Former nurse facing 8 murder charges makes video court appearance
Elizabeth Wettlaufer of Woodstock, Ont., also charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault
The former Woodstock, Ont., nurse charged with eight counts of first-degree murder involving eight seniors in long-term care briefly appeared by video in court Wednesday morning.
Elizabeth Wettlaufer, 49, is also charged with four counts of attempted murder and two counts of aggravated assault in connection with the patients she cared for while working at southern Ontario care homes. Her case has been put over until Mar. 3.
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Wettlaufer, who has been in custody at the Vanier Institute for Women in Milton since late October, was first arrested and charged with eight murders in November.
Outside the court, the son of one of Wettlaufer's alleged victims, Arpad Horvath Jr., said even quick court appearances keep his family hopeful, but they're impatient to learn more about what happened to their father, Arpad Horvath Sr.
Last month, his body was exhumed by the London Police Service as part of the investigation, an experience that Horvath Jr. described as "devastatingly difficult."
"To have to see my father's casket again and to have to exhume my father after putting him to rest, ask yourself how you would feel?" he said.
Although his father's body was reburied during a small service with the London police chaplain soon after it was removed, Arpad said the entire court process has been a "surreal, scary nightmare.
"Hopefully it will prove fruitful," he added.
Deaths occurred over decade
The initial charges against Wettlaufer were related to deaths that occurred between August 2007 and August 2014. The patients were between 75 and 96 years old. Seven of them died at the Caressant Care Nursing and Retirement Home in Woodstock, while one died at the Meadow Park facility in London.
Just before Wettlaufer appeared in court in January, the Ontario Provincial Police announced the six additional charges related to patients she cared for between June 2007 and August 2016 in three locations.
One of the facilities was the Caressant Care nursing home, where Wettlaufer spent years working as a nurse.
The latest charges include the attempted murder of Wayne Hedges, 57, between September and December 2008, and the attempted murder of Michael Priddle, 63, between January 2008 and December 2009.
Wettlaufer is also charged with the attempted murder of Sandra Towler, 77, a resident of Telfer Place in Brant County, Ont., in September 2015, and Beverly Bertram, 68, at a private home in Oxford County in August 2016.
The aggravated assault charges involve Caressant Care residents Clotilde Adriano, 87, and Albina Demedeiros, 90, between June and December of 2007.
Police said four of the seniors named in the new allegations — all the Caressant Care residents — have since died, but their deaths have not been attributed to Wettlaufer.