Elizabeth Tracy Mae "Bethe" Wettlaufer (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Parker; born June 10, 1967) is a convicted Canadian

serial killer A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...

and former

registered nurse A registered nurse (RN) is a nurse who has graduated or successfully passed a nursing program from a recognized nursing school and met the requirements outlined by a country, state, province or similar government-authorized licensing body to o ...

who confessed to murdering eight senior citizens and attempting to murder six others in

southwestern Ontario Southwestern Ontario is a secondary region of Southern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. It occupies most of the Ontario Peninsula bounded by Lake Huron, including Georgian Bay, to the north and northwest; the St. Clair River, Lake St. ...

between 2007 and 2016. With a total of 14 victims either killed or injured by her actions, she is described as one of the worst serial killers in Canadian history.

Early life

Elizabeth Wettlaufer was born and raised in Zorra Township, a rural community near

Woodstock Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. Growing up in a staunchly

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

household, she went on to earn a bachelor's degree in religious education counseling from London Baptist Bible College after graduating from

Huron Park Secondary School Huron Park Secondary School (HPSS) is a high school in Woodstock, Ontario. It opened in 1955, and has a population of approximately 800 students. Notable alumni * Ian Tanner – singer/songwriter * Elizabeth Wettlaufer Elizabeth Tracy Mae "Be ...

in the mid-1980s. Wettlaufer then studied nursing at

Conestoga College Conestoga College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning is a public college located in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. Established in 1967, Conestoga serves approximately 23,000 registered students through campuses and training centres in ...

Career

In 2007, Wettlaufer was hired onto the staff at Caressant Care, a long-term care home in Woodstock. She was initially regarded by co-workers as caring and professional. However, throughout her tenure, Wettlaufer struggled with

substance abuse Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, is the use of a drug in amounts or by methods which are harmful to the individual or others. It is a form of substance-related disorder. Differing definitions of drug abuse are used in public health, ...

and

alcoholism Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol (drug), alcohol that results in significant Mental health, mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognize ...

. She faced accusations of showing up to work drunk, and at one point was found passed out in the facility's basement during the night shift. Wettlaufer was suspended four times for "medication-related errors", then was finally fired in March 2014 over a "serious" incident in which she gave the wrong medication to a patient. After leaving Caressant Care, Wettlaufer had difficulty holding down a job. She was hired by the Meadow Park Care Center in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, but lost this job after checking herself into a drug rehab facility in Niagara. She took various

temp job Temporary work or temporary employment (also called gigs) refers to an employment situation where the working arrangement is limited to a certain period of time based on the needs of the employing organization. Temporary employees are sometimes ...

s at other care homes. Wettlaufer admitted to a neighbour that she was fired from one of these jobs for stealing medication, and was fired from another job for making a medication error while

high High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift ...

that nearly resulted in the death of a patient. She also wrote poetry about her desire to kill.

Murders and assaults

While she was a nurse at Caressant Care, Wettlaufer began injecting some of the patients she cared for with

insulin Insulin (, from Latin ''insula'', 'island') is a peptide hormone produced by beta cells of the pancreatic islets encoded in humans by the ''INS'' gene. It is considered to be the main anabolic hormone of the body. It regulates the metabolism o ...

. In some cases, the amount was not enough to kill the patient; she was charged with, and confessed to,

aggravated assault An assault is the act of committing physical harm or unwanted physical contact upon a person or, in some specific legal definitions, a threat or attempt to commit such an action. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in crim ...

attempted murder Attempted murder is a crime of attempt in various jurisdictions. Canada Section 239 of the ''Criminal Code'' makes attempted murder punishable by a maximum of life imprisonment. If a gun is used, the minimum sentence is four, five or seven ye ...

for those cases. Wettlaufer's first assaults occurred sometime between June 25 and December 31, 2007. She confessed that she injected sisters Clotilde Adriano (age 87) and Albina Demedeiros (88) with insulin. While they later died, their deaths were not attributed to Wettlaufer. She confessed to two counts of aggravated assault. The first case in which Wettlaufer injected a patient with enough insulin to directly cause death was on August 11, 2007, when she murdered James Silcox (84), a

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

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

in these cases. She 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) at Meadow Park facility in London, Ontario * Injected Sandra Towler (77) "with intent to murder" at a retirement home in

Paris, Ontario Paris (2021 population, 14,956) is a community located in the County of Brant, Ontario, Canada. It lies just northwest from the city of Brantford at the spot where the Nith River empties into the Grand River. Paris was voted "the Prettiest Li ...

* Injected Beverly Bertram (68) "with intent to murder" at a private residence in

Ingersoll, Ontario Ingersoll is a town in Oxford County on the Thames River in southwestern Ontario, Canada. The nearest cities are Woodstock to the east and London to the west. Ingersoll is situated north of and along Highway 401. Oxford County Road 119 (formerl ...

Confession, arrest, and conviction

Wettlaufer entered an inpatient drug rehabilitation program at the

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH, pronounced , french: Centre de toxicomanie et de santé mentale) is a psychiatric teaching hospital located in Toronto and ten community locations throughout the province of Ontario, Canada. It re ...

(CAMH), a psychiatric hospital in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, on September 16, 2016. There, she confessed to CAMH staff about killing or attempting to kill her patients, leading to CAMH notifying the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) and the

Toronto Police Service The Toronto Police Service (TPS) is a municipal police force in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and the primary agency responsible for providing law enforcement and policing services in Toronto. Established in 1834, it was the first local police ser ...

. She then emailed CNO to resign as a registered nurse because she had "deliberately harmed patients in ercare and asnow being investigated by the police for same", personally called an investigator from CNO, and had CAMH staff fax a four-page handwritten confession. 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. After providing police with a two-hour-long confession, she 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. Wettlaufer waived her right to a

preliminary hearing Within some criminal justice, criminal justice systems, a preliminary hearing, preliminary examination, preliminary inquiry, evidentiary hearing or probable cause hearing is a proceeding, after a criminal complaint has been filed by the prosecuto ...

and confessed to all charges in court on June 1. On June 26, she was sentenced to eight concurrent life terms in prison, with no possibility of

parole Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...

for 25 years. In her confession, Wettlaufer admitted that she "knew the difference between right and wrong" but she was visited by "surges" she could not control. She said, "God or the devil or whatever, wanted me to do it." After one murder, she felt "the surging ... And then eard her ownlaughter afterwards, which was really, it was like a cackling from the pit of hell." Wettlaufer told police she had tried to stop killing and she had told friends, a former partner and her pastor what she had done, but no one took her seriously. During the police interview she described the "laughter" not as audible laughter, but as a feeling within her chest (visually using her hands), while the feeling prompting her to overdose and subsequently kill as coming from her stomach region. Wettlaufer never claimed to derive pleasure from the killings, stating that she felt horrible after murdering each victim. Wettlaufer was held at the

Grand Valley Institution for Women Grand Valley Institution for Women (GVI; french: Établissement pour femmes Grand Valley) is a women's prison in Kitchener, Ontario, operated by the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC). In Canada, all offenders sentenced to prison terms of gre ...

Kitchener, Ontario ) , image_flag = Flag of Kitchener, Ontario.svg , image_seal = Seal of Kitchener, Canada.svg , image_shield=Coat of arms of Kitchener, Canada.svg , image_blank_emblem = Logo of Kitchener, Ontario.svg , blank_emblem_type = ...

. In March 2018, she was transferred from Grand Valley to an unspecified secure facility in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

to receive medical treatment.

Responses from government and regulatory bodies

Provincial government

Yasir Naqvi Yasir Abbas Naqvi (born January 25, 1973) is a Canadian politician who has served as the member of Parliament (MP) for Ottawa Centre since the 2021 federal election, sitting as a Liberal. Prior to his election to the House of Commons, Naqvi wa ...

, the

Attorney General of Ontario The Attorney General of Ontario is the chief legal adviser to His Majesty the King in Right of Ontario and, by extension, the Government of Ontario. The Attorney General is a senior member of the Executive Council of Ontario (the cabinet) and ...

, and

Eric Hoskins Eric William Hoskins (born November 29, 1960) is a Canadian physician and former politician who served as Ontario Minister of Health and Long-Term Care from 2014 to 2018. A member of the Liberal Party, he sat as a member of the Provincial Parli ...

, the province's Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, jointly announced on the day of Wettlaufer's sentencing that the provincial government would commission a

public inquiry A tribunal of inquiry is an official review of events or actions ordered by a government body. In many common law countries, such as the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, Australia and Canada, such a public inquiry differs from a royal ...

into her case. The full details of the inquiry were not given in the announcement, as the government had yet to determine the scope or an individual to lead the inquiry, with Naqvi and Hoskins instead saying that the inquiry would "get the answers we need to help ensure a tragedy such as this does not happen again." The delay in establishing the inquiry was criticized by members of the opposition Progressive Conservative and New Democratic parties toward the end of July 2017, as no progress had seemingly been made since the announcement and the Legislative Assembly had risen for its summer recess. The Public Inquiry into the Safety and Security of Residents in the Long-Term Care Homes System was formally established by the provincial government on August 1, 2017. Justice Eileen Gillese of the

Court of Appeal for Ontario The Court of Appeal for Ontario (frequently referred to as the Ontario Court of Appeal or ONCA) is the appellate court for the province of Ontario, Canada. The seat of the court is Osgoode Hall in downtown Toronto, also the seat of the Law Societ ...

was appointed commissioner of the inquiry. The inquiry will include interviews with victims' families and public consultations in the community as it investigates the circumstances surrounding the deaths of Wettlaufer's victims and gaps in legislative or policy frameworks that allowed her to continue working as a nurse. The inquiry's lead counsel stated that "anyone from Wettlaufer to

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

Kathleen Wynne Kathleen O'Day Wynne ( ; born May 21, 1953) is a Canadian former politician who served as the 25th premier of Ontario and leader of the Ontario Liberal Party from 2013 to 2018. She was elected to the Legislative Assembly in 2003 and sat as the ...

" may be called to testify before the inquiry based on the evidence that is uncovered.

College of Nurses of Ontario

Wettlaufer was charged with

professional misconduct Professional ethics encompass the personal and corporate standards of behavior expected of professionals. The word professionalism originally applied to vows of a religious order. By no later than the year 1675, the term had seen secular applic ...

by a disciplinary panel convened by CNO on July 25, 2017. Even though she had already been found guilty in a criminal trial and voluntarily surrendered her nursing license, the formal hearing was required by CNO to officially bar her from the profession. Wettlaufer declined to participate in the hearing and was found guilty based on court documents from her criminal trial as well as her previous confession. Her conduct was deemed "disgraceful and dishonourable" by the disciplinary panel and her nursing registration was formally revoked indefinitely, barring her from ever practising nursing in Ontario again. The chair of the five-person disciplinary panel that heard Wettlaufer's case said it was "the most egregious and disgraceful conduct this panel has ever considered".

References

External links

Wettlaufer's handwritten confession
published by the ''

National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central and western Canada. The paper is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with ...

''
Public Inquiry into the Safety and Security of Residents in the Long-Term Care Homes System official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wettlaufer, Elizabeth 1967 births 21st-century Canadian criminals Canadian female serial killers Canadian nurses Canadian people convicted of assault Canadian people convicted of murder Canadian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Conestoga College alumni Heritage College & Seminary alumni Huron Park Secondary School alumni Living people Canadian LGBT people Medical serial killers Nurses convicted of killing patients People convicted of attempted murder People convicted of murder by Canada People from Woodstock, Ontario Poisoners Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Canada Canadian women nurses