Elizabeth Wettlaufer
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Elizabeth Wettlaufer | |
|---|---|
| Born | Elizabeth Mae Parker June 10, 1967 |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Other names | Bethe Wettlaufer Betty Weston |
| Education | London Baptist Bible College Conestoga College |
| Occupation | Registered nurse |
| Criminal status | Guilty plea |
| Conviction(s) | Murder Attempted murder Aggravated assault |
| Criminal charge | Murder Attempted murder Aggravated assault |
| Details | |
| Victims | 14 |
Span of crimes | 2007–2016 |
| Country | Canada |
| Location(s) | Southwestern Ontario |
| Target(s) | Elderly patients |
| Killed | 8 |
| Injured | 6 |
| Weapons | Insulin injection |
Date apprehended | October 25, 2016 |
Elizabeth T. Wettlaufer (née Elizabeth Mae Parker; born June 10, 1967) is a convicted Canadian serial killer who confessed to murdering eight senior citizens and attempting to murder six others.[1]
Early life
Wettlaufer was raised in Woodstock, Ontario. Growing up in a staunchly Baptist household,[2] she went on to earn a bachelor's degree in religious education counselling from London Baptist Bible College after graduating from Huron Park Secondary School in the mid 1980s. She then studied nursing at Conestoga College.[3]
Murders and assaults
While she was a nurse at Caressant Care long-term-care home in Woodstock, Ontario, Elizabeth Wettlaufer began injecting some of the patients with insulin. In some cases, the amount was not enough to kill the patient; Wettlaufer was charged with, and confessed to, aggravated assault or attempted murder for those cases.
Her first assaults occurred sometime between June 25, 2007 and December 31, 2007. Wettlaufer confessed that she injected sisters Clotilde Adriano (age 87) and Albina Demedeiros (88) with insulin. While they later died (in 2008 and 2010 respectively), neither of their deaths were attributed to Wettlaufer. She confessed to two counts of aggravated assault in these matters.[4]
The first case in which Wettlaufer injected a patient with enough insulin to cause their death was on August 11, 2007, when she murdered James (Jim) Silcox (84), a World War II veteran and father of six. Through March 2014, Wettlaufer also murdered the following patients at Caressant Care:
- Maurice (Moe) Granat (84)
- Gladys Millard (87)
- Helen Matheson (95)
- Mary Zurawinski (96)
- Helen Young (90)
- Maureen Pickering (79)
While at Caressant Care, Wettlaufer also injected Michael Priddle (63) and Wayne Hedges (57) "with intent to murder". She confessed to two counts of attempted murder in these cases.
Wettlaufer left employment at Caressant Care in 2014, but in part-time work at other facilities and at patients' homes, she injected three more people with insulin:
- Killed Arpad Horvath (75) a Meadow Park facility in London, Ontario
- Injected Sandra Towler (77) "with intent to murder" at a retirement home in Paris, Ontario
- Injected Beverly Bertram (68) "with intent to murder" at a private residence in Ingersoll, Ontario
Confession and arrest
Wettlaufer entered an inpatient drug rehabilitation program at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), a psychiatric hospital in Toronto, on September 16, 2016.[2] She confessed to staff about killing and attempting to kill her patients, and CAMH staff notified the College of Nurses of Ontario and the Toronto Police Service of her confession.[3] Wettlaufer then personally emailed the College of Nurses to resign as a registered nurse because she had "deliberately harmed patients in [her] care and [was] now being investigated by the police for same", personally called an investigator from the College, and had CAMH staff fax a four page handwritten confession.[2] Wettlaufer had confessed to killing patients several times prior to her confession at CAMH, including to a lawyer who advised her to keep it a secret, and was not reported to police.[5]
After providing police with a 2-hour-long confession, Wettlaufer was formally charged with the eight murders on October 25. After further investigation, she was also charged with four counts of attempted murder and two counts of aggravated assault on January 13, 2017. She waived her right to a preliminary hearing, and confessed to all charges in court on June 1, 2017. On June 26, 2017, Wettlaufer was sentenced to eight concurrent life terms in prison, with no possibility of parole for 25 years.
See also
References
- ^ Dubinski, Kate (1 June 2017). "Ex-nurse Elizabeth Wettlaufer felt 'red surge' before killing elderly patients". CBC News. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
- ^ a b c Contenta, Sandro (June 12, 2017). "Nurses college under fire over Wettlaufer case". Toronto Star. Retrieved June 14, 2017.
- ^ a b Gillis, Wendy; Siekierska, Alicja; Goffin, Peter (October 29, 2016). "From caring nurse to accused serial killer: who is Elizabeth Wettlaufer?". Toronto Star. Retrieved June 3, 2017.
- ^ "Timeline of events in case of former Ontario nurse Elizabeth Wettlaufer". Global News. The Canadian Press. 1 June 2017. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
- ^ McQuigge, Michelle (June 2, 2017). "'If you ever do this again, we'll turn you in', pastor told killer nurse". Toronto Star. The Canadian Press. Retrieved June 14, 2017.