victims. Those names are expected to be released today by the District Attorney's Office.

The 34-month investigation that culminated in Saldivar's arrest cost the city $300,000, excluding the salaries of the five full-time task force investigators, 20-plus officers and two managers, said Sgt. Rick Young.

Now employed by Electra-Cal Co. as an electrician's apprentice, Saldivar was stopped as he exited the Ronald Reagan Freeway at Balboa Boulevard, Young said. Saldivar surrendered peacefully, he said. Investigators opted to arrest him outside his Tujunga home so as not to disturb his family.

The investigation began with an anonymous phone call to the hospital, in which a person said Saldivar ``helped a patient die fast.''

On March 11, 1998, Saldivar reportedly met with investigators and told them he caused between 40 and 50 deaths at the hospital from 1989 to 1997.

He said he killed some patients by blocking air to their breathing tubes and killed others by injecting them with the muscle-paralyzing drugs Pavulon and succinylcholine chloride. The hospital fired Saldivar two days after he met with investigators.

Despite the confession, Saldivar was not arrested. Pointing out the uniqueness of the case, investigators said they had to prove someone was killed.

Over the past 34 months, police scoured hospital and patient documents and concluded that 171 cases should be investigated, Siverling said. Of those cases, police excluded 54 because the remains were unavailable, mostly due to cremation.

From the 117 remaining cases, investigators identified 20 who died suspiciously and they exhumed those bodies - after obtaining a 758-page search warrant from the courts.

Some relatives of Glendale Adventist patients who died while Saldivar worked there have sued Saldivar. One such pending civil lawsuit is from the family of John N. Schwartz, who died at Glendale Adventist in 1993 while Saldivar was on duty.

Christopher Nicoll, who represents the Schwartz family, said Tuesday that the family was very pleased to hear of Saldivar's arrest.

``One of the driving forces behind filing the lawsuit was to ensure justice was done. We knew it would be a very tough case,'' Nicoll said.

``(Glendale police) investigated, they ordered an autopsy performed and I still have no information. I told the city attorney if (Schwartz) is not considered a victim, I'll dismiss this case and it will no longer be a thorn in his side. But he said he couldn't say anything.''

Nicoll filed a motion in court Monday to get the Police Department to turn over such documents, which he says are essential to his case.

Police have said Saldivar told them he was angry at seeing terminally ill patients kept alive. When investigators asked whether he considered himself an ``Angel of Death,'' he said yes, according to court documents. Saldivar recanted his confession on a national TV news magazine, saying he was depressed and wanted to die but couldn't kill himself so he wanted the state to do it for him.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) SALDIVAR

(2) Glendale Police Chief Russell K. Siverling reveals the arrest Tuesday of former respiratory therapist Efren Saldivar on suspicion of murder.

Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer