Grisly Motives:
Authorities interviewed all the employees on Ward C and put together a grisly motive for why the death rate had tripled. According to the prosecutors, Kristen Gilbert administered ephinephrine to patients, causing them to go into cardiac arrest, so that her lover, Perrault would be summoned to ICU where she could then be close to him, and impress him with her skills as a nurse. It also allowed her time to flirt with him as was witnessed by several of her coworkers.
A Faked Suicide Attempt:
Meanwhile, Gilbert was not working during the investigation and immediately the death rate on Ward C dropped to a normal rate. After Gilbert left the hospital her relationship with Perrault began to dissolve. At first he kept her informed as to what was going on with the investigation at the hospital, but as her temperament began to get more volatile as the finger-pointing became firmly directed at her, Perrault began to pull away.
The End of the Affair:
By June 1996 Perrault decided to end the relationship, a decision which did not bode well with Gilbert. She tried unsuccessfully to convince him to change his mind. Then on July 8, 1996, Gilbert overdosed on drugs and was admitted to a hospital psychiatric ward. While in the hospital, she phoned Perrault and during the call told Perrault, "You know I did it. I did it. You wanted to know. I killed those guys." The following week, Perrault told the federal grand jury of Gilbert's confession.
Bomb Threats:
Over the next weeks Gilbert's behavior was unpredictable. Convinced her lover had turned against her, Gilbert was desperate. In a strange twist, she purchased a toy to disguise her voice and called the VA hospital while Perrault was on duty. She told him, in a man's voice, that three bombs were set to go off in two hours, in Building One of the hospital. Employees and patients, many of which were sick and elderly, were evacuated.
Gilbert's First Taste of Prison:
An investigation into the bomb threat resulted in Gilbert's arrest and conviction of 15 months in a federal prison. What she hoped to accomplish by making the bomb threat is unclear.
Epinephrine:
During her trial for making bomb threats the federal investigators were busy exhuming many of the bodies of those who died during Gilbert's shift at the VA Hospital. Finally in 1998, Kristen Gilbert, age 30, was indicted for murdering four of her patients and attempting to kill three others by injecting them with epinephrine.
Guilty:
After a lengthy and costly trial, a jury found Gibert guilty of first-degree murder in three of the deaths and second-degree murder in one more and the attempted murder of two other patients.
Life or Death:
She was eligible to receive the death penalty since her crimes occurred on federal property, but was sentenced instead to life in prison.
