Canadian True Crime - 49 The Crimes of Elizabeth Wettlaufer - Part 2

Episode Date: July 1, 2019

Bethe Wettlaufer finally comes to the attention of the police, and the full extent of her crimes is revealed.Want to support my sponsors? Here's where the discount codes are:www.canadiantruecrime.ca/sponsorsCredits: Research and writing: Gemma HarrisNarration, music arrangement, audio production: Kristi LeeAudio editing: Erik KrosbyDisclaimer voiced by the host of Beyond Bizarre True CrimeCTC Theme song by We Talk of Dreams Other credits and sources can be found on the page for this episode at www.canadiantruecrime.ca/episodes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This podcast contains course language, adult themes, and content of a violent and disturbing nature. Listener discretion is advised. This is part two of a two-part series. If you haven't yet listened to part one, please go back and do that before listening to this one. Where we left off, it was the beginning of 2016, and Beth Wetlaufer was working as an agency nurse in and around Woodstock, Ontario.

She was being sent on assignments to different long-term care facilities and upsetting various people at each. She wasn't liked by staff. She made lots of mistakes with medications. She missed shifts and initiated inappropriate conversations in the workplace that made her colleagues uncomfortable. She was observed being careless with the residents in her care and, in some cases, downright neglectful and abusive.

Several of the facilities she was assigned to told the agency that they didn't want her back. But the agency continued to send her out on yet more assignments. From May to August of 2016, she was assigned to two facilities as an agency nurse, and also applied for one more role herself. That role was at St Elizabeth Healthcare, a not-for-profit charity and the largest community home care provider in Ontario. Her application was supported by glowing references.

One read, We have a lot of needy and challenging residents that are very distracting, and she coped amazingly well with them with interaction and redirection. Beth was always where she was supposed to be. She was prompt and efficient. She would be an asset to anyone's team. And another reference read, Beth is a caring individual who deals well with the elderly.

She works well with others. Beth took an interest in the students that worked here and would educate on different practices. Beth got the job and was assigned to visits to look after clients in their own homes. But it didn't take too long before trouble brewed in this position too. In August of 2016, a client was having a shower at her home when she heard a noise. She called out but there was no answer. When the client came out of the bathroom she found Beth rifling through her medication,

which included insulin and morphine. Beth wasn't supposed to be at the house at that time and had let herself in. The client filed a complaint and a report was made, but Beth gave the excuse that she'd come back to collect an oxygen meter that she'd left there by accident. Around this time, Beth reached out to an old potential flame, Sheila. As you'll remember, she and Sheila met online and Beth travelled to Saskatchewan to meet up with her. Sheila decided she wasn't interested and after Beth's week-long stay, the two parted

ways. That was in 2010. In 2016, six years later, Sheila received a message from Beth out of the blue. It read, quote, I'm restless tonight, hyper about my job, having a hard time getting one of the required skills right. The skill is changing a dressing on an IV line that goes directly to the heart. I violated the sterile field and put things in the wrong place today. Aside from being shocked by the sudden message that came without any context or warning,

Sheila just couldn't understand it. Something as straightforward as a dressing chain shouldn't be trouble for an experienced and dedicated nurse like Beth. One night soon after this, Beth knocked on her neighbour Wade's door, requesting medical marijuana to treat what she said were morphine withdrawals. Wade noticed Beth appeared stressed out, shaky and sick. And then Wade saw Beth leaving her apartment in their building with a suitcase. It turns out that she caught the train from Woodstock to Toronto, where she checked herself

in to CAMH, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. Soon after checking in, Beth asked to speak with a psychiatrist. She then confessed that she'd been intentionally overdosing long-term care residents intravenously over the past 10 years. She wanted to discuss the circumstances that led to her actions, so her psychiatrist suggested she write it all down. In messy handwritten cursive, Beth wrote out her confession over four pages, including names, details and dates of the residents she'd killed or injured.

Staff were shocked. CAMH immediately contacted Toronto Police and the College of Nurses Ontario, faxing over the confession. This sparked one of the biggest criminal investigations in the province. On October 5th, 2016, Beth gave her confession verbally to police in a two and a half hour long interview. She starts by telling Detective Constable Nathan Hergert her life story, how she was brought up, her marriage to Donnie Wettlalpha, her other relationships and her addictive behaviours.

They talked about how she planned to manage her addictions to alcohol and prescription drugs, including the anti-psychotic drug Heldol, before shifting conversation. What do you think, what do you think the reason is that you stepped into the issue, but I don't know what the reason is, is it just a stress on the job that you're facing or your personal life as well? Just all the feeling like I had to be the best possible person and very, very stressful job, giving medications to 32 people, making sure treatments were done on 32 people, carrying for 32 people, supervising for PSWs, who sometimes didn't always get along, and sometimes

always didn't always get along with me. It's a hard job. I mean, there's always a hard job, and then they would add different things like, well, you have to do this and that, to say who's here and counting the medications that have been in the shift, and it was a hard job, and I just, I always was putting this pressure on myself to be a really good nurse and to do everything perfectly, and every once in a while when I could get that hold of a hydromarker to take it, then that pressure was gone. Medical science tells us that someone who dies from hypoglycemia or insulin overdose likely

dies a drawn out, painful death. Beth volunteered her opinion on how the residents she overdosed died. She then talks about how she feels about their families. I'm sorry for what the families went through at the time, and I'm extremely sorry for what they're going through. It's awful. I honestly believe at the time that God wanted to do it, but I know now that's not true, and if I could take it back, if I could get help sooner, I would have.

Did you ever hear that feeling outside of work? Beth reeled off her confessions, one by one, often telling petty stories about how the elderly residents annoyed her. Remember, almost all of them had Alzheimer's or dementia, which can bring on memory loss and loss of judgment, but also brings changes in personality, depression and irritability and inappropriate behaviour. Firstly, Beth said her first two victims had actually not died. It was 1997, and two sisters were living at caressant care.

87-year-old Clotilde Adriano, a widowed mother of two, grandmother of five and great-grandmother of three with dementia. She also had diabetes. Her sister, 88-year-old Albina de Medeiros, also had diabetes and took insulin before breakfast, lunch and dinner. Beth confessed to injecting both sisters with insulin in the period between June 25th and December 31st, 2007. She said that while she didn't want to kill them, she wanted to see what would happen

and experimented with administering different doses of insulin to the sisters. Clotilde passed away at caressant care on July 30th, 2008, and Albina died two years later. Both women's deaths were not attributed to an insulin overdose, although they were very lucky, given that Beth Wetlaufer was injecting them with insulin just for fun. At the same time as this was happening, Beth was also playing with the medications of James Silcox, the World War II vet who was heard yelling, I love you, before being found unconscious in his bed. His death came just weeks after his family made the decision to put him in care.

Remember, James had dementia. According to Beth, she was so angry with James that at 10.30pm on August 10th, 2007, when she was working a double shift, she injected him with such a high dose of insulin that it killed him hours later. Beth later told police, quote, I had a sudden urge to kill him, I wanted him to die. After James passed away, his family personally thanked Beth for the care she had provided to him. Imagine their reaction when they found out that she was the reason why he died.

Beth continued on with her confessions. She told police that her next target was Morris Granat, the former mechanic who was known as Moe. As you'll recall, he didn't have diabetes or dementia and became a resident at caressant care after he had a bad fall. Beth told police that in the month or two after she caused the death of James Silcox, she became angry at Moe and injected him with an overdose of insulin too, telling him that the doctor had prescribed him a vitamin shot.

Moe was unconscious by the next morning and passed away several hours later. Next Beth told the police about another caressant care resident that she interfered with, 57 year old Wayne Hedges. Born in 1951, Wayne was adopted at age three and was the youngest of seven children. He'd been living with complex health issues since he was a teenager. In addition to diabetes, he had schizophrenia, a seizure disorder and was also identified as being at high risk for a fall. He'd been a resident for eight years when Beth decided that he was a handful.

She claimed that he wanted to die. She confessed to injecting him between September and December of 2008 and then recounted how in October, she injected him with a large overdose because she felt a surge and believed that it was his turn to go, but in her words, he didn't die. Medical records confirm that at that same time period, Wayne had a hypoglycemic event while under her care, meaning he would have been suffering from the symptoms of insulin overdose. Wayne Hedges died the following year. His death wasn't attributed to Beth's actions.

Beth also attempted to murder 63 year old Michael Priddle. Michael was born in 1949 in London, Ontario. The butcher and avid fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team married his wife Margaret in 1971, later having two kids. In his 40s, though, Michael was diagnosed with Huntington's disease, an incurable hereditary brain disorder that gets worse over time and leaves people no longer able to manage the activities of daily living. His family did the best they could to care for him as long as possible, but he was eventually

put in professional care. Due to his condition and the loss of muscle control in his body, Michael was heavily reliant on nursing staff to ensure choking and injury risks were minimized. Like Wayne Hedges, Michael was also identified as a high falls risk. He did not have diabetes, but Beth Wetlaufer confessed to injecting him with insulin throughout 2008. One night in 2009, she decided to intentionally give Michael an overdose. He'd never done anything to harm her, she said, but she explained that Huntington's

was an awful disease and said she suddenly felt a surging, which she attributed to being from God because, quote, this man is not enjoying his life at all. She gave him what she considered to be a large amount of insulin. She didn't succeed. He would pass away three years later. Gladys Millard came from Nova Scotia, was married with two kids and active in church and local clubs. She was now living with Alzheimer's.

Beth told police that at first she found Glenys to be spunky and spirited, but as her cognitive health declined, she found Glenys difficult to manage and stubborn to the point that she would refuse her oral medication. Gladys said that during her night shift at Carescent Care on October 13th, 2011, she injected Gladys with an insulin overdose, describing how the elderly woman struggled against the injection being forced on her. During the night, Gladys cried out multiple times in pain, and the next day, she passed away.

Next, Beth told police about Helen Matheson, the widowed mother who had Alzheimer's, who passed away two days after she suddenly stopped eating and drinking, her son asleep next to her hospital bed. She was deemed to have died of natural causes. What really happened, though, was that Beth said she got annoyed that Helen kept crying out for help. She described her as very determined and just seemed to be wanting to die. As you'll recall, Helen was enjoying blueberry pie and ice cream, provided by a nurse.

That nurse was Beth Weltlaufer. She'd driven to the local Walmart to purchase Helen's favorite dessert. Later that evening, she served this to Helen and then injected her with a large amount of insulin. Helen stopped eating and drinking. Over the next two days, she suffered seizures and an eventual coma, and then passed away. Mary Zurowinski was 96, independent, feisty, and still loved to wear makeup and jewellery. She was greatly looking forward to her 100th birthday in a few years' time.

But Beth Weltlaufer took that away from her. Beth told police that Mary asked her to place her into the death bed because she believed she was going to die soon. Beth said she felt angry in general and decided that Mary would be next. Mary was not a diabetic, but Beth injected her with insulin, telling her that it was to help with her pain. In the early hours of the next morning, she was found dead by staff. Beth also admitted to finding Helen young difficult to manage.

Helen had been born in Scotland and moved to Canada with her husband after the war. Beth told police that Helen was always yelling out, help me, nurse, and I want to die. On one shift in mid-July of 2013, this angered Beth to such a degree that she thought to herself, fine, I'll help you die. She injected Helen with a large amount of insulin. Helen wasn't a diabetic, so again, Beth told her the injection was medication to help with her pain. After on, Helen had a seizure and was clearly in severe pain.

She passed away the next day. Beth brought up Maureen Pickering to police. Maureen was born in Montreal, studied economics at McGill University, and then ended up living with her husband in Tilsonburg, Ontario. Maureen didn't have diabetes, but she did have Alzheimer's disease, which affected her cognitive health, and it got worse to the point where she was left confused and aggressive and often wandered around. She really needed one-to-one care, but sometimes there was a gap where a nurse would have to

care for her as well as perform their other duties. Beth described her as a handful and difficult. Beth told the police that one night she was frustrated that she had to focus so much of her time on Maureen's care, even though she had more than 30 other residents to look after. According to Beth, she didn't want Maureen to die, quote, if I could somehow give her enough of a dose to give her a coma, something to maybe change her brainwaves and make her less mobile and less hard to handle.

On one night shift in late March of 2014, Beth told Maureen that she was giving her a vitamin shot, which was actually the anti-psychotic medication held all. She returned 90 minutes later and injected Maureen with a large dose of insulin. Maureen suffered a stroke and passed away five days later in hospital. Beth admitted to injecting him with insulin at Meadow Park, telling police that her justification was that art, who had dementia, physically assaulted staff. Beth decided that enough was enough, and she stole insulin from the medication fridge and injected art twice, telling him, take your medicine.

Eight hours later, the elderly and hard-working man was rushed to hospital with hypoglycemia, where he passed away. Next, Beth brought up Sandra Taller, who was still alive. Sandy was known for her great sense of humour and was living on a granny flat on the property of her son and daughter-in-law before being moved to long-term care. Sandy had dementia and diabetes that was controlled through oral medication, not insulin injections. Beth told police that she sensed that Sandy didn't want to be alive anymore, so she injected her with an overdose of insulin.

A staff member noticed and contacted paramedics who noted that Sandy's blood sugar level had suddenly fallen to near-fatal levels. Luckily, Sandy survived Beth's attempt to kill her. And Beth brought up one more patient. And the month before quitting her final nursing job, Beth had been providing in-home care to Beverly Bertram, a 68-year-old with diabetes, who required in-home nursing assistance while recovering from leg surgery. Beverly lived in Ingersoll, Ontario, with her husband, Ed.

Beth told police that in August of 2016, she injected Beverly with what she described as a huge amount of insulin, but Beverly survived. Beth went on to tell police that the insulin she got was from the home of the client she visited unannounced while the client was in the shower, that time she was caught stealing the insulin. Beth confirmed that she stole this insulin with the intention of killing Beverly. Throughout all of her confessions, Beth blamed her actions on the residents and their demands. These residents, some of the most vulnerable of charges, who almost all had some form of

dementia or Alzheimer's and had experienced declines in cognitive health, not to mention their general health. She explained that every patient she ever picked had dementia or Alzheimer's, quote, that was part of what became my criteria. If they had dementia, they couldn't report it, or if they reported, they wouldn't be believed. But Beth offered another excuse for her actions. She said she'd been hearing voices that instructed her to kill the people she'd been charged

with caring for. Beth admitted that while she was aware of the difference between right and wrong, she had uncomfortable surges, quote, God or the devil or whatever wanted me to do it, but at that point I was starting to doubt that it was God. She later clarified that it wasn't, quote, it was something wrong with me psychologically that was making me believe it was God. I was not in my right mind. She said she felt a voice inside her telling her to kill the residents, but it wasn't in

her head. The voice seemed to be coming from her gut. She described it as a red surge directly related to her depression, as well as overwhelming feelings of anger about her job and her workload. She also later explained that she often felt angry at people who had beaten her to a promotion, like another nurse or an ex-colleague. Beth described how when she went to give the unauthorized injections, she experienced uncontrollable laughter from her chest, stating that it felt like a cackling from the pit of hell.

Beth spoke about how she felt physically in the lead-up to maliciously injecting a resident. I think I said I had that feeling that it was her time to go and... What do you mean by that? Do you think she was towards any of her life at that point? No, that she was the person to go to. And that was in your mind, in your stomach? Where was that feeling? In the chest area.

After I did that, I got that laughter. When would you feel that laughter? Would you feel it right after you injected it or once the person passed away? Both. Yeah. Both. One night she said, you know, I'm going to die. The police noted that the mentions of God and the devil was new information in terms of

Beth's mental health issues. In her confessions to the psychologist at CAMH, Beth didn't mention anything about any religious entity. The police asked Beth why she decided to confess. Her response was that this wasn't the first time. She tried to confess several times before, but no one believed her. She said she told a girlfriend as far back as 2008. She told her pastor and his wife in 2013.

The next year, she said she told her narcotics anonymous sponsor that she'd injected people and murdered them. Same year, she also told a lawyer. The lawyer told her not to tell anyone else, but to seek mental health treatment instead. No one believed that she was telling the truth and no one thought to contact police. Beth was also asked how she got her hands on insulin. She told police that stealing the medication on shift was easy. Police weren't monitored at caressant care, so she was able to help herself to the medication

fridge or patients' individual supplies whenever she felt like it. Hypoglycemic shock was identified as possible causes of death of the residents after Beth had made her confession, but proving it would be difficult. The reason is that insulin disappears quickly from the bloodstream, making an insulin overdose near impossible to detect as a cause of death, and years had passed since many of the deaths. Not only that, some of the people that Beth noted had been cremated. She later stated, quote, I'm not blaming what I did on the lack of supervision of insulin. I chose to do what I did.

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offer code CTC to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Go to squarespace.com slash ctc with offer code CTC and get your passion project off the ground today. On October the 5th 2016, Beth was discharged from CAMH. Her discharge notes indicated that she was experiencing anxiety, but it was mainly related to the impact that the publicity of her actions would have on her family and the families of the residents who died as a result of her actions. Beth hadn't been formally charged yet, as the police had to gather evidence.

The next day, she appeared in court and was released on a peace bond. While she was not under arrest, she was instructed to reside only at her apartment or her parents' house, not leave the area or possess insulin, medications or drugs unless they were prescription medications authorised by a doctor. She was also prevented from being a caregiver and banned from entering hospitals, care facilities and retirement homes. Lastly, she was required to continue with mental health treatment and was not allowed to possess or consume alcohol.

In the weeks that followed, investigators trawled death and medical records and nursing logs to confirm the names of the residents that Beth had confessed to killing and hurting. Her internet search history from just a week before she checked herself into CAMH and confessed revealed that she'd searched the names of her victims and read their online obituaries. Her search history also revealed two specific questions. How long and painful is insulin overdose death and what happens to the person in this case? As the investigators confirmed the names of the deceased residents, they commenced the difficult task of contacting their families to break the devastating news that their loved

ones did not pass away from natural or unexplained causes but by the hands of someone they trusted to care for them. What made the situation more distressing for them was that police were unable to tell them at this stage the nature of the murder weapon. The families were left to wonder what exactly happened in those last minutes of their loved ones' lives. On October the 24th, 2016, Elizabeth Wetlifer was charged with eight counts of first degree murder.

On January the 13th of the next year, 2017, she was charged with an additional four counts of attempted murder and two counts of aggravated assault. Following the new charges, R-pad Horvath's daughter, Susan, spoke to the media. I'm just picturing my father as her patient and what he went through and how he couldn't talk and how he couldn't say help and how nobody cared and how he lied in that bed and had to die with nobody there. It's like you're drowning and nobody can give you a life raft. That's what my dad went through and now I went through torture because I can't say anything

to this individual and I cannot do anything. So this is even worse sometimes, I think. Mo Grenat's close friend Laura also spoke about what she encountered upon arriving at caressant care that night back in December of 2007. We got a call in the middle of the night that he was declining and we proceeded to the nursing home to arrive to him fighting her off, literally physically fighting her off. She was in the room and when we came in she left abruptly and a short time later she came in again and things happened and we lost Mo within about a half an hour, 45 minutes

of that. She was asked what Beth's demeanor was like. Well it's funny because she was rude to me because we were one of us was on one side of the bed and I was on the far side of the bed, I was where she wanted to be and she was ignorant to me. She literally physically pushed me out of the way to give him an injection. This woman had no right to do what she did, to take their time and take time from us. So we have vowed to stick together and to make sure that this woman gets the justice

she deserves because she had no right to do what she did. Mo's friend Laura went on to say, quote, these people's lives mattered whether they were long for this world or not. That same month the bodies of Helen Matheson and Arpad Art Horvath were exhumed for further testing in an effort to definitively determine their cause of death. Their families had to relive the nightmare of their death all over again, with the emotional trauma brought on by knowing that the body of their loved one had been exhumed. By March of 2017, Beth was in solitary confinement in an Ontario jail and had waived the death

of her right to a preliminary hearing, meaning that the court process would be expedited. By now, the case had received a lot of publicity. The press was abuzz with reports of Elizabeth Wetlauffer, Ontario's serial killer nurse. But on June 1st, 2017, the woman who appeared in court charged with killing or harming 14 elderly people did not appear to be the monster everyone assumed she'd be. Severely overweight with limp, mousy brown shoulder length hair, pale skin and oversized glasses, Beth shuffled into court. She looked unassuming, non-threatening, vulnerable even. She looked like a completely average, unremarkable person that you'd pass on the street and never

think twice about. Beth pleaded guilty to eight counts of first degree murder, four counts of attempted murder and two counts of aggravated assault. Evidence was presented that indicated that Beth had significant borderline personality disorder and from the age of 15, she was also said to have developed conduct disorder, a disorder seen in children which often develops into antisocial personality disorder. A person with this disorder, previously called sociopathy, consistently shows no regard for right and wrong and ignores the rights and feelings of others.

Treatment notes from when Beth checked herself in to CAMH were submitted into evidence, including incidents of her causing conflict with other patients. She also revealed that during her employment as a nurse at long-term care facilities and in the community, she found it difficult to cope with the anxiety, stress and frustration of the pressures of her job, coupled with her personal issues. It was noted that while Beth attempted to self-medicate with alcohol and narcotics, this only provided short-term relief. She admitted that the rush of power and euphoria she felt after administering an overdose helped

relieve some of the pressure she was feeling. When it came to releasing the mounting irritation that she felt, she said it was irrelevant as to whether her victims were chosen specifically due to a perceived grievance or was simply a matter of opportunism. Beth did admit to experiencing regret following some instances of overdosing residents, but not to such an extent that she wanted to be caught. While at CAMH, Beth was not noted to exhibit any signs of psychosis or hallucinations. At her sentencing on June 26, 2017, 50-year-old Beth Wetlalpha apologized to her victims and

their families in a statement. Quote, I have caused horrendous pain. Sorry is much too small a word. I hope that the families can find some peace and healing. But this fell on deaf ears for the family members of her victims. Before Justice Bruce Thomas delivered Beth's sentence, victim impact statements were given. One by one, the court was told how their lives had been forever changed. Beverly Bertram was one of the residents who lived following Beth's attempt and was now the only survivor left.

She told the court that she now lives a secluded lifestyle and has no activities. Quote, I don't want to leave my safe place. It's all I can have. I'm too afraid to go to bed at night. I used to have people in my house pop in for a coffee. I'm terrified if someone says they're coming by. I can't do it. I have no relationship with my family because of it.

And I resent that. My feelings are really hurt easily. I don't go out of my house. Beverly went on to describe in chilling detail what happened immediately after Beth injected her in August of 2016. Quote, I've never been so ill without knowing what was wrong. I knew I was dying. There was no control. I was doubled over in pain with my stomach.

My whole body hurt. I couldn't sleep. It was like an out of body experience. I couldn't understand why no one was helping me. By the grace of God, I survived. I will use my life the best I can. Life's been hard, but I will be okay in time. The granddaughter of James Jim Silcox, Elizabeth, said,

What makes me angry is the impact this has had on my family. It's torn us apart. This murder has broken up our family heartbreak that goes beyond reliving my grandfather's death. James's adult kids also gave statements. One of them said, quote, When my father passed away, I felt sorrow, grief, and guilt for letting him down, for not keeping him safe. I questioned myself why I didn't push harder for an autopsy. Mo Granat's friend Laura Jackson said that he was kind, compassionate, wise, and full of love.

Quote, he'd give you the shirt off his back, a place to lay your head, and the last dollar in his pocket. And if he had two people and one piece of bread, everybody ate. Wayne Hedges' sister, Barbara, said that she wondered if Wayne knew what was happening, if he knew what Beth had tried to do to him. Michael Priddles' son, Jason, said his father couldn't walk or speak or defend himself, quote, Yet he still had much of his mind intact, but there is no way to communicate, I'm scared of her, someone tried to kill me. He could not run away, he could not cry for help. Daughter of Gladys Millard, Sandy, said that it killed her to know that her mother cried out when she was attacked. Quote, it was not a peaceful death, but we thought it was the result of morphine injections.

Knowing that she suffered physically broke my heart, she fought the predator and cried out for over an hour, no one answered her. Gladys' niece, Heather, said that it was like her aunt had died twice. Helen Matheson's son, John, said his days were now filled with questions, frustration, self-doubt, sadness, contempt, and often anger. Mary Zyrowinski's loved one, Cheryl, quote, We've had financial loss due to medical expenses from therapy and counseling. We suffer from depression and anxiety, we worry and are fearful now. Mary was a compassionate, caring, and loving woman. She loved her family and was adamant that she would celebrate her hundredth birthday.

She was robbed of that. We were robbed of that. Helen Young's niece, Sharon, said that those final moments haunted her and recalled thanking Beth for her care in the wake of her aunt's death. Quote, I am left with an image of my aunt's final painful hours and an image of my hugging and thanking my aunt's killer will always haunt my memory of my aunt Helen. Maureen Pickering's friends, Donald and Deanna, said, quote, She gave the best hugs and kisses. It was a very painful experience to sit there for four days with her and watch her very slowly die. They went on to say they felt terrible guilt. Quote, We put our friend in the place where her life was taken. While we pray for justice, we also pray for better care of our elderly population in the future.

Art Horvath's children, Susan and Arpad Jr. gave statements saying that their lives will never be the same. Arpad Jr. said the impact has been nothing short of devastating. Quote, It's a nightmare that I can't wake up from and a reality that I have to face every day of my life. When I received information that my father's life was taken, it not only ripped my heart out from my chest, but crushed it. My father is more than my father. He is and always will be my teacher, my hero, my best friend. He is the air that I breathe. He is everywhere. Sandra Taylor's daughter-in-law Fiona recalled Sandy always being there with love and support. Sandy lived after Beth's attack, but had since passed away.

Quote, I feel I've failed her by not being able to care for her at home and then having her attacked and almost killed is unbearable. I wonder all the time if Sandy knew what happened to her and if she did. Was she scared when Elizabeth Wetlifer entered her room because she still worked there after her attempted murder? She had no way to tell anyone what a living nightmare. There is much to be answered for. After the emotional victim impact statements, it was time for sentencing. The maximum sentence was eight consecutive life terms, one after the other, totaling 200 years. Under Canadian law, intoxication due to substance use is not regarded as a sufficient defence to criminal behaviour. However, it can be considered as a contributing factor.

Taking into account that Beth had confessed voluntarily and that her subsequent guilty plea had spared the families of the victims from the trauma of a trial, Justice Thomas ordered her sentences to be served concurrently, that means at the same time, with no chance of parole for 25 years. Beth will be eligible to apply for parole in 2041, though Justice Thomas noted that this was unlikely to occur. In sentencing Beth, he remarked that she left a trail of broken lives in her wake. Quote, she tarnished her reputation. She exposed the weaknesses and care at the long-term facilities where she worked. She was far from the Angel of Mercy, a shadow of death passed over the night shifts that she supervised. On the day of Beth's sentencing, the Ontario government announced that a multi-million dollar public inquiry would be established into the Elizabeth Wetlifer case. The goal of the inquiry was to investigate the systemic and policy deficiencies that not only contributed to the deaths of the patients under Beth's care,

but allowed her to continue working in a position of responsibility with such a vulnerable population. The families of the victims vowed to make it their mission to lobby for significant systemic and regulatory overhaul of the long-term care system in Ontario. Advocacy groups for the elderly and people in long-term care campaigned aggressively for explanations into the failures of Ontario's long-term care system. Just before the inquiry commenced, the families of Beth's victims requested that she be compelled to testify at the inquiry. This was declined by the commissioner, who said that costs to the state of having Beth attend from prison outweighed any evidentiary value she might contribute. As mentioned earlier, professional errors of judgement in long-term care facilities in Ontario were required to be reported to the College of Nurses of Ontario. Beth had already received a criminal conviction and resigned as a registered nurse, and at a disciplinary hearing held at the college in July of 2017, she was charged with professional misconduct. The college found Beth's actions to be disgraceful and dishonourable, and that the case was, quote,

the most egregious and disgraceful conduct that this panel has ever considered. It goes without saying that Beth was permanently barred from practising nursing in Ontario. On August 1, 2017, the public inquiry into the safety and security of residents and the long-term care home system was formally established by the Ontario government. The scope of the inquiry included multiple interviews with victims' families, visits to the facilities involved, interviews with staff and management there, as well as community consultation. Prior investigations by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care revealed that a total of 180 residents died during shifts where Beth was working. At caressant care alone, 55 residents were identified as having passed away within 24 hours of Beth finishing a shift. Investigations at Meadow Park revealed that 14 residents died under similar circumstances. While numerous witnesses testified at the long-term care inquiry, there was no mention of any other possible victims, as the inquiry was limited just to the crimes that Beth had been convicted of.

It was noted that when Maureen Pickering passed away in March of 2014 at caressant care, a doctor recommended that the coroner be contacted, and Beth herself directed a colleague to contact them as though she wanted to be found out. But the coroner determined that no further investigation was necessary. The inquiry noted all the times that Beth was disciplined, including suspension for medical errors. And not only this, but the many complaints of improper and incompetent treatment, as well as inappropriate comments to colleagues and residents, were noted. The administrator of caressant care, Brenda Van Quatham, told the inquiry that recruitment and retention of sufficient incompetent staff was challenging. This is reflected in what the inquiry found about the night shift ratios at the time that Beth was working at caressant care. It equated to only 4.5 minutes of time per resident for an entire shift, assuming that there were no other interruptions or emergencies.

The inquiry also heard testimony from California State University's Professor Beatrice Crofts Yorker, an expert on serial murders by healthcare workers. Her research showed that while the chances of getting murdered by a healthcare worker are less than one in two million, the proportion of murders occurring in hospitals is falling while the proportion in aged care facilities is increasing. She went on to offer some reasons for this. For one, hospitals have better systems in place for tracking medications. It can be much harder to catch serial killers in aged care facilities because residents are already expected to die. And there's also less supervision in aged care facilities, especially at night when there's usually only one registered nurse on duty. Professor Crofts Yorker's research also highlights that serial killers who operate in a medical or healthcare setting are not only prone to falsifying their credentials, but also other pieces of information relating to their work history, allowing them to be offered those positions in the first place.

In the final month of the public inquiry in September 2018, Beverly Bertram, who survived Beth injecting her in 2015 with a near-fatal insulin overdose, made the following statement. I no longer know who I am because Elizabeth Wettlaufer consumes my life. I don't understand why she was bound, bent, and determined to kill me. I get, oh, she's in jail. Don't worry about it. It's over. It's not over. We as the victims are not weak. We need care. And that doesn't mean we don't matter anymore. Elizabeth Wettlaufer didn't get respect. I'm not condoning anything she did. But if respect had been given to her as a person, what happened wouldn't have happened. She cried for help many times and none was given. I just find it very annoying that my life is going to end in this manner.

I'm 17 now. Beverly Bertram's lawyer remarked to the press that Beverly's statement was such a positive, life-affirming comment from someone who has every reason in the world to be angry and bitter. At the inquiry, an emotional arpad Horvath Jr. made reference to the systemic failures and lack of monitoring of administration of drugs by staff in aged care centres. I don't have my father anymore. I miss him. I really, I really miss him a lot. Every goddamn day. It was like the air I breathe, you know, he was everywhere. He'd be here today if it wasn't for the goddamn incompetence of people. Just incompetence. Gross incompetence. Worrying about what people are going to say about them. Worrying about getting in trouble. Worrying about how much it costs. Human life doesn't have a cost, Commissioner. Art Horvath's daughter Susan eventually filed a $12.5 million civil lawsuit against two long-term care facilities in Ontario.

James Silcox's daughter Andrea spoke of how her father's murder impacted her professionally. Since I work in long-term care, I can't go to work without being overwhelmed with the thoughts of my dad and what events led up to his senseless death. I grieve for my mother as well, for she passed away only days after hearing the details of her husband's death in a facility that she trusted the love of her life with. They were married for over 60 years. She also spoke about her mother Agnes, who was one of the very early secondary casualties of Beth's actions. The Silcox family made the heart-wrenching decision to tell Agnes, who was in aged care herself by that stage, the truth about James's death. A heartbroken Agnes passed away on November 20, 2016. The public phase of the inquiry concluded in September of 2018.

It identified that there were chronic staff shortages at caressant care. It also established that medication errors at the facility weren't always reported. For example, Beth made 14 errors at caressant care, but only six were reported to the College of Nurses of Ontario. Caressant care was found to not monitor or keep their insulin supplies secure. And finally, when Beth was fired from the facility, a deliberate decision was made to pursue the path of least resistance. As you'll recall, after the union turned her termination into a voluntary resignation, caressant care provided a positive reference to Beth and paid her $2,000 in damages. The inquiry also found that management of long-term care homes didn't share crucial information between each other. For example, Meadow Park wasn't aware of Beth's lengthy disciplinary history, nor did they realise that she'd been previously fired for stealing narcotics.

The inquiry also confirmed weak protocols in place with how insulin can be accessed and administered at Meadow Park. And what's more, no regulations were in place at the time to prevent any employee abusing this loophole in protocol. In her closing remarks, Inquiry Commissioner the Honourable Justice Eileen Gilles told Beverly Bertram and the families of the late victims that their loss and grief was not in vain. Quote, I'm very confident that it is that quality of grief that will serve as the catalyst for real and lasting improvements in the care and safety of everyone in long-term care homes. With that, the public phase of the long-term care homes public inquiry was over and the commission would have two years to make recommendations on how the situation can be improved, although it should be noted that these are not binding across the province. After the inquiry, CBC show White Coat Black Art interviewed Deanne Shannon, who was the former Executive Director at Telfer Place in Paris, Ontario. She said that Beth had been hired to fill in during staff shortages because recruiting and retention of staff was always a challenge, given that the work in nursing homes pays less than hospitals and is often considered to be more difficult work.

Deanne said that she was concerned that the recommendations that came out of the inquiry would just focus on errors in medication and process. Quote, I think that if the inquiry comes out with a recommendation that nurses supervise each other when they're drawing up insulin, then I think we've missed the entire purpose of how do we care for people properly. In the year leading up to the inquiry, the media had reported that Beth Wetlifer had been moved from prison at the Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener because she'd received threats and was said to be quite depressed. The family members of the resident she'd murdered or harmed were notified via a victim services portal that she was going to be moved for medical reasons. They were not told where she was going and were left with the impression that it was going to be temporary. But in October of 2018, the media reported that Daniel Silcox, the son of Beth's first victim, James Jim Silcox, went to the media with the issues he'd been having trying to find out where she was. He and other family members had been told by victim services that her exact location was classified for privacy reasons.

For months, he fought to find out where she was, finally taking it to Global News, who put in a call to Correctional Service of Canada Victim Services. Finally, the media were able to find out that Beth had been moved from prison to the Institute Philippe Penel, a psychiatric facility in Montreal that has no armed guards and no prison guards. Daniel Silcox was incredibly frustrated as it took getting media attention for corrective services Canada to tell them where Beth was. If a government is hiding behind a cloak of secrecy, using privacy as an excuse to not communicate to victims, that's not right. He added that he didn't think Beth's right to privacy trumps their right to know where the killer of their loved ones was. In January of 2019, it was revealed that Beth had previously told police that she attacked a 15th patient in her care, a then 75-year-old who was a former resident of Meadow Park.

However, this additional allegation was never made public and wasn't disclosed at the public inquiry which had ended several months earlier. Police noted that the resident's family did not want to press charges and did not want their name in the public eye, so I've chosen not to include her name here. As for her confession, Beth told police that she would enter the resident's room when her daughter had left after visiting to inject her with insulin to, quote, make her go more quickly. There was no autopsy following her death and she was cremated, so police were unable to prove that she was killed as a direct result of being injected with insulin by Beth. The coroner ruled that the cause of her death was complications from dementia and hypertension. Despite a lack of evidence regarding a potential murder charge, police determined that, based on the evidence, Beth assaulted the resident with a weapon, the weapon, of course, being an injection. It should also be noted that the 75-year-old died at Meadow Park on August 23, 2014, on the very same afternoon shift where Beth injected her final victim, Arpad Art Horvath.

The impact of Elizabeth Wetlifer's actions have ripped apart the lives of the families of the people she murdered and harmed. Beverly Bertram, the sole survivor, is living evidence of this. While the other victims are no longer living in pain and fear, the lives of those they left behind will never be the same. Beth's unspeakable cruelty and callousness has destroyed any trust that they have in the health and aged care systems. Some family members are fearful of leaving their homes, and the thought of presenting to a hospital or aged care facility for any level of medical treatment fills many of them with terror. Some to the point that they've decided to take the risk of managing their own health in order to avoid hospitals and aged care homes at all costs. The ongoing permanent emotional, psychological, physical and financial cost to the victims' families has destroyed the hopes they had for the future. The final recommendations of the inquiry into aged care homes in Ontario is due this July.

Hopefully this tragedy, this disaster, will be the last one and many necessary changes will be implemented to prevent anything like it from ever happening again. Thanks for listening and thanks again to Gemma Harris for researching and writing this episode. If you have a relative in an aged care facility or are contemplating it, there are several things you can do. There's an online database where you can search for any long-term care home in Canada and see how it compares to other facilities on various quality of care indicators. You can find the website at yourhealthsystem.ca Take care when you interview potential homes. Questions to ask include about staff ratios, including staffing on evenings, weekends and holidays. Ask how long staff have worked there for. Retention of staff is always a good indicator.

Ask them about the in-house doctor and how often they visit with each resident. Find out about their use of antipsychotic drugs and whether the facility uses them to keep residents calm. And ask what behavioural supports they have in place for people with dementia to keep them safe and the staff safe. If you already have a loved one in care, make sure you visit regularly and at different times of the day. Look for medication errors, read inspection reports and don't be afraid to advocate for your loved ones. For more information, I've linked a few CBC articles where they gathered some experts to provide resources and tips. Just head to my website, canadiantruecrime.ca and go to the episode page for this case. Just a quick note, I have one more episode to go before I go on summer break.

Just before it's due on July the 15th, I am going to be in Chicago doing a live show at the True Crime Podcast Festival. I hope I will have the episode finished in time, but if not, it'll be soon after that. This episode I'm saying a huge thank you to these patrons who are listening through my exclusive feed and got this episode early and without any of the ads. Thank you to Lauren W, Lauren E, Mandy G, Heather C, Stephanie A, Jessica J, David H, Holly B, Mary Ellen B, Lisa H, Julie D, Katie T, Jesse G, Linda B, Alona H and Erin W. This episode of Canadian True Crime was researched and written by Gemma Harris and audio production was by Eric Crosby. The host of the Beyond Bazaar True Crime Podcast voiced the disclaimer and the Canadian True Crime theme song was written by We Talk of Dreams. I will be back on July the 15th with another Canadian True Crime story, I hope. See you then.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.