Haunting mystery of 'Killer Nurse' discussed at Coldspring book review.
The Friends of the Library held their annual book review on July 13 at the Coldspring United Methodist Church for the Coldspring Area Public Library with guest speaker and author John Foxjohn discussing his bestselling book called "Killer Nurse."
According to Sue Jackson of the Friends of the Library, Foxjohn has a career that spans across the United States military, law enforcement and education. He is a citizen of Lufkin, Texas.
"He epitomizes the phrase 'been there, done that,'" she said.
Foxjohn has published stories in a variety of genres, both fiction and non-fiction with focuses on mystery and crime thriller stories among others. One of his most compelling novels is "Killer Nurse," which is a work of non-fiction. Foxjohn interviewed numerous individuals involved in the case to write his novel.
The original title for the novel was "DaVita Nurse," but was changed due to the name involving a Fortune 500 company. Foxjohn tried the name "Lethal Injection" before the title "Killer Nurse" was chosen.
Foxjohn heard about the trial when it came up on a news report on television. The details intrigued him as a former homicide detective.
"This is the weirdest, strangest thing I've ever heard in my life," he said.
The story focuses on a DaVita Dialysis Center located in Lufkin, Texas, in the spring and summer of 2008. On April 1, 2008, a patient died under their care. Minutes later, a second patient died.
According to Foxjohn, the chances of a patient dying while on dialysis is 640,000 to one.
"DaVita also knew there was a problem," said Foxjohn.
The dialysis company had a team of monitors try and determine the issue at the Lufkin clinic, but to no avail, Foxjohn said.
"No matter what they did, no matter what they looked at, it didn't stop," said Foxjohn.
He went on to say that some patients continued to die while others ended up on life support with no brain activity. One patient who passed at the clinic was named Opal Few.
"Things are getting really, really tense at DaVita and they still don't know what's going on," said Foxjohn.
All of this changed on the morning of April 28 when two patients reportedly stepped forward.
"Two of these patients saw something that scared the living daylights out of them," said Foxjohn.
According to Foxjohn, they had seen a nurse, Kimberly Clark Saenz, put bleach into a syringe and inject it into two patients. The patients then flagged down a Patient Care Technician and informed the employee what happened.
"This was so farfetched that nobody believed it," said Foxjohn.
Saenz was sent home while the cases were investigated. The syringes were retrieved from their respective sharp containers and tested them for bleach.
According to details in Foxjohn's book, Sgt. Stephen Abbott of the Lufkin Police Department handled the case alongside Corporal Mike Shurley and Crime Scene Technician Christy Pate. Abbott received evidence from the clinic, including a list of all of their patients who had died and equipment used on the deceased patients.
He wrote that Abbott also received 32 sharp containers containing various syringes. The challenge proved to be testing them for both blood and bleach.
Saenz reportedly claimed she filled syringes with bleach to measure how much she needed to wipe off the seats in the clinic. According to Foxjohn, Saenz acted as if she were smarter than those who interrogated her in the case.
"That's kind of a trait for most criminals," said Foxjohn.
District Attorney Clyde Herrington was also involved in the case. Like many others, he also felt it was farfetched, according to Foxjohn.
However, Pate and Abbott went through the syringes in the sharp containers. Pate soon stumbled upon one used on Few, Foxjohn related in the book.
"She said her hands were literally shaking when she saw it," said Foxjohn.
The syringe tested positive for bleach and the detectives started searching for signs of aggravated assault. On May 30, Saenz was arrested for two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Taking a medical professional to trial is difficult especially when the defendants choose not to confess. The same proved to be true in the case against Saenz, Foxjohn said.
Foxjohn says at the time there was not a single crime lab in the world that could test the syringes to see if they were positive with blood.
"She chose almost the most perfect weapon to kill someone," said Foxjohn.
Bleach can cause an effect similar to having a heart attack if injected into someone's blood stream. Foxjohn says the individuals working on the case believed they were dealing with a serial killer.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stepped in and tested them, finding 10 samples to be positive for the evidence needed in the case.
"They found a way to find a bleach marker in blood," said Foxjohn.
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