Missouri woman charged with hospital death from 2002

CHILLICOTHE, Mo. (AP) — A former respiratory therapist who worked at a northern Missouri hospital where nine people died from unexplained circumstances 20 years ago has been charged in one of the deaths. KCUR reports prosecutors charged 41-year-old Jennifer Anne Hall last week with first-degree murder in the death of Fern Franco, one of nine people who died at Hedrick Medical Center in Chillicothe over several months in 2002. The Livingston County Sheriff said investigators have not located Hall, who might be using the name Semaboye. Hall was a respiratory therapist at the hospital when the patients all died from cardiac collapse. Matthew O’Connor, who has represented Hall in the past, said no evidence exists to connect Hall to the deaths.