New charges laid against former Ontario nurse accused of killing seniors
Posted January 13, 2017 9:41 am.
Last Updated January 13, 2017 6:49 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A former Ontario nurse charged with killing eight seniors in two long-term care homes was accused Friday of attempting to kill others in her care by injecting them with insulin.
The new charges against Elizabeth Wettlaufer, 49, include four counts of attempted murder and two counts of aggravated assault.
Court documents allege Wettlaufer committed the offences at various points between June 2007 and August 2016.
Police did not provide details on the alleged incidents, but said their investigation was ongoing.
“It’s a very intense investigation and, obviously, there’s still a lot more questions than answers, but it’s an ongoing investigation,” said Sgt. David Rektor. “We’ll just follow the evidence and take it to where it leads us.”
Rektor encouraged anyone who might have information on the case to contact police.
“We are shocked and saddened by these allegations,” said John Beaney, VP of operations at Revera long-term care homes. “There are a number of homes, one of which is ours, that are involved in this investigation. And we’re all appalled that something like this could have happened.”
Ontario provincial police announced the new charges moments before Wettlaufer appeared briefly in a packed Woodstock, Ont., courtroom.
The former nurse, who has been in custody since late October, looked out silently at the public benches where friends and family of some of her alleged victims sat. Her case was put over to Feb. 15 after a Crown lawyer updated the court on the new charges.
Outside court, relatives of the alleged victims explained why they had attended the hearing.
“We want her to see how much hurt and how much pain we have for our loved ones and how much pain she’s created,” said Andrea Silcox, the daughter of Wettlaufer’s alleged victim Maurice Granat. “She needs to see the pain in the faces that still exist, the loved ones that she had left behind.”
Laura Jackson, Granat’s friend, said she wanted to see that Wettlaufer “gets the justice she deserves.”
“She looks like a normal person, but unfortunately behind the normal person is a monster,” she said.
“You think that the person you care about in a nursing home is protected. You think that they’re safe and being taken care of. You don’t think that someone is going to try to deliberately end their life.”
Wettlaufer now is charged with the attempted murder of 57-year-old Wayne Hedges between September and December 2008, and the attempted murder of 63-year-old Michael Priddle between January 2008 and December 2009 – both residents of Caressant Care nursing home in Woodstock, where Wettlaufer worked for years as a nurse.
She is also charged with the attempted murders of 77-year-old Sandra Towler, a resident of Telfer Place in Brant County, Ont., in September 2015, and 68-year-old Beverly Bertram, who was at a private home in Oxford County in August of last year.
Wettlaufer also faces two counts of aggravated assault against 87-year-old Clotilde Adriano and 90-year-old Albina Demedeiros – both Caressant Care residents – between June and December of 2007.
Police say four of the new alleged victims have since died, but their deaths have not been attributed to Wettlaufer.
In October, Wettlaufer was charged with eight counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of residents at nursing homes in Woodstock and London, Ont. Police alleged Wettlaufer used drugs to kill the seniors while she worked at the facilities between 2007 and 2014.
The allegations against Wettlaufer have not been proven in court.
“The elder abuse, the things we’ve seen in nursing homes, is devastating,” said Sandra Zisckind, lawyer at Diamond & Diamond, which is handling a civil suit against the homes.
“We don’t take care of our old people the way we should be. We don’t pay attention the way we should be. And if this case sheds some light on the ongoing issues and the ongoing problems, then perhaps it can be an impetus for change in the future.”
Related stories:
Case of former nurse accused of killing 8 seniors put over to Jan. 13
Nurse accused in deaths of eight elderly nursing home residents appears in court
Who were the victims in alleged nursing home murders?
Who is alleged serial killer Elizabeth Tracey Mae Wettlaufer?
Police launched an investigation in late September after becoming aware of information Wettlaufer had given to a psychiatric hospital in Toronto that caused them concern, a police source has told The Canadian Press.
Before she was arrested, Wettlaufer entered into a peace bond as police feared she would “commit a serious personal injury.”
Among several restrictions placed on her by a court, Wettlaufer was ordered not to possess insulin and was not allowed to work as a caregiver.
Wettlaufer was also not allowed to possess or consume alcohol and had to obey a curfew and reside in either her apartment or with her parents in Woodstock between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m., except to attend alcoholics anonymous meetings, according to terms laid out in the peace bond.
The peace bond also required Wettlaufer to “continue any treatment for mental health.”
Records from the College of Nurses of Ontario show Wettlaufer was first registered as a nurse in August 1995 but resigned Sept. 30, 2016, and is no longer a registered nurse.
With files from News Staff
