Dr. Lyle Semenko is a serial killer and a physician responsible for the murders of countless patients.
Background[]
Semenko would regularly float between medical centers due to officials refusing to penalize Semenko or report him to law. As a result, he killed dozens and maybe hundreds of patients for years, implied to be out of malignant narcissism and wanting to play God. Semenko specifically targeted already vulnerable patients, such as the sick, disabled, and elderly, all with relatively adequate enough health, or hospitals with poor management and stability, as additional countermeasures to cover his tracks. As a sadist, Semenko escalated in M.O., from overdoses to toxins, even suffocation in at least one murder. Hospitals responded with no more than reprimands of Semenko, firing him, or even just ignoring the murders altogether.
Burden[]
When Semenko fed quadriplegic 12-year-old Michael Sutter a meal he laced with hemlock poison, Michael died by an excruciating asphyxiation. Homicide was called and told Michael presumably was suffocated around the time the EMTs were called, leading to everyone in his life being interrogated and even his own father Joe being arrested and nearly tried due to have access to hemlock at his job.
Michael's death was revealed to have been earlier, and when Semenko was revealed to have been particularly assigned to Michael and he insisted to be on his case, Semenko was arrested and Joe was released. After his plea was rejected, Semenko testified on the stand the Sutters wanted him to euthanize Michael, continuing to insist he was always motivated by mercy despite the means he killed people with. When asked why he left Joe to take the fall, he complained he wanted to be with his patients and not lose his licence.
The only conviction Semenko received was manslaughter two, and he was remanded pending sentencing. Donations from every state in the country poured in while he was appealing. It was revealed Joe and his wife Lois set up Semenko to be lured to their son and kill him. Joe personally requested for Semenko to be assigned, and Lois worked at a clinic where Semenko committed five murders.
Known Victims[]
- Unknown dates, four different unnamed hospitals: At least seventeen unnamed victims
- Unknown date and location: Unnamed woman (asphyxiated with bandages forced down her throat)
- Unknown dates, Bergen County Clinical, New Jersey:
- At least five unnamed victims
- Unnamed 61-year-old woman (had a gallbladder disease)
- Unnamed 17-year-old boy (had back surgery)
- Unnamed patient (had an appendectomy; induced an aneurysm by unspecified means)
- Unnamed high school senior (poisoned with nicotine)
- Hudson Terrace Medical Center, New York City:
- Fall 1997: Unnamed woman (was in a car accident; poisoned)
- January 8, 1998: Michael Sutter (was left quadriplegic from a car accident; poisoned with hemlock)