The story of toxic Gloria Ramirez, whose touch could have cost you your life

Gloria Ramirez can be considered a very ordinary American. Her life was quite happy and unremarkable. Everything changed when she was diagnosed with a fatal disease. Her condition rapidly worsened, and Gloria eventually ended up in intensive care. It was in the last minutes of her life that the terrible events occurred, thanks to which Ramirez went down in history as the "Toxic Lady".

Gloria Ramirez was born on January 11, 1963, in Riverside, California. She had a husband, two children, a job she loved, and friends. But in January 1994, her life changed dramatically: doctors diagnosed her with cervical cancer. The disease was detected at the last, fourth stage, and the prognosis was extremely disappointing.

On February 19, 1994, Gloria's condition worsened sharply, and her husband called an ambulance. The woman was hospitalized in serious condition and immediately placed in the intensive care unit of the Riverside Hospital. The patient had difficulty breathing and an irregular heartbeat, so she began to receive medications on the way to the clinic.

At the hospital, doctors continued to fight for Gloria Ramirez's life, administering her powerful drugs. But despite the doctors' efforts, the woman's condition did not improve. Gloria was admitted to the hospital in her home clothes - a T-shirt and shorts. The staff immediately noticed that her clothes were soaked in some kind of greasy substance. This substance, reminiscent of cosmetic cream, covered the patient's skin.

One of the nurses took blood from Gloria's vein for analysis and hurried to show the test tube to the doctors. The woman's blood smelled of ammonia, and small crystals appeared on the walls of the glass container. A few minutes later, nurse Susan Kane, who had taken the blood, suddenly lost consciousness. Soon after, therapist Moren Welch and nurse Julia Korginsky, who had also come into contact with the test tube, fell.

There were experienced doctors in the intensive care unit, but they could not explain the reason for three consecutive fainting spells, as well as the strangeness in Ramirez's blood. The doctors urgently reported the incident to the hospital administration. An emergency was announced over the loudspeaker. The police and city authorities were notified of the incident. They assumed that a terrorist attack using toxic substances could have been committed in the clinic.

Less than an hour after Ramirez arrived at the hospital, the evacuation of patients and staff began. Those who could move independently were taken to the parking lot, and bedridden patients were wheeled out on stretchers. Mobile equipment had to be used, since some patients were connected to life support systems.

Meanwhile, several doctors, dressed in protective suits, continued to fight for Gloria Ramirez's life. At 8:50 p.m., doctors pronounced her dead, after which the last staff members left the hospital building. They were replaced by rescuers and FBI agents in protective suits. They carefully examined the clinic, paying special attention to the room where Ramirez's body was located. But the experts did not find any toxic or biologically hazardous substances.

At this time, nurse Sally Beldurus, who was transporting Gloria Ramirez on a gurney along the corridor, became ill. She complained of nausea and a burning sensation on her face. Soon, the strange illness began to affect the medical staff en masse. Within a few hours, 24 hospital employees needed medical assistance.

Since all the victims had had some form of contact with Gloria Ramirez, the intelligence officers assumed that she was the cause of the incident. The body of the deceased was placed with extreme caution in a sealed aluminum coffin designed to contain dangerous infectious remains.

Most of the injured medics recovered quickly, and their condition improved within a few hours. But five of them suffered serious injuries. Nurse Susan Kane spent 10 days in the hospital, and her colleague Julia Korginsky spent two weeks.

The incident at Riverside Hospital caused a huge stir in California. Citizens demanded an explanation of what had happened and measures to protect the population. The best forensic experts began examining Gloria Ramirez's body, but... nothing unusual was found. They determined that the cause of death was a heart attack caused by acute renal failure.

No toxic substances or dangerous bacteria were found in Gloria Ramirez's blood, and the body's radioactive background was within normal limits. Tests revealed traces of lidocaine, codeine, and tigan, an anti-nausea drug, in the deceased's body. The latter, under certain conditions, could give the blood an ammonia smell. But this did not explain the appearance of crystals on the walls of the test tube with blood.

A few days later, another team of specialists arrived in Riverside and performed a second autopsy. However, the second examination also revealed no abnormalities. Surprisingly, even the poisoning of 24 people could not be explained - their tests were normal, and no organ damage was found. As a result, experts came to the conclusion that the incident was related to... mass hysteria.

This explanation, of course, did not satisfy either the hospital doctors or the panicking residents of Riverside. So samples of Ramirez's blood and tissue were sent to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. By this time, the body of the unfortunate Gloria had been buried with many precautions.

Chemists from Livermore, using unique scientific equipment, were able to shed light on this mysterious story. In Gloria Ramirez's blood, they found dimethyl sulfone (DMSO2), which is present in small quantities in every human body. But in Gloria's case, its content was three times higher than normal. This meant that during life, the concentration of the substance could have been tens of times higher, since dimethyl sulfone disintegrates in a dead body in 3-4 days.

Chemist Pat Grand decided to study the compound in more detail and discovered that DMSO2 was formed from dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). This substance differs from dimethyl sulfone by only one oxygen atom, but is much more dangerous. It has been established that DMSO can turn into DMSO2 when exposed to oxygen. This reaction likely occurred in Gloria’s body when doctors placed an oxygen mask on her.

But the question remained: could dimethyl sulfone, even in large quantities, kill people from a distance? Grand knew it was impossible. But another compound, DMSO4, was a deadly nerve gas. To form it, two more oxygen atoms had to be added to DMSO2. However, this process could not occur with the normal use of an oxygen mask, since the conditions for synthesizing DMSO4 were not present.

Grand spent several days trying to solve this mystery and eventually managed to piece together the entire chain of events. It turned out that a dangerous reaction occurred when a defibrillator was applied to the dying Gloria's body. Electrical impulses triggered a process that led to the formation of a deadly substance - DMSO4. Even half a gram of this gas in a cubic meter of air can kill a person in 10 minutes.

With that, everything became clear. But the main question remained: how did dimethyl sulfoxide end up in the body of a woman with cancer? This drug was once used in medicine as a means of fighting cancer, but it was stopped long ago due to its potential danger. Back in the 60s, it was discovered that it can cause damage to the lens of the eye. But meticulous Pat Grand finally found the answer. The investigation led him... to the kitchen of the late Gloria.

It turned out that dimethyl sulfoxide is contained in a chemical for cleaning ovens. There were real legends about this substance among the people. If they once tried to treat cancer with it and then banned it, then it means that someone does not want the American nation to be healthy. Cancer patients began to use a household chemical with a “magic” formula as a folk cure for cancer. Bodybuilders also loved it, believing that dimethyl sulfoxide protects the liver from the harmful effects of steroids.

It was oven cleaner that coated Gloria's dying skin. She likely applied it to her body over the course of several days in an attempt to stop the cancer. The rest was a series of tragic accidents. Oxygen from the mask triggered the first conversion of dimethyl sulfoxide to dimethyl sulfone, and electrical impulses from the defibrillator completed the process, synthesizing the deadly gas.

It seems that the case can be closed, and the wise chemist Pat Grant can be rewarded for solving the mystery. But it is not that simple. There are many mysteries left in this story. Firstly, the entire Ramirez family unanimously denied that Gloria was self-medicating, especially with household chemicals. Secondly, the test tube with the poisoned blood mysteriously disappeared from the lab, leaving investigators without key evidence.

Third, the latest autopsy of Gloria Ramirez's body revealed another oddity: many of her internal organs, including her heart, were missing. But the most shocking thing was that the investigator leading the case committed suicide a month after the incident at the hospital. Each of these events can be explained separately, and they may not be related. But aren't there too many coincidences? It seems like enough to give rise to yet another conspiracy theory.

Do you think this story could be related to undisclosed experiments, or is it just a tragic chain of coincidences? Share your opinion in the comments!