Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén - “The PICU Killer” Genene Jones Pt. 1

Episode Date: March 27, 2023

She had experienced her share of tragedy, losing her father and a brother to cancer. That's why Genene Jones went into nursing. She wanted to make a difference. And while she was very devoted to her job in the pediatric ICU, it seemed far more babies were dying during Genene's shifts than any other nurse's. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Due to the nature of this episode, listener discretion is advised. This episode includes discussions of murder, harm against minors, and medical cruelty. Consider this when deciding how and when you'll listen. Sarah nervously pulled out the collar of her uniform, trying to smooth out a crease. It was the early 1980s and she was a newly qualified nurse, so she was eager to make a good impression at San Antonio's Bear County Hospital. She knew her job was to stay calm and project an air of comforting, stability amidst the chaos, but working in the pediatric ICU was more upsetting than she'd counted on.

She'd only done a few shifts so far, but she was already feeling depleted. Taking a deep breath, she headed into the break room to grab a cup of coffee before her shifts started. As soon as Sarah saw who was inside, she wished she'd just brought a thermos from home. Janine Jones behaved like she was in charge, even though she was a junior nurse. But what bothered Sarah more was the negativity. Janine seemed convinced that every baby in the ICU was on death's door. Sure enough, when Janine saw Sarah, she said with a heavy sigh, that poor kid in number seven, he's gotten really bad. I don't think he's going to make it through the night. Sarah shivered. Like so many of Janine's announcements, this didn't feel like speculation. It felt

like Janine knew this baby would die, almost as if she'd make sure of it. Hi, I'm Greg Poulson. This is Serial Killers, a Spotify original from Parcast. Every episode, we dive into the minds and madness of serial killers. Today, we're discussing the crimes of Janine Jones. I'm here with my co-host, Vanessa Richardson. Hi, everyone. You can find episodes of serial killers and all other Spotify originals from Parcast for free on Spotify. In the first part of this episode, we'll learn that Janine grew up in a sprawling mansion surrounded by a loving family.

Yet despite her privilege, she seemed dissatisfied with her life and often invented wild stories about her past. After a series of traumatic losses, this compulsive lying took a dark turn. Later, as a pediatric nurse, Janine unnerved colleagues by making dire, exaggerated predictions about her infant patients. And then those predictions started coming true. We've got all that and more coming up. Stay with us. This episode is brought to you by Shopify.

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Enjoying Activia twice a day for two weeks as part of a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle may help reduce the frequency of minor digestive discomfort. which includes gas, floating, rumbling, and abdominal discomfort. The term the angel of death is just as ominous as it sounds. It describes someone or nurse, doctor, or other healthcare professional who targets those under their care. It's an especially unsettling category of killer because it involves such a profound violation of trust.

Angels of death often seem motivated by a twisted sense of mercy. They claim to believe they're putting victims out of their misery, but Janine Jones seemed driven by. something else, a pathological need for excitement and a strange obsession with medical worst-case scenarios. This dark view of the world might have been shaped by a rough start in life. Janine was born in the summer of 1950 in San Antonio, Texas. Within days of her birth, her parents gave her up for adoption. But she wasn't alone for long. Janine was soon taken in by Richard and Gladys Jones, a well-off local couple who already had two adopted children.

Soon after Janine joined the household, Richard and Gladys adopted their fourth and final child, a boy named Travis. Now they had two boys and two girls, just like they'd always wanted. Perhaps since the Jones kids were all adopted, there was a sense of camaraderie between them. They grew up playing together in their sprawling eight-acre property, with a pool, tennis courts, and guest cottages. It was more like an estate than a family home. Janine was a gifted child, skilled at baking, sewing, sewing, and playing the piano. But as she grew older, she could also be moody and intense. Maybe that's because at school she was something of an outsider. Her peers teased her for being

overweight and bossy, while teachers saw her as a troublemaker. But Janine found solace in her relationships with family. She spent as much time as she could with her father, even helping him in his workshop at a family home, where he painted billboards for local businesses. She was especially fond of her younger brother, Travis. But in November 1966, when Janine was 16, tragedy struck. Travis was tinkering in the workshop one day, building a homemade pipe bomb. We don't know exactly why Travis was doing this. It's possible that, just like some young kids, he was fascinated by explosions.

But we do know that his experiment went horribly wrong. The pipe bomb exploded, killing the 14-year-old instantly. Travis' death devastated the entire family. but Janine took it especially hard. Vanessa is going to take over on the psychology here and throughout the episode. Please note, Vanessa is not a licensed psychologist or a psychiatrist, but we have done a lot of research for this show. Thanks, Greg. Losing a sibling is a traumatic event at any age, but research suggests the effects may be especially severe if the loss happens during childhood or adolescence.

According to one 2017 meta-analysis by researchers at the University of Wisconsin, in Madison and the University of Sydney, children who loses sibling at this stage in life may be more likely to act out and engage in risk-taking behavior. They're also more likely to go into helping professions such as medicine. There's a possible reason for this. Child psychotherapist Geraldine Crean wrote a paper in 2004 noting that alongside feelings of guilt, a surviving sibling may become anxious about death and illness. Janine was visibly distraught at her brother's funeral. She collapsed as his casket was lowered into the ground, in what seemed like a genuine moment of grief. But she returned to school only a few hours later. Some of her classmates

thought Janine was using the tragedy as an opportunity for sympathy and attention. To some, this might seem like a pretty ungenerous interpretation. It's possible that Janine was looking for ways to distract herself from her grief, and school was an easy option. But on the other hand, Janine certainly did seem to have a loose relationship with the truth. Throughout high school, she developed a reputation as a compulsive liar. Some of her fibs were frivolous, designed to make her appear important. Like when she told friends at school, she was related to a pop star. But other lies were much more serious. For instance,

Janine once said that her parents didn't love her enough to adopt her legally. As far as we know, this was untrue. Many of her peers saw the lies for what they were. One classmate said that for Janine, lying was just like talking. Most people are familiar with the term pathological lying, which usually refers to a pervasive pattern of telling lies with no obvious motive. And though it's not well understood, research suggests that low self-esteem can be a contributing factor. A pathological liar may want others to see them as more important or interesting than they see themselves.

In Janine's case, this tendency to bend the truth could have come from feeling like she didn't fit in at school. Maybe she lied in order to earn the respect of her peers. By the time she was 17, Janine was beginning to care less about fitting in. She'd found someone who saw her as special, without her needing to lie. He was Jimmy Delaney, a rebellious dropout who convinced her that school didn't matter. For Janine, life appeared to be looking up, but that wasn't the case for long. In October 1967, Janine's father was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Three months later, he died.

Janine was devastated. In the span of about a year, she'd lost two close family members. Perhaps in an attempt to distract herself or regain control over her life, Janine got engaged to Jimmy within days of her father's funeral. The rest of her family was alarmed when she and Jimmy announced they'd be tying the knot on Valentine's Day, less than two months away. Her mother Gladys insisted that Janine at least finish high school first. Because she was still under 18, Janine needed a mom's permission to get married, so she didn't have much choice in the matter. But she made her resentment clear to Gladys

through a series of bitter arguments. She spent her last few months in her mother's sprawling house, counting down the days until she could leave. After graduating that summer, Janine married Jimmy in a lavish ceremony held on the family property. Despite the the celebratory start to their marriage, trouble came quickly. Jimmy's work situation was unstable, and though he was employed here and there, he couldn't seem to hold down a job. And when he did have money, he spent it irresponsibly. Despite how eager Janine had been to leave home, financial woes forced the couple to move into a guest cottage on the family's estate, where they could live rent-free. This whole

situation may have gotten to Janine because she often picked fights with Jimmy in public, deliberately belittling him in front of friends. Seven months into the marriage, Jimmy joined the Navy. That was fine by Janine. She likely saw it as a chance for her husband to finally have some steady employment. But in his absence, Janine sought affection elsewhere. She had multiple affairs during this time

and made no effort to hide them. She even bragged about her conquest to friends and neighbors who knew Jimmy. Perhaps this was another attempt to engineer drama, just like the lies she'd told at school. But if it was, it failed. When Jimmy heard of her infidelity, he looked the other way. Instead, he focused on his work and kept trying to climb the naval ranks.

Bored and restless around the age of 20, Janine enrolled at a beauty college. Through the program, she had opportunities to interact with clients at a local salon, where she discovered she had a knack for customer service. She was really good at making people feel special. She'd bring them drinks, give them free massages, and treat them as if, they were her only priority. Though she was just a trainee, many customers refused to let anyone else do their hair. However, Janine didn't stick around after completing her training. Jimmy had been restationed at a naval base in Albany, Georgia, and Janine made the move from Texas to join him.

For a while, things were working out for the couple. They fought less, and at the spring of 1971, Janine became pregnant. Though the couple was thrilled about the baby, they weren't prepared. Despite his best intentions, naval training hadn't improved Jimmy's work ethic, and after being repeatedly disciplined, his superiors discharged him in September 1971. Soon after, he found work as a mechanic. Janine also got a job during this time, using her training to land a gig as a beautician. But even with their dual incomes, the couple was always struggling to make ends meet. And when their son Edward was born the following January, financial pressure grew. Eventually, Janine decided she'd hitched her wagon to the wrong man.

Within a few months of Edward's birth, she packed a suitcase and slipped out of the house with their four-month-old son. She flew back home to San Antonio and filed for divorce. When the divorce was finalized in June 1974, Janine told herself she was ready for a calmer, more stable life. But the truth was, Jimmy had filled an important role for her. He'd satisfied her need for attention and excessive. excitement. Without him, there was no telling where her destructive impulses would lead her,

or who she'd harm in the process. In a moment, another family tragedy pushes Janine into a nursing career. 60 years after the release of their first studio album, The Beatles fan base has never been greater, or more curious. Hi, it's Carter. Right now on conspiracy theories, dive into the magical mystery surrounding the fab four in a three-part special called Beatle Mania. Sex, drugs, death, and more death. The history of the Beatles and their fab fandom is rife with conjecture, and we're taking on the hits. Was Paul replaced by a look-like? Did Yoko incite the band's demise?

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But the ill-fated relationship had ultimately left her. more miserable and frustrated. Now, in 1974, she was on her own, and it felt incredible. Soon after divorcing her husband, she landed a job in a beauty parlor at Methodist Hospital in her hometown of San Antonio. Being a single mother wasn't easy, but Janine's mom, Gladys, was happy to help out with child care. For a while, things seemed to be working out.

Janine was building a foundation for her career, making good money and spending a lot of quality time with her family. But later that year, an other one of the other. Unexpected blow hit the Jones family yet again. Janine's older brother Wiley was diagnosed with cancer, and things spiraled quickly. He died that September at only 28 years old. The loss altered the course of Janine's life. Having now seen both her father and brother succumb to cancer, she became obsessed with

the disease and terrified she would develop it too. That fear, combined with her work at the hospital's beauty parlor, snowballed into a fascination with all things medical. She took to reading textbooks in her downtime and would diagnose herself with various maladies. It's possible Janine was showing characteristics of illness anxiety disorder, the official term for what most people know as hypochondria. According to the fifth edition of the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, the main symptoms are an intense preoccupation with becoming seriously ill, which can be disproportionate based on the person's

actual symptoms. In Janine's story, it's often hard to distinguish between exaggeration and truth. It's clear that she was both prone to dramatic overstatement and plagued by genuine anxiety about her own health. In 1975, Janine's fears were seemingly confirmed when she developed a strange, severe skin rash. Though her doctor confirmed it was an allergic reaction to chemicals used at the beauty parlor, she couldn't shake the fear that it was cancer. In the end, she gave up her job.

anxiety was real, and yet she still couldn't resist exaggerating. She told friends a dermatologist had said if she kept working at the beauty parlor, she would, quote, lose her hands. This type of dramatic claim became the norm. Whenever anyone in her life had a medical problem, Janine always jumped to the worst conclusion. If someone had a dry cough, they had lung cancer. If they cut their arm, they should worry about sepsis. One of her friends, Keith Martin, thought Janine didn't seem motivated by concern so much as a desire to make everyone around her feel as anxious as she was. In an interview with reporter Peter Elkind, Martin said, quote, She always wanted to make you feel as if you were physically ill.

She would conjure up things that didn't exist. Later in 1976, Janine decided to channel her obsession into something productive, like a new career. The prospect of being surrounded by sick people thrilled her, perhaps because it felt like a way to gain control over what she feared the most. So she enrolled in a one-year nursing program. But early on in the course, there was a hitch in her plans. She got pregnant. It's not clear who the father was.

But Janine was determined not to let the pregnancy derail her studies. And it didn't. Given how many medical textbooks she'd read before the program, Janine excelled and ultimately graduated with honors. And just two months later, she gave her. birth to her daughter, Crystal. After taking a few months off to recover and take care of her new arrival, Janine began job hunting. At 26, she was now a licensed vocational nurse, and she was eager to put her skills to use. Compared to a registered nurse, she knew the pay and level of responsibility

as an LVN would be low, but the RN path required twice as much schooling, and she was desperate to get to work. Janine soon discovered that her old employer, Methodist Hospital, was looking for nurse, It must have felt like it was meant to be. Hospital management seemed to think so too, because in September 1977, Janine was hired at the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit. There, she didn't need to jump to melodramatic conclusions about anyone's health. The ward was full of people in critical condition. She'd prepared endlessly for scenarios just like this. Janine became the star for 3 to 11 p.m. shift.

Her supervisors were thrilled by her enthusiasm and drive. not to mention how willing she was to work overtime. But after a few months, they began noticing other less positive qualities. In a performance review, a superior noted, Ms. Jones tends to make judgments that she has neither the experience nor authority to make. And despite her former excellent rapport with clients at the beauty salon, Janine didn't endear herself to patients. A few months after her performance review in April 1978,

a patient complained about Janine's behavior. According to the patient, Janine had ordered her to elevate her leg. When the patient didn't react quickly enough, Janine grabbed the leg and yanked it upwards, causing immense pain. After the patient filed the complaint, Janine asked to speak with them directly. When her bosses told her she couldn't, Janine tearfully confronted the patient anyway. The entire ordeal upset the patient so much that she had to be sedated. Following this incident, management fired Janine for unprofessional conduct. conduct. The good news for Janine was that there was a severe shortage of medical staff in San

Antonio, and most hospitals couldn't afford to be picky. Just two and a half weeks after her dismissal from Methodist, Janine started at the nearby community hospital. There, she worked in the obstetrics gynecology ward. But five months into her time there, Janine elected to have a bilateral tubal ligation. This was to ensure she wouldn't become pregnant again. It's possible this was because the 28-year-old knew she couldn't manage any more children with her busy job, or, to be more specific, her mother couldn't. Given the long hours she worked, Janine relied heavily on Gladys for child care, but her mother was now in her late 60s and struggling to manage Edward and Crystal.

Janine knew Gladys couldn't add a third baby to the mix. But there was a problem. Janine hadn't accumulated enough sick leave to take time off for the surgery. Instead of postponing, Janine gave up her job. With the nursing shortage, she probably knew she could find work somewhere else once she'd recovered. And sure enough, in October 1978, a few months after having surgery, she was hired by Bear County Hospital. Though it was just a mile away from the last place she'd worked, it was a very different environment. A hospital was a public facility designed to treat low-income residents who couldn't afford private care. Ever since its opening in the early 1900s, Bear County had a checkered reputation.

It was chronically underfunded and the conditions were notoriously poor between infestations of vermin and allegations of severe patient neglect. During the 1940s, it was branded, quote, a disgrace to Bear County. But thanks to a cash infusion during the 1960s and a new affiliation with a prestigious University of Texas Medical School, the facility had been overhauled and expanded. Still, funding remained inconsistent. And as a public hospital, Bear County was hit a. especially hard by the healthcare worker shortage. All of which explains how Janine Jones found work there, despite her history of misconduct. This time, she was going to work in the pediatric ICU, or the pick you.

Jeanne discovered that the pick you was a perfect fit. Her patients were not only critically ill, but incapable of caring for themselves. She felt essential, a key player and a never-ending series of life and death situations. Her superiors were thrilled by her passion, dedication, and skill level at many technical aspects of her job. For example, she was really good at inserting IV lines into babies, which was a notoriously difficult task because of their small veins. For a while, there was no sign of the erratic, abusive behavior that had led to complaints about Janine at Methodist. She quickly endeared herself to the parents of the sick infants she treated. Janine seemed to have found a way to make people feel heard, understood, and taken care of.

To these terrified, emotionally wrung out parents, she was a comforting presence. Something had shifted in Janine. Here she was warm and welcoming to every parent she encountered during her shift, even those who the staff suspected of abusing their children. Most nurses gave these parents a wide birth, but Janine would always stick up for them, insisting they were innocent, even when there was considerable evidence to the contrary. This didn't ingratiate herself to her coworkers.

Plus, she gave them other reasons to doubt her judgment. During her first year at the job, Janine made eight mistakes that were serious enough to be formally recorded. She failed to notice equipment malfunctions, misunderstood a doctor's instructions, and once accidentally gave an infant 10 times the appropriate dosage of their medication. Yet, despite her sloppiness, Janine escaped any serious repercussions. Her boss, head nurse Pat Belko, saw Janine as invaluable, so much so that she was willing to overlook her numerous errors. The other nurses resented the favoritism, especially since many of them found Janine hard to deal with on a personal level. She was loud and abrasive, some even changed shifts to avoid her.

And a few people noticed something more concerning. Janine's old habit of bending the truth seemed to have returned with a vengeance. She regaled coworkers with dramatic stories about her past, once claiming that she'd spent weeks in a coma after a car accident. Her lies weren't only about her own life, though. She also lied about her patients. During shifts, Janine often exaggerated the severity of medical issues or claimed to have spotted a problem that everyone else had missed.

And if one doctor disagreed with her, she'd call another for a second opinion. To Janine, she was just advocating for her patients, paying attention in a way nobody else was. But nothing ever came from her dire warnings. Instead, it seemed like another example of her desire to seem special, as if she was the only person who could see the truth. Keeping a cool head in a crisis is an essential skill for any medical professional. Overreacting and over-dramatizing are not characteristics anybody wants in a nurse.

And over time, doctors at Bear County began referring to Janine as the nurse who cried wolf. But nobody had any idea how deep Janine's delusions went. Up next, a series of troubling deaths begin in the pediatric unit. Transport your senses with Sol de Janado's limited edition perfume mist collection. At Sephora, spritz on lush notes of rainforest orchid and crisp sea breeze with he fresco paraizzo. Embrace a floral and fruity scent inspired by Rio's nude beach with chiqui bikini. Or capture sun-kissed bliss with the most of the most of the most of the most of the most of the more. Monada Jolada, where zesty Brazilian Lemonade Accord meets coconut milk and golden brown sugar.

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a sulfonelioria or insulin may cause low blood sugar. Side effects include nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting, which can cause dehydration and worsen kidney problems. Talk to your doctor. Call 1-800-545-99-9 or visit zepbounce.lily.com. Now back to the story. In the summer of 1979, 29-year-old Janine Jones had become an infamous figure at Bear County Hospital in San Antonio. Her supervisor at the pediatric ICU adored her, as did the families of the young patients she cared for. But Janine's co-workers were becoming increasingly alarmed by her mistakes and her

tendency for gloom and doom exaggerations. Taking care of critically ill infants was already a taxing job. The last thing anyone on the ward needed was unnecessary stress. And as her superiors continued looking the other way, Janine's behavior became more erratic. That August, she refused to leave the hospital after working two consecutive shifts, totaling around 16 hours. She claimed that a 10-month-old patient needed her, so she stayed on the ward despite direct orders to go home. This was serious. It showed Janine breaking protocol and a refusal to follow directions. Head nurse Pat Belko couldn't overlook Janine's behavior this time. Although she let Janine off with a warning, she told her that if anything like this happened again, there would be a

suspension. But Janine apparently saw that as an empty threat because just a month later, there was another incident. She left her shift as usual at 11 p.m. only to return to the ICU at 5 a.m. well before she was due back. She walked over to a patient she'd been treating hours before and began adjusting their medication. The doctors and nurses on duty were confused to see Janine and then became alarmed when they realized she was drunk. The smell of alcohol on her breath was unmistakable. Horrified, the staff ordered her to leave. Janine obliged, though she insisted she wasn't under the influence. Despite this incident, her boss, Pat, still didn't follow through on her previous threat.

Instead, she gave Janine another written warning. This, she claimed, really was the final one. While the warning stated that Janine had used extremely poor judgment, Pat also emphasized Janine's concern for her patience and noted how much overtime she'd worked on the unit. Essentially, Janine had made herself indispensable by working so many hours. But all that overtime wasn't selfless. It was serving her profound need to feel important, and that desire was spilling out into her life outside of work. When she wasn't working as a nurse, Janine spent a lot of time as a patient. She regularly visited urgent care centers

and ERs across the county, reporting various symptoms from nausea to chest pain to mysterious hitching. Earlier, we discussed the possibility that Janine exhibited tendencies of illness, anxiety disorder. Although that can manifest in excessive health-related behaviors, Janine's compulsive hospital visits could also signify factitious disorder. The more widely known name for this condition is Munchausen syndrome, and it involves deliberately feigning the symptoms of a medical condition. Patients with this condition often get themselves repeatedly admitted to hospitals and willingly undergo invasive medical procedures in pursuit of a diagnosis they know doesn't exist. In many cases, they do this to be cared for and to be the center of attention. The risk factors aren't well

understood, but interestingly, research from Nassau University Medical Center in New York suggests that women ages 20 to 40 who work in health care are at higher risk for factitious disorder than the general population. In March 1981, Janine walked into Bear County, but it wasn't to start a shift. She was there to see a doctor. She complained of muscle cramps in her legs and arms, constant sweating, and overwhelming fatigue. After spending a week in the hospital undergoing a battery of tests, doctors found nothing wrong with Janine and discharged her. During a follow-up appointment at a private neurology clinic, a doctor concluded that Janine's symptoms could be psychosomatic, that is, a physical manifestation of an underlying emotional issue. There's an

important distinction to be made here. Psychosomatic illness involves physical symptoms which are very real, whereas in factitious disorder, the patient is feigning their symptoms. We don't know which, if either, was true in Janine's case, but to the medical staff who treated her, she did seem genuinely convinced she was ill. Back at her job, Janine continued leaping to the worst-case scenario. She saw everything in life or death terms and took to making ominous proclamations about patients at the end of her shift. One new nurse recalled being terrified by Janine's assessments. She told journalist Peter Elkind, quote, it wasn't like she was predicting it,

it was like she knew what was going to happen. But whenever anyone questioned her, Janine claimed she was just looking out for her young patients, many of whom were under her care for weeks or even months. One such patient was Chris Hoheida. The infant, who was less than a year old, was admitted to the pick-you in December 1980, with symptoms caused by a congenital heart defect.

Janine quickly formed a bond with his parents Diana and Cresenzo Hoheida. Chris was far too ill to go home, so Diana and Cresenzo were a near constant presence on the ward. Janine was always there to offer them comfort and support, trying to make them feel better. But as the months went on, there was less and less good news to share with the Hojadas. Behind closed doors, Janine predicted that Chris's death was imminent, telling colleagues, quote, Tonight's the night. In this case, her pessimistic outlook wasn't misplaced. Nobody thought Chris had long to live.

On note, before we continue, please be advised that we're about to discuss sensitive material pertaining to the death of an infant. Keep this in mind as you continue. In May 1981, Chris developed hepatitis and his heartbeat became increasingly erratic. As Chris's health declined, Janine became fixated on him. We don't have much insight into what was going on in her mind, but we know she was was obsessed with this little boy. Then one night, Janine left Chris's room after tending to him during her shift.

A few minutes later, she and the other nurses suddenly heard a huge crash and the sound of a baby wailing. When they ran into Chris's room, they saw he'd rolled out of his hospital bed. With a shriek, Janine rushed to put Chris back into bed. She said she'd forgotten to put the guardrail into its upright position when she left the room. Given how dedicated Janine had been to their son, the Hojadas had no reason to doubt her story, and neither did Pat, who gave Janine yet another written warning for the error. Everyone involved was just glad that Chris seemed unharmed. But after that, his condition deteriorated.

A week after the fall, Chris Hoheeda died from cardiac arrest. Janine was reportedly inconsolable. The specifics of exactly what happened to Chris and why his health decline so. quickly remain mysterious. Dr. James Robotham, who worked alongside Janine at Bear County, later theorized that Janine may have killed Chris by injecting him with an overdose of Digitalis, a heart medication. It's unclear if any evidence was found to back this up. But if Dr. Robotham was right, then Chris may have been Janine's first victim. As other members of staff went to call the Hojadas, Janine removed the various medical wires and tubes from Chris's body

and wrapped him in a blanket. When the Hojadas arrived, Janine was holding Chris. Despite the horror of the moment, they were comforted to know that she'd been with their son in his final hours. They trusted her. Over the course of that year, several more babies died during Janine's shifts. This wasn't necessarily unusual.

Many infants admitted to the pick you had a grim prognosis. But these deaths seemed different. Patients were experiencing sudden, catastrophic. deteriorations for no apparent reason. Another nurse who worked the overnight shift began to notice a pattern. She'd leave a patient who seemed perfectly stable, only to discover that they'd suddenly had a seizure or cardiac arrest during the next shift, which was Janine's. She began having dark suspicions about Janine, who always seemed so confident in her predictions of medical disaster, and she wasn't alone. Other nurses were noticing too, and beginning to whisper among themselves.

As far as Janine was concerned, everyone saw her as a hero, selflessly volunteering her time and energy to ease the suffering of their sickest patients. In September 1981, two-year-old Rosemary Vega was admitted to the hospital. Her prognosis was good. She was in for a relatively routine operation designed to treat a congenital heart condition. Before the surgery, a doctor noted that Rosemary was alert, happy, and in no distress. The procedure went smoothly. and Rosemary was sent to the pediatric ICU to recover. There, they placed her under the care of Janine Jones.

Before Greg continues, just know that the details of what happened next aren't entirely clear. A lot of the information we have is based on the case investigators later built, and again, what you're about to hear might be upsetting. Sometime after her surgery, Rosemary started to have trouble breathing, and she was placed on a respirator. Janine was alone with the child for some time that night. According to a later report, the next day another nurse noticed Rosemary's respirator was on the wrong setting. It was too low and wasn't feeding her enough oxygen.

She changed it. The two-year-old stabilized after that. But then, when Janine came on shift again that evening, she went to Rosemary's room. This time, Rosemary's mother was there and reportedly saw Janine inject something into her daughter's IV line. Janine said she was giving the child something to help her rest. A couple of minutes later, Rosemary went into cardiac arrest. Doctors and nurses raced to her room and tried to revive her. But two hours later, Rosemary was pronounced dead.

It was a bewildering end to what should have been a straightforward procedure. Some members of the hospital staff shrugged it off. Random tragedies happen, especially in the pick you. But others were connecting the dots. like registered nurse Susanna Moldenado, who was paying close attention to all the mysterious deaths during the 3 to 11 p.m. shift. She knew how beloved Janine was by their boss, Pat Belko. If Susanna had any hope of being listened to, she'd need more than just her suspicions. She'd have to present an airtight case backed up by cold, hard facts.

And so, shortly after Rosemary's death, Susanna quietly began studying the hospital's census book, which recorded all the deaths on each ward. It soon became clear to her that she wasn't imagining things. Something was deeply wrong in the Picu. Thanks again for tuning in to serial killers. We'll be back soon with Part 2, where we'll explore how Janine Jones continued her spree at multiple hospitals throughout Texas.

For more information on Janine, amongst the many sources we used, we found Peter Alkind's book, The Death Shift, extremely helpful in our research. You can find all episodes of Serial Killers and all other Spotify Originals from Parcast for free on Spotify. We'll see you next time.

Stay safe out there. Serial Killers is a Spotify original from Parcast, executive produced by Max Cutler. Our head of programming is Julian Boerow. Our supervising sound designer is Russell Nash, with Nick Johnson as our head of production and quality control by Spencer Howard. Stacey Nemick is our supervising editor

and Derek Jennings is our writing lead. This episode of serial killers was written by Emma Dipton, edited by Robert Tyler Walker and Kate Murdoch, fact-checked by Catherine Barner, researched by Sapphire Williams and Chelsea Wood, produced by Bruce Katovich, and sound design by Anthony Valsick. Our hosts are Vanessa Richardson and me, Greg Poulson. All. Pay off your home, travel for life, drive a Ferrari. In celebration of the world premiere of the Monopoly Big Board Bucks slot machine by Aristocrat Gaming, Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is giving one person a $1.6 million dream package. the biggest prize in Yamava's history. Club Serrano members can earn daily instant prizes and secure a spot in the finale May 29. Don't pass go and own it all. Only at Yamava, celebrating its 40th anniversary.

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