Saldivar said he killed at other hospitals

Gretchen Hoffman

GLENDALE -- A former respiratory therapist sentenced to life in prison

confessed to police he killed patients at Glendale Adventist and three

other hospitals, according to transcripts of a Jan. 9, 2001, interview.

Efren Saldivar, 32, was sentenced to six terms of life without parole

and one term of 15 years to life for killing six patients and trying to

kill a seventh in 1996 and 1997.

Saldivar injected the patients with the drug Pavulon, which is often

given to patients before surgery to stop their normal breathing.

In his confession, he told Glendale Police investigators he also

killed patients at Glendale Memorial Hospital, Pacifica Hospital of the

Valley and Arcadia Methodist Hospital.

An “exhaustive internal investigation into his employment” revealed no

link between his part-time work at Glendale Memorial and any patient

deaths, hospital officials said in a statement.

Pacifica Hospital spokeswoman Sharon Kirsch said a police

investigation determined that Saldivar killed no patients while working

there. Arcadia Methodist spokesman Tom Casacky said there were no

suspicious deaths while Saldivar worked part-time at the hospital.

Saldivar, who told police he killed more than 100 patients -- most

while working at Glendale Adventist -- also told police he taught two of

his co-workers how to murder patients, according to transcripts.

“I wasn’t the only one that did this,” the transcripts report him

telling police. “They tried it. You know how you teach somebody to fish?

I showed them.”

Glendale Police investigated several employees at Glendale Adventist,

but no evidence was found to back up Saldivar’s claim, police said. The

two co-workers identified by Saldivar, who were fired by Glendale

Adventist following an internal probe of Saldivar’s actions, have not

been charged.

Glendale Police do not anticipate filing any charges against anyone

who worked with Saldivar at Glendale Adventist, Investigator Mario Yagoda

said.