October 9, 2020 ▸ People, True Crime

Episode 523: Michael Swango: Master of Medical Murder

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On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at the murders of a man who the FBI says is one of the most prolific serial killers in American history, the little known Doctor Michael Swango. Swango killed patients under his care by poisoning them with either legit poison or prescription drugs they may have already been taking. He also poisoned landlords, girlfriends, co-workers…pretty much anyone he could. He was eventually arrested and convicted of four deaths, but some estimates place his killing as high as 60 people. This killing spree ran all over America, down to Zimbabwe, and would have landed in Saudi Arabia if he wasn’t finally arrested.

So, he had a childhood that may not have had the typical serial killer abuse boxes to be ticked off. He had a loving mother, but there was no evidence of anything crazy. He had an alcoholic Vietnam Vet for a father, but who didn’t in the 70s? He was an excellent student, graduating valedictorian of his high school and getting into a college to study music. His girlfriend dumped him and broke his heart, and it seemed to utterly change the man. He quit playing music, dropped out of school, and joined the Marines.

He served for a few years and finally found his way to medical school, where he almost didn’t graduate due to lying to the school. From there, he interned in a hospital where strange deaths were reported when he was on shift. Nurses knew and reported it, but they were ignored. Eventually, the deaths got bad enough that the hospital let him go, but nobody ever pursued him legally.

He worked at an ambulance company where he poisoned his co-workers with evil doughnuts. They set a trap for him with a pitcher of tea, and he couldn’t help but poison it as well, and he was arrested. He did five years after the police found a treasure trove of poisons in his house. You would think that this back story would keep him from practicing medicine. But then there was the forgery. He forged papers about his prison time, his good behavior, and his standing in the medical community and got more jobs in medicine, often under false names.

And he killed more people. Eventually, the American Medical Association caught on to him, and he was fired and had a permanent mark put on his record to every teaching school in the nation. So, he moved to Zimbabwe to kill more freely. Like you do.

So, how many did he kill in Zimbabwe? What happened to his longtime girlfriend? How was he finally arrested, even though he fled the country? What was his sentence? How did end up in a super max prison? Listen, laugh, learn.

 

Visit Our Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Swango

https://www.thoughtco.com/profile-of-joseph-michael-swango-973127

https://murderpedia.org/male.S/s/swango-michael.htm

https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Michael_Swango

https://www.oxygen.com/license-to-kill/crime-time/michael-joseph-swango-house-horrors-murder

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1118552/