Edson Isidoro Guimarães
Encyclopedia
Edson Isidoro Guimarães is a Brazil
lian nursing assistant and convicted serial killer
. He confessed to five murders of which he was convicted of four, but is suspected of committing up to 131 in total. He claimed that he chose patients whose conditions were irreversible and who were in pain.
, Brazil. He was caught in 1999 when a hospital porter saw Guimarães fill a syringe
with potassium chloride
and inject a comatose patient who immediately died. The police were informed and a higher than average death rate on his ward increased their suspicions. On his arrest he confessed to five murders. He told a television reporter prior to his trial, "I don't regret what I did", adding "I did it to those in irreversible coma
s and whose families were suffering."
He was convicted on February 21, 2000, of the murders of four patients and sentenced to 76 years in prison. He is thought to have killed up to 131 patients between January 1 and May 4 1999. He told reporters: "The oxygen
mask was taken away, yes. There were five patients that this happened to... I chose the patients I saw suffering, generally patients with AIDS
, patients who were almost terminal. I am in peace because the patients were in a coma and had no way of recovering."
One possible motive for the murders is thought to be the fact that he was paid $60 dollars a time to inform local funeral home
s of a patient's death so that they could contact the deceased's relatives. According to Josias Quintal, Rio's secretary for public security, "He may have begun doing it to earn money and then just lost control".
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
lian nursing assistant and convicted serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
. He confessed to five murders of which he was convicted of four, but is suspected of committing up to 131 in total. He claimed that he chose patients whose conditions were irreversible and who were in pain.
Crimes
Guimarães worked as a nurse in the Salgado Filho Hospital in the Méier district of Rio de JaneiroRio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
, Brazil. He was caught in 1999 when a hospital porter saw Guimarães fill a syringe
Syringe
A syringe is a simple pump consisting of a plunger that fits tightly in a tube. The plunger can be pulled and pushed along inside a cylindrical tube , allowing the syringe to take in and expel a liquid or gas through an orifice at the open end of the tube...
with potassium chloride
Potassium chloride
The chemical compound potassium chloride is a metal halide salt composed of potassium and chlorine. In its pure state, it is odorless and has a white or colorless vitreous crystal appearance, with a crystal structure that cleaves easily in three directions. Potassium chloride crystals are...
and inject a comatose patient who immediately died. The police were informed and a higher than average death rate on his ward increased their suspicions. On his arrest he confessed to five murders. He told a television reporter prior to his trial, "I don't regret what I did", adding "I did it to those in irreversible coma
Coma
In medicine, a coma is a state of unconsciousness, lasting more than 6 hours in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light or sound, lacks a normal sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. A person in a state of coma is described as...
s and whose families were suffering."
He was convicted on February 21, 2000, of the murders of four patients and sentenced to 76 years in prison. He is thought to have killed up to 131 patients between January 1 and May 4 1999. He told reporters: "The oxygen
Oxygen
Oxygen is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς and -γενής , because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition...
mask was taken away, yes. There were five patients that this happened to... I chose the patients I saw suffering, generally patients with AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
, patients who were almost terminal. I am in peace because the patients were in a coma and had no way of recovering."
One possible motive for the murders is thought to be the fact that he was paid $60 dollars a time to inform local funeral home
Funeral home
A funeral home, funeral parlor or mortuary, is a business that provides burial and funeral services for the deceased and their families. These services may include aprepared wake and funeral, and the provision of a chapel for the funeral....
s of a patient's death so that they could contact the deceased's relatives. According to Josias Quintal, Rio's secretary for public security, "He may have begun doing it to earn money and then just lost control".
See also
- Abraão José BuenoAbraão José BuenoAbraão José Bueno is a Brazilian nurse and serial killer. In 2005 he was sentenced to 110 years imprisonment for the murder of four children and the attempted murder of another four.-Crimes:...
- Brazilian nurse found guilty of 4 murders - Skin HuntersSkin HuntersThe "Skin Hunters" is the media nickname for four hospital casualty workers from the Polish city of Łódź, who were convicted of murdering at least five patients and selling information regarding their deaths to funeral homes. They were apprehended in 2002...
- four PolishPolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
nurses and doctors in Łódź who killed patients and then informed local funeral homes in return for a fee