A former Woodstock, Ont., nurse killed eight elderly patients in southwestern Ontario nursing homes, Ontario Provincial Police allege.

Elizabeth Tracy Mae Wettlaufer, 49, is facing eight counts of first-degree murder in connection with deaths that occurred between August 2007 and August 2014, police said during a Tuesday morning news conference in Woodstock.

The victims were between the ages of 75 and 96. Police would not say exactly how they died, except that seven of them received a fatal dose of a drug.

Wettlaufer was employed by Caressant Care Nursing and Retirement Homes, which operates six facilities in southwestern Ontario. Seven of the victims died at the company's nursing home in Woodstock, a community of around 37,000 people about halfway between London and Hamilton.

OPP Det. Sup. Dave Truax updates media about nurse's arrest 0:33

She was also employed at the Meadow Park facility in London, where the eighth victim died.

Wettlaufer first became licensed as a registered nurse on June 8, 1995, with the College of Nurses of Ontario — the governing body for registered nurses, registered practical nurses and nurse practitioners. She resigned on Sept. 30, 2016, one day after the OPP say their investigation began.

Wettlaufer faces eight first-degree murder charges in the deaths of elderly patients in southwestern Ontario. (Bethe Wettlaufer/Facebook)

Her neighbours at her Woodstock apartment building described her as a friendly, unassuming woman known as Beth. She lived alone with her small dog, Nashville.

A Facebook page Woodstock police confirmed belongs to Wettlaufer shows pictures of her travelling and appearing with her family and her cats. There are several posts discussing her life as a nurse.

One post from Feb. 22, 2016, says "23 patients with a gastric bug combined with a full moon made for a crazy night last night. And that is an understatement."

On Sept. 28, 2015, a post on that page said: "My own voice called to me in the darkness. Others hands lifted me when I chose the light. One year ago I woke up not dead. 365 days clean and sober."

Wettlaufer also appears to have written poetry and posted her writing at allpoetry.com. The profile name is bettyweston, but her own name is also attached to the poems, and the accompanying photo is one that appears on Wettlaufer's Facebook page.

Links to the poems are not currently working.

One poem titled Inevitable, written about five years ago, talks about taking a life.

She watches some life drain from the notch in his neck vein.

As it soothingly pools it smothers her pain.

Sweet stiletto so sharp craves another cut.

Obeying a call she moves to his gut.

Blade traces a line from navel to spine

grating on rib bones slicing intestine.

Another poem titled Working Happy, from about six years ago, focuses on her care for the elderly.

Maybe it's the rye or the time of night but my day was not so bad.

Filled with work and satisfaction and old people.

See I work with old people and I love their candidacy,

their points, their wrinkles, their frailties their refusing to eat anything but ice cream, even their smell.

Left Caressant 2½ years ago

The college released a statement Tuesday confirming Wettlaufer is under investigation by the college and is not entitled to practise nursing.

Two of Wettlaufer's former employers sent out statements confirming Wettlaufer's employment history.

This post appeared on a Facebook page Woodstock police confirmed to belong to Elizabeth Tracy Mae Wettlaufer, the woman facing eight first-degree murder charges.

Caressant Care said in a statement that she left the company 2½ years ago and the company is "co-operating fully with police."

Meadow Park in London also indicated it is co-operating with the investigation and said Wettlaufer left its employment two years ago.

OPP Det. Sup. Dave Truax on the scope of the investigation 0:28

Police identified the victims who died at the Woodstock home as:

Police identified one of the victims who died at the Woodstock home as James Silcox, 84, who died Aug. 17, 2007. (Simon Dingley/CBC News)

James Silcox, 84, who died Aug. 12, 2007.

Maurice Granat, 84, who died Dec. 23, 2007.

Gladys Millard, 87, who died Oct. 14, 2011.

Helen Matheson, 95, who died Oct. 27, 2011.

Mary Zurawinski, 96, who died Nov. 7, 2011.

Helen Young, 90, who died July 14, 2013.

Maureen Pickering, 79, who died March 28, 2014.

The victim at Meadow Park was identified as:

Arpad Horvath, 75, who died Aug. 31, 2014.

Elizabeth Tracy Mae Wettlaufer was also employed at the Meadow Park facility in London, where the other victim died. (Simon Dingley/CBC)

Donalda Osmond, who was friends with victim Helen Matheson, told CBC News Network she was surprised to learn about the charges in her friend's death.

Donalda Osmond expresses shock after learning her friend Helen Matheson was killed 0:23

"She was private and trusting, she'd trust anybody, obviously she did," Osmond said of Matheson. "Just a good and decent person."

Eight murder charges are the most brought against any individual in Ontario since eight men were killed on a farm west of London in an internal dispute involving members of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club in 2006, according to Woodstock police Chief William Renton.</s>TORONTO — A nurse has been charged with the murders of eight elderly people under her care at nursing homes in southwestern Ontario over a seven-year period, police said Tuesday.

Woodstock Police Chief William Renton said Elizabeth Tracey Mae Wettlaufer, 49, was charged with first-degree murder in the killings that took place between 2007 and 2014.

"The victims were administered a drug. We're not in a position at this time to comment further on the specifics of the drug as it forms part of the evidence that is now before the courts," Ontario Provincial Police detective Dave Truax said.

Truax would only say that a number of drugs were stored and accessible in the nursing homes where the suspect worked.

Police said they were first alerted to the deaths on Sept. 29 and arrested Wettlaufer on Monday. They said she appeared in court Tuesday morning and was remanded into custody until Nov. 2.

A lawyer for Wettlaufer could not immediately be reached.

The investigation is ongoing and officials said more charges could be brought in the future. Police would not speak to a possible motive.

"This is an extremely distressing and tragic ... thing for all of the families involved," said Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne. "... The police have made it clear there's no threat to safety and we now need to let the police do their job."

Wettlaufer, of Woodstock, was employed by Caressant Care Nursing and Retirement Homes, which operates 15 facilities in small Ontario towns.

Police said seven of the victims died at a Caressant nursing home in Woodstock, a community of 37,000 people about halfway between London and Hamilton, Ontario.

The victims were identified as James Silcox, 84; Maurice Granat, 84; Gladys Millard, 87; Helen Matheson, 95; Mary Zurawinski, 96; Helen Young, 90; Maureen Pickering, 79, and Arpad Horvath, 75.

Wettlaufer was also employed at the Meadow Park facility in London, where Horvath died.

His daughter, Susan Horvath, said she felt something was amiss before her father died.

"I'd seen my dad and the condition he was in and he had a lot of fear ... and just things about him and everything I noticed on his body and stuff, I just had a feeling and I told mom," Horvath told radio station AM980 in London, Ontario, on Tuesday. "And then when he passed on — and how he passed on — that's when I knew: This is not right."

Daniel Silcox, of Pontypool Ontario, said he found out about his father being among the alleged victims while listening to the radio Tuesday morning.

"We're living my father's death right now," Silcox said. "It's horrific."

His father didn't like living at the home, had broken his hip at the facility, but the family otherwise had no suspicions that his death might have been a murder, Silcox said.

Records from the College of Nurses of Ontario show Wettlaufer was first registered as a nurse in August 1995 but resigned on Sept. 30. She is no longer entitled to practice as a registered nurse.

Caressant, a private nursing home chain, said it is cooperating with police and remains in contact with the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care regarding the matter.

Caressant said ina statement that its highest priority is to continue providing for the "physical, social and spiritual needs" of its residents as the investigation unfolds.

Charlene Puffer, who said she lives down the hall from Wettlaufer's apartment, described her neighbor as a decent person..

"I knew something was up with all the police coming around here the past few weeks and they came one day in all their Hazmat suits," she said. "It's terrifying to know someone who supposedly killed that many people lived right near me."

Wettlaufer told Puffer she liked her job as a nurse.

"You think, how did this go on for so long? But to look at her and know her a bit, you would never think she could do something like this," Puffer said.</s>WOODSTOCK, Ontario (AP) — Police say a nurse has been charged with the murders of eight elderly people at nursing homes in southwestern Ontario over seven years.

Woodstock Police Chief William Renton said Tuesday that 49-year-old Elizabeth Tracey Mae Wettlaufer was charged with first-degree murder in the killings that took place between 2007 and 2014.

Renton says the victims ranged in age from 75 to 96.

Police say the victims were administered a drug, but declined to identify which one.

Caressant Care Nursing and Retirement Homes, a private nursing home chain, has said one of its former employees is the focus of the investigation.

Caressant, which operates 15 Ontario facilities located mostly in small towns, says the former employee is a registered nurse who left the company 2 1/2 years ago.</s>A Woodstock nurse has been charged with eight counts of first-degree murder in a string of deaths at long-term care homes dating back nearly a decade.

Ontario Provincial Police announced the charges against Elizabeth Tracey Mae Wettleufer, 49, of Woodstock on Tuesday following a multi-jurisdictional probe involving long-term care homes in Woodstock and London.

Seven of the victims were residents of at Crescent Care in Woodstock. One victim was a resident of Meadow Park in London.

Wettleufer worked at both residences, police said.

Lee Griffi, manager of corporate communications at Caressant Care, said in a statement that the company is “cooperating fully with police investigating the actions of a former staff member, a registered nurse, who left our Home’s employ approximately two and a half years ago.”

Wettleufer appeared in court Tuesday and was remanded into custody.

Caressant Care Retirement and Nursing Home in Woodstock is one of the long-term care homes involved in a death investigation that spans three regions in southwestern Ontario.

Lee Griffi, manager of corporate communications at Caressant Care, said in a statement that the company is "cooperating fully with police investigating the actions of a former staff member, a registered nurse, who left our Home's employ approximately two and a half years ago."

Provincial police first announced a multi-jurisdictional death investigation - which began in Woodstock - on Oct. 14, more than two weeks after it was initiated on Sept. 29.

Police have not said how many deaths are part of their investigation.

Woodstock, London and the counties of Oxford and Brant are also involved in the investigation.

Caressant Care is a chain of nursing and retirement homes across southwestern Ontario.

Griffi would not respond to questions, including whether any other Caressant Care locations are involved in the probe.

"We are determined to avoid compromising the police investigation in any way and are therefore unable to provide any additional comment at this time," he said.

Several police forces will provide an update on the investigation at 10 a.m.

The press conference will be broadcast live on the Woodstock Sentinel-Review and London Free Press Facebook pages.

A live feed of tweets will also be available here, beginning shortly before 10 a.m.</s>The actions of a registered nurse at a nursing home in Southwestern Ontario are being probed in a police investigation into suspicious deaths.

Ontario Provincial Police have described the investigation, which includes police forces in London and Woodstock, Ont., as a “multijurisdictional death investigation.”

Events at a nursing home in Woodstock – Caressant Care Woodstock Long Term Care Home – are part of the probe.

The facility is “co-operating fully with police investigating the actions of a former staff member, a registered nurse, who left our home’s employ approximately two and a half years ago,” spokesman Lee Griffi of Caressant Care Nursing and Retirement Homes Ltd. said in a news release.

Police have scheduled a press conference for Tuesday morning in Woodstock to provide details of their investigation. They said on Oct. 14 they had identified a suspect but did not confirm that an arrest had been made.

“We remain in regular contact with the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care,” Mr. Griffi said.

“Our highest priority is to provide for the physical, social and spiritual needs of our residents, and that remains our focus. We deeply regret the additional grief and stress this is imposing on the families involved.

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

The home is part of the privately held Caressant Care nursing-home chain, which runs about 15 homes in mostly small communities across Ontario.

More to come</s>Elizabeth Tracey Mae Wettlaufer is accused of poisoning residents who ranged in age from 75 to 90 in two Ontario facilities, the Ontario Provincial Police said at a news conference on Tuesday.

Wettlaufer, 49, appeared in Ontario Court of Justice in the city of Woodstock on Tuesday. She was charged with eight counts of first-degree murder and taken into custody.

Woodstock police received a tip on September 29 that a nurse had killed multiple patients, leading to Wettlaufer's arrest, police said in a statement.

Police would not discuss motive, citing evidence that could impact court proceedings.

Victims James Silcox, 84, Maurice Granat, 84, Gladys Millard, 87, Helen Matheson, 95, Mary Zurawinski, 96, Helen Young, 90 and Maureen Pickering, 79, were residents at Caressant Care Nursing and Retirement Home in Woodstock. Arpad Horvath, 75, resided at Meadow Park Long Term Care in London, Ontario. He died on August 31, 2014, the last of Wettlaufer's alleged victims. Wettlaufer's lawyers did not return CNN's request for comment. Caressant Care Woodstock Long Term Care Home said it is cooperating with police. Wettlaufer left the home's employ two and a half years ago, spokesman Lee Griffi said in a statement. "Our highest priority is to continue to provide for the physical, social and spiritual needs of our residents, and that remains our focus," Griffi said. "We deeply regret the additional grief and stress this is imposing on the families involved. We are determined to avoid compromising the police investigation in any way and are therefore unable to provide any additional comment at this time."</s>A Canadian nurse was charged on Tuesday with using drugs to murder eight elderly patients at two long-term care facilities, a highly unusual case in a country where such crimes are almost unknown.

Elizabeth Wettlaufer (49) is accused of killing five women and three men in the Ontario towns of Woodstock and London between 2007 and 2014. The people killed ranged in age from 75 to 96.

“The victims were administered a drug. There are obviously a number of drugs that are stored and are available in long-term care facilities,” Woodstock police chief William Renton told a televised news conference.

Mr Renton declined to give further details and said he could not speculate about a motive. Ms Wettlaufer appeared in court on Tuesday and was remanded in custody.

The criminal case is the largest in Ontario since 2006, when five men were charged with murdering eight members of a biker gang. They were convicted in 2009 and sentenced to life in prison.

Mr Renton said officers began investigating the deaths in September after receiving a tip. “This investigation is now being treated as a multiple homicide. We are confident at this time that all of the victims have been identified,” he said.

Doris Grinspun, head of the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario, said she was devastated.

“An event like this is most, most, most unusual, the first actually in all my 20 years at the association. These things are horrifying to all of us. They are the exception, the very rare exception,” she told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.

In 1997 a Canadian doctor was charged with murdering a terminally ill cancer patient but the case was thrown out by a judge.

Seven of the dead lived in a Woodstock facility run by Caressant Care. The firm said in a statement that Wettlaufer had left her job in 2014.

A LinkedIn profile in the name of Elizabeth Wettlaufer said she was a nurse who had worked at the Woodstock home from June 2007 to March 2014. “Administering medications” was listed as one of her responsibilities.

In March, Italian police arrested a 55-year-old nurse on suspicion of murdering 13 elderly patients in the intensive care ward where she had worked for decades.

Earlier that month, a nurse, Ravenna, was given a life sentence for murdering a patient with an injection of potassium. She is under investigation for some 10 more suspicious deaths.</s>Once again, Ontario’s provincial government claims it needs more money from Ottawa to fund its programs.

This time, the immediate cause for Ontario’s complaint is the federal Liberal government’s decision to proceed with its predecessor’s plan to slow the rate of growth in federal health-care transfers to the provinces.

Ontario Health Minister Eric Hoskins recently said that if the federal government reduces the annual growth rate from 6% to 3%, federal funding will become “inadequate.”

It’s hard to square his rhetoric with the fact federal transfers to Ontario have increased rapidly over the decade, and are currently near an all-time high.

From 2005/06 to 2015/16, major federal transfers to Ontario increased by 87.8%.

This is a much faster increase than would have been necessary to offset cost pressures resulting from inflation and a growing population.

As a result, federal transfers per person to Ontario (after adjusting for inflation) increased by 43% during this period.

While Hoskins laments that the partnership between the federal government and the provinces is being “eroded,” in reality, Ontario is getting a lot more assistance from Ottawa than it was 10 years ago when federal transfers represented 12% of all revenue collected by Ontario’s government.

Last year, it was 16.4%.

It’s true Ontario’s health-care system (as in all Canadian provinces) has serious problems, especially when it comes to wait times for care.

More money from Ottawa, however, is not the solution to these problems.

If it were, they would have been solved a long time ago.

Instead of crying poor and asking for even more money from Ottawa, the provincial government should demand that the federal government give all provinces more freedom to pursue innovative health-care reform strategies.

Currently, federal health-care transfers come with a number of strings attached—meaning that provinces must comply with a series of regulations or else risk seeing health transfers withheld completely.

Some of these rules seem to prohibit the provinces from pursuing policies that might help shorten wait times and reduce costs.

For example, most universal health-care systems around the world use some sort of cost-sharing program (user fees, co-payments or deductibles) to encourage efficient use of scarce health-care resources.

These programs generally include annual limits and exemptions for vulnerable populations to prevent financial hardship.

Despite this fact, Canadian provinces have not yet experimented with such policies, likely out of fear of seeing their health-care transfers cut.

This is just one example of how federal regulations tie the hands of provincial governments, preventing them from developing solutions to the unique problems they face.

Indeed, Ottawa is making it harder to improve health care in Ontario—but not by failing to supply enough money.

Rather than increasing transfers even more, the federal government should cut some of the strings attached to health transfers that inhibit health policy innovation at the provincial level, for the benefit of Ontarians and their families.

- Eisen is the director of Provincial Prosperity Studies at the Fraser Institute.</s>TORONTO (AP) — A police source says a nurse charged in the deaths of eight nursing home residents made incriminating remarks while she was being treated for her addiction at a Toronto clinic.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation, said Wednesday that Elizabeth Tracey Mae Wettlaufer, a nurse from Woodstock, Ontario, made comments to staff at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto. Staff contacted Toronto police who informed their counterparts in Woodstock.

Wettlaufer, 49, was charged Tuesday with eight counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of elderly residents at two nursing homes in Woodstock, and London, Ontario in what could be one of the worst serial-killer cases in Canadian history.</s>Elizabeth Wettlaufer, 49, is accused of killing five women and three men in the Ontario towns of Woodstock and London between 2007 and 2014. The dead ranged in age from 75 to 96.

"The victims were administered a drug," Woodstock Police Chief William Renton told a televised news conference, declining to give further details. Wettlaufer appeared in court on Tuesday and was remanded in custody.

The criminal case is the largest in Ontario since 2006, when five men were charged with murdering eight biker gang members. They were convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

Renton said officers began probing the deaths in September after receiving a tip.

"We are confident at this time that all of the victims have been identified," he said.

The Canadian Association of Retired Persons said it was shocked by the tragic nature of the alleged crime. Mass killings are uncommon in Canada.

"For nurses and staff to be part of a violence problem, we think this is rare... it is extraordinary, and thankfully so," spokesman Anthony Quinn said from Toronto.

In 1997 a Canadian doctor was charged with murdering a terminally ill cancer patient. A judge later threw out the case.

Seven of the dead lived in a Woodstock facility run by Caressant Care. The firm said Wettlaufer had left her job in 2014.

Doris Grinspun, head of the Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario, said she was devastated.

"An event like this is most, most, most unusual, the first actually in all my 20 years at the association... these things are horrifying to all of us. They are the exception, the very rare exception," she told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.

People residing in the same apartment building as Wettlaufer described her as a pleasant person who lived alone with her dog.

"We would chat and have laughs. She seemed like an everyday, normal kind of person," Derek Gilbert told CBC.

A LinkedIn profile in the name of Elizabeth Wettlaufer said she was a nurse who worked at the Woodstock home from June 2007 to March 2014. "Administering medications" was listed as one of her responsibilities.

In March, Italian police arrested a 55-year-old nurse on suspicion of murdering 13 elderly patients in the intensive care ward where she had worked for decades.
Ontario Provincial Police charge a former Canadian nurse, Elizabeth Tracy Mae Wettlaufer, in Woodstock, Ontario, with killing eight elderly patients between August 2007 and August 2014 at two Caressant Care Nursing and Retirement Homes facilities.