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Halloween night, October 31, 1992, Candice “Candy” Fonagy went to Kipling (Canada) Medical Center looking for her best friend after a terrible fight with her boyfriend. After finding out her best friend isn’t working, she becomes hysterical. The nurses suggest that she stay and see a doctor before leaving.
The on-call doctor was Dr. John Schneeberger. During examination, Dr. Schneeberger administered Candy an injection to calm her down, which caused her to lose almost all consciousness.
When Candy finally came to, she had the terrible feeling she may have been sexually assaulted by the doctor. Candy, a single mother, accused the well-respected doctor in town of drugging and raping her. A rape kit found evidence of semen and the blood test revealed the presence of the drug, Versed, a sedative with a strong amnesic effect.
Photo Source: S. Paige Writes (website)
Dr. Schneeberger voluntarily provided a DNA blood sample to compare to Candy’s rape kit test. His DNA was not a match. No one in Kipling believed Candy’s story that she was raped by the doctor, especially now with the DNA evidence.
Photo Source: True Activist (website)
A year later, in August 1993, the doctor agreed to a second DNA test. This time, the test would be monitored by the police. Once again, the doctor’s DNA was not a match to the DNA found in Candy’s rape kit.
Still convinced she was raped, Candy hired a private investigator, Larry O’Brien, to break into Dr. Schneeberger’s car. Inside the car, the private investigator collected hair samples and a tube of Chapstick. Unfortunately, the hair didn’t have its roots for DNA testing. However, the DNA on Dr. Schneeberger’s Chapstick was a perfect match to Candy’s rape kit. How could this be?
With the test results of the Chapstick, Candy decided to go after the doctor in a civil trial. At the civil hearing, Dr. Schneeberger agreed to a third DNA test, once again, in front of the police.
Photo Source: S. Paige Writes (website)
The lab technician asks for the doctor’s finger to draw the blood. The doctor insists the blood come from his arm, not his finger. Skeptical, the technician begins taking blood from his arm, as requested. But she has trouble getting any blood to come out even though his vein is enlarged.
Even though the technician is suspicious of the doctor, there’s nothing she can do about it. And just like before, the doctor’s DNA didn’t match Candy’s rape kit. The doctor goes back to work, and continues life as a husband and father.
Until April 1997 when everything took a turn that no one could have seen coming.
In April 1997, Dr. Schneeberger’s 15-year old stepdaughter comes forward to accuse him of coming into her room at night, injecting her with an unknown substance, and assaulting her. The doctor was immediately arrested by police and taken into custody. In custody, police not only obtained a blood sample from the doctor, they took saliva and hair.
Unlike the last 3 times of testing Dr. Schneeberger’s blood to the rape kit, this time, his DNA was a PERFECT MATCH.
But, how could the doctor pass 3 separate blood tests over the last five years?
At his trial, it was revealed that Dr. John Schneeberger implanted a 15 cm Penrose drain filled with another man’s blood into his arm to trick the DNA test. He also used anticoagulants, or blood thinners, in order to circulate the other’s man blood inside her arm.
Photo Source: Crime Magazine (website)
Dr. Schneeberger was found guilty of Candy’s rape, even after all these years. He was sentenced to 6 years in prison, stripped of his Canadian citizenship, and was deported back to Zambia.
Even though the doctor was able to trick the DNA test 3 separate times by using a pump that he implanted into his arm, the police were finally able to get the DNA sample they needed to prove his guilt. If it wasn’t for his stepdaughter’s decision to come forward with her story, Dr. Schneeberger may have gotten away with the perfect crime.
Episode Sources:
Forensic Files “Bad Blood” Season 6 Episode 18
John Schneeberger Wikipedia
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