Granddaughter of victim ‘stunned’ Alpine Manor serial killer to be released on parole

Nada Hassanein | Tallahassee Democrat

A former nurse's aide convicted in the 1987 Alpine Manor nursing home murders in Walker, Michigan, is being released on parole from the Federal Correctional Institution in Tallahassee Wednesday.

And relatives of the victims are unhappy Catherine May Wood is walking free.

Wood, 56, was convicted of second-degree murder and has served 29 years of her sentence, according to the Michigan Department of Corrections.

WOOD-TV reports that Wood pleaded guilty, claiming she was the lookout for her lover Gwendolyn Gail Graham and that Graham did the killings. The TV station reported Wood agreed to a plea deal in two of the murders and was sentenced to 20-40 years. Graham was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Mae Mason, 79, was one of the five nursing home victims who were suffocated.

North Florida resident Stephani Scruggs, Mason's granddaughter, is "stunned" that Wood is being released on parole.

"It's absolutely stunning to me that a serial killer would ever be released — let alone 11 years earlier on 'good behavior,'" said Scruggs, a political analyst and former staffer on President Trump's campaign.

She received a notice in the mail from the MDOC informing her of Wood's imminent release, but not of the parole board hearing date. WOOD-TV reported that in the document, the parole board wrote that "reasonable assurance exists that the prisoner will not become a menace to society or to the public safety."

"I worry — I have reason to worry," Scruggs said, adding she plans to stay home and lock her doors Wednesday.

"Parole boards should hear from the victims and there should be such a thing as victim's rights," said Scruggs, a Marsy's Law advocate.

Her attorney filed an appeal of Wood's parole.

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A 1992 book crime author Lowell Cauffiel suggested a theory that Wood "was a manipulative psychopath who manipulated the prosecutor and jury, and was the actual mastermind behind the nursing home murders," Rolling Stone reported.

Dubbed the "Lethal Lovers," Graham and Wood have been depicted in television shows and the case has also been analyzed in books and documentaries.

Reach Nada Hassanein at nhassanein@tallahassee.com or on Twitter @nhassanein_.