Jennifer Hall: Suspected serial killer working as respiratory therapist confesses to killing 2 patients
CHILLICOTHE, OHIO: Jennifer Anne Hall, a former hospital respiratory therapist has admitted to killing two patients at a Missouri hospital more than two decades ago. The alleged serial killer is believed to have been involved in the killings of nine patients at the facility.
Following a plea deal, Hall's attorney Molly Hastings said that the suspect pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree involuntary manslaughter charger over the deaths of Coval Gann and Fern Franco. She has also pleaded guilty to attempted assault of Norma Pearson. Three of the victims died at Missouri's Hendrick Medical Center in 2002, reported People.
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Hall administered 'unprescribed pharmaceuticals'
The 42-year-old nurse initially faced first-degree murder charges in connection to the deaths of David Wesley Harper, and Franco, 75. However, the charges related to Harper's death were later dismissed and according to Hastings, Hall will not face any other charges relating to the investigation.
As per the charging documents previously obtained by the media outlet, Hall was accused of murdering Harper by "administering unprescribed pharmaceuticals to him" that led him to suffocate while he was hospitalized. For the May 2022 death of Franco, she faced first-degree murder charges to which she pleaded not guilty.
18 'cardiac collapses' during Hall's five months at hospital
While Hall worked at the Hendrick Medical Center in Missouri for five months between 2001 and 2002, 18 "cardiac collapses" took place and nine of the incidents became fatal, according to prosecutors.
At the time, the staff at the facility suspected Hall as the person behind the deaths, as per the charging documents. Prosecutors stated that "the rate of cardiac collapse incidents… rose alarmingly. These incidents were viewed as medically suspicious." The staff then told the investigators that they suspected the respiratory therapist had been suffocating the patients by injecting them with a drug named succinylcholine which paralyzed the patient's diaphragms.
"Because of Hall's singular proximity to stricken patients, her access to pharmaceuticals which are deadly if misused, and her discovery of, and method of notifying staff of every patient's cardiac emergency, nursing staff believed Hall was responsible for the patient deaths," stated the prosecutors.
"I look forward to the opportunity to defend her against each and every one of these allegations and believe the evidence will support an acquittal when we have our day in court," Hastings previously said of the accusations against her client.