Five Women Serial Killer Profiles (6 page)

Kathy Holland began a three-year pediatric residency at Bexar County Hospital in July of 1979, shortly after she had divorced her first husband. She developed a reputation at the hospital as being capable and hardworking. Kathy decided that when she finished her residency, she wanted to have her own private pediatrics practice.

She decided she would open it in Kerrville, a small city in the Texas Hill Country
, which was approximately sixty miles northwest of San Antonio. The downtown area of Kerrville is an historical site on the banks of the Guadalupe River. The city had long been a popular place for retirees but recently, according to Cathy’s research, it had a growing population of young families and only one pediatrician. The city had a large general hospital, the Sid Peterson Memorial Hospital, but was weak in pediatrics. Dr. Holland thought that she would do well in Kerrville and fill a much needed gap in the market.

Dr. Holland was starting her new practice on a budget and needed to find a good nurse to help her. She didn’t think she could afford an RN nurse as their wages were about $8.35 an hour
whereas LVN wages were about $5 an hour. Dr. Holland had worked with Genene a few times at Bexar Hospital and had been impressed with her. She had heard that Genene “could stick an IV in a fly,” and that was what Kathy Holland needed: a nurse with good technical skills who wasn’t afraid to draw blood on children less than two years old.

Kathy Holland had heard the suspicions about Genene that she might be doing something to harm the children in the ICU unit
, but she had worked with Genene and didn’t believe it and so offered Genene a job at her new clinic. Dr. Robotham learned that Kathy had offered Genene a job and told Kathy she should think twice and voiced his suspicions to her.

Kathy Holland finished her residency at Bexar County on June 30th, 1982. By this time
, she had received a very favorable reference for Genene from Bexar County Hospital. The hospital had even offered Genene another job. This convinced Kathy that all the gossip about Genene was just that: malicious gossip. The hospital administrators would hardly offer Genene another job or write her such a glowing reference if they thought she was harming patients, would they?

In July, Kathy Holland moved to Kerrville to set up her new practice. She bought a small three-bedroom house on Nixon Lane on the outskirts of the city and some land in the hills. Here
, she intended to build a house once the practice had become successful. She hired a thirty-three-year-old woman, Gwen Grantner, as a secretary-receptionist. Genene Jones and her children moved to Kerrville and rented rooms from Kathy in the house on Nixon Lane.

Kathy Holland excitedly opened her new pediatric clinic on August 23rd, 1982. She gave Genene the title
of pediatric clinician. The young parents of Kerrville were delighted that a new modern pediatric facility had opened in town.

The first mother to take her child there was Petti McClellan. Petti had phoned earlier in the morning to make an appointment for her eight-month-old daughter Chelsea. Gwen Grantner gave her a 1.p.m appointment. Chelsea had been born four weeks prematurely, at the Sid Peterson Hospital, and had spent time on a respirator in the hospital’s neonatal ICU. Due of this, Petti was extra protective of Chelsea. When she developed a heavy cold, she decided to take her to the new doctor in town to be checked over.

When Petti and her blond
, pretty, blue-eyed daughter Chelsea arrived at the clinic, Gwen Grantner showed them into the doctor’s office. The doctor had with her a small, plump nurse with green eyes, short, red-brown hair, with hard features that were dominated by a large nose. Dr. Holland introduced herself to Petti and then introduced her nurse, Genene Jones.

As is routine with a new patient, Dr. Holland wanted to know Chelsea’s medical history. As Petti filled Dr
. Holland in on her daughter’s history, the baby began to get restless. Genene offered to take Chelsea next door while her mother talked to the doctor. Petti and Dr. Holland thought it was a good idea.

Five minutes later
, Genene called for Dr. Holland to come quickly to the treatment room. Dr. Holland excused herself from Petti and left her office shutting the door behind her. She went to find Genene in the treatment room and found Chelsea limp on the examining bed with Genene placing an oxygen mask over her face. Dr. Holland asked Genene to fit an IV in her scalp to insert an anticonvulsant drug, Dilantin, into her. Dr. Holland also asked Gwen Grantner to call the County Emergency Medical Service (EMS). Dr. Holland then went to her office and told Petti that her daughter had just had a seizure.

The emergency ambulance drew up outside the clinic at 1:25 p.m. Genene carried the baby into the ambulance
, and the ambulance crew carried the IV bottle. Petti and Dr. Holland joined them. They arrived at Sid Peterson hospital minutes later where Chelsea was immediately admitted into the ICU. Chelsea remained there for nine days while the doctors carried out tests. The hospital was at a loss to explain the cause of the respiratory arrest and seizure. Chelsea survived.

Petti and her husband Reid McClellan believed that Genene had saved their child with her swift actions. The McClellans sang the praise
s of the new clinic to all their friends.

On Friday the 27
th
of August, parents
Nelda and Gabriel Benites were worried about their new one-month-old daughter Brandy Lee. She had been suffering from diarrhea for two days, and there was blood in her stool. They took her to Sid Peterson Hospital, and the hospital advised them to take her to the new pediatric clinic run by Dr. Holland. The doctor and the nurse Genene Jones took down notes of Brandy’s history before removing her to the treatment room to be examined. Then Dr. Holland told the waiting parents that Brandy had stopped breathing and had suffered a seizure. Dr. Holland asked Gwen Grantner to call the County Emergency Medical Service (EMS). The ambulance arrived and took the baby, Genene, Nelda, and Gabriel Benites to Sid Peterson Hospital. Dr. Holland followed the ambulance in her car.

After half an hour at the Sid Peterson hospital, Dr. Holland told the parents she wanted the baby transferred to the San Antonio Santa Rosa Hospital. Another ambulance was called. As before, Genene and the baby,
along with Brandy’s mother, travelled in the ambulance with Dr. Holland and Mr. Benites following by car. Brandy Benites remained at the hospital in San Antonio for six days undergoing tests. The Doctors were unable to determine what had caused her seizure.

On Monday, August 30
th
,
Mary Ann Parker brought her four-month-old son Christopher to see Dr. Holland. Christopher suffered from raspy breathing, an illness known as
stridor
caused by constriction of the air passages. While Dr. Holland talked to Mary Parker, Genene took Christopher to be checked over. While he was with her, he started suffering respiratory problems.

Dr. Holland had Gwen Grantner call an ambulance
, and Christopher was taken to the hospital emergency room of Sid Peterson. While overseeing Christopher in the emergency room, another child, Jimmy Pearson, was admitted to the ward. Jimmy suffered from a heart defect known as a
Tetralogy of Fallot.
The little boy was suffering from seizures and was blue from lack of oxygen. The nurses on duty consulted with Dr. Holland who, after consulting with two of Jimmy’s doctors in San Antonio, felt he should be moved by helicopter to the Santa Rosa hospital in San Antonio. Dr. Holland decided that Christopher should also be taken to the Santa Rosa hospital. The helicopter, with two paramedics, took Jimmy, Christopher, and his nurse Genene aboard the helicopter. For fifteen minutes, all was calm until Genene began yelling over the noise of the helicopter engines that she thought Jimmy was having a seizure. The paramedics could see no change in his condition. Genene, according to the paramedics, then injected Jimmy with something into his IV line. A few minutes later, the paramedics said the equipment hooked up to Jimmy began showing heart irregularities, and he began to turn blue and stopped breathing. The paramedics revived him and diverted the helicopter to the Methodist Hospital where Jimmy was transferred to the emergency room and stabilized. The helicopter then continued its journey to the Santa Rosa hospital with Christopher and Genene. Jimmy died seven weeks later.

On Friday, September 3
rd
,
Kay Reichenau called Dr. Holland’s clinic to make an appointment as her normal family doctor, Duan Packard, was away on vacation. Her twenty-one-month-old daughter, Misty Reichenau, had a fever, a cold, and mouth sores causing her to stop eating and drinking. Gwen Grantner offered Mrs. Reichenau a 2 p.m. appointment.

Misty sat on her mother’s knee as Kathy Holland examined her
. She suspected it might possibly be a case of meningitis. Dr. Holland thought it was best to transfer Misty to the hospital for a spinal tap to test for the disease. Dr. Holland asked Genene to set up an IV for Misty as she also seemed dehydrated. Dr. Holland left the treatment room to phone the hospital, and Mrs. Reichenau went to telephone her husband Larry.

Another nurse, Debbie Sultenfuss, a friend of Genene’s who occasionally helped out at the clinic
, was there that day. When Kay Reichenau went back to the treatment room, Genene had the IV prepared. Baby Misty was crying loudly as Genene inserted liquid into it and then she went silent. Genene and Dr. Holland asked Kay to leave the room. Misty had stopped breathing and had gone into a seizure. An ambulance was sent for and Genene, Misty, and Kay were taken to the Sid Peterson hospital. Dr. Holland followed in her car. On arriving at the hospital, Genene carried Misty Reichenau up to the ICU. Dr. Holland told Mr. and Mrs. Reichenau that she wanted to transfer Misty to San Antonio to the Medical Center Hospital for further tests. Upon arrival there, the pediatric specialist, Dr. Ray Mackey, carried out various tests that failed to reveal the cause of the seizure. After five days, Misty was allowed to return home.

On the morning of September 17
th
, Petti McClellan brought her two children Chelsea and Cameron to Dr. Holland’s clinic. Her son Cameron had a cold, and Chelsea was due for inoculations.

Kathy Holland asked Genene to prepare the inoculations. Peti took Chelsea into the treatment room and had her sit on her knee. Genene administered the first injection into the baby’s left thigh and within seconds Chelsea appeared to be having trouble breathing. Peti was alarmed and asked Genene to hold off giving the second shot, but Genene was insistent. The second injection she inserted into the baby’s right thigh
. Chelsea turned blue and stopped breathing. Gwen Grantner called for an ambulance while Dr. Holland inserted a breathing tube into Chelsea. Genene rode in the ambulance with Peti and Chelsea. Dr. Holland followed in her car. By the time they reached the hospital ten minutes later, Chelsea was breathing by herself. Dr. Holland thought that to be on the safe side, Chelsea should be transferred for neurological tests in San Antonio at the Santa Rosa Hospital.

Shortly after midday
, an ambulance arrived at the Sid Peterson hospital. Genene, Chelsea, and a paramedic rode in the back of the ambulance, Kathy Holland followed in her car, while Peti and her husband Reid, a large black haired man with a shaggy moustache, followed in their own car.

In the ambulance
, baby Chelsea was on a drip, and her heart was being monitored. Ten miles into the journey, Chelsea went into arrest. Genene ordered the ambulance to pull over saying the baby had “flat-lined!” Dr. Holland joined them in the ambulance and began massaging the baby’s heart. Dr Holland then ordered the ambulance driver to take them to the nearest hospital. Upon arriving at the small, one-story Comfort Community Hospital, they rushed the baby into the emergency room, but little Chelsea was dead. Genene removed the tubes and cleaned the baby up and then wrapped her tiny body in a shawl and gave her to her mother. Dr. Holland was visibly upset and could not understand what had happened. She ordered an autopsy. The results from the autopsy took a few weeks, but the conclusion was that Chelsea had died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

Just three hours after Chelsea’s death, Genene was back at the clinic. Lydia Evans brought in her son, Jacob. Lydia was a nervous first time mother and was worried as her five-month-old son seemed to be crying so much. Genene said she wanted to do some blood tests and to also insert an IV. Lydia asked why she wanted to insert an IV. Genene said it was a precaution in case he had a seizure while they were running the tests. Lydia felt that was strange but presumed the nurse knew what she was doing.

Barely ten minutes after leaving Jacob in the treatment room with Genene, Jacob had a seizure. Gwen Grantner telephoned for an ambulance and phoned the hospital to page Kathy Holland. Once at the hospital
, Jacob stabilized. He remained at the hospital for six days while the doctors tried to determine what had caused the seizure. They came up with no explanation.

The numbers of emergencies
being sent to Sid Peterson hospital from Dr. Holland’s new clinic had not gone unnoticed. Since the clinic had opened, the hospital emergency room was having as many as three children in it at a time. This was something that had never been seen before; something had to be wrong. There were also complaints from the ICU nurses about Genene’s bossiness and interference.

Sid Peterson’s administrator, Tony Hall, called a meeting of his top doctors and the head nurse of the ICU to discuss the matter. They all agreed that there was something not right. Tony Hall arranged an appointment with Dr. Holland to discuss the matter.