Night Shift I 3. The Man in the Doorway

Summary

Podcast Title: The Binge Crimes: Lady Mafia

Episode: Night Shift I 3. The Man in the Doorway

Release Date: September 16, 2024

Host/Author: Sony Music Entertainment / Campside Media

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Introduction

In the gripping episode titled "The Man in the Doorway," hosted by Jake Adelstein, listeners are taken deep into the underbelly of the Columbia VA Hospital in Missouri during the early 1990s. This episode unravels the complex dynamics between hospital administration and dedicated medical professionals amidst a series of unexplained patient deaths. Central to the narrative is the conflict between Joseph Louis Kurziewski (referred to as Mr. K), the authoritarian hospital director, and Gordon Christensen, the hospital epidemiologist who uncovers troubling data pointing to a possible serial killer within the nursing staff.

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Characters and Leadership Dynamics

Joseph Louis Kurziewski (Mr. K):
Mr. Kurziewski is portrayed as a strict, autocratic leader who managed the VA Hospital with a military-like discipline. Descriptions from former staff, such as Lee Miller, highlight his "distant, authoritarian" and "rigid" nature ([01:41] Lee Miller).

Gordon Christensen:
As the hospital epidemiologist, Gordon is meticulous and deeply concerned about patient safety. His dedication leads him to uncover unsettling patterns in patient deaths, which he believes point to deliberate foul play by a nurse named Richard Williams.

Supporting Characters:

• Dr. Jan Swaney: A former head nurse involved in the investigation.
• Lee Miller: Nurse manager who collaborates with Dr. Swaney.
• Richard Williams: The nurse accused of being responsible for the cluster of deaths.
• Rudy Keller: A local reporter whose investigations play a pivotal role in bringing the story to light.
• Ken Jacob: A state legislator who becomes instrumental in escalating the issue to the FBI.

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Uncovering the Truth: September 1992

In early September 1992, Gordon Christensen runs a study revealing a significant increase in patient deaths on Ward 4 East, with data implicating Nurse Richard Williams ([03:03] Jake Adelstein). Confronting Mr. K, Gordon demands that the nurse not return to patient care and insists that the matter be reported to the FBI or local police ([04:07] Gordon Christensen). Mr. K refuses, assuring Gordon that the VA would handle the investigation internally ([04:19] Jake Adelstein).

Key Quote:

Gordon Christensen ([04:07]): "I insisted that the nurse not be returned to patient care... I insisted that he do something right away, report it to the FBI or the local police."

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Internal Conflict and Investigation

Feeling the weight of his findings, Gordon attempts to delegate the investigation to the hospital administration. However, he soon realizes that he has inadvertently stepped into a "trap" where his career and ethical obligations clash ([04:59] Jake Adelstein). Dr. Swaney and Lee Miller recognize the potential severity of the situation and seek to expand the investigation but face administrative resistance ([09:04] Jake Adelstein).

Notable Discussion:

Dr. Swaney reflects on the inadequacies of their investigatory board, pointing out their lack of training in forensic or legal procedures ([10:57] Dr. Jan Swaney).

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Media Involvement and Escalation

Parallel to the internal struggles, Rudy Keller, a reporter from the Columbia Daily Tribune, becomes intrigued by the VA's seemingly dismissive press statements about the spike in deaths. After tracing the suspect's identity and confronting Richard Williams, Rudy's persistent reporting forces the issue into the public eye ([23:34] Jake Adelstein).

Key Quote:

Rudy Keller ([28:23]): "I knocked, he opened. I identified myself... Are you Richard Williams... Are you the Richard Williams who works at the VA hospital?"

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Government Intervention and Whistleblowers

The situation escalates when Ken Jacob, a state legislator, is tipped off by two anonymous whistleblowers from the VA's Quality Assurance department. This leads to the FBI being involved, thereby legitimizing Gordon's concerns ([20:52] Jake Adelstein). However, the bureaucratic inertia and internal politics of the VA hinder swift action, leaving Gordon feeling isolated and overwhelmed.

Notable Interaction:

Gordon describes the silent treatment from Mr. K, stating, "Kurziewski would threaten to return the nurse to patient care. I would threaten to go public." ([19:37] Gordon Christensen).

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Administrative Retaliation and Public Scrutiny

In response to the growing scrutiny, Mr. K organizes a hospital-wide meeting to discourage staff from speaking to the FBI, threatening legal repercussions for any breaches of confidentiality ([34:06] Jake Adelstein). Simultaneously, an ad is initiated to discredit Ken Jacob, further illustrating the administration's attempts to control the narrative.

Key Quote:

Gordon Christensen ([35:11]): "This is where I really learned what the term sycophant came from. Because the hospital is full of sycophants who would go along with all this stuff just to curry favor with leadership."

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Personal Toll and Continuing Struggle

The relentless pressure takes a personal toll on Gordon, leaving him sleepless and burdened by the isolation of fighting against a powerful administration. Despite the mounting evidence and public attention, the VA's internal mechanisms remain sluggish, delaying the necessary actions to protect patients.

Notable Reflection:

Dr. Jan Swaney ([13:17]): "The VA is a huge bureaucracy, and there are ways to get things done in the VA hospital, and there are ways. You'll be beating your head against the wall because it's not going to happen for you."

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Conclusion and Cliffhanger

As the episode wraps up, the interplay between journalism, whistleblowing, and bureaucratic resistance sets the stage for further revelations. The involvement of the FBI marks a turning point, but uncertainties about the true extent of the cover-up and the ultimate accountability of those involved leave listeners eagerly anticipating the next installment.

Final Thoughts:

Gordon feels a mix of relief and betrayal as the FBI steps in, but the real battle is just beginning. The episode closes with unresolved tensions and the looming question of whether justice will prevail within the murky corridors of the VA Hospital.

Closing Quote:

Rudy Keller ([36:52]): "I didn't even know what I was doing anymore. What am I doing as a reporter? You know, I've got no proof that this guy killed anybody."

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Production Credits

• Host: Jake Adelstein
• Reporters: Jake Adelstein and Shoko Plambeck
• Producer: Amy Plembeck
• Managing Producer: Elizabeth Van Brocklin
• Story Editor: Michael Kanyon Meyer
• Fact Checking: Abukar Adan
• Executive Producer: Josh Dean
• Sound Design and Original Scoring: Erica Wong
• Additional Music: Mike Harmon and APM
• Special Thanks: Eddie Edelstein and Benny Edelstein
• Operations Team: Doug Slaywin, Ashley Warren, Sabina Mara, Destiny Dingle, and David Eichler
• Executive Producers (Campside Media): Josh Dean, Vanessa Gregoriatis, Adam Hoff, and Matt Schaer

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Takeaways

• Bureaucratic Hurdles: The episode starkly portrays how institutional inertia and authoritative leadership can obstruct truth and justice, endangering patient lives.

• Ethical Dilemmas: It highlights the ethical struggles faced by medical professionals who must choose between their careers and the imperative to protect patients.

• Journalistic Integrity: Rudy Keller’s relentless pursuit underscores the crucial role of journalism in uncovering truths hidden by powerful organizations.

• Whistleblower Challenges: The difficulties faced by whistleblowers in raising alarms within large bureaucracies are vividly illustrated, emphasizing the need for robust protections.

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Final Note

"The Man in the Doorway" serves as a compelling exploration of systemic failures within a critical healthcare institution. Through meticulous reporting and engaging storytelling, the episode sheds light on the human cost of administrative corruption and the relentless pursuit of truth by those willing to stand against the tide.

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For more episodes and true crime stories, subscribe to The Binge Crimes on Apple Podcasts or visit GetTheBinge.com. Feed your true crime obsession with thrilling narratives that never let go.

Transcript

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[Gordon Christensen]

The bench.

[Campsite Media]

Campsite Media.

[Jake Adelstein]

If you worked at the VA Hospital in Columbia, Missouri in the early 90s, Mr. Joseph Louis Kurziewski was your boss. Everyone called him Mr. K. He was the hospital director, which meant he ran the whole place. One might see him striding down the halls wearing a well ironed pinstripe suit. Those who worked with him told us he had something of a reputation.

[Lee Miller]

He was distant, authoritarian, kind of autocratic.

[Dr. Jan Swaney]

In his leadership styles.

[Lee Miller]

Rigid. He didn't tolerate nonsense, strongly directive.

[Joseph Louis Kurziewski]

Mr. Kurziewski was kind of a ferocious autocrat, kind of a bully guy.

[Lee Miller]

I don't want to use direct derogatory words, but if you wanted to think like about a commander in a military hospital in the 1940s, a military commander isn't far off.

[Jake Adelstein]

During World War II, Mr. K was a Seaman First Class in the Navy in the Pacific Theater. After the war, he went to school for hospital administration. So he wasn't a medical professional by training, he was an administrator. And he had to treat the VA hospital like a business. Mr. K reported to the higher ups in the government and those higher ups reported all the way up to the President of the United states. It was Mr. K's job to ensure stability and a positive image at all cost. It was a lot of pressure. So Mr. K ran a tight ship. Here's Lee Miller, a former head nurse.

[Lee Miller]

Again, he wanted things done the way he wanted them done. He didn't engage in informal conversations with people in the hallway. His office was remote in the hospital building. You didn't Just walk in to see him.

[Jake Adelstein]

But in early September 1992, the hospital epidemiologist, Gordon Christensen, needed to talk to Mr. K. Remember, Gordon had just run that study on the apparent cluster of deaths, and the initial results were shocking. They showed a link between one nurse, Richard Williams, and the increase in Deaths on Ward 4 East. By this point, the nurse had been pulled off patient care and was doing a week of training in the icu. But if he was actually a murderer, the hospital needed to do something a lot more drastic than shuffle him to a different ward. It needed to prove it and stop him. So on September 2, Gordon took the long walk into that remote part of the hospital where Mr. K kept his office. The young doctor sat down across from the hardened administrator and leveled with him.

[Gordon Christensen]

I insisted that the nurse not be returned to patient care.

[Jake Adelstein]

Here's a quick reminder that this is from an interview Gordon did with his daughter when he was sick at home. So it's not the cleanest recording.

[Gordon Christensen]

And I insisted that he do something right away, report it to the FBI or the local police. And he refused to do that.

[Jake Adelstein]

You heard that correctly. Gordon asked Mr. K to go to law enforcement, and Mr. K refused. But he assured the good doctor that he shouldn't panic, that the situation was under control. The VA was doing a proper investigation. Mr. K told Gordon that he would alert the appropriate authorities within the VA system. Meanwhile, Gordon should do more studies.

[Gordon Christensen]

So I was supposed to review stuff and be sure everything was on board, and there would be a decision over the weekend about what to do. We would have a plan, everything would be all set up, and I would be out of it.

[Jake Adelstein]

Gordon thought he had successfully handed off the whole situation to the hospital administration. And he felt at least somewhat assured. This was the federal government. The VA did have a lot of power and resources after all. Surely they could protect these patients. But Gordon had no clue that he'd already stepped into a trap. One where he would soon find himself facing a terrible choice. Either say nothing and risk more deaths or defy the VA and risk his career. His choice would haunt him for the rest of his life. From Campside Media and Sony Music Entertainment, you're listening to Witnessed Night Shift. This is episode three, the man in the Doorway. I'm Jake Edelstein.

[Stephen Gaither]

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[Campsite Media]

My dad works in B2B marketing.

[Jake Adelstein]

He came by my school for career Day and said he was a big roas man. Then he told everyone how much he loved calculating his return on ad spend. My friends still laugh at me to this day. Not everyone gets B2B, but with LinkedIn you'll be able to reach people who do. Get a $100 credit on your next ad campaign. Go to LinkedIn.com campaign to claim your credit. That's LinkedIn.com campaign. Terms and conditions apply. LinkedIn the place to be. To be. Let's rewind a bit. In the last episode, a veteran named Leo Yamri died suddenly in the night on Ward 4 East. And right afterwards, the young resident doctor on call confronted Richard Williams. His name was Dr. Al Kalani. And he asked Nurse Williams, why are you killing my patients? It was a hell of an accusation to voice in a hospital. And by the time the rumor reached Mr. K, he couldn't just brush it off. He had to do something about it. He decided to appoint a small board to look into it. Dr. Jan Swaney and nurse manager Lee Miller were on that board. But when they interviewed their key witness, Dr. Al Kalani, he downplayed his comment. He claimed he'd been joking. Dr. Jan Swaney and Lee Miller thought they'd be able to get some sort of insight into these allegations, something to press the investigation forward. If it were a joke. Their entire board had been convened for nothing. But they felt in the pit of their stomachs that Al Kalani did actually mean what he'd said.

[Lee Miller]

I believe, and this is just what I believe, it's not what I know. I believe he was absolutely serious. And I believe that everybody who testified to our board of investigation thought something terrible was going on. There were statistical issues and suspicions and patterns, but I think everyone was really, really careful to make allegations or assertions because the bottom line was there was no physical evidence.

[Jake Adelstein]

Well, maybe not physical evidence, but now there was solid data. And when Dr. Swaney and Lee heard about it, they wanted to see it.

[Dr. Jan Swaney]

We asked for it in that we asked the chairman of our board to ask for it. He's the chair. We ask him to go to the administration and get the data. And he was told, you can't have it. And so he came back and reported to us that we can't share that information.

[Jake Adelstein]

The administrator reported to Mr. K Jan.

[Lee Miller]

And I were the clinical people and we were the ones alarmed. And I think he was just doing what hospital administration wanted him to do. And I think his goal was to keep the investigation reined in.

[Jake Adelstein]

Dr. Swaney and Lee sense that the administration's agenda seemed to be out of step with theirs, but they truly believed that lives were at stake. So they asked to look into some of the other suspicious deaths.

[Lee Miller]

Jan and I were concerned enough that we actually made a formal request to expand the scope of the investigation. The administrator representative went to Mr. Kurzyczewski, came back and said the answer is no. He said, you can investigate Leo Yammery's death and that's it.

[Jake Adelstein]

The request was denied. Less than three weeks after Mr. K convened it, the board delivered their recommendations. They recommended that Mr. Williams link to the increased deaths, quote, must be pursued rigorously. In the meantime, they recommended Richard Williams be kept off patient care. In other words, keep the nurse away from patients until there's more information. And then almost as quickly as it had been formed, the board was disbanded.

[Dr. Jan Swaney]

Ad hoc means you convene and then you disappear. And I think we disappeared. We were off the radar screen and they were onto other things.

[Lee Miller]

Was it a formality? Possibly so. Possibly so. I think the administrative side of the house was concerned that it stay very limited.

[Jake Adelstein]

It was very possibly limited by design. They weren't even putting the right person under the microscope.

[Dr. Jan Swaney]

Why would we put it on Dr. Al Kalani? We had a situation here that we surely could have dealt with in a more constructive way than calling this green intern in front of us to give testimony into a tape recorder with so called swearing oath. Who are we? We're not a body with any standing in the law. None of us were trained to do this kind of investigation. You know, we're not forensic scientists and we're not people from the criminal justice world. So why are we pretending that we can investigate this situation?

[Jake Adelstein]

The biggest action to come out of the investigation was a slap on the wrist for Dr. Al Kalani. Mr. K directed the Acting Chief of Medicine to give Dr. Al Kalani a talking to about how serious this was. To tell him that his common had been inflammatory and inappropriate. Not only that, but his little joke had cost the hospital valuable money, time and resources. Once the administration was confident that Dr. Al Kalani understood the weight of his actions, they let him go back to work as usual. My co reporter Shoko tried to reach the doctor, but when she called his office and explained her reason for calling, the receptionist said no and hung up. He didn't respond to our letter either. To the best of our knowledge, he has never spoken to the press about it. As for Williams, he was allowed to keep working. This seems absolutely bonkers to me. As Shoko and I listened to Dr. Swaney and Lee Miller, we began to feel the frustration and confusion they must have felt. It must have been like watching a surfer try to drown someone in the ocean and the lifeguard on the beach saying to you, don't go in the water. Back off. After the board was dissolved, Jan Swaney and Lee Miller had to go back to their jobs, knowing that something terrible was happening at their hospital. Something terrible that they had no power to stop.

[Dr. Jan Swaney]

I know I had become encultured to the va way I had worked there six years. The VA is a huge bureaucracy, and there are ways to get things done in the VA hospital, and there are ways. You'll be beating your head against the wall because it's not going to happen for you.

[Jake Adelstein]

Lee had been at the VA for 12 years. At that point he would keep working there for 10 more. But the experience of being on the board had broken something in him.

[Lee Miller]

I would just say that I was increasingly less trustful of hospital administration and less on board with the direction the hospital was going. Part of that was internal for me, that I thought, I don't really trust these people anymore. I'm just going to, you know, get, get through it and do my job and take care of my patients. But I don't really Trust, trust them.

[Jake Adelstein]

Dr. Swaney waited for the administration to contact them, an update, maybe even a thank you note, but they heard nothing back.

[Dr. Jan Swaney]

You know, we give our report and nothing seems to happen. And we were like, what? Who's dealing with this issue other than taking the nurse off of clinical care?

[Jake Adelstein]

Without any official information trickling down, Dr. Swaney had to rely on the rumor mill to figure out what was going on. And what she heard rattled her.

[Dr. Jan Swaney]

There was a rumor that Mr. Kurzewski was told, gee, Joe, you've got a problem there. I sure hope you can solve that because you're close to retirement and I'd say, hate to see you lose your retirement. So whatever you can figure out, Joe, just deal with it.

[Jake Adelstein]

There was one more thing. According to a later government report, Mr. K. Did not notify local law enforcement about the unexplained deaths at the hospital. In fact, when the hospital's own chief of police asked questions about the situation, Mr. K. Demoted him. After Gordon met with Mr. K in early September, he felt like he'd done the right thing. He handed off his data and went to enjoy his Labor Day weekend at a lake in central Missouri with his children. He expected the VA higher ups to take one look at his data and spring into crisis mode. That they'd immediately move to protect patients and hold whoever was responsible to account. But that's not what happened.

[Gordon Christensen]

And what happened was, I came back. Nothing had been done.

[Jake Adelstein]

Gordon's data wasn't treated like an emergency. It was treated more like a letter dropped in a suggestion box. A rather inconvenient letter.

[Gordon Christensen]

They then told me that they had given this data that I had generated to a statistician for the VA who would take a look at and would pass judgment. And if the statistician said the data was good, then the VA would do the right thing. So that's what I was counting on.

[Jake Adelstein]

People were dying. There wasn't time for any bureaucratic bullshit. Gordon called another emergency meeting with Mr. K and other top hospital staff.

[Gordon Christensen]

So I told the hospital director, if he didn't address this, I would address it. And he became furious at this, so he stopped meeting with me. That was the last time I met with him.

[Jake Adelstein]

You heard that right. Mr. K gave Gordon the silent treatment. He refused to speak to him unless it was through an intermediary. Earl Dick, the Chief of staff. Maybe you remember Earl. All the way from episode one. He's the one who entrusted Eddie to look into the 4e rumors while he was out of town. Well, Earl is back now as a clinician and an administrator. He was in a unique position where he straddled both worlds. So in a situation like this, he became a sort of double agent, going as far as having secret meetings with Gordon in a tunnel. Everyone at the VA knows about the tunnel that ran under the street between the VA hospital and the University Hospital. Usually it was used to transport freights and supplies from one place to another. It terrified me as a kid, Dr. Swaney recalls. It felt like a bunker.

[Dr. Jan Swaney]

It was concrete lined and had been painted battleship gray and a shiny gray paint, like little dingy lights hanging down from the ceiling. And not necessarily a pleasant place to walk.

[Jake Adelstein]

Dim, remote, a little creepy. And was the perfect place for Gordon and Earl to meet privately. It was their version of the parking garage and all the President's Men where Woodward and Bernstein met with Deep Throat.

[Gordon Christensen]

Earl and I would walk through this tunnel and he would tell me what was going on.

[Jake Adelstein]

Earl Dick would give Gordon the latest intel, namely that Mr. K was proceeding with his job as usual, like a pragmatic. Businessman who cares mostly about protecting himself.

[Gordon Christensen]

And get this Percy Askew as being. He felt pressure to put the nurse back to work on the ward because he needed the staffing.

[Jake Adelstein]

Gordon was aghast. He couldn't possibly accept that. But he was also torn about going to the authorities himself without some support from his bosses.

[Gordon Christensen]

I was hesitant to break ranks without giving the VA the opportunity to do the right thing.

[Jake Adelstein]

There was just too much at stake for the hospital and for his career. It would be better for everyone if the VA side itself was the one that rang the emergency bell and called the cops. What ensued from there was a kind of cold war between Gordon and Mr. K, both of them standing their ground and trying to make the other one blink.

[Gordon Christensen]

Kurziewski would threaten to return the nurse to patient care. I would threaten to go public. In the meantime, I was repeatedly being assured that people in the VA were looking at this and were trying to figure out what to do next, even though they hadn't called in the FBI.

[Jake Adelstein]

Gordon felt like he was the only one who could see how bad this really was, this cold war. He was fighting. He was fighting alone.

[Gordon Christensen]

This is also. I was working full time, teaching medical students, taking care of patients. And so I didn't get much sleep.

[Jake Adelstein]

The stress, the isolation, the sleeplessness, it all piled up on him. Gordon was about to give up or go public, which could destroy his career or possibly get him arrested. He knew that the investigative board had been convened. Dr. Earl Dick, the chief of staff, had even asked him to prepare a presentation. But Mr. K stepped in and left explicit instructions that Gordon was banned from presenting the data to the board. Dr. Dick received similar instructions. But then someone leaked his statistical analysis.

[Gordon Christensen]

Someone not me, and I don't know who. I still don't know who. But someone took the data that I had assembled and took it to Ken Jacob, who was our representative in the Missouri Senate. It was two people, and they complained that this was going on. And then Ken Jacob revealed it to the FBI.

[Jake Adelstein]

So the person who tipped off the FBI was ultimately this state legislator, Ken Jacob. And he'd been tipped off by two anonymous people who worked at the hospital. We really wanted to figure out who these two people were, and we tried. During our reporting, we reached out to 24 former VA nurses, but very few nurses wanted to talk to us about this, even three decades later. Gordon, for his part, suspected that the two whistleblowers must have been nurses from Ward 4 East. Whoever they were, they took the decision he'd been agonizing over out of his hands. In some ways, this sounds like the ideal scenario for Gordon. His data was now with the FBI pointing straight at the person he thought was the killer. And he didn't have to defy his bosses to get it done. It just happened. But Gordon was too deeply involved to walk away unscathed. And for the va, all those slow burning embers of a rumor smoldering within the walls of the hospital were about to become flames, bursting into public view.

[Stephen Gaither]

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[Jake Adelstein]

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[Stephen Gaither]

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[Jake Adelstein]

On September 25, 1992, a reporter named Rudy Keller was sitting in the newsroom of the Columbia Daily Tribune, the local newspaper. He was just waiting for something to happen.

[Rudy Keller]

One of the jobs of the assistant city editor on a Friday evening is to put out, and you're putting out the Saturday morning paper. The other people are gone. The reporters who work during the week are gone. And part of your job is to turn on the television, switch the channels, see what's on the. On the news.

[Jake Adelstein]

The man on the TV was the Columbia VA spokesman, Stephen Gaither. He was holding a press conference, and.

[Rudy Keller]

He gave the standard line that they had developed, that there was a spike in deaths, that they had been reviewing them, but there was really no cause for concern. They were wrapping up this review.

[Jake Adelstein]

A statement saying, yes, there have been a series of mysterious deaths in our hospital, but we're looking into it. Nothing to see here, kids. You know, that's going to raise suspicions for any reporter. But it was especially true for Rudy because he actually received a tip about something very odd going on at the VA a few weeks prior. He hadn't been able to make any progress on it then, but now here was the VA spokesman saying everything was fine, which meant that everything was almost certainly not fine. Something wasn't adding up. So Rudy called the VA spokesman.

[Rudy Keller]

So I called Gaither. I got the statement that he had basically given to Kmiz.

[Jake Adelstein]

It was your standard bureaucratic press release. There was a problem. We made an Adjustment. The problem is fixed now. No need to panic. But Rudy noticed something strange. The statement was dated to the first week in September, which meant that for three weeks, the VA had been sitting on this news.

[Rudy Keller]

So they had been prepared for up to three weeks for someone from the media to ask about this.

[Jake Adelstein]

Rudy, though, wasn't going to wait any longer. On September 26, Rudy wrote his first article about the case. The headline was VA Investigating Unusual Deaths. According to his interview with Gaither, the hospital had not planned on making the investigation public. Gaither told Rudy that the VA would only have announced it if we felt there was a real serious problem. We don't want to go out and say, gee, we've got a big problem here. Whether the VA wanted to say it or not, to Rudy, it seemed like there definitely was a problem going on. If there was a spike in deaths and they'd taken a nurse off patient care, that meant there was a nurse who the hospital worried was responsible for those deaths. Could it have been malpractice? Or could it have been murder? Whatever the case was, Rudy saw that there was this figure at the center of the story. So he decided that he needed to find this person and show them to the world. In his first article, Rudy named the suspect only as a staff member, one who had been reassigned for both their own protection and for the protection of the hospital.

[Rudy Keller]

All we knew was that the VA had had a spike in deaths. They said that they had taken a staffer, a nurse, off of patient care.

[Jake Adelstein]

The VA wanted to keep the name of the suspect hidden, but Rudy found out who it was pretty quickly. An anonymous source leaked the name Richard Williams.

[Rudy Keller]

Once, you know, you have telephone books, they tell you people's addresses. He lived in a mobile home in Ashland, Missouri, which is about 15 miles south of Columbia. So I got a photographer and I said, we're going to go visit Richard Williams. We're going to go find out what he'll say to us. We talked about, well, what are we going to do? What's the potential for his reaction? Well, you're on someone's property. You got to leave if they tell you to leave, right? The photographer said, try to get him as far out of his door as possible so I can get a picture as clear as possible. And it's a very typical mobile home park. The gravel or, you know, crappy little roads that, you know, you pull in and you're right there. Not a whole lot of shade trees or anything like that.

[Jake Adelstein]

Rudy approached the door while the photographer stayed back, ready to take a picture. Everything was going according to plan.

[Rudy Keller]

I knocked, he opened. I identified myself. This guy looks like he. He's pretty hairy. He looked very stressed. I mean, as you might expect, Rudy.

[Jake Adelstein]

Got straight to the point.

[Rudy Keller]

You know, are you Richard Williams? Are you the Richard Williams who lives at. Who works at the VA hospital? Are you the Richard Williams who's been removed from patient care? And by the third question, he's pointing and yelling at me to leave with the photographer who's standing down below.

[Jake Adelstein]

Somehow, in the midst of all of this, Rudy was able to get a few clear answers. The man in the doorway confirmed he was indeed the Richard Williams who worked at the VA hospital and who had been pulled off patient care.

[Rudy Keller]

But that was it. He wouldn't go beyond that.

[Jake Adelstein]

If you read the newspaper the next day, September 29, 1992, you'd see Rudy describes Richard Williams as a 26 year old Ashland resident who has been a registered nurse since March. It was the first time that Richard Williams was named in the press. Later, another article would run with a tiny picture of Williams pointing at Rudy to get the hell off his property.

[Rudy Keller]

He was very angry at the Tribune and at me and would never ever agree to speak to us.

[Jake Adelstein]

It's no surprise that William scrambled to clear his name. He gave an interview to the St. Louis Post dispatch saying he was innocent. He also spoke with local news channel 8. I didn't become a nurse to nurse the kill or to determine when someone would die. I just can't believe that people think that I am killing people. His explanation for the increase of deaths on his ward was that the patients there were sicker than most. As you have sicker, weaker patients, as you turn them from one side to another, you know, a lot of times they die at that time. The tape is pretty garbled, but it's clear he was concerned about his reputation. I feel like my name has been drugged. I've been kicked, I'm down. I've been trampled on by everyone. Williams wasn't the only one whose job and reputation was at stake. Not to mention facing legal trouble, the VA was also scrambling to do damage control. Before long, Rudy received a phone call from state legislator Ken Jacob. He wanted to set up a meeting with Rudy and two hospital employees from the va.

[Rudy Keller]

These were women who worked with Gordon Christensen in the quality assurance office and had helped him gather the materials that he needed to do his analysis of the deaths. So they were very familiar with what they were not telling the public.

[Jake Adelstein]

Gordon wasn't as alone as he Thought. According to Rudy, the whistleblowers were from the QI department. They'd likely been among the first people to notice the increase in deaths.

[Rudy Keller]

You know, they were distressed. They thought there was going to be a cover up. They wanted me to know certain things about what had had been discovered up to this point. And they were. What do we do from here? Where do we take this from here? Who do we go to with this?

[Jake Adelstein]

As if Rudy didn't already feel enough personal responsibility to cover the story. Boy, did this meeting with the whistleblowers seal the deal. He had been told that there might be as many as 50 suspicious deaths in the hospital.

[Rudy Keller]

I basically promised them that I was going to stick with this story until there was a resolution. In the next 14 days I wrote 15 stories that took it from eh, you know, we had this problem, but we got it solved. To the FBI is here to investigate whether or not this nurse was responsible for the deaths of 50 people.

[Jake Adelstein]

Rudy's articles were what broke the story wide open. He became the public watchdog for this case, the custodian of the story. Pretty much the entire town of Columbia read the paper and suddenly the whole town knew about the deaths at the va.

[Gordon Christensen]

The tat was out of the bag. Richard Williams knew that he was exposed.

[Jake Adelstein]

If the Columbia VA wasn't already coming off as a pretty scary place for a patient to visit, now people knew the name of the alleged killer nurse roaming the halls. And that's not all. The public also knew the VA was in full denial mode. Jay Dix, the chief county coroner, spoke to the press. He said he should be informed of a serious problem at the hospital, if it existed. But the hospital had said nothing to see here. If they hadn't, he would have done an autopsy and might have found something that could change the course of the investigation. This was not a good look for the va. Now picture a hardened administrator sitting in his office while all this dirty laundry blows out the window into public view. Mr. K was not pleased. The VA administration released a notice that everyone was to come to the auditorium for a meeting on October 7th. Gordon arrived and took a seat in the front row, right where Mr. K could see him from his vantage point on the stage.

[Gordon Christensen]

The hospital director called a meeting of all the people in the hospital to tell them that they should not speak to the FBI about this.

[Jake Adelstein]

Mr. K told the staff that there were severe laws prohibiting the disclosure of confidential quality improvement information. He promised to prosecute anyone who violated this dictum. A $5,000 fine for the first offense and $20,000 for the second. Meanwhile, in the back of the auditorium, an administrator was collecting names and donations for an ad in the local newspaper. They were raising money to publicly criticize Ken Jacob, the state legislator, for alerting the FBI. The ad accused Ken Jacobs public statement of being inconsiderate, irresponsible, self serving and a betrayal of his public commitment. At the bottom it says ad paid for by the individuals listed here. There were over 200 signatures. I should say it was allegedly 200 signatures because my dad's name is on there too. And there's no way in hell he'd willingly co sign anything like that, much less give them any money for the cause. And I know I asked him. Gordon was appalled by the ad.

[Gordon Christensen]

This is where I really learned what the term sycophant came from. Because the hospital is full of sycophants who would go along with all this stuff just to curry favor with leadership.

[Jake Adelstein]

The message to the staff was clear. No one was to say anything about the case. And if they did, there would be serious repercussions. For most people the choice was obvious. Keep quiet and keep their jobs. But Gordon was too close to the case to just let it rest. Anyone close to him could see that. Like dad for instance.

[Joseph Louis Kurziewski]

I think the difference between myself and Dr. Christensen was a degree of sensitivity and responsibility. And actually some of the people that died were his patients. He really is a classical physician, like responsible. He said to me these words, one day these people risk their lives to save America. And when they came to our hospital, they were killed. And so he felt the full weight of this.

[Jake Adelstein]

To be clear, no one had proved a crime had been committed, even if Gordon believed that to be true. But he was certainly relieved the FBI was on their way. What he didn't know was that the FBI was not rushing to his aid. The bureau had their own mission and it seemed their own idea of who they needed to protect. Next up on witnessed night shift.

[Gordon Christensen]

I was told I was a foolish young man for doing this. Even when I explained what was going on, I was told that I was a foolish young man.

[Rudy Keller]

You know, I didn't even know what I was doing anymore. What, what am I doing as a reporter? You know, I've got no proof that this guy killed anybody.

[Joseph Louis Kurziewski]

They took soil around the bodies to see if there of poisonous stuff in there. They did an incredibly thorough job. He probably got paid a lot of money.

[Dr. Jan Swaney]

His phone was being tapped, he was being followed and he wasn't sure what was going to happen to him.

[Campsite Media]

Unlock all episodes of Witnessed Night Shift ad free right now by subscribing to the Binge Podcast channel. Not only will you immediately unlock all episodes of this show, but you'll get binge access to an entire network of other great true crime and investigative podcasts. All ad free. Plus, on the first of every month, subscribers get a binge drop of a brand new series that's all episodes all at once. Unlock your listening now by clicking subscribe at the top of the Witness show page on Apple podcasts or visit getthebinge.com to get access wherever you get your podcast. Night Shift is a production of Campside Media and Sony Music Entertainment. The show was hosted by Jake Adelstein. It was written and reported by Jake Adelstein and me, Shoko Plambeck. Amy Plembeck is the producer. Elizabeth Van Brocklin is the Managing Producer. Michael Kanyon Meyer is our Story Editor. Fact checking by Abukar Adan. Josh Dean is our Executive Producer. Sound Design, mix and original scoring by Erica Wong. Additional music from Mike Harmon and apm. A special thanks to Eddie Edelstein and Benny Edelstein. Thanks also to our operations team, Doug Slaywin, Ashley Warren, Sabina Mara, Destiny Dingle and David Eichler. Campside Media's executive producers are Josh Dean, Vanessa Gregoriatis, Adam Hoff and Matt Schaer. If you enjoyed Witnessed Night Shift, please rate and review the show wherever you get your podcasts.