Police say 49-year-old Elizabeth Tracey Mae Wettlaufer was charged with first-degree murder in killings that took place between 2007 and 2014

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Canadian police charged a 49-year-old former nurse on Tuesday with eight counts of first-degree murder over the deaths of elderly residents at long-term care facilities in south-western Ontario.

Elizabeth Tracey Mae Wettlaufer is accused of administering a drug to at least seven of the eight victims, who ranged in age from 75 to 96, between August 2007 and August 2014, according to Ontario provincial police (OPP) and two municipal Ontario police forces involved in the multi-jurisdictional homicide investigation.

Seven of the alleged murders occurred at a nursing home in Woodstock, Ontario, where Wettlaufer reportedly worked as a registered nurse for two and a half years from 2007, Caressant Care Nursing and Retirement Homes Ltd, which runs the facility.

The other death happened at Meadow Park, a long-term care home in London, Ontario, where Wettlaufer was also an employee.

Police in Woodstock began the investigation on 29 September after receiving information that “eight people had been murdered over a period of several years”, according to an OPP news release. Given the nature of the allegations, the OPP was brought in to manage the investigation, which involved members of the Woodstock and London police services.

Wettlaufer appeared in court on Tuesday morning and was remanded into custody.

A Caressant Care spokesman, Lee Griffi, said in a statement that the company, which runs 15 nursing homes in mainly small towns in Ontario, is “cooperating fully” with police.

“We deeply regret the additional grief and stress this is imposing on the families involved,” he said.

“We are determined to avoid compromising the police investigation in any way and are therefore unable to provide any additional comment at this time.”

A Meadow Park spokeswoman, Julia King, said in a statement that the facility is also “cooperating fully” with police in their investigation of Wettlaufer, who “left our home’s employ some two years ago.”



She too said the long-term care home would not comment further “to avoid compromising the police investigation in any way”.

Wettlaufer registered as a nurse in Ontario in 1995 and resigned from the Colleges of Nurses of Ontario on 30 September 2016, one day after the police investigation began.

If convicted on all eight counts of first-degree murder, Wettlaufer could spend the rest of her life behind bars.

In Canada, first-degree murder carries a minimum 25-year prison sentence before a convict is eligible for parole. But under legislation enacted under the former Canadian Conservative government in late 2011, a judge could impose consecutive 25-year parole ineligibility periods.











