Cold-blooded killer or the scapegoat of a shocking medical conspiracy?
That’s the question being put to former nurse Kimberly Saenz, who sits inside a Texas jail, convicted of the senseless murders of five of her patients.
In her first-ever interview airing on Sunday, June 22, on Channel Nine’s The Killer Interview with Piers Morgan, Saenz claims she has been framed for murder by a “powerful healthcare company”.
In 2012, Saenz was found guilty of injecting bleach into the dialysis tubes of her patients during separate incidents in April 2008.
She was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole, but has always maintained her innocence.
“I found myself working at a dialysis clinic that was more about money than they were about the lives of their patients,” Saenz told host Piers Morgan.
“I was falsely accused of something, and that’s why I’m here today. I know I didn’t do anything that would harm another human being. It’s not in my nature.”
Saenz, a mother of two, had been working at the DaVita dialysis clinic in Lufkin, Texas, for eight months before alarm bells started to ring.
On April 1, 2008, her first known victim, Thelma Metcalf, was rushed to the hospital during a routine dialysis treatment at the clinic.
Thirty minutes later, another dialysis patient, Clara Strange, went into cardiac arrest. They both died that day. Thelma’s daughter, Wanda Havard, was instantly suspicious.
“When I got to [the hospital], she’d already passed. I reached down to kiss her on the forehead, and an overwhelming smell of bleach hit me, burned my eyes,” Wanda said.
Over the next few weeks, more than 30 patients were rushed to the hospital while receiving dialysis treatment at the clinic, with some experiencing cardiac arrests. By April 30, another three people had died.
After multiple deaths and no suspects, the dialysis clinic launched an internal investigation.
A review of clinic records found Saenz was on duty for 84 per cent of incidents where patients reported chest pain or suffered cardiac arrests.
When asked by Piers if she had it “within her” to kill deliberately, Saenz smiled, shaking her head emphatically.
Some experts believe Saenz could be responsible for many more deaths during her previous roles. But due to a lack of evidence, no further charges were brought by police.
For Thelma’s daughter, Wanda, no punishment will ever fit the crime.
“What [Saenz] did was horrible,” she said. “When bleach is put into the blood, that’s like being caught on fire from the inside. I wanted [her] to be executed.”
The Killer Interview with Piers Morgan airs Sun. 9.40pm on Channel Nine.
