How a Nuclear Lab Helped Catch a Serial Killer

Science Vs

Spotify Studios

Science, Education, Health & Fitness

4.4 • 11.7K Ratings

🗓️ 28 November 2024

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It’s the 1990s at a medical center in California, and patients are dying. At first, this doesn’t seem strange — it’s a hospital, and deaths happen. But then rumors start to circulate about a particular health care worker: Difficult or needy patients in his care are ending up dead. The cops get involved, but there’s a huge problem: There’s no hard evidence. Until the so-called “Lab of Last Resort” steps in. Crime Junkie host Ashley Flowers joins us as we speak to analytical chemist Armando Alcaraz, former Detective Sergeant John McKillop and Dr. Ian Musgrave. Find our transcript here: https://bit.ly/ScienceVsSerialKiller In this episode we cover: (00:00) Deaths at a California Hospital (05:20) Meet Efren Saldivar (10:51) A Shocking Confession (15:40) Pavulon and Succinylcholine (21:00) Searching for Suspicious Cases (25:09) The Lab of Last Resort (34:21) Testing the Bodies (39:30) The Story Ends Credits: This episode was produced by Joel Werner and Ekedi Fausther-Keeys, with help from Wendy Zukerman, along with Meryl Horn, Rose Rimler and Michelle Dang. We’re edited by Blythe Terrell. Mix and sound design by Sam Bair. Fact checking by Diane Kelly. Music written by So Wylie, Bobby Lord and Bumi Hidaka. Thanks to Roland Campos, Steve Wampler, Audrey Williams, the audiochuck team, Jasmine Kingston, Connor Sampson, Stupid Old Studios, and Penny Greenhalgh. Special thanks to the LA times staff whose very thorough reporting we used to research this episode. Science Vs is a Spotify Studios Original. Listen for free on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow us and tap the bell for episode notifications. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm Wendy Zuckerman and you're listening to Science Verses.
0:05.7	Today on the show, how a lab that designs nuclear weapons helped catch a serial killer.
0:19.0	And if you're going to do true crime, you better bring in the true crime queen.
0:24.5	Host of crime junkie, Ashley Flowers, welcome to Science Verses.
0:29.1	Hello, I'm so excited to be here.
0:32.5	So something that a lot of people might not know about you is that you graduated from biomedical science. That was your
0:39.0	degree. It was. And we are twinsies. Yeah. We both have this degree. I thought I really wanted to be a
0:44.3	doctor when I was young. And I was, I think, fortunate enough to have to work full time to put myself
0:51.0	through school. And I worked at a hospital for all five years and went to
0:55.2	school at night and I got to work side by side with residents who you have to be before you're a
1:01.3	doctor and I was like oh that's not the life I want.
1:05.2	Right. I made a bit of a pivot and I finished my degree with actually a focus in research. And so what do you
1:12.9	like about science? I like facts. And I think so much in life can be so subjective. And what I love
1:21.7	about science is it feels like there are real answers and not just opinions.
1:28.2	Like there are sometimes things get to be black and white, and that's not very often do you get that.
1:32.3	Yes. Yes. I think that's one of the reasons I love science too. It's a way to understand the world.
1:37.1	Yeah. If science is your side piece, I guess, your true love is really mysteries.
1:42.6	Yes. That I've heard you say that you are obsessed with solving mysteries.
1:47.8	Obsessed.
1:48.2	What is it about a mystery that just grabs you and you cannot let go?
1:53.2	I think I'm just to go overall, like a very curious person, the more that I've like really drilled into it.
1:59.1	And I want to, I want the answers to everything.
	...

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