00:00Hello and welcome to the Dark Mystery Lounge.
00:03Happy October everyone!
00:05Let's kick off the spooky season with a mystery that,
00:08even though it happened almost 30 years ago,
00:11it still leaves people puzzled, even to this day.
00:15The case of Gloria Ramirez, also known as the Toxic Lady.
00:20Let's get started.
00:25On the evening of February 19th, 1994,
00:30at around 8.15 p.m.,
00:32a woman was brought in by ambulance
00:34to Riverside General Hospital in Riverside, California.
00:39It was 31-year-old Gloria Ramirez,
00:42married mother of two,
00:44who was diagnosed with end-stage cervical cancer
00:46just six weeks prior.
00:49She was suffering from chest palpitations
00:51and difficulty breathing.
00:54The medical staff administered sedatives
00:56to try and get her heart rate and breathing under control.
01:00When it became clear that Gloria wasn't responding
01:03to the treatment very well,
01:05the staff tried to defibrillate her heart.
01:08When they removed her shirt to expose her chest,
01:11they noticed an oily sheen covering Gloria's body,
01:15and some noticed a fruity, garlic-like odor
01:17that they thought was coming from her mouth.
01:21Nurse Susan Cain drew blood from Gloria's arm
01:24and noticed an ammonia-like smell coming from the tube.
01:28She passed the tube to Julie Graczynski,
01:31a medical resident,
01:33who noticed manila-colored particles floating in the blood.
01:37Suddenly, Susan fainted.
01:39She was quickly removed from the room.
01:41Shortly after,
01:43Julie began to feel nauseated.
01:45She complained that she was feeling light-headed
01:47and left the trauma room as well
01:50and sat at a nurse's desk.
01:52When another staff member asked if she was okay
01:55before she could respond,
01:57Julie fainted.
01:59Marlene Welch,
02:00a respiratory therapist
02:01who was assisting in the trauma room,
02:04was the third to pass out.
02:06The staff,
02:08who saw that something was very wrong,
02:10ordered to evacuate
02:11all emergency department patients
02:13to the parking lot outside the hospital.
02:17A total of 23 people became ill
02:19and five were hospitalized.
02:22A skeleton crew stayed behind
02:24to stabilize Gloria.
02:26Unfortunately,
02:27at 8.50 p.m.,
02:29Gloria was pronounced dead.
02:36Gloria was placed and sealed in a metal box
02:39and her body stayed in there
02:41for a week
02:42before any investigation
02:43was conducted.
02:45Dressed in hazmat suits,
02:47the building was inspected
02:48to make sure
02:49there was no gas
02:50or chemical leak.
02:52The county's health department
02:53called the California's
02:55Department of Health
02:56and Human Services,
02:57which put two scientists,
02:59Drs. Ana Maria Osorio
03:01and Kirsten Waller,
03:03on the case.
03:05They interviewed 34 hospital staff
03:07who had been working
03:08in the emergency room
03:10on February 19th.
03:12Using a standardized questionnaire,
03:14they found that the people
03:15who had developed
03:16severe symptoms,
03:18such as loss of consciousness,
03:20shortness of breath,
03:21muscle spasms,
03:23headaches,
03:23nausea,
03:24and a burning sensation
03:25on the skin,
03:27tended to have
03:27certain things in common.
03:29People who had worked
03:31within two feet of Gloria
03:32and had handled her IV lines
03:34had been at high risk.
03:36But others that correlated
03:38with severe symptoms
03:39did not appear to match
03:41a scenario
03:41in which fumes
03:43had been released.
03:44The survey found
03:46that those afflicted
03:47tended to be women
03:48rather than men,
03:50and people who hadn't
03:51eaten anything for dinner.
03:53They all had normal blood tests
03:54after the exposure.
03:57In conclusion,
03:58they believed that hospital workers
04:00suffered from mass hysteria,
04:02which to me is just
04:04a lazy way of saying
04:05we can't figure this out.
04:07They pretty much just
04:08labeled everyone as crazy
04:09and moved on.
04:11Julie Gorzinski
04:12denied that she had been
04:14affected by mass hysteria
04:15and pointed at her own
04:17medical history as evidence.
04:20After the exposure,
04:21she spent two weeks
04:22in the intensive care unit
04:24with breathing problems.
04:26She developed hepatitis
04:27and avascular necrosis
04:29in her knees.
04:30The first autopsy
04:32conducted on Gloria's body
04:33was done a week later,
04:35while dressed in hazmat suits
04:37and in a special room.
04:40They found Tylenol,
04:41lidocaine,
04:42codeine,
04:43and Tigen in her system.
04:46Tigen is an anti-nausea medication.
04:49These were standard medications
04:50that would be found
04:51in a patient
04:52with late-stage cancer.
04:54An interesting note,
04:56Tigen breaks down
04:57into amines in the body.
04:59Amines are related
05:01to ammonia,
05:02which could explain
05:03the ammonia smell
05:04in Gloria's blood sample
05:05at the hospital.
05:07The only reason
05:08why this autopsy
05:09was performed
05:10was to find
05:11the cause of death,
05:12which was ruled
05:13as heart complications
05:14due to kidney failure.
05:16Plus,
05:16she was in the beginning stages
05:17of liver failure.
05:19But this still didn't explain
05:21why 23 people
05:22became ill
05:23due to exposure
05:24to Gloria's blood.
05:25So she was resealed
05:27and another autopsy
05:29was conducted
05:29five weeks later.
05:31This time,
05:32they collected samples.
05:34Riverside Coroner's office
05:35contacted
05:36Lawrence Livermore
05:37National Laboratory
05:38to investigate
05:39the incident.
05:41They take the samples
05:42and run tests
05:43for everything,
05:44not just normal toxins.
05:46What they found
05:47was strange.
05:48Gloria's blood
05:49and tissues
05:50had large amounts
05:51of dimethylsulfone.
05:54Dimethylsulfone
05:55does occur naturally
05:56in the human body
05:57as it breaks down
05:58certain substances.
06:00Once it enters the body,
06:02it disappears quickly
06:03with a half-life
06:04of just three days.
06:06However,
06:07there was so much
06:08in Gloria's system,
06:09it still registered
06:10at three times
06:11the normal amount
06:12six weeks
06:13following her death.
06:15Livermore Labs
06:16postulated
06:17that Gloria
06:18had been using
06:19dimethylsulfoxide
06:20or DMSO,
06:23a solvent
06:23used as a powerful
06:25degreaser
06:25and used for pain
06:27in alternative medicine.
06:29It was in creams,
06:30pills,
06:30and ointments,
06:31mainly for muscle pain
06:32and soreness,
06:33but the DMSO
06:34that was in those products
06:36were highly diluted.
06:38It's also used
06:39on horses
06:39in veterinary medicine.
06:42Back in the 50s
06:43and 60s,
06:44it was regarded
06:45as a cure-all,
06:46but in 1965,
06:48studies were done
06:49and found
06:49that prolonged
06:50use of DMSO
06:52can cause damage
06:53to the lens
06:54of the eyes.
06:55It's still around,
06:56but like I stated earlier,
06:58it's diluted.
06:59It was even advertised
07:00as a cancer cure
07:02in the 80s,
07:03but of course
07:03that's not remotely true.
07:05Users of this substance
07:07report
07:07that it has
07:08a garlic-like taste.
07:10Sold in gel form
07:11at hardware stores,
07:12it could also explain
07:13the greasy appearance
07:15of Gloria's body.
07:16The Livermore scientists
07:18theorized
07:18that the DMSO
07:20in Gloria's system
07:21might have built up
07:23owing to urinary blockage
07:25caused by her kidney failure.
07:27Oxygen was administered
07:29by the paramedics
07:30would have combined
07:31with the DMSO
07:32to form dimethyl cell phone,
07:35DMSO2.
07:37DMSO2 is known
07:38to crystallize
07:39at room temperature,
07:40and crystals
07:42were observed
07:42in some of Gloria's
07:44drawn blood.
07:45Electric shocks
07:46administered
07:47during emergency
07:48defibrillation
07:49could have converted
07:50the DMSO2
07:51into dimethyl sulfate,
07:54DMSO4,
07:56which is a highly
07:56toxic nerve gas
07:58or an agent
07:59for nerve gas.
08:00It was tested
08:01back in World War I
08:02in France and Germany
08:04for use
08:05in chemical warfare.
08:06It's extremely dangerous
08:08even in very small amounts.
08:10So this explains
08:11the symptoms
08:12that the medical staff
08:13were experiencing.
08:15So the theory going
08:16is that Gloria
08:18was diagnosed
08:18with cervical cancer
08:19in a desperate attempt
08:21because her cancer
08:23was so advanced
08:24any chemo
08:24or other treatment
08:26probably wouldn't
08:27have worked.
08:28So she bought
08:28some DMSO
08:29from the hardware store
08:30and applied it
08:31to her skin.
08:33Then because of
08:33her kidneys failing,
08:35the DMSO
08:36built up in her system.
08:37The oxygen
08:39and electric shock
08:40from defibrillation
08:41caused a chemical reaction
08:43so when her blood
08:44was drawn,
08:46the trauma room
08:47became a small
08:48gas chamber.
08:54Not everyone
08:55was sold
08:55on the DMSO theory.
08:58Gloria's family
08:58claimed that
08:59she never used DMSO.
09:01but this theory
09:02as bizarre
09:03as it is
09:04seems to be
09:05the only explanation
09:06as to how she died
09:08and how everyone
09:09else around her
09:10became ill too.
09:12Her death
09:12was definitely
09:13one of a kind.
09:15Two months
09:15after Gloria's death,
09:17her body
09:17was released
09:18to her family.
09:19An independent
09:20autopsy
09:21was conducted
09:21which the pathologist
09:23was unable
09:24to determine
09:24a cause of death
09:26because her heart
09:27was missing.
09:28Her organs
09:28were cross-contaminated
09:30with fecal matter
09:31and her body
09:32was too decomposed.
09:34On April 20th, 1994,
09:37Gloria's body
09:37was laid to rest
09:38at Olivewood Memorial Park
09:40in Riverside.
09:42Her funeral
09:42was attended
09:43by almost 100 people.
09:46The media
09:46dubbed Gloria
09:47the Toxic Lady,
09:49a harsh name
09:50given to a woman
09:51that was very much loved
09:52and gave love
09:53to all who knew her.
09:55Rest in peace,
09:56Gloria Ramirez.
10:00To me,
10:04this has to be
10:04one of the most
10:05bizarre deaths
10:06I've ever heard of.
10:08It has never
10:08happened before
10:09and most likely
10:11will never happen again.
10:13I don't think
10:13Gloria was foolish
10:14or stupid
10:15for trying DMSO.
10:17She was just trying
10:18to find a way
10:19to beat her cancer.
10:20Since her cancer
10:21was in the late stages,
10:23she was just trying
10:24anything
10:24in the hopes
10:26that she could live
10:27just a little bit longer.
10:28after all,
10:29what other options
10:30were left?
10:32I understand
10:32that her family
10:33denies that she
10:34ever took it,
10:35but what other
10:35explanation is there?
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10:55Thank you for
10:55hanging out with me
10:56in the Dark Mystery Lounge.
10:58This is Phoenix
10:59signing out.
11:00Have a good evening
11:01and stay safe.
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