Killer Nurse
Page 26
But there was actually more to Dr. Schaeffer’s study: her study suggested that there may have been many more than only ten victims. Schaeffer had looked at all the adverse occurrences at DaVita, not just the ones that Saenz was accused of committing. As it turned out, Saenz was the only employee working on all the days that a patient had experienced unexplained health complications or death. But barring a confession, no one but Kimberly Saenz will ever know for sure, and there’s no evidence to prove it. DaVita had created a policy in September 2007 of keeping the bloodlines and other equipment of patients who suffered cardiac problems at DaVita clinics, but DaVita Lufkin had begun following the policy only after Ms. Clara Strange and Ms. Thelma Metcalf died on April 1, 2008.
All the bloodlines that were so important to the jury as well as the syringes of the other patients before April 1, 2008, DaVita has discarded.
And there was another chilling little postscript to this macabre story that had not come out during the trial. The searches on the effects of bleach poisoning and detecting bleach in bloodlines weren’t the only suspicious things found on Kimberly Saenz’s computer. Investigators also discovered searches for “cooking for diseased families” and “how to sniff Xanax.” And among her files was a song titled: “I Got Away with Murder.”
* * *
On Monday, April 9, 2012, nearly four years after the investigation into the suspicious deaths at the DaVita clinic began, the city of Lufkin had a visitor to pay homage to the people responsible for Kimberly Clark Saenz’s conviction.
U.S. Attorney John Malcolm Bales held a press conference to acknowledge the “excellent example of the cooperation of multiple agencies of federal, state, and local law enforcement and prosecution teams in bringing justice to the Lufkin community.”
When he was through talking, others who were involved in the case spoke to the gathered media. In his speech, Prosecutor Clyde Herrington credited Bales himself for responding to Herrington’s call for help. Not only had Bales’s influence helped get all the CDC and FDA employees to Lufkin to testify, but Bales had sent them Chris Tortorice, who turned out to be a Godsend to the case himself.
Last, Herrington credited one man in particular above all the others: Sergeant Stephen Abbott of the Lufkin Police Department.
On Tuesday, June 5, 2012, there was a real conspiracy carried out in Lufkin. The week before, Herrington had been informed that the city was going to give Sergeant Abbott an award for his role in the Saenz investigation. Herrington never doubted that he deserved it. When they asked him if he would be there, he told them he wouldn’t miss it.
When Herrington arrived, somebody congratulated him and he became suspicious, but after looking at the program that only listed Abbott, he relaxed—until he looked around and noticed his wife. At that moment, he realized that he’d been duped.
He wasn’t the only one. It seemed that Abbott had shown up to support Herrington.
However, once there, the two men had no choice but to sit and take their medicine, as Mayor Bob Brown awarded them both Lufkin’s meritorious service award.
The DaVita Lufkin Dialysis Center in Lufkin, Texas. In April of 2008, thirty-four patients were rushed to the emergency room.
(John Foxjohn)
Downtown Lufkin, Texas—no one believed that such a heinous series of crimes could have occurred in this nice East Texas town.
(Beth Folsom)
Opal Few. At ninety-one, she was the oldest alleged murder victim, but had been in excellent spirits right up until her death.
(Linda Few James)
Clara Strange. Marisa Fernandez, her granddaughter, kept her grandmother’s number in her cell phone, wishing she could still call her.
(Texas Department of Motor Vehicles)
Cora Bryant. She left her family with the will to never give up.
(Texas Department of Motor Vehicles)
Garlin Kelley Jr. Mr. Kelley, here with his wife, LaFrancis, at a Lufkin Dunbar High School reunion, was an inspiration to all who knew him.
(LaFrancis Kelley)
Thelma Metcalf. Ms. Metcalf’s death on April 1, 2008 was one of two that sparked the initial DaVita investigation.
(Texas Department of Motor Vehicles)
Marva Rhone. Ms. Rhone was one of the patients whom witnesses saw Saenz inject with bleach on April 28, 2008.
(Texas Department of Motor Vehicles)
Carolyn Risinger. Ms. Risinger was the second patient whom witnesses saw Saenz inject with bleach on April 28, 2008.
(Texas Department of Motor Vehicles)
Inside the DaVita Lufkin Dialysis Center.
(Lufkin Police Department)
A typical four-chair DaVita care station, with TV hanging over chair, dialysis machine, sharps container in front of chair, and caregiver’s computer.
(Lufkin Police Department)
Kimberly Clark Saenz had only gotten her nursing license two and a half years earlier, but had already gone through five jobs by the time she landed the position at DaVita Lufkin.
(Angelina County Sheriff’s Department)
Kimberly Saenz’s husband, Kevin Saenz, had a police record in Houston dating back to 1994, but had recently settled into a well-paying job as an appraiser at the Angelina County Appraisal District.
(Houston Police Department)
Kimberly Clark Saenz and her defense attorney, Ryan Deaton, leaving Angelina County Courthouse. Both seemed convinced throughout the trial that Kim would never be convicted.
(AP Photo/The Lufkin News, Joel Andrews)
Prosecutor Clyde Herrington conferring with defense attorney Steve Taylor, the only member of the defense who had experience with death penalty cases.
(John Foxjohn)
District attorney Clyde Herrington at his desk.
(John Foxjohn)
“Team Justice,” aka Chris Tortorice, Layne Thompson, and Clyde Herrington (left to right).
(John Foxjohn)
The twelve jurors and two alternates for the Saenz trial.
(John Foxjohn)