Joseph Michael Swango

Serial Killer

Joseph Michael Swango: The Physician Who Poisoned Patients and Colleagues

Overview

Joseph Michael Swango, also known as Michael Swango, is an American physician and convicted serial killer who used medical employment to gain access to vulnerable patients. Born James Michael Swango on October 21, 1954, he worked in hospitals, ambulance services, laboratories, and medical institutions in the United States and Zimbabwe. Wherever he went, patients or co-workers sometimes developed sudden and unexplained illnesses after eating food, drinking beverages, or receiving injections associated with him. Swango ultimately admitted responsibility for four murders. Three of the murders occurred while he was working at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Northport, New York, in 1993. He also acknowledged causing the death of Cynthia Ann McGee at Ohio State University Hospitals in 1984. Investigators suspected him in numerous additional deaths, including those of Thomas Sammarco, Richard DeLong, Charlotte Warner, Barron Harris, and patients in Zimbabwe. Estimates of his possible victim count have ranged into the dozens, although most of those deaths were never proven in court.

Early Life and Medical Training

Swango was raised in Quincy, Illinois, and attended Quincy College, now known as Quincy University. He studied chemistry and biology and graduated with high academic honors. He later entered the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, where concerns arose about both his conduct and his professional competence. Swango displayed an intense interest in violent death, disasters, fatal accidents, and poisoning. He collected newspaper clippings describing catastrophes and murders and frequently discussed death with people around him. During medical school, patients assigned to him reportedly suffered unexpected emergencies, although no definitive criminal case emerged from those early incidents. His medical education was nearly ended after faculty members discovered that he had recorded examinations of patients that he had not actually performed. Despite the falsification, Swango was permitted to complete additional work and eventually received his medical degree. That decision allowed him to obtain an internship at Ohio State University Hospitals in Columbus in 1983. ...

Confirmed Victims: (3)

Cynthia Ann McGee Age: (19), Date of Death: 1984-01-15

Suspected Victims:

Richard DeLong , Date of Death: 1980-01-20

Rena E. Cooper , Date of Death: 1984-02-07

Thomas Sammarco , Date of Death: 1983

Charlotte Warner , Date of Death: 1984-02

Kristin Lynn Kinney , Date of Death: 1993-07-15

Barron Harris , Date of Death: 1993-11-09

Michael Swango - Wikipedia