A woman charged in Livingston County with first-degree murder had her case certified to Division One of Circuit Court on August 16th. Online court information shows that 42-year-old Jennifer Anne Hall is scheduled for arraignment on September 8th.
Livingston County Sheriff Steve Cox previously reported Hall was arrested in Kansas in May for the alleged murder charge in connection with a hospital patient. Her address was previously reported as Overland Park, Kansas.
A probable cause statement says Hall was placed on administrative leave as a respiratory therapist at Hedrick Medical Center of Chillicothe after the death of Fern Franco on May 18th, 2002. Franco was reportedly a pneumonia patient.
The body of Franco was disinterred, and an autopsy revealed the presence of substances not prescribed to her. An analysis of tissue samples revealed the presence of two drugs: succinylcholine and morphine. It is noted the drugs can paralyze someone’s muscles, including the diaphragm, causing suffocation.
A toxicology expert offered an opinion that Franco’s cause of death was due to poisoning, and the manner of death was a homicide.
The probable cause statement alleges that, during Hall’s five months of employment, the number of cardiac collapse incidents rose to as many as 18 that were viewed as medically suspicious.
