Critics Lament Slow Pace of ‘Angel of Death’ Investigation

A year ago, a 28-year-old respiratory therapist named Efren Saldivar swallowed some Valium, walked into the Glendale Police Department and told officers he had ended the lives of up to 50 elderly or terminally ill patients at Glendale Adventist Medical Center.

Today, having recanted his confession, Saldivar remains a free man. He has yet to be charged with a crime and, according to a friend, is employed in a nonmedical field.

But the investigation grinds on. Six Glendale detectives are working full time out of a bungalow on the grounds of the medical center. They’ve pored over the medical records of every patient who had contact with Saldivar and later died, and interviewed dozens of his former co-workers.

Dismissing criticism that the effort is proceeding too slowly, investigators say they have moved with caution appropriate for such a complex case, and are nearing a decision on exhuming bodies in a search for physical evidence.

“It’s kind of like a house of cards,” Sgt. John McKillop said last week of the impending decision to begin exhuming bodies. “Everything else is going to fall in behind that.”

With so much at stake, laying the groundwork for the exhumations is just as important as conducting autopsies, said Dr. Randall Baselt, director of the Chemical Toxicology Institute in the Bay Area and a consultant to the Glendale police task force.

“You have to know what it is you’re going to test for, what method you’re going to use and be assured that the method is reliable. That’s where we are right now,” Baselt said. “I want a game plan before we send our players out onto the field.”

Dr. Fredric Rieders, who advised the task force in the early stages of the investigation, agreed.

“Preparation in a case like this is almost as important as doing,” he said.

Critics, however, say the investigation may be moving too slowly, pointing out that detecting traces of Anectine and Pavulon--drugs investigators theorize Saldivar used--grows more difficult as time passes and bodies decompose.

“There’s no basis, in my opinion, for having procrastinated like this,” said Dr. Cyril Wecht, the coroner of Allegheny County, Pa., and a nationally recognized expert in forensic medicine.

“I think it’s probably going to be impossible,” Wecht added. “If all they have now is that recanted confession, then I don’t think they have anything.”

Another source, who is familiar with the police investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity, also questioned the delay in exhumations, which authorities initially expected to begin 10 months ago.

“Unless they find poison in the body, it’s very difficult to get a conviction,” the source said. “The longer one waits, the more difficult it becomes.”

The police task force has worked in near secrecy since news of Saldivar’s confession broke on March 27, 1998. Task force members and Deputy Dist. Atty. Brian Kelberg, who would prosecute Saldivar, have repeatedly refused to discuss details of the investigation publicly. Sgt. Rick Young, the department’s spokesman, has broken the silence only to extend the timetable for exhumations to begin.

Efforts to reach Saldivar were unsuccessful. His lawyer, Terry Goldberg, declined comment on the investigation.

Once bodies have been exhumed, it is unclear where investigators will send tissue samples to be analyzed for signs of drugs.

Baselt, of the Chemical Toxicology Institute, said authorities were considering “four or five” facilities and that no decision had been made as of earlier this month.

One facility under consideration is the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, also in the Bay Area. “No decisions have been made,” said David Schwoegler, a spokesman for the lab. “The lab has not officially been hired.”

Federal Grant Sought

One source familiar with the investigation said the Glendale Police Department is seeking a federal grant to help pay for the testing, which could cost between $8,000 and $10,000.

Young said the tab for the investigation to date is $110,000, which accounts for overtime pay and consultants’ fees, among other things. The figure does not account for the salaries of six detectives assigned full time to the Saldivar probe. He declined to project costs for the continuing investigation.

“We will give a full accounting of the money later in our investigation,” he said.

Before investigators begin the disturbing--and public--process of removing bodies from their graves, they might first test for drugs in two potential Saldivar victims whose bodies were donated to medical schools for research, sources close to the investigation said.

It is unclear if those bodies are considered among the top prospects for exhumations--the most likely to be exhumed are those who died unexpectedly over the past two years when Saldivar had access to them and their medical charts indicate there would be no reason for Pavulon or Anectine to be present in their system.

Another possibility may be to conduct tests on the body of John Schwartz, a 91-year-old Los Feliz man who died at Glendale Adventist Medical Center in 1993. Attorney Christopher Nicoll sued Saldivar and the hospital Friday, alleging that Saldivar killed Schwartz.

Nicoll said Schwartz was disinterred last year when his wife died so they could be buried together on Catalina Island. The lawyer said that when he told Glendale police about the details of the death, police arranged to have the body autopsied by the Los Angeles County medical examiner. The results of the autopsy are under court seal, Nicoll said, and police refused to disclose them.

Young refused to say whether an autopsy had been done on Schwartz. He reiterated that no tests have been conducted on any bodies to search for the drugs that investigators believe Saldivar used. Even if Schwartz was given a fatal dosage of one of the drugs, experts said it is highly unlikely that even traces of the drug would remain after six years.

Co-Workers to Testify

While investigators have refused to discuss strategy, they appear to be pursuing a circumstantial case as well as a physical one. At least one of Saldivar’s co-workers, who has since been fired from the hospital, has been granted partial immunity in exchange for testifying against Saldivar, according to the co-worker’s lawyer.

Al Acosta, a respiratory therapist who was fired from Glendale Adventist during an internal probe of Saldivar’s actions, has agreed to testify about some of his former co-worker’s activities, said attorney Kevin Riva.

Riva would not disclose the substance of what Acosta is expected to say.

“He’s been given immunity concerning certain statements,” Riva said. “It’s not blanket immunity.”

Sources said similar deals were being considered for other fired workers, but it was not clear whether the deals had been offered or accepted.

“I was told by my lawyer and by the Police Department not to provide any information,” said Elmer Diwa, another respiratory therapist fired in the wake of Saldivar’s confession. “I’m just following rules.”

Diwa added, “I’m not concerned about my immunity. I’m still trying to heal myself.”

That’s the same thing Saldivar has spent the past year doing, said those who know him.

“He’s doing great,” said his brother, Eddie.

“Fortunately, this has gone away for him,” said a family friend and advisor who asked not to be named. “He’s gotten on with his life. He’s out there working like a normal person.

“He feels very badly that the families of the people who passed away have to go through any more grief. He is remorseful as to what he has put them through,” said the friend, who helped arrange Saldivar’s appearance on the television programs “Extra” and “20/20.”

The friend would not say what type of work Saldivar was doing, other than to say it was not in the medical field.

Saldivar was dubbed the “Angel of Death” after telling police on March 11, 1998, that he had committed mercy killings of as many as 50 terminally ill patients at Glendale Adventist between 1989 and 1997. He told police he had become angry at seeing patients’ lives unnecessarily prolonged and would kill those patients who were unconscious, had a “do not resuscitate” order on their chart and appeared ready to die.

He recanted his confession on nationally broadcast television shows a short time later, and police have said his recanted confession is not sufficient evidence to make an arrest.

While the investigation may be slow going, McKillop, the task force supervisor, said it the most thorough he has ever conducted. In part, he said, that’s because investigators’ work is being overseen by Kelberg, a prosector in the O.J. Simpson case with a no-nonsense reputation.

“He’s a very strict guy. He’s goes over everything with a fine-tooth comb,” McKillop said. “That’s why he’s perfect for this case--if you make it past his cut, you know you’re OK.”