Alleged 'Angel of Death' Arrested

Tuesday, January 9th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

GLENDALE, Calif. (AP) â€” A former respiratory therapist who bragged in 1998 that he had killed dozens of patients, then recanted his claim, was arrested Tuesday for investigation of murder, police said.

Officers arrested Efren Saldivar at 5:45 a.m., Sgt. Rick Young said. Young would not say how many patients were involved, or release any other details. He said some questions would be answered at an afternoon news conference.

Saldivar, 30, was being held at the police station. His attorney, Terry Goldberg, was out of his office and did not immediately return a call for comment.

Saldivar allegedly told police in 1998 that he committed dozens of mercy killings at Glendale Adventist Medical Center between 1989 and 1997. In later television interviews, Saldivar recanted, saying he had lied because he was depressed, was suicidal and wanted to be sent to death row.

Investigators have reviewed the deaths of 171 patients who died while Saldivar was working at the hospital. Fifty-four cases were eliminated because bodies had been cremated, leaving 117 deaths for detectives, medical experts and prosecutors to review. Of those cases, 20 were considered suspicious.

Twenty bodies were exhumed as evidence in civil lawsuits.

Police have said Saldivar told them he was angry at seeing terminally ill patients kept alive and killed them through suffocation or injection of muscle-paralyzing drugs.

He was fired from the hospital and his license was revoked by a state board.