Dr. Michael Swango Part X: Decoding the Deception of a Serial Poisoner in Zimbabwe

What happens when a seemingly earnest and idealistic doctor turns out to have a dark secret? Join us as we uncover the chilling story of Dr. Michael Swango, a physician with a sinister side - serial poisoning. In this gripping episode, we dive into Swango's journey to Zimbabwe and his legal troubles, all while mysterious deaths seem to follow him wherever he goes.

We discuss the suspicions and rumors surrounding Dr. Swango's activities at the Hospital and how his complicated relationships with those around him, including his romantic involvement with Joanna Daly, add to the intrigue. O

Don't miss this unforgettable and chilling exploration of Dr. Swango's deception and its impact on the lives of those around him. Tune in for a thrilling episode that will leave you questioning everything you thought you knew about medical professionals.
Sources:
Newspapers:
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-age/159936395/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-telegraph/159936564/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-telegraph/159936596/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald/159936624/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-observer/159936664/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-observer/159936664/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/argus-leader/159936906/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-age/159936962/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/edmonton-journal/159936985/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-windsor-star/159937017/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news/159937055/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/fort-worth-star-telegram/159937085/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/sunday-telegraph/159937145/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-grand-rapids-press/159937244/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/standard-speaker/159937305/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-la-crosse-tribune/159937365/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/argus-leader/159937413/


Books:
Smith, J. (2017). Dr. Death: Life of Serial Killer Michael Swango

Stewart, J. B. (2012). blind Eye: the terrifying Story of A Doctor Who Gets Away with Murder.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to The Murder Book.
I'm your host, kiera, and thisis part 10 of Dr Michael Swango,
a doctor who is also a serialpoisoning.
He is now in Zimbabwe, inAfrica, and, after crossing

(00:22):
Havigan, ohio and in Illinois,now in South Dakota, he has now
moved to Zimbabwe.
The people there were excitedto have an American doctor on
board, and it has proven thatthis was the worst mistake.

(00:43):
Let's begin So now entering thescene of this situation.
A man named David Koltar.
Named David Koltar wasZimbabwe's most prominent human

(01:04):
rights lawyer And it was aspecialty that has kept him in
constant demand.
And he started to become indemand around 1999 because there

(01:24):
was a dictatorship going onunder the regime of Robert
Mugabe And this governmentimprisoned and tortured true
journalists, and Koltarrepresented dissident

(01:50):
politicians who were beingharassed in the early years of
the independence of the country.
And now these dissidents arenow prominent governor officials
.
And one thing that Koltar didwas to found the Zimbabwe's

(02:14):
leading human rightsorganization, the Bulawayo Legal
Project Center, and he was verydedicated to constitutional
government, the rule of law, therights of the poor, and, of
course, he is beloved and he'srespected by not only Black

(02:36):
Zimbabwe Zimbabweans but alsowhite Zimbabweans as well.
So he was also the best knownlawyer in Bulawayo And he's also
a member of the PresbyterianChurch.

(03:01):
So when Suango let his friendIan Lorimer in August know that
hey, i'm in trouble in thehospital, i need a lawyer,
lorimer decided to call RobertKoltar And the Lorimer's at this
point they have not seen muchof Suango since he had gone back

(03:21):
to Nini.
But at the MESBA the Iraniandoctor at the hospital that was
the one who didn't like MichaelSuango from the beginning.
He stopped working at Nini andsomething was.
And he said that, oh, hereported, sorry, that the Suango

(03:46):
has stopped working at Nini andthat something was a mess.
And he said it in a tone oflike I told you.
So I told you that somethingwas wrong with that guy.
So Dr MESBA claimed to haveheard from a Swedish nurse at
Nini about Suango's dismissalfrom the hospital, but he knew

(04:12):
no details.
So when Suango himself calledthe Lorimer's from Nini and he
told them that something hadgone wrong and that he needed a
lawyer, he declined to elaborate, saying that he would explain
everything when he returned toBulawayo.
And so the Lorimer's in person.

(04:34):
So of course Ian Lorimer wascurious but at the same time not
all that surprised the thingshave not worked out for Suango,
because he knew that Nini wasvery isolated and they have a
different, what they call abushculture.
So Suango arrived at Cota'soffice on the fourth floor of

(04:59):
the Haddon and Sly building indowntown Bulawayo on August 23rd
And the first impression thatattorney Coltard had was that
Suango looked quiet, almosttimid, but idealistic, and he

(05:19):
was determined to clear his name.
And he said that he had beensummarily suspended by the
Provincial Minister of Healthwithout being told any specific
charges or giving anyopportunity to respond.
All he knew was that he wasaccused of having given some
patients injections that causedill effects and that he was

(05:43):
being unfairly blamed for thedeaths of a few patients who had
died of natural causes.
And he added that the policehave come to his house at Nini
armed with a search warrant andhad seized a quantity of drugs
he kept there.
So Coltard asked himimmediately okay, so why did you

(06:07):
have drugs in your cottage?
Because he just wanted tofigure out if this was a case
that might involve narcotics.
So Suango replied that since hewas coming to the darkest
Africa, he had brought aselection of drugs that he
thought might be unavailable atthe Mission Hospital.
So Mr Coltard was impressedthat Suango had gone to such

(06:31):
trouble personally carryingdrugs into the country.
As a lawyer trained to judge thecredibility of witnesses,
coltard found Suango earnest andbelievable.
But he was more impressed bythe glowing letters of
recommendation Suango producedfrom Drs Oliver and King at Pelo
Hospital.

(06:51):
Oliver in particular was afriend of Coltard's and a fellow
member of the PresbyterianChurch.
Attorney Coltard knew nothingabout Nini Mission Hospital but
he had heard of some factionalfeuds within the evangelical
Lutheran Church.
He thought Suango's troublesmight possibly be related.

(07:12):
Then again, this might be acase of reverse discrimination
against a white American doctor.
Such situations were common inpost-independence Zimbabwe.
So Coltard thought that Suangoidealistic and probably naive,
someone who didn't understandthe local culture and was in

(07:32):
turn misunderstood.
So he thought it would be aterrible precedent if a
promising young doctor wasunfairly driven from Zimbabwe at
a time the country sodesperately needed doctors.
So Coltard agreed to representSuango, lending his considerable
prestige to Suango's costs.

(07:52):
Suango seemed relieved andagreed to pay the firm's fees
and cash.
In any event, to Coltard thecharges seemed vague and fell
fetched.
The next day he sent a letterto the police in Ueru demanding
to know on what grounds thatthey they have searched Suango's

(08:13):
residence and to learn thedetails of any charges they
anticipated filing.
He complained that his clienthad been confronted with
unspecified allegations to theeffect that he had injected
patients with the wrong drugs.
That caused a bad effect.
Attorney Coltard said that hewould appreciate precise details

(08:37):
at your earliest convenience.
So the police replied onSeptember 9th and they wrote The
following precise details willbe forthcoming in a matter of
days.
But nine days later AttorneyColt had received a letter
saying that the following we'renot unable to give details as

(08:58):
the docket has been referred toa higher office for action.
That higher office turned outto be Simba West, director of
Public Prosecution, which is theequivalent of an Attorney
General of the United States.
But the evidence was still farfrom conclusive.
Lab results from Margaret'sshow's tissue, which have been

(09:22):
sent to Bula Waiyo and then toHarare for test and proof,
inconclusive.
The pathologist pointed outthat unless someone could
indicate what substances werebelieved to have induced death,
he had no way of proceeding.
The same problem that had beensent pathologists in the United
States.
Given the lack of physicalevidence, the Prosecutor's

(09:47):
Office had ordered the police tocontinue investigating and
postpone any decision to filecharges.
None of this was known toAttorney Colt Tardt or Swango,
and additional letters from ColtTardt produced no further
explanation.
As time passed and no charges orevidence materialized, colt

(10:08):
Tardt began to suspect that thismight indeed be a political
case of anti-whitediscrimination against Swango.
So Colt Tardt knew of othercases White Safari operators
were a recent example, in whichpeople were arrested but never
charged.
So in Colt Tardt's view thepractice was one of the worst

(10:30):
abuses of the judicial system bythe authoritarian Mugambi
regime.
But then in October Swango hadreceived a letter from the
Lutheran Church terminating hisemployment, a letter which also
made no reference to anyspecific charges.
Attorney Colt Tardt recognizedas soon as Swango showed him the

(10:54):
letter, that Swango'stermination was improper.
Under Simbawean law, anemployer who may fire an
employee only if the employeeviolates a code of conduct
registered by the employer witha Department of Labor.
Meaning Mission Hospital had nosuch code.

(11:14):
Few employers in Simbawe doAbsent such a code.
The Lutheran Church was withinits right to suspend Swango, but
it had to apply to the LaborMinistry for an order
terminating his employment, aprocedure that would have given
Swango an opportunity to respondThe possibility that he was a

(11:37):
pawn in a larger political dramawas a theme Swango mentioned
when he met with Ian Lorimer.
As he had promised, swangooffered Lorimer a detailed
explanation of what had happened, describing three patients
whose deaths had been blamed onhim.
One, he said, evidentlyreferring to Philharmon Chippoco

(11:59):
, was a diabetic who became illafter an amputation on a Friday
afternoon.
Swango had happened to be onduty that weekend when he died,
but the man wasn't his patient.
Chippoco actually didn't die onSunday, on Tuesday.
The second, evidently, margaretShow, was a woman experiencing

(12:22):
severe bleeding after amiscarriage.
Again, she was not Swango'spatient but had died while he
was on duty.
And the third account Swangogave was a highly abridged
version of Edith Gwena's death.
Swango said that Gwena hadworked for him, that he had
visited her socially, that aftershe complained of abdominal

(12:44):
pain he insisted that she beadmitted but neither he nor Dr
Sheary had been able to diagnoseher illness before she died.
Nurses unfairly suspected hesaid that he had given her a
drug which he denied Because hewas a white doctor.
He said he was being made ascapegoat for every death in the

(13:06):
hospital.
Swango's account made selectiveuse of the facts and naturally
Lowrymore had no way of knowingthat he had already told
inconsistent versions of thesame stories to the nurses, like
denying any injections and thepolice.
He claimed to have injectedwater.

(13:27):
Lowrymore and his colleagues atPillow found Swango's account
plausible, although Lowrymoredid think it out that none of
the doctors at Nini had beenable to diagnose Gwena.
Mike Cotton, another residentat Pillow, said he had known two
Dutch doctors, a husband and awife team, who had worked at

(13:48):
Nini for two years and then leftwhen something went wrong.
So there was obviously someprecedent for trouble at Nini.
But Lowrymore did quiz Swangoabout the matter.
He said do you do anything youshouldn't have?
And Swango, of course,emphatically denied.
Adding no doubt can be cast onmy management of patients.

(14:10):
And Lowrymore asked him do youclash with anyone?
And he said no, i got alongvery well with everyone.
And finally Lowrymore asked himwere you on drugs In Swango?
answer, even laughing at thesuggestion, he said no, of
course.
Not Even more persuasive thanSwango denials was the fact that

(14:33):
David Coltard, the lawyer, hadtaken on his case.
Lowrymore, oliver and otherdoctors at Pillow helped Coltard
an exceptionally high regardand, given Coltard's reputation
for integrity, believed he wouldnot have accepted the case
unless he believed Swango wasbeing persecuted.

(14:53):
So when Swango said he hadliked to practice medicine again
at Pillow, lowrymore and otherson the medical staff were for
the most part enthusiastic.
Lowrymore went to Pillow'sdirector, dr Shaiva, and argued
that Swango should be higher,despite having been dismissed
from Nini.
Pillow was desperately understaff and even if Swango

(15:15):
couldn't handle everything, atleast the other residents would
only have to be on call everyfourth night rather than every
third.
Swango was better than nodoctor at all, and Dr Oliver too
urged Shaiva to hire him.
Finally, swango himself went toShaiva and said he would be

(15:35):
willing to work without pay ifthe hospital would provide
living quarters.
Shaiva asked him what hadhappened at Nini and Swango told
him he didn't get along withchurch officials.
But Shaiva said he had had toget some kind of explanation
from Nini.
The next day Shaiva calledSheehy saying that Dr Swango had

(15:57):
volunteered to work at Pillowand that the hospital was short
of staff.
Sheehy was silent, which Shaivafound odd, and finally Dr
Sheehy said if I were you Iwould not employ him.
And Shaiva asked him but whynot?
And there was another pause AndDr Sheehy said look, he is

(16:22):
under investigation.
Dr Sheehy again tried to get anexplanation, but Dr Sheehy
would say nothing more,repeating only that if it were
up to him he would not hireSwango.
Despite dissemination, drSheehy made no further inquiries

(16:43):
about what had transpired atNini.
He assumed, as his staffdoctors had, that the problems
had arisen from disputes overreligious doctrine, not medical
matters, and in any eventSwango's license to practice
medicine was still in effect.
Shaiva restored Swango'shospital privileges and Swango

(17:04):
took up his duties at Pillow.
He began living in a room thathad been used for residents when
they stay at the hospitalovernight.
He had a private bath and aseparate entrance, and it also
provided immediate and discreetaccess to the hospital wards at
any hour of the day or night.
But actually taking upresidence in the hospital,

(17:28):
swango could now reach virtuallyevery patient without being
noticed by other members of thestaff.
In no time, it seems, swangoresumed his congenial life in
Bulawayo the weekly prayermeetings at the Presbyterian
Church, the volleyball, thetable tennis games, the visits

(17:50):
to the lower mers and themyrtles.
He even babysat for the lowermers infant daughter, ashley.
People thought it laudable thathe was willing to work without
pay at Pillow.
He threw himself into his job,carefully writing down his full
names of all his patients so hecould greet them by the first
names.
He became an advocate forpatients' rights, arguing, for

(18:14):
example, that people were havingto wait too long before having
operations once their conditionswere diagnosed.
Though they have been curiouswhen he first arrived, no one
now thought it odd that Swango,who could presumably go anywhere
and earn a handsome living, wasworking without paying living

(18:34):
in a room in the hospital.
But word of the misdivist deathat Nini, already widespread in
the Beaver-Wanga region,inevitably reached a wider
audience.
In Bulawayo In mid-January alocal newspaper, the Sunday News
, ran an unbiased article withthe headline X-PAC Doctor

(18:56):
Experimenting on Patients Thefirst published account of
Swango's activities in Africa.
The article said an X-PACdoctor at a hospital in Beringua
is alleged to have beenexperimenting with some drugs on
patients, resulting in thedeath of three of them.

(19:16):
The Sunday News has learned thedoctor, who is white, has since
been relieved of his duties andis reliably understood that he
was arrested by members of thecriminal investigations
department and is still in thecountry helping police with
investigations.
Sources said the doctor wasusing drugs imported from his

(19:37):
country on patients, especiallywomen.
Three people die as a result,but the Sunday News could not
establish whether the diseasewere all women.
Officers from the CID hadcarried out their investigations
.
As far as Reru Central Hospital, there were not many white

(19:58):
doctors in Beaver-Wanga.
The article didn't mentionnames or even the doctor's
nationality, and was bothsketchy and inaccurate.
It didn't along Lorimer and theother doctors at Pilo who were
already aware of Swango'sdismissal.
No word there.
Any follow-up articles, damn.
One evening Lorema's motherphoned him from Harare where

(20:23):
that day she had had lunch withsomeone who worked in the
Ministry of Health.
When Mrs Lorema mentioned thather son was arrested at Pilo
Hospital, the health officialhad told her about an American
doctor who had interned there,who had done some terrible
things at Nini Hospital,including administering

(20:44):
poisonous injections.
Mrs Lorema had immediatelyrecognized that the doctor must
be Dr Swango, ian's friend.
He said I don't believe it.
So Lorema told his mother,dismissing the stories as
preposterous rumors.
He said I don't believe itbecause it's so political and

(21:04):
he's being framed.
And he insisted that he knewSwango well enough to trust his
instincts.
And his mother seemed satisfied.
Still, her last words to him inthe conversation were be
careful, beware.
The next day Lorema did saysomething to Swango to the

(21:24):
effect that there were rumors hehad injected people at Nini,
which was odd since doctorsgenerally don't administer
injections.
So he asked him did you evergive injections?
Did you ever experiment withpoisons?
Swango seemed shocked andgenuinely puzzled.

(21:44):
He said no And he shook hishead emphatically, adding only
that he had occasionallyadministered intravenous
antibiotics because some of thenurses were nervous about doing
it.
But the Iranian doctor, drMesba, was also continuing to
raise concerns about what hadhappened at Nini, based on

(22:05):
second hand accounts he washearing from the nursing staff.
Finally, mike Cotton said hewould go to Nini and investigate
himself.
When he returned he said rumorswere running rampant.
Swango was being blamed forscores of death, even of
patients who died while Swangowas doing his internship at Pelo

(22:26):
.
This was obviously preposterousand it undermined all the
claims against him.
So continuing reports aboutSwango's activities
paradoxically seemed tostraighten the sense that he was
a victim of anti-whiteprejudice.
This was reinforced by Swango'sdemeanor, his enthusiasm for

(22:47):
practice in medicine, the carethat he bestowed on his patients
.
The other doctors at Pelotrusted their own judgment as to
medical matters And those whowere white feared that the same
prejudice that had apparentlybeen aimed at Swango might
easily be turned against them.

(23:07):
So other pieces of apostrophewhich the solution who later
seemed obvious, made little orno impression on them, even the
sudden rise in unexplaineddeaths at Pelo that coincided
with Swango's move into thehospital.
One of Lorimer's patients was aman in his late 30s who needed

(23:30):
emergency surgery for anincarcerated hernia.
This is a dangerous conditionin which the herniated tissue
cannot be pushed back into place.
The patient was brought intothe operating room at 2 am.
Lorimer had completed thesurgery two hours later.
The procedure posed nocomplications.
Indeed, lorimer thought it hadgone exceedingly well.

(23:53):
At 5 am the patient was dead.
Swango wasn't involved with thepatient, but he was in the
hospital that night And, alongwith Lorimer, expressed
bafflement at the sudden death.
A post-motin was conducted, butno cause of death could be
established.
A few days later a patient wasadmitted with burns to the

(24:15):
suffocates and stomach.
He had swallow hydrochloricacid in an apparent suicide
attempt.
He was placed on a fluid dietand a week later seemed to be
recovering.
Lorimer decided that a feedingtube should be inserted through
a small incision in the abdomen,just below the stomach.
It was a simple operation andLorimer had Swango a system.

(24:39):
The surgery was uneventful andthe patient seemed fine.
Three days later the tube wasinserted.
The patient died.
Again, no cause of death couldbe established.
Several other doctors foundsimilar mysterious deaths among
the patients, but in the rush ofhospital life and with the

(25:00):
hospital so understaffed, no onecompared notes or spotted a
pattern.
But finally, dr Cotton raised aconcern.
A 14-year-old boy had beenadmitted to intensive care after
suffering a car accident.
Swango was on duty when theteenager was admitted and
treated him.
Indeed trouble.

(25:22):
Injuries were one of Swango'sfew strong areas of practice and
he had recently been creditedwith saving the life of another
teenager injured in a similaraccident.
Cotton subsequently oversaw theboy's progress and thought he
was improving rapidly.
But then the patient suddenlydied.
Given the nature of the rumorsfrom Nini, it was perhaps

(25:45):
inevitable that eventuallySwango would be linked to the
death of Pilla.
So Cotton told Lorimer he saidI wonder if Mike was somehow
involved.
But the two concluded that itwas impossible and that Swango
just saved another teenager insimilar circumstances.

(26:07):
So, despite the problems atNini, the long hours at Pilla
and his cramped livingconditions, swango himself
seemed happier than ever,delighted to be back in Bulawayu
, although he had been dating ablack nurse at Pilla, he now
seems smitten by a thin,dark-haired young woman with two
children, lee Ann Payne, whohad recently moved back to

(26:30):
Bulawayu to live with herparents after separating from
her husband in South Africa.
He brought her two services atthe Presbyterian Church,
introduced her to the Lorimersand Murders and spent extended
periods of time with her and heryoung children.
Swango would often speak to theLorimers about what a difficult

(26:52):
time Lee Ann was having.
Her husband, he claimed, hadbeen abusive.
But her parents were stronglyopposed to divorce and didn't
approve of her dating Swango.
But neither did they seem allthat pleased that she had come
back to live with them,especially her father, who often
complained about the children,according to Swango.

(27:15):
So at one point Swango toldLorimers that he felt so sorry
for her, given what she had beenthrough, that he had offered to
pay for some therapy for her.
He asked Lorimers for the namesof some psychologists or
counselors who might be able tohelp her.
So even Lorimers wasn't surethat Lee Ann felt as strongly

(27:36):
about Swango as he did about her.
While she was obviously shakenby the apparent failure of her
marriage and needed a friend,lorimers thought that Swango
often dominated her inconversation and seemed to want
to control her movements, thevery kind of
relationship-threateningbehavior that was discussed at

(27:56):
the Lorimers' marriage seminars.
Lee Ann mentioned this to theLorimers on an occasion and also
that Swango talked too much, aproblem the Lorimers were
familiar with, but they seemedminor complains.
Much as the Lorimers enjoyed thecompany of Swango, they did
find some of its tastes somewhatpeculiar, especially for a

(28:19):
professed Christian.
On one occasion the Lorimersrented the movie Pope Fiction
because Swango said it had beena popular and critical success
in America and had revived JohnTroubulta's career.
They invited Swango to watch itwith them.
The film was exceedinglyviolent and bloody, with a

(28:41):
particularly intense sequence ofsadomasochistic torture Within
10 minutes.
The Lorimers were horrified andwanted to turn off the tape,
but Swango was fascinated,insisted on watching and said
afterward that he loved the film.

(29:01):
They ascribed his enthusiasm tothe fact that Swango was a film
buff.
He attended every film festivalin Bukla Wairo.
He seemed to know every classicmovie, devoured reviews of new
films in time and new suite.
He watched 12 Angry Men, the1957 film about a murder trial

(29:23):
with the Lorimers, andproclaimed it a brilliant film
which he had liked to see again.
He was also widely enthusiasticabout two films that became
available on video while he wasin Bukla Wairo.
One was the Shonshank Redemption, critically acclaimed 1994 film
in which a younger banker isunjustly sent to prison for the

(29:47):
murder of his wife and hiswife's lover.
But his favorite, he often said, was for weddings and a funeral
which he described with delightas a sleeper.
A film that Hollywood had notexpected to do well, but that
had taken the movie world bystorm.
Nominated along with ShonshankRedemption for an Academy Award

(30:10):
for Best Picture, the filmfeatures Hugh Grant, a young man
whose own romance unfolds inthe settings of his friend's
weddings.
But for many viewers the film'smost moving sequence concerned
the sudden death and the funeralof another character.
Violence and death oftensurfaced one way or another in

(30:33):
conversations with Swango.
One evening, swango gave thelaw-abomber's copies of an
article that he had clicked fromthe South African edition of
The Reader's Digest and insistedthat they read it.
He continued to pester themabout it until they said they
had The article was StalkingEvil.

(30:53):
This was an excerpt from a bookby John Douglas, an FBI agent
who, the article said, didnothing less than peer into the
minds of several killers andrapists Douglas had been
instrumental in developingpsychological profiling as a
technique in serving serialcrimes, and as part of his work

(31:15):
he had entered numerousconvicted serial killers.
The article surveyed a number ofmurders in which Douglas had
been involved.
While no clear psychologicalpattern emerged among the
perpetrators, several were other.
They were above averageintelligence, but one were white

(31:38):
.
Some were of the children of adomineering mother, physically
abusive father.
Some had suffered chronicbedwetting as children.
And Douglas insisted that, nomatter how peculiar they may be,
all serial killers establish apattern that can eventually

(31:59):
identify them.
He says no matter how such aserial killer throws us off his
track, he's still going to giveus behavioral clues to work with
, whether he intends to or not.
And he concluded, i learnedthat even the smartest, most
clever criminals are vulnerable.

(32:19):
It doesn't matter how shrewd orexperienced they are, and it
doesn't even matter if they knowabout our techniques.
They can all be gone too.
It's just a matter of figuringout.
How Ian and Cheryl read thearticle, found it mildly
interesting when the whiteswungle had gone to such efforts

(32:39):
to share it with them.
Swungle's reputation at Pee Lowas now so solid that on March 4
, dr Oliver, at David Coltard'srequest, the assistant attorney
wrote another glowing letter ofrecommendation for him, one that
could be used in a suit againstevangelical Lutheran Church.

(33:01):
Attorney Coltard had stillgotten no further explanation
from the police.
Eight months later, on November16, he received a letter saying
that the docket had long sincebeen completed.
The letter said that swungleshould await the decision of the

(33:23):
public prosecutor, but nocharges were forthcoming and a
December letter went unanswered.
Attorney Coltard said thatswungle himself could bring
matters to a head by filing asuit against the church alleging
wrongful discharge, while theLutheran Church had told Coltard
that under new circumstances,would it employ swungle, he

(33:46):
might be able to collect damagesand back pay.
Swungle was immediatelyenthusiastic, saying he wanted
to go forward with the suit toclear his name.
On one hand, swungle's reactionwas reassuring, since it would
have been foolhardy to proceedif there were any truth to the

(34:06):
reports from Nini.
On the other hand, attorneyColtard at times wondered why
swungle was going to suchtrouble and expense in an
African country that wassuffering so many problems and
was not, after all, his nativeland.
Before proceeding with the suit, he thought obliged to air

(34:30):
disconcerts with his client.
So he asked swungle why botherwith this?
Why not go back to the US.
You are medical doctor, youcould practice anywhere.
But swungle insisted he loveshim but wanted to stay.
And almost shyly he suggested amore important reason He had

(34:52):
fallen in love.
So now there's a reporter forthe Boulawayo Chronicle His name
was Foster Dungasi And this isa local daily newspaper And he

(35:13):
shared an apartment with hiscousin who happened to work as
an orderly at Pilo Hospital.
And one evening he mentioned tohis cousin the reporter.
He said there's a whiteexpatriate doctor living in the
ward.
And Dungasi found that claimhard to believe And he wondered

(35:35):
why would a doctor live in theward?
I said I don't believe you, ithink you're wrong.
But his cousin insisted that itwas true.
So the reporter drove out tothe hospital and approached
several staff members, but noone wanted to talk.
So Dungasi asked his cousin tocheck the report.
This time he not only confirmedthe story but added it is

(36:01):
believed he was chased from Niniafter killing people, a story
which he said was circulatingwidely among the hospital staff.
He said the doctor's name wasSwann.
So Dungasi, being a reporter,sends us a major story here.

(36:22):
So he returned to the hospitalagain and started asking staff
members.
If such a doctor was workingthere, no one would comment.
But several of them startgiving him cryptic smiles and
one urgent to speak to thehospital superintendent.
No one denied anything And thatsuggested that he was onto

(36:44):
something.
So Dungasi went to the hospitalswitchboard and asked the
operator to page Dr Swann.
The operator declined, sayinghe thought the doctor was out.
But just then a voice said doyou hear someone mention my name
?
And then this reporter Dungasisaid yeah, dr Swann.

(37:06):
And he saw this tall, youngblonde man with a white coat.
He said well, i'm Dr Swann, canI help you?
And by this time several peoplehad gathered in the switchboard
room and were curiously lookingon Dungasi.
The reporter stepped out intothe corridor and said my name is

(37:29):
Foster Dungasi.
I'm a reporter for theChronicle.
Dungasi noticed that Swann's eyebegan to twitch.
He said I understand you'rebeing investigated for a serious
death at a service of death atNini Hospital And now Swann goes
.
Whole body started to shake.
He raises his right hand as toward off Dungasi and began to

(37:54):
back away.
He said I can't answer that,talk to my lawyer.
And he started running down thehallway And he yes, what's his
name?
And Swann, go your back, davidCoulthard.
So The next day Dungasi, whoowned Dr Shaiva, and asked him

(38:20):
if Dr Swango was living in thehospital.
And Shaiva answered I don't knowwhere he lives.
And he asked him is he beinginvestigated for killing people
at Nini?
He said I don't know that Andhe was obviously uncomfortable
with the questions.
And then he said I have heardstories about him, but it's not
clear what the stories are.
And Dungasi asked him so whydid you hire him?

(38:43):
And Shaiva said well, becausethere is a shortage of doctors.
So, reported Dungasi leftunsure whether he had enough for
a story, but events quicklyovertook him.
That same week Swango had goneto Shaiva and asked to be paid
for his work.
Shaiva had said that that wasout of the question.

(39:06):
He was also annoyed, since hethought Swango was reneging on
their agreement.
In any event, shaiva didn'thave a discretionary fund of
that kind.
Now the press was asking aboutSwango, which meant the
situation could erupt in apublic scandal.
So worry about his ownpotential exposure.

(39:27):
Shaiva called the Ministry ofHealth in Harare.
News that Swango was working inanother hospital in Simbawe came
as a shock to Timothy Stamps.
The Minister of Health andChild Welfare And staff ordered
Shaiva to stop him.
He told him you need toterminate Swango's employment

(39:49):
immediately, remove him from thehospital premises.
He also told Shaiva what hadreally happened at Nini, which
left Shaiva stunned disbelief.
So Shaiva summoned Swango tohis office and said your
services are no longer requiredand told him to vacate the

(40:11):
hospital.
Swango seemed resigned to thenews and he shrugged and he said
okay and he left the officewithout seeking any further
explanation.
The following Sunday, march 24,1996, the Sunday news ran a huge
front page headline that saysMinistry Dismisses Doctor And it

(40:36):
said the Ministry of Health andChild Welfare is investigating
in American expatriate doctorfor allegedly fatally injecting
five patients at a districthospital in the Midlands
province.
The spelling fears that theexpatriate doctor was now

(40:57):
operating at Pilo CentralHospital in Bulawayo.
The Minister of Health andChild Welfare, dr Timothy Stamps
and said the doctor had sincebeen dismissed.
He said the doctor only workedfor a week at Pilo where, due to
an acute shortage of medicalpractitioners, he had been
employed after being dismissedby the Ministry in October last

(41:21):
year.
The American doctor had beenaccused of deliberately and
unlawfully experimenting withpatients at Ninie District
Hospital in Beringua byinjecting them with unknown
chemical substances whichallegedly led to the death of
five patients at the hospital.

(41:45):
The article was much moreextensive and accurate than the
brief January account in thesame newspaper that alleged that
the doctor had sneaked intopatients warts at night.
Nurses actually saw him givethe injections.
A cocktail of drugs wasdiscovered by police at a
doctor's house in Ninie.
Still, the article did not namethe doctor.

(42:09):
Nongasi was upset that theChronicle Sister publication had
been him to the story and hiseditor said well, we have been
scoped.
So now we have a woman.

(42:33):
This woman's name is LynetteO'Hare and she lived in Simbao
where she was British.
She grew up in British Burma,in Rhodesia.
She had been trained in theLondon Academy of Music and

(42:57):
Dramatic Art.
She was filthy rich.
She had servants.
She had a daughter that wasleaving and moving to England.
So the daughter received aphone call.

(43:20):
This is on March 1996.
So when she got on the phoneshe came back and then she said
oh, it's an American chap that Iknow from Bible study.
And she asked the mother whydon't you take him in?

(43:49):
Because you know he has prayfor us, he's a good guy, and she
kept talking about him.
So pretty much Paulette hadpretty much convinced the mother
Lynette that the solution ofbeing lonely now that she's

(44:15):
moving back to England was tofind a lodger to stay in the
house.
So a few days later, on March31st 1996, michael Swungle came
through the front gates and MrsO'Hare, lynette O'Hare, met him

(44:40):
at the door and he introducedhimself as Michael Swungle, not
Swungle Swungle.
So she invited him in into theparlor that sat down.
He had some tea and he told himthat she was a doctor.
And he made Mrs O'Hare feel alittle bit better because not

(45:08):
only that the profession wasrespectable, she felt that it
meant that it was steady rentalpayments.
He said that he had beenworking at Pilo Hospital and he
had come from America to helpuplift the Africans, to do his
part for humanity.
She tried to get his age shegets 35, and he said oh no, i'm

(45:37):
27.
And of course Mrs O'Hare saidoh yeah, that's the same age of
Paulette, my daughter.
So I'm glad that I'm going tohave somebody my daughter's age
around the house.
So he started talking aboutmilitary history, something that
even some of her friends andBullawaiu didn't know about.

(45:59):
He talked about his father,that he had a military career.
He mentioned several books inthe field that he had read.
And of course he had Mrs O'Harecaptivated.
She showed him her ownextensive library, how she had
shelved and cataloged each book.
He exclaimed over her works ofEnglish literature, told her

(46:23):
that he loved everything EnglishAnd of course, again, mrs
O'Hare was delighted to hearthat he was an Anglophile.
So then they started discussingthe terms of swungle lodging And
Mrs O'Hare said well, i canprovide you a room, breakfast
and lunch.

(46:44):
I have two mates, lizzieCorezzo and Mary Shimue.
They're going to clean yourroom, provide linens, they will
do your laundry and cook for you.
In return, you're going to pay$800 per month.

(47:04):
So whatever the unit that theyuse, or the pounds, the dollars
and the Simbawayans currency,$800.
He would also be responsiblefor buying his own meat for the

(47:26):
evening meal.
So O'Hare gave him a choice ofbedrooms.
He liked the one that had beenpolette, at the rear of the
house, and O'Hare just found himdelightful and articulate and
well-read, and she couldn'tbelieve that she was lucky to
find a lodger like that.

(47:47):
So Swango arrived the next day.
He was carrying two metaltrunks, a large duffel bag and a
backpack.
The mates moved polette'sfurniture out of the room that
Swango had chosen, but now hechanged his mind, saying he
preferred the room at the frontof the house That was adjacent

(48:10):
to Mrs O'Hare's corner bedroom.
The two women were annoyedbecause they have to shift the
heavy furniture again.
Swango neither offered to helpor he didn't even thank them
when they had finished.
So O'Hare's servants took analmost instant dislike to Swango
, and this feeling continued ashe proceeded to give them orders

(48:35):
at rude, unfriendly.
He never expressed anyappreciation for their efforts,
but none of this was apparent toMrs O'Hare, who was so pleased
with her new lodger that shebegan inviting him to share
dinner with her.
They would discuss books bothturned out to be avid fans of

(48:56):
political novelist Alan DruryAnd they talk about current
events, which they wouldtypically discuss after watching
the evening news while sippinga cocktail often prepared by
Swango.
One evening, swango broughtLeanne to the house, introducing

(49:17):
her to O'Hare as his girlfriend.
Mrs O'Hare found Leanneattractive and pleasant, though
obviously lonely because of herfailed marriage.
O'hare did notice, however,that Swango never seemed to be
at work at the hospital, oranywhere else for that matter.
So the maids reported that hespent most of his days in the

(49:38):
house, and so she asked oneevening are you taking a leave?
And Michael said no, i'mwaiting for my work permit to
come through.
This sounded plausible toO'Hare who, like many white
Simba Wayans, had been appalledby the decline in administrative
efficiency since theindependence.

(49:59):
So she gave the matter a littlefurther thought, assuming the
permit would arrive in duecourse.
She had not noticed the articlein the Sunday News which
appeared the same day as thebrunch.
Another reason that Swango wasat home so often was that Leanne
had curtailed their visits andoutings.
Her husband was coming fromSouth Africa to visit the

(50:21):
children and she said shethought it best if Swango wasn't
around when he arrived.
When he told Lorimer the news,swango seemed incredulous.
He couldn't believe that Leannewould banish him in favor of
her husband who had been soabusive to her.
Although he was upset, heremained confident that Leanne

(50:44):
would come to her senses as hesaw it and resumed the
relationship as soon as thehusband left.
But during the visit Leannephoned to tell Swango that she
and her husband might reconcile,as her parents hoped they would
do, although she didn't mentionit.
But it is also possible thatshe or her parents had seen the

(51:08):
Sunday News article andconnected it to Swango And
whatever the cause, she said shecouldn't see Swango again.
So she broke off therelationship.
When Mrs O'Hare saw Swango thatevening he was ashen and shaken.
He could talk of nothing butLeanne and seemed desperate.
So he asked Mrs O'Hare to phoneLeanne to tell her she was

(51:32):
doing the wrong thing.
But Mrs O'Hare demerred.
She felt that it would bepointless to get in the middle
of what was obviously a tangodomestic situation.
Besides, she didn't even knowLeanne, having met her only once
.
So Swango seemed a little bitdisappointed, as though Mrs

(51:52):
O'Hare had let him down andretreated to his room.
There he remained for eight days.
He stopped shaving, he lookedincreasingly gaunt and haggard.
His curtains were drawn.
He refused to emerge for meals,demanding that one of the
servants bring them to him on atray.
When they knocked on his door,he opened it only slightly

(52:14):
before wordlessly taking thetray and slamming the door shut.
He refused to allow the maizecaretto and shimway to clean the
room and Swinder knocks with ashirley.
Who is it?
What do you want?
And finally he told them don'tworry about me, i'm only worried

(52:35):
about my girlfriend.
If he encountered O'Hare or MrsO'Hare when he emerged to use
the bathroom.
He immediately retreated orrushed to the bathroom and
closed the door.
When Mrs O'Hare's nephew Duncanvisited from South Africa, she
insisted that Swango come out tomeet him.
He did so briefly, seemedhostile, immediately returned to

(52:59):
his room When the curse otherfriends who she wanted Swango to
meet came for drinks, swangorefused to greet them.
Mrs O'Hare was so worried aboutSwango that when she had to
leave for a visit to SouthAfrica she feared he might
attempt suicide.
So she called a localorganization called the

(53:21):
Samaritans, spoke to apsychologist named Dave and
asked him to phone Swango in herabsence.
But one of the maize, lisiCaretto, took a more very view
of Swango.
She told Mrs O'Hare that shewas going frightened of him and
that he had treated her andmarried him rudely.
Once he threw a tantrum sayinghe didn't like the smell of

(53:45):
floor polish.
He continued to lock the twowomen out of his room so they
couldn't clean, asking why youso curious?
what do you want?
And Swango insisted on the samebreakfast every morning two
fried eggs, four slices of toastand a full kilogram of fried
bacon.
He was furious if he was servedless than a kilogram of bacon,

(54:10):
which Caretto thought was anextorbitant and costly amount.
He also ran up electricitybills, always using a space
heater while he bathed andfrequently using it in his
bedroom as well.
When O'Hare complained aboutthe high electricity bills,
swango denied using the heater.

(54:30):
The maize were too frightenedto contradict him, though she
knew he was lying.
Even more ominous Lisi hadrecently mentioned to her
boyfriend that they were livingwith an American doctor and the
boyfriend had asked is he theone who killed people and Nini?
and shocked she replied that no, he worked at Pilo.

(54:53):
But the question had made herwonder.
When Caretto the maizementioned this to her employer,
it reminded Mrs O'Hare of thebrief article about an unnamed
American expatriate doctor whowas experimenting on patients.
O'hare had noticed the originalJanuary article but had given

(55:15):
it little thought since then.
Now it dawn on her that she wasliving with a white expatriate
doctor who had worked at Niniand now many others fit in the
description.
Were there likely to be?
I think he's the doctor fromNini Mission Hospital, said the
maize.
So now Mrs O'Hare is somewhatalarmed.

(55:40):
So she gets on the phone to MrIan Lorimer, whom she knew from
church and as a friend ofPoilette.
She also knew that Swango andLeanne had been socializing with
Lorimer and his wife And shesaid Ian Swango is behaving very
peculiarly And she beganexplaining that he had been

(56:01):
virtually locked in his roomsince breaking up with Leanne.
And then she mentioned thearticle in the newspaper.
He said is he this expatriate?
And Lorimer confirmed it.
He said he is.
But then he reassured MrsO'Hare and said it's all a put
up job.
He explained that the nurses atNini, they were jealous of

(56:25):
Swango's authority, that theyhave been spreading false rumors
that he was killing patients.
And but this struck a chord withMrs O'Hare, who is of the
belief that, as she put it,jealousy is part of the African
nature.
One has to be very careful.

(56:45):
She had read a recent episodein Harare in which a white
anesthesis had been accused ofexperimenting on patients.
The case was widely viewed asone of discrimination against
white doctors.
But what clinched the matterfor O'Hare was that Lorimer told

(57:05):
her that David Coltard wasrepresenting Swango and that he
was suing Nini Hospital.
Mrs O'Hare thought the world ofColtard So it was inconceivable
that he had represented someoneunless he had a good cause in a

(57:26):
good case.
So now she assumed that sheknew why the newspaper had not
printed Swango's name.
It wouldn't dare to if it wasrepresented by Mr Coltard.
So now she's relieved and soshe tried to get a message to

(57:47):
Swango through Lorimer that sayshe's upsetting my domestics.
I wish you would say somethingto him.
So the next day, having spokento Lorimer, swango emerged from
his isolation.
He joined Mrs O'Hare atbreakfast.
He had shower, he had shave andhe said I understand you are

(58:08):
worried.
And she explained that she wasindeed upset by his recent
isolation and state of mind andthen had read the newspaper
article.
So he offered much the sameexplanation that Loriema had.
The nurses at Nini had grownjealous.
That same morning he apologizedto the maids, lizzie and Mary,

(58:32):
and Mrs O'Hare felt her heart goout to the poor young,
idealistic doctor who was beingpersecuted and she, chest-eyed,
then made for her darksuspicions And she said if you
were educated you wouldunderstand.
That's what she told her maiddismissively.

(58:56):
In Newton West, abula Wiressuburb, south and West of
O'Hare's house, there was thiswoman named Joanna Daly who
recently separated from herhusband, steve.
She was trying to keep divorceproceedings amicable but he has
taken up with another woman, asituation made all the more

(59:17):
painful by his proximity becausehe was living in the servants
cottage on the property whileJoanna and her husband were
living in And she was alreadywell, joanna and the four
children, or boys ages twothrough eight, remained in the
spacious French house with aswimming pool, with the often
boisterous young children on herhands.

(59:38):
Joanna couldn't think ofgetting a job outside at home,
so she had begun a dressmakingbusiness in the sunroom.
So she could no longer affordthe maids who once occupied the
cottage, as had only a part-timegardener and a handyman to help
around the house.
Her day seemed an unendingsequence of cooking and laundry

(01:00:01):
and sewing, and she was barelymaking ends meet.
And she was a woman that she wasvery attractive.
The idea that she might meetanother man or to get out on a
date was something that for herwas remote.

(01:00:23):
She hardly ever got out of thehouse except to drive the
children to school, and bynightfall she was usually too
tired, even if she could haveafforded a babysitter to go out.
So in June of 1996 Steve'ssister, her former sister-in-law

(01:00:47):
, karen Carr, invited her todinner, saying hey, i want you
to meet this nice man.
So Joanna told herself that shedidn't want to meet another man
, surely had no intention ofremarrying, but still she did
her hair, put on the makeup,wore her most attractive
clothing to the curves dinnerAnd, much to her surprise, she

(01:01:10):
immediately found the man inquestion good looking and
charming.
He was a doctor.
He had apologized for hisearlier rudeness in failing to
greet the curves and, thoughO'Hare's persistence, they had
since become friendly.
So she occurs to embraceSwango's version of what had
happened at Nini.
And they told Joanna that hehad been persecuted while

(01:01:34):
working there on fairly blamefor the death of several
patients.
Indeed, when they introducedher to Michael Swango, they
joked that his nickname was DrDeath.
So Swango seemed instantlyattracted to Joanna, showing the
same honouring instinct he hadwith Mrs O'Hare.

(01:01:56):
He quickly discovered that bothher father and uncle were career
officers in the Britishmilitary and then told her all
about his own militaryupbringing.
His father served as a colonelin the army in Vietnam.
The family had moved frequently.
His father was an authoritarian, was absent from the home for
long periods.
All of this Joanna could relateto, because her own father had

(01:02:19):
been harsh and domineering,often belittling her
achievements, scoffing atnotions of women's rights.
He had made her feel that heronly option in life was to marry
, have children and be ahousewife, which was what she
had done, as she put it.
I'm used to being dictated to,but she needed to save very

(01:02:44):
little.
Swango kept up a monologuethroughout the evening and never
allowed his attention to stray.
Her head was spinning from theattention.
So the next day Swango phonedher at home.
Joanna invited him over theafternoon for a cup of tea.
Her estranged husband happenedto be in the house when he

(01:03:05):
called, which Joanna mentioned.
Swango said he didn't want tohave to deal with him, but she
assured him that Steve would notbe present when Swango arrived
Over here.
In the conversation her husbanddid go into a jealous tirade.
Joanna later suspected him ofspying on Swango's arrival.

(01:03:25):
So Swango came for tea, stayedfour hours.
He asked Joanna how old she was.
When she said she would be 28in November, he told her that he
was the same age.
He talked about what acommitted Christian who was
citing his attendance at thePresbyterian Church, at Bible

(01:03:46):
study and at the LawrenceMarriage seminar.
He even showed her a pamphleton Christian marriage that he
had been studying Daily was abit nervous about such sudden
talk of marriage, but she wasimpressed by his seeming
earnestness and decency And bythe end of the afternoon she

(01:04:09):
felt overwhelmed by the handsome, attentive doctor who had so
suddenly become part of a brightlife So soon.
Swango was spending nearly everyday at Daly's house.
She had picked him up at LinadoHares in the morning when she

(01:04:30):
drove two of the boys to school,taking him back when she picked
him up at the end of the day.
So often he would tell herstories, especially of Mrs
O'Hare, whom he ridiculed as afussy English aristocrat, always
worrying that he was touchingher things.
He told Daly he was convincedMrs O'Hare had commissioned the

(01:04:53):
servants to spy on him.
Swango would plan excursionsfor the two of them and the
children, pichnes for example,or Audi's tour gang part.
He was a fitness buff and wouldsometimes go jogging in a West
Virginia mountaineer sweatshirt.
He wouldn't eat sugar.
He fretted about getting enoughfiber on his diet.

(01:05:14):
Interestingly enough, joannawould prepare dinner for him and
would stay with her for most ofthe evening.
He told her how much he hadloved for wedding center funeral
, what she said.
She had a VCR.
He got a copy of the tape.
They watched it together AndSwango continued his volleyball,

(01:05:40):
his table tennis, badmintongames, usually without Daly, but
the two socialized with the lawrumors or visited the cars or
other friends of Joanna.
One afternoon Swango took her tomeet his landlady and Mrs
O'Hare served them tea by thepool behind the house.

(01:06:00):
But Joanna felt somewhatintimidated by Mrs O'Hare, who
she deemed to come from a highersocial class than her own.
And on the many other occasionswhen she picked up Swango she
would drop him off at the house.
She stayed in the car, remainedoutside the gate.
Although Swango was talkativeand sociable most days, he

(01:06:22):
preferred to work alone inDaly's living room while she
worked on her sewing.
He always seemed to bescribbling on notebooks, doing
some kind of writing.
but he made it clear that hedidn't want Daly to pry into his
activities, given how upset hewas at Mrs O'Hare's mates were
spying on him.
Daly respected his privacy.

(01:06:44):
She wouldn't go so far as tosay she was in love with him,
let alone that she would marryhim.
But the relationship blossomedinto romance, although Swango
never spent any money on her orbought her gifts.
Neither had other men in herlife and she recognized that as
a missionary doctor he wasunlikely to have much money.

(01:07:06):
After the emotional trowel thatshe had been in with her
husband.
She was flattered by Swango'saffection and attention.
While he never asked her in somany words to marry him, he
often discussed the subject,saying how much he would like to
be married and living laterdoubt that she was his choice

(01:07:31):
for a wife.
Daly felt better about herselfthan she had in years.
She didn't ask Swango manyquestions and he was vague about
his birthplace, his schooling,where he had worked in the
United States, any geographicreference that might be traced.

(01:07:54):
He attributed his lack of amedical job to reverse racism,
but otherwise said little aboutNini or Pilo.
Still, as the weeks went by andtheir lives set on to something
of comfortable routine, dalylearned a good deal about him,
more probably than had anyoneelse in Bulabayo.

(01:08:15):
He often talked about hisfather and man he seemed to
resent bitterly.
He said Virgil, he had had abrilliant military career but
ended up dying an alcoholic.
He told her that his father hadkept a famous photograph of a
Viet-Kam soldier on his kneeswith a gun held to his head.
This is the police surprisephoto that Virgil had shown him

(01:08:43):
years before.
He also told her how, when heand his brothers were young
children, his father would makethem march and formation salute,
execute his commands.
Whenever visitors came to theStronger home, he said it was
something he had always hated.
And so when Daley said that shedidn't think it sounded so

(01:09:06):
terrible, he angrily retorted Idon't think it's right.
Stronger rarely mentioned hisbrothers, except for his older
half-brother who he said hedespised the father and was the
only one of the siblings he gotalong with.
He did not refer to any friends, with one exception.

(01:09:26):
He talked about Birdie Joe, asouthern name He said belonging
to his best friend, that he wasa medical specialist who
traveled a lot.
Swango told Daley a descriptionthat fits Birdie, a respiratory
therapist in Atlanta with whomSwango often stay after he left
Stony Brook.

(01:09:47):
But he never used Guy's realname, so Daley could never have
contacted him Had it occurred toher to do so.
Swango described Birdie Joe asa big, powerful guy who was
always very protective of him.
If there was any trouble,swango said Birdie Joe would
just pull out his big revolver.

(01:10:10):
Swango often returned to thesubject of his family.
He said that he dreaded familyvacations when he and his
brothers would be installed inthe back seat for what seemed
like endless drives acrossmiddle America.
He said the parents ignore them.
Sitting in the front seatsmostly in silence, smoking.

(01:10:31):
He said he never detected anywarmth in his parents' marriage
and that they rarely saw eachother, even during the
increasingly rare period whenBirdie was at home.
Swango spoke with him much moreaffection about Mirrior, who he
said had read to him as a childthat she typed all his school

(01:10:51):
papers for him.
She held a resemblance of afamily together, but still he
described his home life aslonely.
He described a Christmas breakwhen he spent every day alone at
the library.
So he remained an avid reader,especially of crime and
detective novels, which he readconstantly when he wasn't busy

(01:11:13):
with his own writing.
And sometimes he tried to telldaily the plots, but they
sounded twisted and sorted toher and she told him she wasn't
interested.
But one day Swango seemedunusually excited and said that
he wanted to write a bookhimself that he thought might be

(01:11:34):
a bestseller.
He insisted on telling her theidea.
He said someone is in town andthere's a serial killer at large
.
Then someone else kills in thesame way.
Everyone thinks this person isthe serial killer.
But they're long, they relaxand 10 years to go by.

(01:11:56):
Then the serial killer killsagain just for fun.
Tilly wasn't sure she everquite understood the plot, but
Swango seems so excited that shebought him a large book of
blank paper so he could beginwriting his novel.
Then there was his fascinationwith Ted Bundy.

(01:12:17):
When Swango heard that a miniseries on Bundy's life was going
to Aaron Simbaue, he insistedon watching and tipping it on
Daly's VCR.
Swango was riveted to thescreen.
He told Daly that he lovedBundy And she said you mean you
love the show?
And he said no, no, no, i loveBundy.

(01:12:40):
He was a genius.
Swango took the tape and playedfor the lower emers.
He caught particular attentionto the program's description of
Bundy's mental state, whichsuggested that the normal Bundy
would have been able torecognize the abnormal state

(01:13:01):
that coexisted in his mind.
So he showed a similar interestin Jim Jones, the religious
leader of the people's temple,whose nearly 1000 followers
committed mass suicide in 1978by poisoning themselves in
Guyana.
And if this incident struckDaly as someone somewhat macabre

(01:13:23):
, as they did, they hardlyseemed cause for concern.
Because many people werefascinated by people like Bundy
and Jones.
He assumed more There wouldn'tbe mini series about them.
And Swango's interest in murderwas more than overshadowed by
his sense of humor, his kindnessand his encouragement.

(01:13:44):
She especially liked the waythat he could converse with her
pet green parrot.
He tend to imitate the bird'svoice And at the same time he
said he felt bad for the parrotbeing confined in a cage, saying
that no one should be cooked uplike that.
He was affectionate towardDaly's part Siamese cat,

(01:14:08):
although he told her you know ananecdote about a cat he wants
That he left the cat alone for amonth with a supply of food And
the cat has thrived.
But then she asked but whatabout the little box?
You know the idea of the filth,knowing the cat's abhor and
unclean little box.

(01:14:28):
Swango only shrugged and seemedamused by her reaction.
Swango also seemed concerned forthe rights of minorities.
One day he criticized the cityof LA where alcohol
commissioners were allegedly inthe middle of the night And the
commissioners were allegedlyharassing gay bars.
He staunchly defended therights of homosexuals And Daly

(01:14:53):
was surprised at his view,saying that she thought
homosexuality was wrong and thatin conservative Zimbabwe most
straight men would like to shootgay men.
But Swango insisted that shewas wrong And he spent a good
deal of time explaininghomosexuality to her and
eventually persuaded her tochange her views on the matter.

(01:15:16):
He was even more forceful onthe subject of women's rights.
He insisted that it wasridiculous for women to assume
they could only aspire to behousewives.
He encouraged Cheryl Lorimer topursue an interest in
psychology And, at his urgent,joanna began reading some of

(01:15:36):
Swango's medical texts, whichshe found surprisingly absorbing
.
Swango told her that he thoughtshe might have an aptitude for
medicine.
He urged her to go back toschool, finish the criminal of a
high school degree, studymedicine, and she was thrilled
by the suggestion, because noman had ever been, had ever been

(01:15:59):
before, suggested that she wasintelligent or encouraged any
intellectual pursuits, let alonetold her that she might have
the ability to become a medicaldoctor.
At times like this, dailythought she might be in love
with Swango, but at the sametime she knew on some level that

(01:16:19):
the relationship might not last.
She was well aware that werethings that Swango wouldn't
share with her.
That kept him at a distance,such as his pinned up anger or
frustration.
He went through mood swingswhich she could tell from his
handwriting.
When she was cheerful, seendepressed, his handwriting would

(01:16:41):
change to cramped and slanted.
So she found it better to leavehim alone, writing furiously in
his notebooks.
There was also the possibilitythat he might soon find work
lives in Bauer or together, eventhough he said he loved the
country and wanted to stay inBula Wajo.
She knew he was filling outapplications for medical jobs

(01:17:04):
and places like South Africa andSambia.
He mentioned a trauma unit inJohannesburg that he was
especially interested in.
Daily took out a post box inboth their names so that he
would have a mailing address touse on his job applications.
Swango never said much to dailyabout what had happened at Nini

(01:17:28):
or why he was having troublefinding medical work in Bula
Wajo, which was suffering fromsuch a shortage of doctors Like
the cars who had introduced himto her.
She was vaguely aware that hehad been falsely accused of
malpractice of some sort and hewas suing the Lutheran Church,

(01:17:50):
but she didn't press him for anyfurther explanation and he
didn't volunteer any.
One day, however, she had whatshe considered a strange call
from Kevin Carr who asked herhow things were going with
Michael, and Joanna said theywere fine and Mrs Carr said just

(01:18:11):
be careful.
And Joanna daily asked her why.
He said you know he had anothergirlfriend and she dumped him,
and so she asked him why He saidthere anything else, but Mrs
Carr said she couldn't say anymore.
Daily mentioned this to Swangoand they seemed to irritate him.

(01:18:34):
He said everyone is gossipingabout me.
And then in late July the Sundaynews read another article that
says where about a fired USdoctor unknown.
And the article said that thepolice were quiet on the
whereabouts of an Americandoctor who is alleged to have

(01:18:57):
caused the death of fivepatients at Ninny Hospital.
So Swango's name still wasn'tmentioned, but Joanna knew it
was him and she raised thesubject of the continuing press
coverage And she said peoplejust don't write all these
stories out of nothing.
You must have done something.

(01:19:17):
And when she said that, swangoseemed shocked and annoyed and
he said no, no, no, no, they arejust causing trouble.
It's a nonsense, people arealways hassling me.
And she said but are you sureyou're not lying, are you He's
like?
no, no, no, no, no.

(01:19:38):
So although she had questionedhim, daily didn't doubt Swango.
She trusted her to intuition,she trusted her feelings, which
told her he couldn't be guiltyof murder or a danger to anyone
else.
So now is the first week ofAugust.

(01:20:02):
All four of daily's childrenfell ill with nausea, vomiting
and diarrhea.
She blamed the illness on thelocal water supply which had
been causing problems in thewake of a severe drought.
She was getting them into hercar to take them to the doctor
when her husband emerged fromthe cottage and asked where they

(01:20:25):
were going And she said theboys were sick.
And he said why don't you haveyour doctor boyfriend take care
of them?
And he said that's like with aninsinuating tone and that
infuriated her.
She had never considered havingswango treat them.
He wasn't a proper doctor sincehe wasn't practicing, and in

(01:20:48):
any event he wasn't apediatrician.
The children's doctor sent themhome, saying they probably had
a stomach virus.
Though her hands were full withthe sick children, joanna still
felt obliged to cook swango'sdinner this that evening She had
promised him fried chicken, asclose as she could get to

(01:21:09):
commercial Kentucky friedchicken, which he had often said
he was his favorite food.
Swango arrived that afternoonin an unusually good mood,
asking after the children,offering to fix her a cup of tea
.
She was surprised.
He never offered to prepareanything for her before And you

(01:21:31):
know she was well, that would benice.
So swango bought daily the teaand she sat down and drank at
least half of it, perhaps more.
Then she went into the kitchento begin preparing dinner, but
after about 10 minutes shesuffered a sudden attack of
nausea And she rushed to thebathroom and started vomiting.

(01:21:55):
And then she laid down on thebed week on the bed, sorry week.
And she was disoriented.
But all she could think aboutwas swango's dinner and
condition over the years by herfather and her husband.
She felt it was her duty to fixa meal, no matter how ill she

(01:22:16):
felt.
She swung her to her feet,returned to the kitchen, fried
the chicken.
She managed to get the food tothe table, then sat down saying
she couldn't possibly eatherself.
Swango paused before eating andlook at her with a searching
gaze and finally he said I can'tbelieve you're doing this to me

(01:22:37):
.
So Joanna was, you know,sweating.
She was weak, nauseated, andshe said if you don't mind, i'm
gonna lie down.
So she goes back to the bedroom.
And she felt that she was goingto blacked out.
She remembered nothing more ofthat night.

(01:22:59):
She spent the next day in bed,took several days to recover,
though she had never before feltso violently ill.
She assumed she had come downwith the same bug that affected
her children.
So Mrs O'Hare couldn't get overthe change in swango.

(01:23:26):
Since he had met Mrs Daily,joanna Daily, he seemed as he
had been when she had first methim.
you know Sonny and Tuckative.
She fuss over him, tried toencourage him in his medical
career, despite the persecutionshe believed he was suffering.
She introduced him to nicepeople she thought he would

(01:23:46):
enjoy, including Judith Todd.
Judith Todd was a prominenthuman rights activist and a
Catholic priest she held in highregard.
He spoke to a class of childrenat the Catholic school about
what it was like to be a doctor.
It seems swango made afavorable impression on every

(01:24:09):
one he met.
He wrote O'Hare's daughterregularly, usually two or three
times a week, lavishly praisedon her feeling, his letters with
quotations from the bible.
He struck up friendship withthe Samaritan who had called him
when Mrs O'Hare feared he mightattend suicide.
Swango continued to seek work asa doctor but seemed to be

(01:24:32):
growing discouraged.
He applied for a position atthe mental hospital but its
director thought, lamenting whata waste it was that someone
with swango's skills wasunemployed, said that she could
do nothing as long as theministry of health maintained
his suspension, even though hewas suing the Lutheran church.

(01:24:53):
O'hare thought swango should bemore aggressive at vindicating
himself.
Whether you go to the Americanembassy in Harare, he was told
by O'Hare, and she said you haverights as an American citizen.
But he argued that such a tripwould be pointless because he

(01:25:17):
wasn't formally accused of anyright doing So.
O'hare was also busy with arotary campaign to eradicate
polio that she urged swango tovolunteer at one of the stations
where parents were bringingtheir children for inoculations,
but swango adamantly refused,saying no doctor will go near me

(01:25:43):
.
So Mrs O'Hare was nonethelessgrateful to have a doctor in the
house, since her own health hadbeen declining precipitously,
though she had always had astrong constitution.
She had been experiencing boutsof severe nausea, vomiting and
diarrhea, some of which kept herin bed for days.

(01:26:05):
But swango reassured her,telling her the symptoms were
just a bad bout of the flu, andeach time she fell ill he gave
her some medication and seemedsolicitous and concerned about
her welfare.
We'll, mrs O'Hare, suffer thesame fate that all the other

(01:26:34):
people in the clinic where hewas working and in Pilo or Nini?
we'll see.
Thank you for listening to TheMurder Book.
Have a great week.