CARE-HOME NIGHTMARE
Nurse faces eight murder charges
They were grandfathers and grandmothers; one was a war bride, another served in the Second World War, another was a big game hunter. They all died by lethal injection.
On Tuesday, a nurse was accused of killing eight seniors in her care — but police said they were not ruling out that there might be more victims.
Elizabeth “Bethe” Tracey Mae Wettlaufer, 49, who worked at nursing homes in Woodstock and London, Ont., was charged with the first-degree murders of eight residents aged 75 to 96.
The deaths took place between August 2007 and August 2014.
Seven of the alleged victims lived at a longterm care residence, Caressant Care Woodstock, that is across the street from where eight-year-old Tori Stafford was abducted in April 2009. Her disappearance and murder captured national attention and left the city of roughly 37,000 people grappling with fear and grief.
The eighth alleged victim was a resident of a long-term care residence, Meadow Park, in London.
“The victims were administered a drug, but I’m not in a position at this time to comment on specifics of the drug,” said London Police Det.-Supt. William Merrylees.
Police said they believe Wettlaufer, who appeared in court Tuesday and who remains in custody, also worked at other long-term care facilities.
They did not rule out the possibility of more victims but would not comment on the motive of the alleged serial killer.
Police said the investigation began Sept. 29 when information was received from an undisclosed source that eight people had been murdered over a period of several years.
On her Facebook page, Wettlaufer listed a Brantford, Ont., homecare agency, Lifeguard Homecare, as an employer.
Records from the College of Nurses of Ontario show she was first registered as a nurse in August 1995 but resigned on Sept. 30 of this year. She is no longer entitled to practise as a registered nurse.
A LinkedIn profile for someone of the same name also showed a bachelor’s degree in counselling from the London Baptist Bible College.
Before she worked at Caressant Care, Wettlaufer worked at Christian Horizons, a faithbased charitable organization that works with people with developmental disabilities.
The organization said Wettlaufer left in June 2007.
One of the victims was Arpad (Art) Horvath, a big game hunter who died at 75.
“It’s devastating,” said Horvath’s son, also named Arpad. “To lose somebody like that. It’s sad. You figure he died, and that was it. The next thing you know, you find out (police believe) somebody murdered your father.”
Another victim was James Silcox, 84, who served in the Royal Canadian Army Service Corp in Italy, Holland and Belgium during the Second World War.
“We’re living my father’s death right now,” Daniel Silcox told The Canadian Press. “It’s horrific.”
“We don’t want him to become the poster boy of this tragedy but we would like the story out there: (He was) a wonderful man, a World War II vet, just the best father in the world.”
Meanwhile, Charlene Puffer, who lives down the hall from Wettlaufer’s fifth-floor apartment, described her neighbour as a decent person.
Puffer said Wettlaufer told her she liked her job as a nurse.
Another apartment resident who considered Wettlaufer a friend, Nancy Gilbert, described her as a “happy-go-lucky lady.”
Gilbert said Wettlaufer recently told her she had just gotten out of rehab, for the second time.
The Canadian Association of Retired Persons (CARP) said in a statement Tuesday that it was shocked by the alleged serial killings.
“The age of the victims and their medical condition should play no part in how our justice system pursues those who violate the laws of our land and cause harm to another,” said CARP policy director and general counsel Wade Poziomka.
News of the arrest quickly spread to the Ontario legislature, where members observed a moment of silence shortly before noon.
Asked how the alleged killings went undetected for so long, Premier Kathleen Wynne said it would be inappropriate for her to comment on an ongoing investigation, but that it was an “extremely distressing and tragic, tragic thing for all of the families involved.”
Sabrina Sabic, who worked as a student nurse’s aide at the Woodstock nursing home, stood near the facility with friends shortly after news of Wettlaufer’s arrest broke.
“It’s shocking and sad to know that this happened to so many people, and it just seems with my experience there that people working there should have paid closer attention,” the 17-year-old said.
The other six victims have been identified as Maurice Granat, 84; Gladys Millard, 87; Helen Matheson, 95; Mary Zurawinski, 96; Helen Young, 90, and Maureen Pickering, 79.
Caressant Care Nursing and Retirement Homes Ltd., which operates 15 facilities primarily based in small towns, said it is co-operating with police.