20 BODIES WILL BE UNEARTHED IN PROBE.Byline: Donna Huffaker Daily News Staff Writer The bodies of 20 possible victims of an ``angel of death'' will be exhumed Exhumed may refer to:
Thirteen months after the therapist confessed to using drugs to kill 50 or so terminally ill Terminally Ill When a person is not expected to live more than 12 months. Notes: Any gifts given out by the afflicted person at this time may be considered as a dispersion of the estate rather than a gift. patients, Glendale police won a court order Wednesday to exhume ex·hume tr.v. ex·humed, ex·hum·ing, ex·humes 1. To remove from a grave; disinter. 2. To bring to light, especially after a period of obscurity. bodies identified as potential victims following an intensive investigation. The exhumations will begin this week at several Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, cemeteries, Glendale police Chief Russell Siverling said at a news conference. Investigators said they will test for the muscle-paralyzing drugs therapist Efren Saldivar Efren Saldivar (born 30 September 1969) is an American serial killer who murdered patients while working as a respiratory therapist. Early life Born in Brownsville, Texas, he graduated from the College of Medical and Dental Careers in North Hollywood, California in 1988. told police he injected into patients to hasten has·ten v. has·tened, has·ten·ing, has·tens v.intr. To move or act swiftly. v.tr. 1. To cause to hurry. 2. their deaths. He later recanted his confession and no charges have been filed. Saldivar, 29, a Tujunga resident at the time of his confession, was fired by the hospital shortly after the investigation began. Police began calling families whose relatives will be exhumed Tuesday night, Siverling said. But they do not need the family's permission to exhume the bodies, the chief said. ``They don't have a choice in this matter, but we're trying to do this as sensitively as we can,'' Siverling said. He refused further comment about the victims or their families and would not give any other details of the case. Siverling said investigators have worked as quickly as possible, given the task at hand. Saldivar was identified by an anonymous phone caller police on March 3, 1998. The caller told officers Saldivar ``helped a patient die fast on or about Feb. 16, 1998. Another respiratory therapist, Bob Baker, told police he saw several vials of paralyzing medication in Saldivar's locker. Respiratory therapists are not supposed to give injections. Saldivar, who told police he considered himself an angel of death, said his criteria for mercy killings mercy killing: see euthanasia. was patients had to be unconscious and they had to have a ``do not resuscitate'' order. He later recanted the statements on television, saying he was suicidal and hoped he would get a death sentence. Efforts to reach Saldivar on Wednesday were not successful. The medications, succinylcholine chloride succinylcholine chloride (suk´s  nil-kō´lēn),n and Pavulon, are what officials will look for in test samples taken from the exhumed bodies, said Sgt. John McKillop, supervisor of the investigation's task force. Although the majority of bodies being examined are those of patients who died in 1997 or 1998, experts told police ``if (the drugs) are there, they'll find them,'' McKillop said. Saldivar told police he killed the terminally ill patients from 1989 to 1997. Police initially looked into the deaths of 171 people who died at the hospital while Saldivar worked there, Siverling said. Of those, 54 were excluded because the remains were unavailable, mostly due to cremation cremation, disposal of a corpse by fire. It is an ancient and widespread practice, second only to burial. It has been found among the chiefdoms of the Pacific Northwest, among Northern Athapascan bands in Alaska, and among Canadian cultural groups. . That left 117 deaths to follow up on, Siverling said. The 20 chosen were the most suspicious he said, declining to elaborate. Saldivar was fired March 13, 1998 and the state Respiratory Care Board revoked his license. Four additional respiratory therapists were also fired from Glendale Adventist after the investigation was launched. Pasadena Superior Court Judge Joseph DeVanon issued the 775-page search warrant for the exhumations. Siverling said one to two bodies a week will be exhumed in a process that is expected to take six to nine months. The bodies will be taken to the county Coroner's Office for examination and the taking of specimens to be tested in the laboratory. The bodies will then be reburied. The first angel of death lawsuit was filed against Saldivar and the hospital on March 26 by the family of John N. Schwartz, a 91-year-old Los Feliz man who died at Glendale Adventist in 1993. The family's attorney, Christopher Nicoll, contacted Glendale police after hearing about Saldivar. The body was being relocated to another cemetery, so Nicoll offered to allow police to examine it. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Nicoll, an autopsy was performed in July but results are under seal. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Saldivar |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion