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Okay, kids, it's story time. I've never been a great sleeper, and have a tendency to sit up, *wide awake* from about 2 AM to 4 AM every night. Because of this, I have become a conoisseur of sorts of late night television and obscure nonsense on streaming platforms.
I've watched every episode of Hoarders, ever. I have almost an encyclopedic knowledge of 90 Day Fiance and its spinoffs. The release of vintage "Supermarket Sweep" on Netflix was like a special gift just for me. If you're looking for a Spanish or Israeli soap opera, I can help.
If you enjoyed the Unsolved Mysteries reboot, you'll be happy to know that the entire original series is available on Amazon Prime.
Lately, my jam has been old school episodes of Forensic Files on Netflix. It's a delightful mix of early 90's fashions and shoe leather detective work, and they always catch the bad guy with a little bit of moxie and a bunch of science.
This morning's episode was so exceedingly creepy that it sent me down an internet rabbit hole for hours.
Picture it: Buffalo, NY, 1997. A 26 year old mother of two named Sarah Smith decides she wants breast augmentation surgery. She chooses Dr. Anthony Pignataro to do the procedure.
Dr. Pignataro has some measure of fame as the inventor of a snap-on toupee, which attached to men's heads via bolts surgically implanted in the skull. He's not a board certified plastic surgeon, and he does surgery in his office.
He doesn't have a registered nurse, an anesthesiologist, or a nurse anesthetist on staff. He had a LPN and a high school student on hand to assist him during procedures. While there were rumors of botched procedures, he continued making money hand over fist.
Sarah Smith, the 26 year old mother of two, dies on the table after Pignataro makes critical errors administering anesthesia. The poor woman dies a horrible death due to lack of ventilation while anesthetized.
Prosecutors file criminal charges and the medical board pulls Pignataro's license. He gets 6 months in prison, 5 years probation, and community service. You can read about it here: https://www.nytimes.com/1998/08/08/nyregion/plastic-surgeon-sentenced-in-death-of-a-woman.html
He gets out of prison, returns home, and has difficulty finding work. He cheats on his wife. She kicks him out, but they later reconcile. In 1999, his wife's health takes a turn. She has terrible nausea, numbness in her limbs, memory loss, and sometimes needs a wheelchair.
At the hospital, Pignataro urges doctors to remove his wife's gallbladder, claiming that would cure what ails her. The (real) doctors at the hospital refuse, saying she'd die on the table in her condition. They do more testing to figure out what her underlying problem was.
After testing Mrs. Pignataro's hair, they find the culprit: massive arsenic poisoning. The husband insists that Sarah Smith's family is behind it, as revenge. Like "eye for an eye," except with wives. However, the Pignataro's kids also had too much arsenic in their blood.
Police quickly trace the poison to a very specific brand of bug poison, which they can easily prove the husband had recently purchased. Turns out, this guy had been putting arsenic in his wife's food, which the daughter accidentally ate once or twice.
The motive was to have his wife die on the table so the medical board would see that sometimes people just die on the table and he should get back his medical license.
He faces criminal prosecution again, and even after he takes a plea deal, he tried to claim his wife poisoned herself because she was suicidal. The DA is unimpressed.
He gets 15 years in prison, his wife divorces him, and the kids go back to their mother. https://buffalonews.com/news/pignataro-children-are-returned-to-mothers-home/article_9db8dce2-9d2c-59a3-8079-edf6aa884774.html
He gets out of prison in 2013, moves BACK to the Buffalo area, changes his name to Tony Haute, and opens a "cosmetique" which sells skin care products formulated from “one’s own DNA-derived plasma.” His website referred to him as a doctor.
The Erie County DA opens a criminal investigation and the website disappears. https://www.newyorkupstate.com/western-ny/2017/07/homicidal_doctor_who_lost_license_has_been_secretly_practicing_in_upstate_ny_rep.html
Where is he now, you might ask. I'll give you three guesses.
If you guessed Florida, you are correct. Bonus points if you guessed South Florida. https://www.wkbw.com/news/i-team/i-team-deceitful-doctor-pignataro-is-back-this-time-in-florida
Anyway, this whole debacle inspired a book by Ann Rule, which you can find here: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Last-Dance-Last-Chance/Ann-Rule/Ann-Rules-Crime-Files/9780671025359
If you want to watch the episode that started me on this journey, here you go:
