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Community Forum · Est. 2006
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#1
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09-06-2026, 11:00 AM
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Elizabeth Wettlaufer Police Interview and Confession to Eight Patient Killings
Elizabeth Tracey Mae Wettlaufer, a registered nurse in southwestern Ontario, Canada, pleaded guilty in Woodstock on June 1, 2017, to eight counts of first-degree murder, four counts of attempted murder and two counts of aggravated assault involving patients in her care. At a June 26, 2017, sentencing hearing, families of the dead read victim impact statements. Wettlaufer told the court, "I caused tremendous pain and suffering and death. Sorry is much too small a word. I am extremely sorry." She received eight concurrent life terms with no eligibility for parole for 25 years, with concurrent terms on the remaining counts. Between 2007 and 2014, Wettlaufer injected patients with overdoses of insulin. Eight died: 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. Seven were killed at Caressant Care in Woodstock. Horvath died at Meadow Park in London. Four others survived injections she later admitted were meant to kill them: Wayne Hedges, 57; Michael Priddle, 63; Sandra Towler, 77; and Beverly Bertram, 68. Two further patients, Clotilde Adriano, 87, and Albina Demedeiros, 90, were the subjects of aggravated assault charges. None of the deaths was treated as a homicide at the time. No nursing home, coroner or police force detected the killings while they were happening. The investigation began after Wettlaufer entered the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto for mental health treatment in September 2016. Her doctor encouraged her to write down what she had done, and the handwritten confession reached Toronto police. On October 5, 2016, after her discharge from CAMH and transfer from Toronto Police Service's 52 Division into Woodstock police custody, she sat for a videotaped interview with Detective Constable Nathan Hergott of the Woodstock Police Service. She described injecting patients with insulin intending to kill them, denied being under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time and spoke of a feeling she called a "red surge" that came over her beforehand. Wettlaufer was arrested on October 24, 2016, and charged with eight counts of first-degree murder. The video and a transcript of the interview were released publicly on June 2, 2017, after being filed as a trial exhibit. Ontario later called a public inquiry into how the killings went undetected. Commissioner Eileen Gillese released the Long-Term Care Homes Public Inquiry report on July 31, 2019. Its 91 recommendations found that systemic vulnerabilities rather than individual misconduct allowed the offences to continue, and the report stated that her crimes would have gone undiscovered had she not confessed. She remains in custody serving the life sentence. Wettlaufer registered with the College of Nurses of Ontario in August 1995 and worked mainly night shifts in long-term care. Her employers included Caressant Care in Woodstock, Meadow Park in London, and a home in Paris, Ontario. She also worked for a period as a private-duty nurse in a client's house. The residents and clients she killed or attempted to kill ranged from 57 to 96. She resigned her nursing registration on September 30, 2016. The video is a police interview-room recording of roughly 55 minutes, without narration or a presenter. It contains the first 55 minutes of the two-hour, nine-minute October 5 interview.
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