Nurse Accused of Killing High School Classmate After Facelift

This is a partial transcript of "The Big Story With John Gibson," September 25, 2006, that has been edited for clarity.

JOHN GIBSON, HOST: Now to the big crime story out of North Carolina: Three decades ago, they were high school classmates. Today, one of them is charged with the other's murder. It is a bizarre case that could possibly involve a 30-year-old grudge.

Sandra Joyner died five years ago after having a successful facelift operation at a clinic where her former classmate Sally Hill worked. Police now believe her death was not caused by the surgery.

With me now, criminal profiler Pat Brown, and FOX News legal analyst Lis Wiehl, a former federal prosecutor.

So, Lis, tell me — just lay out for us, what is it that prosecutors and cops think happened?

LIS WIEHL, FOX NEWS LEGAL ANALYST: Well, the murder happened — if it was a murder — happened in 2001, OK?

Then they went through a civil lawsuit, where there was a wrongful death claim and a negligence claim. They settled that in 2004. Everybody sort of went free. They paid some money. The cops got some kind of tip earlier this year. We don't know exactly what that tip is. That caused them to start a criminal investigation against the nurse.

GIBSON: But what's the thought here?

WIEHL: OK. A couple of things. We don't know what the tip was. So, that, to me, could be the smoking gun.

But here is what happened. Here is what we do know. What she does admit, Hill does admit, is that she turned off the mechanism to actually make noise if somebody is in trouble in the emergency room right after the operation. She admits to giving her quite a lot of pain medication, probably more than she should have. And that will be a big question.

She also admits to altering the medication records. In other words, you have got to keep records of medication that you give to a patient. She admits to altering those. And then she was seen doing weird things, like snacking on some cookies and biscuits when, you know, her friend, supposedly of 30 years, is going into, you know, cardiac arrest. Very strange behavior.

GIBSON: But what's the motive?

WIEHL: Well, a woman scorned, John, 30 years ago.

GIBSON: Well, what is the scorn? What happened?

(CROSSTALK)

WIEHL: Well, OK. I mean, first of all, look at the pictures. I'm not going to say anymore.

And then think about, 30 years ago, they are high school friends. And, apparently, one was a big cheerleader. The other wasn't a big cheerleader. And one took the other's boyfriend away.

GIBSON: Pat Brown, does this sound like a criminal profile?

PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER: Well, it's not just a woman scorned, John. This is a psychopath. And it's just the kind of woman that would also work in a hospital and kill patients. It's also the kind of woman who would kill her own children, the type we would call Munchausen syndrome by proxy, in other words, a woman who doesn't feel she is getting the attention, always feels like she is the loser.

And she has her own history of events and how they went down. So she had manufactured in her own mind how people are getting more than she is and how she is not getting her due. So, at this point in time, when she was in the hospital, she may have decided: Well, I will get back at this, and I will also, you know, feel better about myself.

What concerns me is that the hospital passed this off as an accident, which often happens when you have patients dying, which is egregious. And I think they need to look back in this woman's past and make sure there aren't a lot of other dead patients rolling around where she has worked.

GIBSON: But, Lis, in this particular case, there is something specific to point at.

WIEHL: Right.

GIBSON: And it was high school. She didn't get to be a cheerleader.

WIEHL: It was a grudge, right, right.

GIBSON: It was the boyfriend?

WIEHL: Right, a boyfriend. I'm not sure if there is going to be anything else that we uncover here. But it seems to me very suspicious that the cops get a tip early this year. Here was a crime that was supposedly — not even a crime, an accident that was deemed an accident two years ago. And now they reopen it. I think there is somebody else involved.

GIBSON: Pat Brown, do you see much of this ever?

BROWN: What, somebody getting back after 30 years?

GIBSON: Yes.

BROWN: Well, as I say, sometimes, a psychopath will take an opportunity that comes. They're opportunistic people. And, so, they are always looking for that grudge. And they will find it one place or the other. Sometimes, it won't be violent.

But on the other hand, sometimes, it will be violent, just because they decide this is the time when they are going to get back and win.

GIBSON: Pat Brown, Lis Wiehl, thanks to both of you.

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