Updated with dramatic developments and new murder charges, filed in the coldest of cold cases, to keep a serial baby-killer behind bars. This tale is every parent's worst nightmare: the horrifying account of a Texas nurse who killed children under her care, and the hospital that covered it up.



It's 1980, and Genene Jones is working in the pediatric ICU at San Antonio's charity hospital, on what soon came to be known as "the Death Shift". From 3-11 PM, infants under her care begin experiencing unexpected emergencies - and dying - in alarming numbers, prompting rumors that there is a murderer among the staff. This chilling epidemic continued unabated for more than a year, before Jones was quietly sent off - with a good recommendation - to a small-town pediatric clinic. There, eight children under her care mysteriously stopped breathing in a single month - and a 15-month-old baby girl died.



In May 1983, Jones was finally arrested, leading to trials that revealed her strange attraction to medical emergencies and a desire to "play God" with the lives of the children under her care. More shocking still, as The Death Shift reveals, the hospital had volunteered nothing to law-enforcement authorities about Jones' horrific deeds, allowing her spree to continue and prompting grieving parents to ask: Why? Elkind chronicles Jones chilling rampage, while also turning his piercing gaze onto those responsible for its cover-up.



This updated edition is a tale with fresh relevance, revealing how prosecutors raced to keep Jones behind bars, despite her scheduled mandatory release from a Texas prison in early 2018, after one-third of a 99-year murder sentence; Jones' cryptic secret prison confessions - followed by giddy exultations to a band of evangelical allies about her expected release; and how prosecutors finally won a guilty plea from Jones on the eve of a new murder trial.