The Civil Police of the Federal District are still investigating the reasons that led three nursing technicians to allegedly cause the death of three patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Hospital Anchieta.
According to investigations, Marcos de Araújo, aged 24, Amanda de Souza, aged 28, and Marcela da Silva, aged 22, caused cardiac arrests in patients through excessive application of medication and, in one case, chemical cleaning substances.
To date, the victims identified have been:
Miranilde Pereira da Silva (75 years old):
She died after suffering four cardiac arrests and receiving at least ten injections of disinfectant into her veins, according to the Civil Police.
João Clemente Pereira (63 years old):
He died after the second irregular injection.
Marcos Moreira (33 years old):
He died shortly after receiving the first dose.
Initially, the three suspects denied the accusations. However, the police compared the versions presented with images from the hospital’s closed circuit TV, which led to the confessions.
Delegate Maurício Iacozzilli, head of the missing persons investigation service, revealed the behind-the-scenes of the testimonies in an interview with presenter Paula Valdez on Tarde Bandnews.
“Marcos initially wanted to deny committing the crimes, saying that he had only applied medicines that the doctors had ordered. However, soon after his denial, we compared his version with the videos we had from the TV circuit, which showed everything from him falsifying the prescription on the doctor’s computer to going to get medication, preparing the medication and in the end applying this medication in this mistaken way directly into the vein”, he detailed.
The deputy highlighted the suspect’s coldness.
“He also reported that he was aware that this medication caused cardiac arrest when applied in this way. The only thing he did not explain was the motivation for these crimes. The strongest line is that it would have been a death due to psychopathy or pleasure, but we don’t know yet.”
The investigation points to different dynamics for the two others involved. Marcela da Silva, 22 years old, was in her first job and was trained by Marcos, which reinforced a hierarchical position in relation to the orders given by the suspect.
“The youngest nursing technician, 22 years old, had just started working, it was her first job and he was training her, he was her double. And I believe that, taking advantage of a hierarchically superior position, [ele pode] having influenced her to participate in these crimes”, stated the delegate.
Amanda de Souza, 28 years old, was a friend of Marcos. Although he tried to deny knowledge about the lethal effect of the injections, the police dismissed this version.
“She denied it, she said she was together because she was a good friend of his, but that she hadn’t realized that he was injecting a medicine that caused cardiac arrest. We confronted her: if she didn’t think it was strange, every time he administered an injection, seconds later the victim would go into arrest? She said she didn’t notice, but we believe that she was just trying to lie to escape law enforcement, trying in a way to cover up what he did.”
To obtain controlled medications, Marcos misused the access of hospital doctors.
“Marcos accessed the system to issue a medicine, which he ended up applying to the vein and killing these gentlemen, using the password of a doctor or at least two doctors”, explained the delegate.
The task force is now working on two fronts: the forensic analysis of the seized electronic devices and the search for other possible victims in hospitals where the suspects worked. So far, the police know that no children were victimized in the Pediatric ICU where Marcos also worked, but the investigation continues.
“At this moment we are concentrating our efforts on these three deaths that have already been identified. We are waiting for the Criminalistics Institute to finish the forensic examinations to be carried out on the computers and cell phones, in order to better clarify the motivation that led them to act in this way”, said the delegate.
A new investigation must be opened to determine more details of the case.
“Subsequently, we will launch a second police investigation to investigate other suspicious deaths that may have occurred either at the hospital [Anchieta] as well as in other hospitals where they have worked […] and thus rule out whether any deaths were intentional or not. And if they were, they will also be indicted and prosecuted for these new crimes.”
The Civil Police has 30 days to complete the current investigation, and may extend the period if necessary due to the complexity of the reports. The intention is to keep the trio detained.
“At the end of it all, our idea is, yes, to represent the conversion of temporary detention into preventive detention so that they respond to this process in prison. Firstly, we will focus on closing these three deaths so that they remain in prison”, concluded Iacozzilli.
