MICHEAL SWANGO: DEADLY DOCTOR

Joseph Michael Swango (born October 21, 1954, Tacoma, Washington) was a physician and American serial killer convicted of four murders, but is estimated to have been involved in as many as 60 fatal poisonings of his patients and colleagues. He was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, and is serving that sentence at ADX Florence.

Modus operandi

Swango did not often vary his methods of murder. With non-patients, such as his co-workers at the paramedic service, he used poisons, usually arsenic, slipping them into foods and beverages. With patients, he sometimes used poisons as well, but usually he administered an overdose of whichever drug the patient had been prescribed, or wrote false prescriptions for dangerous drugs for patients who did not need them.

In his book Blind Eye, James B. Stewart (a Quincy native) estimated that counting the suspicious deaths at SIU, circumstantial evidence links Swango to 35 suspicious deaths. The FBI believes he may be responsible for as many as 60 deaths, which would make him the most prolific serial killer in American history. The case was featured on the American crime show Unsolved Mysteries.

Classification: Serial killer Characteristics: Poisoner Number of victims: 4 – 60Date of murders: 1981 – 1997Date of arrest: June 1997Date of birth: October 21, 1954Victims profile: His patients and colleagues Method of murder: Poisoning (usually arsenic)Location: Zimbabwe / Illinois-Ohio-South Dakota-New York, USA Status: Sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole in New York on September 6, 2000. Sentenced to life in prison, with a chance of parole after 20 years, in Ohio on October 18, 2000