True Crime Friday: Filipina Narciso and Leonora Perez, the Ann Arbor Veterans’ Hospital Serial Murders

In 1975, ten patients were murdered by unauthorized administration in their Intravenous Therapy (IV.) The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) intervened and two nurses were arrested in conjunction with the murders. Filipina Narciso and Leonora Perez were charged with murder. Eventually, they were convicted of poisoning and conspiracy to commit murder. There did not seem to be a great deal of evidence against the nurses and public opinion was against the prosecution of them. A retrial was ordered and the case against the nurses were eventually dropped.

The Early Childhood of Filipina Narciso and Leonora Perez

I could not find any early childhood information on the nurses other than they were born in the Philippines. Both of these nurses were of Asian descendant. Because of this they were unfairly targeted by the police and the office of the District Attorney. The District Attorney had been accused of race discrimination because he was heard referring to the nurses as “slanted eyed bitches.”

The Victims

• Filipina Narciso
• Leonora Perez

Ten Patients of the VA Hospital

There were 10 murder victims. The names are unknown as of this writing. The truth is the two nurses were found innocent of these crimes so there is an unknown serial killer or killers that still may be alive and still killing people. In this case, Filipina Narciso and Leonora Perez were also victims of the United States justice system.

The Victims and Survivors of an Unknown Serial Killer(s)

There were patients that accused the nurses of injecting them with medication but that could have been authorized by their doctors. These accusations had racial bias and undertones associated because the nurses were Asian. At that time there was a lot of racial animosity toward Asians because Americans thought that Asians were taking over the country and employment. This case received nationwide attention because many in the public sphere felt that the nurses were being targeted because of their race. After their convictions, a new trial was ordered because of prosecutorial misconduct. Because of this misconduct a killer escaped justice while two innocent women were found guilty of a crime they did not commit. Remember ten patients died at this hospital and have not received justice.

Lady Justice

Ferdinand Marcos, the then president Philippines set up a defense fund for the accused. He was outraged and called the verdict a miscarriage of justice. There were protest in their home country and in the United States. A year after the infamous verdict, a judge set aside the guilty verdicts by ruling against the jury. He acquitted on the only remaining murder charge and some of the poisoning charges. There was a new attorney general assigned but he declined to mount another prosecution because the American public was not behind the prosecution of the nurses. The case was never retried.

Reference

Ann Arbor Hospital murders - Wikipedia

Filipina Narciso and Leonora Perez – VA Medical Malpractice Information

The Murders at Ann Arbor's Veterans Hospital