After Swango was released from prison, he seemed to take medical jobs in whatever field was offered. This included emergency medicine and psychiatry. There is certainly an irony that he was a psychiatric resident in NY when he murdered three of the victims mentioned in his guilty plea. Swango finally pleaded guilty to one murder while he was at Ohio State in 1984-1985. But the evidence was much fresher 17 years ago when that murder took place.
Tissue samples are old.
Some witnesses had died. And yet it was still possible to make a case this year. So, it certainly should have been easier to complete a successful investigation soon after the suspicious death occurred. This didn't happen in large part because Swango was protected by fellow doctors at Ohio State, who incidentally have never been called to account for their actions at the time. Police in Zimbabwe wanted Swango on murder charges there and Zimbabwe does have the death penalty.