Ex Woodstock, Ont., nurse charged in deaths of 8 nursing home patients makes short court appearance
The former Woodstock, Ont., nurse accused of killing eight elderly nursing home residents made another brief court appearance Thursday.
Elizabeth Tracey Mae Wettlaufer, 49, has been charged with eight counts of first-degree murder in the deaths which occurred between August 2007 and August 2014.
All of the residents 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.
Thursday was Wettlaufer's third court appearance. The case was was once again held over with her next court date scheduled for Jan. 6, 2017.
Wettlaufer worked for Caressant Care Nursing and Retirement Homes, which operates six facilities in southwestern Ontario. Seven of the people she is accused of killing died at the company's nursing home in Woodstock, a community of around 37,000 people about halfway between London and Hamilton.
She was also employed at the Meadow Park facility in London, where she is accused of killing the eighth person.
Wettlaufer was last in court on Nov. 18. Susan Horvath, the daughter of one of those Wettlaufer is accused of killing, was at the courthouse that day.
Arpad Horvath, died at the age of 74 at Meadow Park in 2014.
"I'm sad and I'm mad," Horvath said outside the courtroom. "It's hard. It's taking a toll on my health."
An earlier court appearance on Nov. 2 was attended by Andrea Silcox, the youngest daughter of James Silcox, who died in 2007 at the Woodstock facility, at the age of 84.
"The [Ontario Provincial Police] told us to stay away, but I don't listen to anyone," she said.
More than two weeks before Wettlaufer was charged, police took out a peace bond that barred her from long-term care facilities or retirement homes.
She is being held at the Vanier Women's Centre Detention Facility in Milton, Ont.
