Efren Saldivar


Efren Saldivar is an American serial killer who murdered patients while working as a respiratory therapist at Adventist Health Glendale in Glendale, California.

Early life

Born in Brownsville, Texas, he graduated from the College of Medical and Dental Careers in North Hollywood, California in 1988. He obtained work as a respiratory therapist employed by the Glendale Adventist Medical Center, working the night shift when there were fewer staff on duty.

Murders

Whiling working at Adventist Health Glendale in Glendale, California, Saldivar killed his patients by injecting a paralytic drug which led to respiratory and/or cardiac arrest. These drugs could have included morphine and suxamethonium chloride as they were found in his locker with fresh and used syringes. Pancuronium definitely was used in six murders; this drug is used to stop a patient's respiration when they are about to be put on a medical ventilator. He was careful in the selection of his victims, choosing those who were unconscious and close to death. This led to no easily detectable rise in the rate or distribution of patient deaths when he was on duty. This in turn hampered the investigation, as there were no easily discernible correlations between changes in the distribution or rate of deaths and his shift pattern.
His medical employment was ended on March 13, 1998. Shortly afterward, he confessed to 50 murders. In searching for evidence that would be strong enough to obtain a court conviction, the police exhumed the remains of patients who had died while Saldivar had been on duty and been buried. The marker that was being sought was unusually high levels of Pavulon in the cadaver, as this drug remains identifiable for many months.
After 20 exhumations, six cadavers had evidence of a lethal concentration of Pavulon.
On March 12, 2002, at age 32, Saldivar pleaded guilty to six counts of murder and received seven consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole. Saldivar is incarcerated in California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison in Corcoran, California.

Number of victims

The former head of the respiratory care department at Loma Linda University, Tom Malinowski, led the internal investigation by Adventist Health. Statistical analysis indicates that the total number of murders committed by Saldivar could be as high as 200 , but no convincing physical evidence will ever be available to confirm or refute this possibility due to bodies being cremated after death or simply the effects of bodily harm.

Victims