John Foxjohn - Killer Nurse

KILLER

NURSE

JOHN FOXJOHN

THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP

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KILLER NURSE

A Berkley Book / published by arrangement with the author

Copyright 2013 by John Foxjohn.

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eBook ISBN: 978-1-101-60154-9

PUBLISHING HISTORY

Berkley premium edition / August 2013

Cover design by Jane Hammer.

Cover photos: Hospital Hallway Randall Schwanke; Biohazard Sign mtkang.

Interior text design by Laura K. Corless.

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Id like to dedicate this book to the victims: Ms. Thelma Metcalf, Ms. Clara Strange, Mr. Garlin Kelley Jr., Ms. Cora Bryant, Ms. Opal Few, Ms. Marva Rhone, Ms. Carolyn Risinger, Ms. Debra Oates, Ms. Graciela Castaneda, and Ms. Marie Bradley, and all of their family membersespecially Linda Few James and Donald Young.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am sure that there are authors who can go through the process of writing a book of this nature with little or no helpIm not one of those. Because of the vast number of people who have helped and contributed to this book, my biggest fear in writing this acknowledgment is leaving out people who were important to me in this process. Please, if I do, it wasnt intentional. First, Id like to thank my agent, Jill Marsal; Catherine Knepper; Laury Frieber; and Berkley editor Shannon Jamieson Vazquez. Also, Id like to thank someone who helped more than he knows: Kevin Flynn.

Along these same lines, I interviewed 237 people, and quite a few of them asked me not to mention their names, and of course, I kept my word on that. But still, you know who you are. Please know that my gratitude is just as great for you as those whose names are mentioned in this acknowledgment.

I would like to thank Clyde Herrington, not only for his cooperation, but his service to Angelina County.

Also from the Angelina County Court House: Art Bauereiss, Katrina Carswell, Layne Thompson, Judge Barry Bryan, Candace Parke, Deborah Lee, Charlotte Griffith, Paul Love, and Johnny Purvis.

Thanks to Chris Tortorice, Assistant U.S. Attorney.

Also the people I spent a lot of time with dealing with open records, release of information, and freedom of information requests: the ladies from Angelina County and district clerks officeespecially Kathy Claunch. Also, Health and Human Services, Texas Department of State Health Services, the Centers for Disease Control, Texas Attorney Generals Office, Texas Department of Public Safety, Houston Police Department, and Texas Department of Corrections.

From the Lufkin Police Department: Sergeant Stephen Abbott, Sergeant Mike Shurley, and Christy Pate.

Id also like to thank Joe Reikers, federal investigator, Office of Inspector General; Bill Horton, investigator, Texas Attorney Generals Office; and several others who wished for their names not to be mentioned.

Id like to thank Merry Bright for the medical knowledge.

For some of the insight into the defense: Steve Taylor, Cheryl Pettry, and LinMarie Garsee. And others from the defense team who didnt want their names used.

Thanks also to the twelve jurors and two alternates in the Saenz trial: Martha Moffett, Caren Brooks, Gail Brasuell, Brenda Gibson, David Bradford, Kimberly Flores, Daniel Phipps, Laura Bush, Karla Myers, Yolanda Bell, Larry Walker, Regina McAvoy, Willie Wigley, and Kristine Bailey.

Special thanks go to several DaVita employeespast and presentas well as those friends, family, and former schoolmates of Kimberly Saenz who wished to remain anonymous.

PART I

RISING RIVER

The quality of mercy is not strained.

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven...

It is enthroned in the hearts of kings;

It is an attribute to God himself;

And earthly power doth then show likest Gods

When mercy seasons justice.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

CHAPTER

THE OWL

Lightning flashed and thunder filled the sky as citizens of Angelina County, Texas, somberly rushed to the courthouse on Thursday morning, March 29, 2012. In addition to the countys residents, the horde included newspaper and TV journalistslocal, state, and nationalplus family and friends of the victims, as well as of the defendant, and of the lead defense attorney. The previous day, both sides of the trial had rested. All that was left in this historic case were closing arguments and jury deliberation to see if Kimberly Clark Saenz would become the countys first serial killer, and if so, would the jury elect to send a woman to Texass infamous death row?

The trial had begun almost four weeks earlier, when Saenz (pronounced signs), an East Texas nurse, was charged with five counts of aggravated assault and one count of capital murder. Saenz, a former nurse at the DaVita Lufkin Dialysis Center, was accused of having harmed or killed many of the dialysis patients under her care. There were two things that made this case unique and garnered national attention: First, that one count of capital murder (a very serious charge that can carry the death penalty) actually included five murders. Second, the method Saenz was accused of using to injure and kill her alleged victims (by injecting the patients with bleach) had never been heard of before.

As the rain poured down, drivers circled the courthouse looking for parking places that didnt exist. If they were hoping someone would move, they were wasting their timeno one was leaving. The lucky ones whod found parking spots earlier hurried through the downpour, anxious to get out of the rain and into the courtroom.

Prior to the Saenz trial, the Angelina County Courthouse had employed no security. But now sheriffs deputies patrolled the floor, and two stood before the locked courtroom doors with metal detectors. In addition to the media firestorm that would be sure to erupt no matter what the verdict was, a recent courtroom shooting in nearby Beaumont, Texas, had everyones nerves on edge. Then there was the young man whod called the DAs office on the second day of trial and informed authorities that he was coming from Louisiana to get Kimberly Saenz. He eventually showed up in Lufkin, but Deputy Sheriff Johnny Purvis and others were waiting. After patting the man down for weapons and not finding any, he eventually told them that he had heard about the trial on the news and he believed Kimberly Saenz had once tried to kill him. As it turned out, he had her confused with someone else. Although the threat didnt amount to anything, hed been drawn by news reports of the trial, and in such a high-profile case, officials were acutely aware that there were plenty of other chances for trouble.