Nurse charged in deaths of 8 elderly people
Police: Victims in Ontario facilities were given drug
A nurse in Canada has been charged in the deaths of eight elderly people at nursing homes in southwest Ontario over a seven-year period.
TORONTO — A nurse has been charged in the deaths of eight elderly people at nursing homes in southwestern Ontario over a seven-year period, police said Tuesday.
Woodstock Police Chief William Renton said Elizabeth Tracey Mae Wettlaufer, 49, was charged with first-degree murder in the killings that took place between 2007 and 2014.
“The victims were administered a drug. We’re not in a position at this time to comment further on the specifics of the drug as it forms part of the evidence that is now before the courts,” Ontario Provincial Police Detective Dave Truax said.
Truax would only say that a number of drugs were stored and accessible in the nursing homes where the suspect worked.
More charges possible
Police said they were first alerted to the deaths on Sept. 29 and arrested Wettlaufer on Monday. They said she appeared in court Tuesday morning and remained in custody. Officials said more charges could be brought in the future. Police would not speak to a possible motive.
Woodstock police said they did not know whether Wettlaufer was represented yet by a lawyer.
“This is an extremely distressing and tragic … thing for all of the families involved,” said Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne. “… The police have made it clear there’s no threat to safety, and we now need to let the police do their job.”
Wettlaufer, of Woodstock, was employed by Caressant Care Nursing and Retirement Homes, which operates 15 facilities in small Ontario towns.
Son: ‘It’s horrific’
Police said seven of the victims died at a Caressant nursing home in Woodstock, a community of 37,000 people about halfway between London and Hamilton, Ontario.
The victims were identified as James Silcox, 84; Maurice Granat, 84; Gladys Millard, 87; Helen Matheson, 95; Mary Zurawinski, 96; Helen Young, 90; Maureen Pickering, 79, and Arpad Horvath, 75.
Wettlaufer was also employed at the Meadow Park facility in London, where Horvath died.
Daniel Silcox, of Pontypool, Ontario, said he found out about his father being among the alleged victims while listening to the radio Tuesday.
“We’re living my father’s death right now,” Silcox said. “It’s horrific.”
His father didn’t like living at the home and had broken his hip at the facility, but the family otherwise had no suspicions that his death might have been foul play, Silcox said.
Records from the College of Nurses of Ontario show Wettlaufer was first registered as a nurse in August 1995 but resigned on Sept. 30. She is no longer entitled to practice as a registered nurse.
Caressant said it is cooperating with police and remains in contact with the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.