Jennifer Hall.Photo: Livingston County Sheriff’s Office
A former respiratory therapist who was a suspected serial killer believed to be involved in the deaths of nine patients at a Missouri hospital admitted to killing two of them decades ago.
As part of a plea agreement, defense attorney Molly Hastings tells PEOPLE her clientJennifer Anne Hallpleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree involuntary manslaughter in connection with the deaths of Fern Franco and Coval Gann.
Hall also pleaded guilty to one count of attempted assault in the death of Norma Pearson.
All three victims died in 2002 at Hendrick Medical Center in Chillicothe, Missouri.
Hall, 42, was originally charged with first-degree murder for the deaths of Franco, 75, and David Wesley Harper. Hastings says the charge involving Harper, 37, was dismissed, and no other charges will be filed against Hall regarding this investigation.
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Hall was also charged with first-degree murder in connection with the death of Franco in May 2022, PEOPLE previously reported. She pleaded not guilty.
Over the span of Hall’s five-month employment stint at the hospital between 2001 and 2002, 18 “cardiac collapse” incidents occurred, with nine such incidents resulting in death, say prosecutors.
Staff members told police they suspected Hall had been injecting patients with succinylcholine, a drug that paralyzed their diaphragms, causing them to suffocate.
“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,” prosecutors previously said.
Hall will be sentenced at a later date.
source: people.com
