not natural causes. he was poisoned. it started to fall into place. that s the doctor that he was talking about. michael swango. then we all felt very guilty because we didn t believe my father. and they believed that two drugs were involved here. one drug is called epinephrine. epinephrine is a stimulant. a very large dose of ev effective rin can make your blood pressure go very high, make your heart rate go very high, cause you to have a hemorrhage in your brain. certainly you can get to a dose that can kill somebody. the other drug is called suction sa follow coleen. it s a quick-acting paralytic. it paralyzes you so you couldn t breathe. the question is, are you going to be able to find these poisons in embalmed tissue? and going down to the 11th hour,
smart articulate person. why would he do something like that? this is crazy. michael swango was born october 21st, 1954. his given name was joseph but he went by his middle name. according to family members in his mother eyes michael could do no wrong. he had a half brother older brother younger brother. his family went to quincy, illinois. his dead was a military man served a long time in vietnam retired from the military went back to vietnam with the usaid. his father was known to be a very strict authoritarian figure. when they would have guests to the house the kids would be marched in formation into the living room to meet the guest and told at ease attention dismissed. his mother by all accounts
arsenic. at the end of their investigation, zimbabwe authorities had uncovered enough evidence of poisoning to charge dr. michael swango with five counts of murder. and at this time, the africans had put out to several countries a warning about him. so he couldn t get hired at a hospital. the word was out. he had a feeling his time in africa was done. when border officials came to arrest him, he literally climbed out a window and escaped. next thing you know, he s on a plane. this guy knew exactly when to leave. he returned to the united states. he wasn t coming back to the united states to live in the united states, he was coming back in to get back out. turns out he was on his way to saudi arabia. he had gotten a job in saudi arabia. and before he could go, he had to have a u.s. visa. the requirement was that he could not get a work visa in another country. he had to get it in the country where he lived.
police in columbus, ohio, were investigating the suspicious deaths that had occurred at the ohio state university hospital where dr. michael swango had been an intern. entertainment, dr. michael swango was on trial for poisoning his paramedic colleagues in quincy, illinois. from the very beginning, it was controversial. because mike swango had a lot of friends that he went to school with who were convinced that he was being railroaded. we had a lot of people thinking we were setting mike up and that we were doing this to mike because we didn t like him. when it came out, we went through the file at the newspaper, and you know, there was nothing that was not glowing about him. his likeability within the community was without question. but then dr. michael swango opted for a bench trial where
well, he violated it in the worst way. i was happy with the verdict. yes, i was. relief. now we have an opportunity to put this man away. at the sentencing hearing, he asked for probation. i can remember him looking at the judge and telling him, he would never get in trouble again, he would be a productive member of society. but i think judge cashman let him know he didn t believe him. he got sentenced to the maximum the law allowed for that offense, and that was five years on all counts. when judge cashman sent him to prison, we were all kind of surprised by the severity of the sentence. because i d sat through many cases where a person convicted of aggravated battery just got probation. now in retrospect, we understand why. i was convinced that he was a serial killer. and somebody needed to do something. about he was sent to prison, we thought the book was closed on him. but after serving two years, dr. michael swango is released.