Efren Saldivar

Serial Killer

Efren Saldivar: The Hospital "Angel of Death"

Background and Medical Career

Efren Saldivar was born on September 30, 1969, in Brownsville, Texas, and was raised in the Los Angeles area. As a young man, he enrolled at the College of Medical and Dental Careers in North Hollywood, where he trained as a respiratory therapist. In 1989, at approximately 19 years old, he began working at Glendale Adventist Medical Center in Glendale, California. Respiratory therapists held considerable responsibility for patients who were struggling to breathe. Saldivar administered breathing treatments, monitored ventilators, drew arterial blood, assisted during medical emergencies and entered hospital rooms at all hours. He eventually worked the overnight shift, when the hospital corridors were quiet, staffing was reduced and employees could move between patients' rooms with comparatively little supervision. Saldivar appeared competent and knowledgeable about medications and respiratory equipment. Behind that professional appearance, however, he was secretly using his access to vulnerable patients and restricted drugs to cause deaths that initially appeared to be the natural consequences of serious illness.

The "Magic Syringe"

Saldivar primarily targeted elderly patients, many of whom were seriously ill, unconscious or subject to do-not-resuscitate orders. He later described choosing people he believed were near death, although several of his confirmed victims had stabilized or appeared to be improving before they suddenly died. His principal murder weapon was pancuronium bromide, a powerful paralytic medication commonly sold under the brand name Pavulon. The drug is legitimately used during surgery and mechanical ventilation because it paralyzes voluntary muscles, including those necessary for breathing. A conscious person given the drug without respiratory support may remain aware while becoming unable to move or breathe. Because many of Saldivar's patients already suffered from respiratory disease, a sudden breathing or cardiac arrest could easily be mistaken for a natural medical decline. Saldivar also spoke of using succinylcholine, another muscle-paralyzing medication, and of withholding or reducing respiratory treatment. Investigators found that certain drugs could break down quickly after death, making them extremely difficult to detect during an ordinary autopsy. Pavulon, however, remained in body tissue long enough for specialized testing to reveal its presence years later. Among hospital employees, disturbing rumors began circulating about a respiratory therapist who carried a "magic syringe." Coworkers noticed that patients sometimes died unexpectedly while Saldivar was working. Some recalled hearing comments about patients who supposedly needed to die, followed by those patients' sudden deaths. Restricted medications, used syringes and empty syringes were reportedly discovered inside Saldivar's locker, but the matter was not immediately reported to police. ...

Confirmed Victims: (6)

Jose Alfaro Age: (82), Date of Death: 1997-08-15

Survivors:

Jean Coyle

Galleries: Cases: A lab of last resort solving the Efren Saldivar case