NARRATOR: In September
1982, Chelsea McClellan had what appeared to be a severe
reaction to an inoculation and died in a small
hospital in Comfort, Texas. She was just 15 months old. Doctors couldn't work out why
Chelsea had died so suddenly, but the truth was,
she'd been murdered. And her killer was the nurse who
was meant to be caring for her. When you're sick and in
need and you need a doctor, the last place you think's going
to happen to injure a child or hurt a child is
the medical field. And when that happens, well,
it's the worst of the worst, in my opinion. NARRATOR: The killer nurse
was 32-year-old Genene Jones. And Chelsea McClellan
was not her first victim. It's believed this
twisted angel of death could have taken
the lives of over 50 babies and young children. GEOFFREY WANSELL: Most are
disguised in the outfit of a caring nurse, a woman who
should have been there to help to make young lives better. But she never did. She ended them. NARRATOR: Jones's
arrest and trial sent shockwaves across Texas. Her crimes had gone undetected
for almost four years. If you look at the graph
of deaths that occurred at the Hospital District, Genene
Jones was always on the shift and somehow always find herself
immersed in whatever happened in the death of an infant
on what later became known as the death shift. NARRATOR: Genene Jones, a
killer of helpless children, had been exposed as one of
the world's most evil killers. [theme music] In January 2020,
69-year-old Genene Jones pleaded guilty to the murder
of 11-month-old Joshua Sawyer. She'd already served 36
years of a life sentence for killing 15-month-old
Chelsea McClellan over three decades earlier. Proving that a nurse
was killing children by injecting them with
a lethal amount of drugs was no mean feat. It was an investigation
that took its toll on Texas Ranger Joe Davis. When we go to bed at night,
we were thinking about it. When we woke up
the next morning, we started investigating
again, because this was a crime that we all
felt like we had to solve. This is a crime that you
don't see happen normally. We had to get it done. And we'd give it our
all to make it happen. NARRATOR: Jones had begun
her insatiable killing spree while working in a
pediatric intensive care unit in San Antonio, Texas. But she went undetected
for almost four years. Victim advocate Andy Kahan
worked with the parents and siblings of
many children who believe Jones was responsible
for the death of their loved ones. When you look back in
hindsight, you can pretty much squarely say that
something was irregular, something was happening. But back then, nobody
put two and two together. NARRATOR: This
killer's story begins on the 13th of July, 1950. Genene Van Jones was born
in San Antonio, Texas. But at a young age, she
was put up for adoption by her birth parents. It was the start of a
difficult childhood. Looking back at
Jones's early life, there is quite a lot of trauma
in that adoptive family. So we see that two
of her brothers died. One died in an accident at home. Another one died of cancer. And then later on, her
father died of cancer. So there are a lot of things
going on in this family unit that she does not
feel in control of. She does not feel that
stability and that safety and that security. And I think that potentially is
a factor that accelerated her on the course that she took. NARRATOR: Growing up,
Jones felt like she didn't belong in the family unit. JOE DAVIS: She wasn't raised
in the best conditions. She always felt, from what I
could find out, that she was the black sheep of the family. ELIZABETH YARDLEY: She
would often say that she was unwanted, that she was unloved. And I think when you
hear somebody spinning that narrative,
you've got to look at the motivation behind it. So what is it that
they're trying to get? They're trying to
get validation. They're trying to get attention. So we have this "poor me"
character that emerges. NARRATOR: By June
1976, Jones had been married, divorced,
had two children with different fathers. And after a brief time
working at a beauty parlor, the 25-year-old was
training for a new vocation. ELIZABETH YARDLEY: I think
Genene Jones's choice of a career in nursing was
quite a deliberate one, quite a strategic one. So she's somebody who
always felt that she was unloved, that she was unwanted. And when you are a nurse, people
are very grateful for the work that you do. They're very thankful for
what you do to help them and to help their relatives. So I think this was
something about validation in this career appealed to her. NARRATOR: In October
1978, Genene Jones began working on the
Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, known as PICU, at Bexar County
Hospital in San Antonio. Her former colleague,
Cheri Pendergraft, remembers meeting Jones
for the first time. When she was hired on, I
was in charge of orienting her to the unit, making her feel
comfortable with surroundings, where things were,
what procedures we did, and all of those things,
and then also assessing her knowledge and nursing
skills to make sure that she would fulfill the
requirements needed for patient care in the PICU. NARRATOR: Jones seemed
interested in treating patients hands-on. Genene took one of
the advanced courses that we offered in the education
and training department, one of which included IV therapy. She became very
proficient at starting IVs and liked doing
procedures on patients. Starting an IV itself requires
a bit of finesse and skill because getting the
tiny needle into the tiny, tiny, little
vein of a pediatric patient can be very challenging. But she became very
proficient at it. NARRATOR: Cheri found Jones
to be an intense personality on the PICU ward. And sometimes her
compassion came across as eerie and extreme. It was the first or second
night that she came on duty. And there was a very
small premature baby admitted who was very sick. And the likelihood of it
surviving was very slim. So we cared for the baby for a
few hours, and it passed away. And Genene asked me if
she could hold the baby. And I said, well, yes, which
I thought was kind of unusual. But I thought, maybe she felt
deep compassion for the baby because this was
her first exposure to this particular kind of
incident where a baby died. And so she took the baby over
to the corner of the PICU and sat in the rocking chair and
rocked the baby for, I think, about an hour and was sobbing. And I just thought that was an
unusual reaction to the death of a very tiny,
tiny premature baby that she had no attachment to. She hadn't had time to
form any attachment to it. NARRATOR: The longer Jones was
in the role, the more difficult she became. And she seemingly had
ideas above her station. ELIZABETH YARDLEY: Jones was
a licensed vocational nurse. So this is more of a
nursing assistant type role. And it contrasts
with a registered nurse, who is a fully
qualified certified nurse. And I think Jones always
felt entitled to more. She was never happy and
content with what she had. She always had to go further. But she would step
over the line. She would push the
boundaries in ways that were unprofessional and unethical. She was crass
and foul mouthed. And she came across as arrogant
and know-it-all a lot of times. And some of the nurses
really did not like that. She would be making decisions
that registered nurses would normally be making. And those were things
that she shouldn't really have been doing. So that sense of entitlement,
that sense of grandiosity is there from the
very beginning. NARRATOR: Cheri clashed with
Jones on more than one occasion during her time at
Bexar County Hospital. On one particular
night shift, Cheri came to relieve Jones from
a traumatic situation, but her reaction was
far from professional. CHERI PENDERGRAFT: I went and
put my things down in the back and came into the room, where
Genene was performing CPR on a little, maybe
eight-year-old boy or so who had been a near drowning. She had been working for
16 hours at that point and/or a little bit more than. And she was due to come back the
next morning for another shift. NARRATOR: But a clearly
exhausted Jones refused to hand over control to Cheri. And she said no,
I'm performing CPR. And I said no, you-- I can take over. I'm perfectly capable of
performing CPR and taking over. So you really need to go home. And she refused. And she yelled at me. And so I called the
nursing house supervisor, told her the situation. And she came down and told
Genene that she needed to leave and go home and get some rest. She stormed out of the room. I took over CPR. She went and grabbed her things. And then she stormed out of
the ICU, swearing and yelling, which I thought was a
strange sort of overreaction and a possessiveness of the
patient situation at that time, not wanting to relinquish. ELIZABETH YARDLEY:
She wants attention. She feels entitled to attention. She likes drama. She thrives on it. She's somebody who wants
to be center stage. And I think that is
the motivation here. She's always entitled to more. She always wants
to create a drama and place herself right
in the middle of it. NARRATOR: Cheri
Pendergraft had no idea that her colleague's
lust for drama had, in fact, turned deadly. And a staff logbook would soon
reveal an unnatural number of infants were dying
on the PICU Ward at Bexar County
Hospital whenever Genene Jones was working. No child was safe
on the death shift. In the early 1980s,
Genene Jones was working as a nurse on the Pediatric
Intensive Care Unit at Bexar County Hospital
in San Antonio, Texas. Her colleagues had
begun to notice that the infant
death rate would rise whenever she was on the wards. Jones used to work a late
shift, 3:00 PM until 11:00 PM. And this shift became
known as the death shift because for a period
of around 15 months, people were 10 times
more likely to die during this period of time
than any other period of time. NARRATOR: One baby who survived
his time on the death shift was four-week-old Rolando
Santos, who arrived on the ward in December 1981. ELIZABETH YARDLEY: He had
some issues with pneumonia, some breathing problems. And he was admitted to the
Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. And he becomes even more
unwell when he's in there. And he starts to
bleed from a site where he's previously
had an injection. Now a doctor ordered some
tests to be carried out. And they come back
positive for heparin, which is a blood thinner. And this doctor ordered Rolando
to be taken off the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. And this was a
decision that actually saved this child's life. NARRATOR: A staff
logbook was used to record Rolando's near
death experience and a host of other similar incidents. The abnormal spike
in the death rates was highlighted
by the colleagues of nurse Cheri Pendergraft. CHERI PENDERGRAFT: Several
of the nurses in the PICU called my attention
to the logbook one day when we were sitting
in the nursing station. And they noticed that
there was a higher than usual mortality rate. And so I looked at the logbook. And yes, there did seem
to be a higher mortality rate during that time. And it seemed to have happen
mostly on the 3:00 to 11:00 shift. More of the deaths occurred
on the 3:00 to 11:00 shift, according to the logbook. NARRATOR: Cheri took the
logbook to her superiors, but her concerns
fell on deaf ears. CHERI PENDERGRAFT: At
that point in time, it was at the discretion
of the head nurse. And if she didn't see
anything worth investigating-- because she trusted
all her nurses. So I don't think that she
saw any particular reason to investigate it any
further other than my bringing it to her attention. ELIZABETH YARDLEY:
The hospital managers and administrators will say,
well, show me the proof, but there is no proof. But doctors and nurses, their
intuition is really well honed. And it's not some
mystical thing. It's a thing that's based
on experience and expertise. As somebody with compassion, as
somebody who relates very well to other people,
you can pick up when somebody is not quite right. And those are warning
signs that really should have been heeded here. NARRATOR: The lack of scrutiny
of the hospital records stunned victim
advocate Andy Kahan when he became involved
in the case decades later. When the Bexar County
Hospital District decided to actually take some
action involving the high rate of infant mortality
death, they didn't call for an investigation. They didn't bring, you know, the
police department down there. They didn't come
take statements. ELIZABETH YARDLEY: They wanted
to sweep this under the carpet. So all of the licensed
vocational nurses were replaced with
registered nurses. Jones was offered another
position in the hospital. But she chose to resign instead. And I think at this
point, she realizes that the net is closing in,
and she needs to move on. ANDY KAHAN: And so
Genene Jones was, for all intents and purposes,
now no longer working at the Hospital District. And as a result of her no longer
working there, gee, guess what? All of a sudden,
the deaths declined. Wow, what a fascinating
coincidence. So as far as the Bexar County
Hospital District goes, they're out of it. I think at this
point in time, she feels absolutely untouchable. I think there's a
part of her that realizes that this is a PR job. This is the hospital trying
to make the problem go away. And it suits her
down to the ground. NARRATOR: Cheri Pendergraft
had no idea she'd been working alongside a woman who was
intentionally harming babies in the Pediatric
Intensive Care Unit, the one place children
were meant to feel safe. CHERI PENDERGRAFT: It's
difficult to believe that I worked with someone
who became so evil. To take the lives of
other people's children for their own attention
seeking or goals is just beyond comprehension
for a normal person. But we're not talking
about a normal person here. So it has affected me in the
sense that I worked with her, and I wish that I
had become aware of something that may have
stopped her from progressing. We just had no evidence
of any direct connection with kids dying on
Genene Jones's watch. And I think it was
beyond our comprehension that anything like that could
even happen on our watch. NARRATOR: In March
1982, Genene Jones left Bexar County Hospital. And five months later,
she started another job 60 miles northwest
of San Antonio at a new pediatric clinic in the
small town of Kerrville, Texas. At the time of
this investigation, it was approximately
20,000 people were located off Interstate
10, about 60 miles west of San Antonio. It's mainly a retirement town. NARRATOR: In September 1982, a
case landed on Joe's lap that would change the town forever. JOE DAVIS: I was in my office
when I received a telephone call from an investigator for
the Board of Nursing in Austin. Tony Howell, who was a hospital
administrator at Sid Peterson Hospital in Kerrville,
had advised him that they had
started investigation on a nurse and doctor who was
having several babies were coming into the emergency room. They had never witnessed
this before in Kerrville. And one of the babies had died. And during the conversation with
the investigator, he told me, he said, Joe, I think you have
a child killer in Kerrville. NARRATOR: All the babies
had come into the hospital via the new pediatric
clinic in town run by Dr. Kathleen
Holland, who was assisted by nurse Genene Jones. It was Jones's behavior
in the aftermath of the revelations that
focused Joe's attention on her. He had told me also
that Genene Jones had come in to the hospital
the day before and apparently, had
tried to commit suicide, only they were kind
of suspicious of that. From what she had taken,
it wasn't that serious. ELIZABETH YARDLEY: When the
investigation gets underway, Jones stages a suicide attempt. So she ingests some drugs
which are nowhere near enough to bring about
her death, but they're enough to create the
illusion that she's tried to take her own life. And when we look at the impact
of this kind of behavior, it's going to bring you
quite a lot of sympathy, quite a lot of attention. You'll get considerable
compassion from other people. So I think it was that outcome
that she was interested in. This was not a serious
attempt to end her life. NARRATOR: Joe went to
meet Jones at the hospital to get her side of the story. JOE DAVIS: So I
told her I'd like to go ahead and interview
her at that time since she's there
at the hospital. So he arranged for me
to go to a conference room in the hospital. And they brought
Genene Jones in. And that's when I first
met her and started an interview with her
over the investigation. NARRATOR: For the first
time, Genene Jones was under investigation for murder. JOE DAVIS: I was in
the conference room when they brought
Genene Jones in. And I identified myself
as a Texas Ranger and told her I was there to
investigate some emergencies that were coming into the
hospital from their office, and that one of the babies
that were brought in had died. And so I started interviewing
her regarding the emergencies. NARRATOR: Throughout
the brief discussion, Jones didn't flinch. JOE DAVIS: She
didn't seem upset. She was pretty
cool and collected, answered the few
questions I had for her, and was cooperative
with me at that time. NARRATOR: But
something told Joe it wouldn't be the last
time he'd crossed paths with Genene Jones. JOE DAVIS: Before I
left, I asked her. I said, OK, I'm going to
start an investigation. And would you be willing
to take a polygraph test in the near future? And she said she would. So I told her I would be
getting back with her later when I had more information. And she agreed, OK. And that, more or less, ended
the interview at that time with her. NARRATOR: With no
evidence against her, Genene Jones was free
to leave the hospital. Joe Davis's detective
instincts, however, told him that everything
was not as it should be. He was certain
Jones was involved, and now he had to prove it. In September 1982,
nurse Genene Jones was working at a new clinic in
the town of Kerrville, Texas. She'd taken a job with
pediatrician Dr. Kathleen Holland, who, like Jones, had
previously worked at Bexar County Hospital in San Antonio. A number of suspicious
infant collapses had led detectives to
speak to Genene Jones. And next on their
radar was Dr. Holland. JOE DAVIS: During the
interview with Dr. Holland, she told me and I found out
that when these patients were brought in by their mothers,
these young infants, Genene Jones would say, let me
take the baby back to the back, so y'all can talk. So the babies may be crying
or making some noises. And not long after the
baby was taken to the back, Genene Jones would holler out,
oh, the baby stopped breathing! I need an emergency. Come back quick! We need to call an ambulance. NARRATOR: Dr. Holland was
ruled out as a suspect. And attention turned
solely to Genene Jones. One of the babies who had
fallen ill at the clinic was Chelsea McClellan. Victim liaison
officer Andy Kahan got to know Chelsea's
mother, Petti, in the aftermath of the case. She'd taken her
15-month-old daughter for some routine inoculations
in September 1982. ANDY KAHAN: Petti
pretty much told me the story of what happened. I mean, she just brought
Chelsea to the clinic. She was only 15 months old. It wasn't anything really
serious going on with Chelsea. And the next thing she
knows, all of a sudden, you know, there's a
code blue with Chelsea. NARRATOR: Just like
the other children, Jones had volunteered to
give Chelsea her injections. Sat facing Petti McClellan,
Jones had Chelsea on her lap and injected her twice,
once in each leg, before the 15-month-old
began struggling to breathe. An ambulance took Chelsea
to the emergency room at the Sid Peterson
Hospital in Kerrville, where her conditions
seemed to improve. But now, back in the
ambulance, Chelsea suddenly deteriorated again. JOE DAVIS: One of the nurses
had actually seen Genene Jones before the ambulance left
the hospital in Kerrville give the baby another shot
as the doors were shutting. But on the way, she and an
attendant was in the back when Chelsea went
into cardiac arrest. Dr. Holland was
following in a car. They immediately pulled
over, tried to revive her. Dr. Holland said let's take her
in to the hospital in comfort. And that's where
she passed away. NARRATOR: Genene
Jones had brazenly murdered Chelsea McClellan
in front of her own mother. ELIZABETH YARDLEY: When we
look at Chelsea's murder, we can see that Jones
was absolutely determined to end this little girl's life. So when she gave her these
so-called routine immunizations and she became
incredibly unwell, but they didn't kill
her, Jones made sure that she was in the
ambulance with this child on the way to the hospital. She wanted to finish the job. How personal that must be
to have a infant in your hands and taking a needle
and knowing full well that you're taking their life. That's about as cold-blooded,
diabolical as you can get. NARRATOR: Despite
Jones's actions, nobody was aware that she
was responsible for Chelsea's death. The drug that Jones
administered to Chelsea was a drug that
essentially disappears without a trace
when it's entered into the body of somebody. So an autopsy is not
able to establish what the cause of death is. So sudden infant death
syndrome is entered on the death certificate. ANDY KAHAN: And I
know for Petti, it was like, I brought my child in. You know, there wasn't
anything serious going on, and now she's dead. And so she started questioning. And she brought up
a lot of questions. And she brought this to the
attention of the Kerrville County District Attorney's
Office, who eventually opened up an investigation. NARRATOR: As part of a deeper
look into the death of Chelsea McClellan and the
other collapses coming out of the clinic,
Detective Joe Davis visited Dr. Kathleen Holland once more. She'd spotted some superficial
damage in a vial of a drug called succinylcholine, an
anesthetic muscle relaxant. GEOFFREY WANSELL:
Dr. Holland notices that the vial of
succinylcholine has got puncture marks in the top. And she knows that
she hasn't used it. And so, obviously,
it has to be Jones because they were the only
two people with the key. JOE DAVIS: Two bottles, one was
capped and one was uncapped. And then the top of that
one bottle that was uncapped was several puncture holes,
needles, as if they were taking that drug out-- somebody was. However, the bottle
appeared to be full. So I told her at that
time, I needed that bottle to have it checked to make
sure that the drug was still in there or what
was in that bottle, or if it'd been refilled. NARRATOR: The results
proved to be a huge turning point in the investigation. JOE DAVIS: They checked
it and notified me later that it was a saline solution. It was not the drug that
was supposed to be in it. It looked like it
had been refilled. And so that indicated that
maybe the whole bottle had been used in some of these
emergencies, was good to know. You know, in courtrooms
and in law enforcement, there's, like, a smoking gun. That's kind of what it's called. And the smoking gun was that
tiny, little puncture wound in that bottle of succinylcholine. NARRATOR: A search
into her background meant the finger of
suspicion suddenly began to point directly at Jones. I found out also that Genene
Jones had taken a class in San Antonio strictly on
the use of this drug while she was there
being a nurse. She asked for that class
and learned the ins and outs of administering that drug. So she was very familiar with
it before she came to Kerrville and what doses to use. NARRATOR: Joe scoured
the world for a way to prove that succinylcholine
was used to murder Chelsea. He found a doctor
from Sweden who'd developed a way to identify
the supposedly undetectable drug in body tissue. But that meant investigators had
to make a difficult decision. On the 7th of May, 1983, with
the permission of her parents, Chelsea McClellan's
body was exhumed. JOE DAVIS: When they exhumed
Chelsea and opened the casket, I was present. It was amazing that she
looked like a little doll laying there. Had her bonnet on, and her
favorite toy was a little duck. It was really a sad moment
for all of us to witness. NARRATOR: The body tissue
was examined in Stockholm. And the results
showed conclusively that dangerously high
levels of succinylcholine were present in
Chelsea McLellan. She had been callously
murdered by the nurse who was meant to be helping her. JOE DAVIS: After we found
the drug, of course, we knew that Genene Jones
had been lying to us. And she had been observed
also by another nurse, as I previously stated,
giving another shot when Chelsea went down. And it all indicated, based
on all the evidence now, that she was, in
our minds, guilty. NARRATOR: On the
25th of May 1983, Genene Jones was
arrested for the murder of Chelsea McClellan. But the 32-year-old nurse
denied any wrongdoing. JOE DAVIS: I took Genene
Jones down first to be examined on the polygraph. And questions were
asked regarding the investigation and her
contact with the patients. And did she do anything
to injure them or give her any substance or anything? And she actually
failed the polygraph. Based on the questions asked
there, she did not pass. I tried to talk to her more,
but she just, being who she was, she slammed the
polygraph's wrong. I didn't do nothing
wrong, and maintained that she was innocent of
anything to those babies. NARRATOR: In February
1984, Genene Jones was on trial for murder. In her defense, Jones
argued that she'd used succinylcholine,
on Chelsea McClellan appropriately and denied
trying to kill her. ANDY KAHAN: I mean, this
is a complicated case. This is 1984. You know, there's a lot of
medical jargon that has-- going around for the
jury to comprehend. But I'll tell you what. This jury saw right through. And when people were testifying
in the courtroom, I mean, there wasn't really a
dry eye in the courtroom. The only dry eye
in the courtroom was Genene Jones, who didn't
show any emotion, anything. NARRATOR: Jones was found
guilty and sentenced to 99 years for murder. In October 1984, Jones was found
guilty once more for attempting to kill Rolando
Santos at Bexar County Hospital between December
1981 and January 1982. She was given another
60-year sentence that would run concurrently
to the 99 years she was already serving. GEOFFREY WANSELL: It
took the jury no time to become completely convinced
that she had, indeed, set out to kill both Chelsea and Rolando
in a heartless, cruel manner, thereby trying to make herself
look, at one moment, savior, at the next moment, killer. It is a dreadful conceit and
evidence of pure wickedness. NARRATOR: Genene Jones
was finally in prison. But under Texas legislation,
she was due to be freed in 2018. Outraged by the
impending release date, a group of relatives
who are certain Jones had killed their loved
ones came together to fight the injustice. They wanted to keep Genene
Jones behind bars for good. By 2017, convicted baby
killer Genene Jones had served 33 years in prison for murder. But her time inside
was coming to an end. Legislation put in place
to ease the overpopulation of prisons in Texas meant
she would soon be free. Court reporter Elizabeth Zavala
followed the latest chapter in the story of
the killer nurse. ELIZABETH ZAVALA:
Because of that law to ease prison
crowding, Genene Jones would have been eligible
for parole in March of 2018. And for people in the San
Antonio community, Bexar County, South Texas,
even, they just didn't want to see
a convicted baby killer like Genene Jones be
released out into the public. NARRATOR: The fight for
justice was spearheaded by the mother of
Genene Jones's murder victim, Chelsea McClellan. Petti McClellan-Wiese
had refused to give up the
fight over the years whenever Jones
was up for parole. Petti would go to the
parole board hearings. And she made it a point
to be there every time and argue for Genene
Jones to stay behind bars. She was very passionate about
that because of her own child's death, but also Petti
felt very protective of the San Antonio mothers. NARRATOR: Mothers in San
Antonio who'd lost babies at Bexar County Hospital
during Jones's time there all believe their children
could have been murdered by the killer nurse. Victim advocate
Andy Kahan worked with Petti McClellan-Wiese
to find some new cases. ANDY KAHAN: We ended up actually
forming a Facebook group, a closed Facebook group called
Victims of Genene Anne Jones. And that's how we communicated. And we started hearing
from other families. Their infants also died under,
quote, "the death shift." And that's how we started
getting other people involved and other
families involved. And it just spiraled from there. NARRATOR: With the help
of Petti and Andy Kahan, District Attorney Joe
Gonzales identified a handful of potential victims. We had five
separate indictments, the strongest of
which was the case involving young Joshua Sawyer. And I will tell you that the
reason that that case was the strongest case
that we had was because of his mother, Connie Weeks. She had kept meticulous
records of her child going to the doctor. Had it not been for
her, I don't believe we would have been able to
prosecute Genene Jones the way we did. NARRATOR: 11-month-old Joshua
Sawyer had died at Bexar County Hospital while Jones was
working in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. Joshua Sawyer was brought
into the hospital in December in 1981, because there'd
been a fire in his home, and he'd experienced
some smoke inhalation. And that shouldn't have
been the end of his life. But he had a cardiac arrest
when he was in the hospital. And it transpired that
he had a huge amount of anti-seizure
medication in his system, way more than the normal range. NARRATOR: Joshua Sawyer
had been injected with a deadly
amount of Dilantin, an anti-seizure medication. And so the effect
that it would have had was a violent effect on his
body, I think, on the muscles. Basically, it was an
overdose of Dilantin. And so that's what caused
the death of Joshua Sawyer. NARRATOR: A series of hearings
followed in which it was decided that the new charges
could be brought against Genene Jones, much to the
relief of Petti McClellan-Wiese and Andy Kahan. I was floored. And it was quite an emotional
day, obviously, for Petti. It was emotional for me, who had
been involved with this for so long, to see her charged and to
know, at least, right now, she wouldn't be legally released
because she was brought back to Bexar County Jail and held
in custody under a $1 million bond, pending the charges. NARRATOR: Jones would
remain behind bars until a new trial date was set. Unfortunately, Petti
McClellan-Wiese would not get to see justice
served for a second time. She passed away in June
2019 at the age of 64. ANDY KAHAN: I remember
getting a call. And sadly, at this time,
Petti had passed away. And that was-- I was just so
saddened by her sudden passing. And she didn't get to live
to see the culmination of her efforts, or
culmination of efforts lived through other families
that she brought together. And she was kind of like
the godmother of this group. And everyone looked up to her. NARRATOR: Suddenly, as
preparations were being made for the trial, word came
through that Genene Jones had agreed to a plea bargain. She would plead guilty to
the murder of Joshua Sawyer in exchange for a life sentence
and the other four cases to be dropped. She was due to confirm
this at a San Antonio courthouse in January 2020. ANDY KAHAN: And keep
in mind, at that time, Jones could change her
mind at any moment, because she's the one
who agreed to the deal. And the deal was she would
plead guilty to the one murder. And the other charges
would be dropped. There's always a little
apprehension that this isn't going to happen. And when she finally
had pled guilty, it was quite a sense of relief
for everybody there that day. NARRATOR: Genene
Jones had finally admitted to killing at least
one baby under her care. ELIZABETH YARDLEY:
Has she suddenly developed a conscience? Does she suddenly feel
compassionate for her victims and their relatives? No, I don't think so whatsoever. I think what's going on here
is she's trying to prevent a trial from taking place
because during a trial, a lot of information
becomes known about you. And she would not want that
information to become known. So she is essentially
taking back control by putting in this guilty plea. JOE GONZALES: I actually
looked to see whether or not she had any reaction. I never saw any
tears in her eyes. I never saw any
indication of any remorse, which is pretty
indicative of your cold-blooded serial killers. Here, you had a lady that,
as far as I'm concerned, was evil incarnate. She was a woman who made a
point of ending infants' lives. And she didn't appear
to have any remorse. She never indicated
in court that she was sorry for what she did. NARRATOR: In January
2020, Genene Jones was given another life
sentence for the murder of 11-month-old Joshua Sawyer. JOE GONZALES: Genene Jones was
sentenced to life in prison, which means that she
will have to serve the sentence until 2038. That is the first
opportunity that she has to be eligible for parole. Now she will be about 87
years old at that time. And so we suspect that
she may not make it, or if she does, that her
parole will be denied. We believe that she will spend
her very last breath in prison. I think that the families
feel they have justice. The one thing that was always
constant with each family member of one of these children
was that they wanted for Genene Jones to die in prison. NARRATOR: Genene Jones has
officially been found guilty of two murders,
but experts suggest the real number of deaths
caused by her deadly injections could be somewhere
between 40 and 60. But her continued
silence means we may never know the full story. Families will be
wondering for generations whether or not they lost
their loved ones at the hand of this cold killer. ANDY KAHAN: When I look back
at Jeanine Jones's reign of terror, I get
angry and so upset and very emotionally
drained because look at who her victims were. These were infants. None of her victims could
run, yell, scream for help. They were at her mercy. And they were with
someone whom families believed they could trust. JOE DAVIS: When somebody
in the medical field takes advantage of especially
a young baby that can't talk and say what happened
and tell the story of what Genene Jones did when
she took the baby to the back, and-- pretty bad. And it's people that you
trust with your own kid to help that kid get well. And they ended up
causing its death. What could be worse than that? [music playing] NARRATOR: Jones was a
cold-hearted killer. She took the lives
of young children who did not have the voice or
strength to fight against her. To intentionally harm a
child is a callous act, but to do it under the guise
of a caring nurse is abhorrent. And that's why Genene
Jones will forever be remembered as one of the
world's most evil killers. [music playing]
