Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén - Elizabeth Wettlaufer Pt. 2

Episode Date: November 11, 2019

Between 2007 and 2016, Elizabeth Wettlaufer killed elderly residents of the long-term care home where she worked as a night nurse. By the time of her capture, she was one of the most prolific killers in Canadian history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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You in? Must be 21 to enter. Due to the graphic nature of this killer's crimes, listener discretion is advised. This episode includes discussion. of murder and assault that some people may find offensive. We advise extreme caution for children under 13. 90-year-old Helen Young rolled her wheelchair aimlessly around her room at the caressant care nursing home.

It was a hot summer day in 2013, and she was bored. Helen was a World War II Royal Air Force veteran, and a tough woman. She hated having nothing to do. mischievously she began to yell Help me, nurse, nurse, help me. Elizabeth, a rotund nurse with small glasses, appeared at her door. With a sigh, she asked,

What do you need help with? Helen stared at her a moment before snapping. Nothing, go away, and snickering to herself. Elizabeth's muscles tensed as she stormed out. In the hallway, she leaned against the wall, shaking with fury. took a few deep breaths, in and out, in and out. Then she straightened, suddenly full of purpose.

She hurried down the hallway. A few minutes later, Elizabeth returned to Helen's room, this time with a needle in her hand. A few hours later, loud moans brought hospital staff rushing to Helen's room. She was convulsing, face bright red, and limbs bent inward. Elizabeth loomed nearby as the other staff tried to help. Helen spotted Elizabeth in the crowd. She tried to speak, but her words were slurred. Early the next morning, Helen Young died.

The killer nurse of Canada had claimed another victim. I'm Greg Poulson. This is serial killers, a podcast original. Every Monday, we dive into the minds and madness of serial killers. Today, we're finishing the story of Elizabeth Wettloffer. Between 2007 and 2016, Elizabeth Wettloffer murdered eight elderly residents in the long-term care nursing home where she worked as a night nurse, making her one of the most prolific killers in Canadian history. I'm here with my co-host, Vanessa Richardson.

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It really does help. Last week, we explored how Elizabeth's Baptist upbringing led her to a week. repress her sexuality. After a decade of marriage, she could hide her identity no longer, and her husband asked for divorce. Following their split in 2006, Elizabeth took her anger out on several of her elderly patients, murdering two men and assaulting two women by overdosing them with insulin. This week, Elizabeth's horrifying killing spree continues as she delivers what she believed was God's judgment to victim after victim. In 2008, 41-year-old Elizabeth Wetloffer was grappling with intense feelings of insecurity and

stress in her hometown of Woodstock, Canada. Though she had gotten pleasure out of killing two elderly men the previous year, she knew what she was doing was wrong. After her second murder, she tried to direct her urges by singling out those who were no longer. longer happy being alive. She felt this was the only way to deal with the terrifying red surge of anger. She experienced when her anxiety became overwhelming. So, when dementia patient Wayne Hedges claimed to her that he wanted to die, Elizabeth gave him a heavy dose of insulin.

However, other staff members noticed that 57-year-old Wayne had low blood sugar. They treated him for hypoglycemia and he was able to pull through. but it wouldn't be Elizabeth's last attempt on a patient's life. She targeted her next victim, 63-year-old patient Michael Priddle, either in 2008 or 2009. Varing sources have differing dates. Michael had Huntington's disease, a fatal condition where nerve cells in the brain break down over time. He was wheelchair-bound and was admitted to Elizabeth's place of work caress and care because he had trouble swallowing. He needed constant supervision.

During one shift, Elizabeth observed Michael with pity. He was a tragic figure, a man who still had his mind, but was robbed of his bodily functions. She felt it was an awful way to live. She closed her eyes and felt the red surge passed through her. God wanted her to save this man. Elizabeth fetched an insulin needle and hurried to his room. She injected him with 90 units of insulin, which she considered to be a very large amount. Despite Michael's delicate condition and what should have been a lethal dose of insulin,

he miraculously survived the night. Though it's unclear how Michael reacted to the dose, Elizabeth was adamant that other staff members didn't notice Michael was having hypoglycemic symptoms. It wasn't medical intervention that saved him, and Elizabeth started to worry it had been divine intervention. Throughout the following day, she was rattled. She thought the red surge had told her to kill Michael and Wayne, and yet both had survived.

She wondered if she'd gotten it wrong. Maybe their recoveries meant that God hadn't intended for them to die after all. Her uncertainty led her to vow not to kill again. Instead, she searched for other ways to stay preoccupied. If she was distracted enough, perhaps she wouldn't act on her sinister impulses. Elizabeth turned to binge drinking and drug use, which had helped her cope in the past. Vanessa's going to take over on the psychology here and throughout the episode. Please note, Vanessa is not a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist, but she has done a lot of research for this show.

Thanks, Greg. Shortly before her divorce, Elizabeth had gone to see a therapist and was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, or BPD. While she was on medication, the disorder could have influenced some of her actions. According to Dr. Crystal in Salters-Ped-No, a person with BPD is more likely to turn to self-harming behaviors, like drinking or binge-eating, as a way to cope with feelings of inadequacy. Elizabeth's own BPD and poor self-image likely drove her to abuse drugs and alcohol. Elizabeth also tried to cope with her feelings by searching for love online. In late 2009, Elizabeth connected with Sheila Andrews.

After trading messages and chatting online for a few months, Sheila invited Elizabeth to come and visit her in Prince Albert, Canada, about a four-hour flight northwest of Woodstock. Elizabeth was thrilled. She dressed up in high heels, put on vivid red lipstick, and boarded a plane. Upon her arrival, Elizabeth threw herself into Sheila's arms, loudly proclaiming that they were going to be together and that she'd already told everyone at work how much she loved Sheila.

Sheila was thrown. Despite their intimate messages, they were only just meeting for the first time. Elizabeth was moving way too fast. Elizabeth's hastiness indicated a deep desperation for affection. According to Philip Chard, a therapist and social, worker, some people cling to partners or potential partners when they have a fear of being cast aside. Though Sheila and Elizabeth hadn't met in person, their online connection led Elizabeth to believe

they had a more serious relationship than they did. It's possible she was overcompensating during their initial meeting out of fear it would all go away. Chard mentions that this fear often comes from rejection by a parent or love interest during adolescence. This is certainly likely in Elizabeth's case, as her sexuality was rejected by both her parents and her church. She may have been craving a way to regain her self-esteem and hoped fulfillment in other areas of her life would quell her desire to kill. Despite Elizabeth's rocky first impression, Sheila decided to see how the week went before jumping to conclusions. But after only a few

days, she realized there was definitely something off about Elizabeth. Sheila said Elizabeth reacted petulantly when she didn't get what she wanted and was too desperate to start a relationship. So Sheila told her it wasn't going to work out. After the stinging rejection, Elizabeth returned home to Woodstock and searched even harder for someone to connect with. She finally found a companion in an 18-year-old nurse's aide who started at Carescent Care in 2009. 42-year-old Elizabeth liked the young aide and took her out to dinner, mentoring her as she adjusted to her new job. Though it's unconfirmed, Elizabeth has also insinuated that two of them eventually started dating. Regardless of their specific relationship, they certainly became close enough that Elizabeth saw the young aide as someone she could trust.

During one conversation, Elizabeth even told the young nurse about her crimes. According to the book, Lethal Injections, the aide wanted to alert the police immediately. However, Elizabeth assured her she'd deny everything. There was no proof these crimes occurred, and Elizabeth convinced the nurse's aide that the police would likely believe Elizabeth over her. Elizabeth also told the young woman that she didn't need to be turned in, as God had forgiven her for the crimes. It's unclear what the nurse did with this.

information, but there's no record of a report being filed, so it appears she kept her mouth shut. As a young, impressionable woman at the start of her career, the severity of the situation might have been overwhelming. Elizabeth dodged a bullet by successfully silencing the nurse. But after a year of restraint and a few failed attempts at regaining some confidence through intimacy, she was once again weighed down by anxiety. As her angsts, grew more stifling, Elizabeth searched for yet another outlet for her emotions. She began to write, posting poems online on all-poetry.com, under the pen name Betty Weston. The poems were sometimes visceral and full of pain. They described the inner violence Elizabeth kept hidden

from the world. She wrote in one poem, Heart beats, then sprays, as this next victim pays her deft daggers bill. Does it quench her craze? Sharp thirst recedes as she dances in blood, satiated for now, no longer a flood. The macab waltz has ended. Her desire has been tended. The chilling poem hints at the darkness Elizabeth was fighting to suppress. If taken literally, her words indicate that only the act of killing itself truly satiated her. This contradicted her. This contradict Elizabeth's other assertions that God was talking to her and that she was only fulfilling his mission. A comment on this poem praised the author and noted how unexpected it was to make the killer a woman. Elizabeth responded, it also made me feel powerful. Professor of forensic

psychology, Catherine Ramsland, has noted that nurses or caregivers who harm their patients often crave power, control, or attention. But most of these killers were successful because they exploited the atmosphere of trust where they worked. Patients who inherently trusted health care institutions enabled Elizabeth to avoid detection. This made her feel invincible and allowed her to be the ruler of her own secret world.

But while Elizabeth wielded supreme power at her job, her personal life was a different story. Around this time, she became involved with a woman 10 years older than her. The woman's name has not been reported, but according to neighbors, the two argued often. It seems as though Elizabeth wasn't able to control her partner, like she controlled her patients. The couple took a vacation to Niagara Falls in August of 2011. It's not clear what transpired during the trip, but afterward, Elizabeth returned to work like a bear emerging from hibernation. She was ravenous for a fix.

In a moment, we'll reveal how Elizabeth returned to killing with a vengeance. Now back to the story. Between 2007 and 2009, 44-year-old nurse Elizabeth Wetlofer killed two patients and attempted to kill four more. But from 2009 to late 2011, Elizabeth managed to refrain from killing or hurting any patients. Instead, she'd turned to alcohol, relationships, and poetry to quell her emotional turmoil. However, by the fall of 2011, Elizabeth was hitting a breaking point. She'd recently gone on a trip to Niagara Falls with her girlfriend, who remains anonymous. It's theorized the couple argued frequently on this trip, and the stress pushed Elizabeth

back toward violence. As she returned to her workplace in October of 2011, Elizabeth began searching for her next victim. Ultimately, she decided on Gladys Jean Millard, an 87-year-old Spitfire from Nova Scotia. Elizabeth had initially liked Gladys' spirited attitude, but she'd recently become frustrated as Gladys' dementia worsened. Over her five years at caressant care, Gladys had turned into a difficult patient and often refused medication. She frequently became aggressive towards the nursing staff. As she worked the night shift on October 13, 2011, Elizabeth felt the red surge returned to her,

more powerful than ever before. Elizabeth was certain that Gladys was going to be the next one. It was her time to go. It's notable that when questioned about this surge of anger, Elizabeth has said that it never happened outside of work and was never premeditated. This likely contributed to her belief that the feeling was a message from God. To her, it came out of nowhere.

And once it came, it was difficult to resist. At 5 a.m., Elizabeth fetched insulin and arrived at Gladys's bedside. She woke Gladys up, telling her that she was giving her a vitamin shot. But unlike Elizabeth's prior victims, Gladys had no intention of being injected with anything that night. She hated receiving medication and struggled to escape. as Elizabeth tried to stick the needle in her arm. Despite her resistance, the needle finally found its mark, and the insulin rushed into Gladys' vein.

Elizabeth cackled in relief as she sat back victorious. Gladys, unaware of what she'd been injected with, petulantly rolled over and went back to sleep. By 7 a.m., Gladys was sweating and unresponsive. Elizabeth wrote up a report for the incoming day shift nurse, detailing. Gladys had been awake all night, was crying out, and had a very tense look on her face. She fell asleep and is currently still sleeping. Staff instructed to leave her in bed asleep.

But the incoming nurse was alarmed by Gladys' condition and paid no heed to Elizabeth's instructions. She insisted that Elizabeth help her move Gladys into the palliative care room, a private room patients are moved to if their illness appears serious. It was set up so that family could have privacy while visiting with their loved ones during their last hours. Elizabeth went home, terrified she might be investigated. The day nursing staff was gravely concerned about Gladys. Potential consequences played through Elizabeth's head,

and she imagined herself getting fired and going to jail. But to her great surprise, she once again, escaped blame. Gladys died the next afternoon, and no one suspected her death was unnatural. Even so, Elizabeth's immense fear of discovery might have prevented her from experiencing the relief she usually felt after taking a life. Instead, she was thrown into further emotional turmoil, and her anger grew. Criminologist Robert Agnew of Emory University proposes the general strain theory, GST, as one explanation for violent behavior. GST suggests that violence is the result of emotional strain, particularly when that emotion is anger. Professor of criminology,

Scott A. Bonn, takes this a step further by suggesting that fear is the root of anger. It's possible that Elizabeth's fear of being found out increased her latent fury about the stresses of her job and personal life, and this fury led to another attack. Whatever the underlying cause, it was clear that Elizabeth's murders were far from over. On October 25th, a week after Gladys died, 95-year-old Helen Matheson was sitting in her room at caressant care, eating a piece of blueberry pie with ice cream. She was a quiet woman who had dementia, but she was feeling unusually alert. Elizabeth sat by Helen's bedside, watching her eat. Helen took four bites before turning to Elizabeth with a smile and handing her the

plate. That's enough, dear, but the crust is lovely. Helen's worsening dementia caused her to frequently be confused, but Elizabeth was struck by how lucid Helen was that evening. She thought Helen appeared quiet and determined, like she was waiting for something. Elizabeth felt the familiar build of pressure and decided that God was telling her Helen was the next person who should die. That night, Elizabeth injected Helen with a large amount of short-acting insulin. As she unleashed the dosage into Helen's arm, Elizabeth laughed in relief, reveling in the release it gave her. She lingered near Helen's room the rest of the night. Close, but not too close.

The next day, Helen's condition began to deteriorate rapidly. She stopped eating. By 8.15 p.m. on October 26th, Helen was moved to the palliative care room and her son John was called. In the early hours of October 27th, while John held her hand at her bedside, Helen stopped breathing. No one suspected Elizabeth Wetloffer. But the relief from this kill apparently didn't satiate Elizabeth for long. Only a month later, in November of 2011, Elizabeth found another target. Mary Zerowinski wasn't a diabetic, but she, like almost all of Elizabeth's victims, had dementia.

She was chatty, feisty, and fell easily into Elizabeth's clutches. Elizabeth recounts that on November 6, 2011, she was helping Mary with her medication. All of a sudden, Mary turned to her and said, I'm going to die tonight. Elizabeth was startled, but quickly recovered. She asked Mary what she meant, and Mary insisted that she wanted to be taken to the palliative care room so that she could die. Elizabeth went to another staff member and told her what Mary had said. After supper, Elizabeth and a fellow nurse moved Mary to the south wing into a room by the nurse's station. Elizabeth was excited. To her, it seemed Mary was asking Elizabeth to end her life.

The pressure built up, and the red surge coursed through her body. Once alone with Mary, Elizabeth injected her in the arm with a combination of long and short-acting insulin. She soothingly told Mary, the shot was full. for pain. Elizabeth's shift ended before Mary's symptoms took hold, but she was informed of Mary's passing the next day. Elizabeth expected to feel relief. She'd been told by Mary that she wanted to die, and Elizabeth had helped her. But she was disconcerted to realize she felt more anxious than ever before. By now, Elizabeth had taken the lives of five of her patients, three in the last two months.

She was filled with self-loathing and resentment. To get her mind off her guilt, Elizabeth and her partner went on a 10-day Caribbean cruise. There are no specifics reported from the trip, but it's clear it allowed Elizabeth some time to reflect. Once back in Canada, Elizabeth was once again determined to stop killing for good. She felt ashamed, damned, and confused.

To regain a sense of purpose, she turned fervently to God and threw herself into her church's community. She read the Bible, prayed, went to church, and attended Narcotics Anonymous meetings. She did her best to stay sober, though she admits she still drank rye whiskey eight or nine times a week. Elizabeth later remarked that though she still felt the urge to kill, at this time she was able to resist by praying and reading her Bible. Ironically, Elizabeth stopped killing for two years by throwing herself into the religion she claimed made her kill in the first place. It's possible she was no longer able to convince herself that it had been God speaking to her through her red surges.

She saw now it was her own dark impulses, born from a mind muddled by fear and insecurity. She hoped that by turning her full attention to God, the claws of evil, would release her for good. But her hopes were dashed in July of 2013. Helen Young, a patient of Elizabeth, had been getting on her nerves lately. She yelled to the nurses that she needed help,

only to snap at them when they asked what she wanted. She refused food and medication and was condescending to Elizabeth. Though she tried to fight her urge to kill Helen, Elizabeth was hungry for relief. She injected Helen with insulin, like all the rest, laughing while she did it. It had been so long since she'd killed,

and she'd missed the feeling. Despite Elizabeth's assertions that she wanted to stop killing, she clearly enjoyed the murders in the moment. Helen Young passed away on July 14, 2013. It's not clear how long the rush of the kill lasted, but once it wore off, Elizabeth Wettlofer was once again furious. But instead of killing, killing again, she decided she needed to confess her crimes to someone else. She went to her

pastor's home and told him everything. According to Elizabeth, he prayed over her and said that if she ever did it again, he would have to turn her in to the police. Though Elizabeth felt somewhat vindicated by the pastor's silence, eight months later, her faith was once again tested, in the form of Maureen Pickering. 78-year-old Maureen was a handful. She pulled patients' hair, hit staff members, and refused medication. She required one-on-one care, which meant that a personal support worker needed to be with her at all times. When one wasn't available, it was the role of the charge nurse.

During the night shift, that meant it was Elizabeth's job. Elizabeth already had a full plate, supervising a staff of eight. personal support workers and dispensing medication to 32 patients. In late March of 2014, she became resentful that she had to keep an eye on such a disrespectful patient in addition to her other duties. One night, Elizabeth stood at Maureen's bedside, glaring at her. She felt the red surge electrifying her body, but suddenly the words of her pastor filled her mind. This wasn't God. it'd be wrong to kill this woman. Instead, she'd punish Maureen by just giving her enough to send her into a coma.

That would make her easier to handle. Elizabeth injected Maureen's left arm with a smaller amount of insulin than she'd used on her previous victims. Maureen looked at her, annoyed, and demanded to know what Elizabeth had just done. Elizabeth assured her it was just a vitamin injection. But inside, she was incensed, Maureen. would dare question her authority at all. Elizabeth stued over this slight, and as she let her rage fester within her, she had a change of heart. She returned to Maureen's bedside and injected her with insulin yet again, this time determined to end her life. Shortly after, Maureen had a

stroke and was moved from the nursing home wing of caressant care to the hospital wing. While Maureen clung to life, Elizabeth went about her duties on the hospital as normal, but she was distracted, worrying once again that she'd be caught red-handed. On March 26th, four days after she'd injected Maureen, Elizabeth accidentally mixed up the medications of two patients. One of the patients had a seizure as a result, and though it was corrected before serious harm was done, it was clearly Elizabeth's fault.

By the time, Maureen Pickering died on March 28, 2014. Carescent Care had notified Elizabeth of her termination. Despite all the patients she'd intentionally harmed, she was fired over an accident. Even though she'd gotten away with another murder, Elizabeth's psyche was about to turn for the worst. Elizabeth's job had been the one area of her life she'd been able to control. It was her domain of power. and now she was cast adrift.

When we come back, we'll follow Elizabeth as she leaves caressant care behind, and death follows in her wake. Now back to the story. In 2014, 47-year-old Elizabeth Wentlofer had just been fired from the caressant care nursing home. She had murdered seven different patients over the course of seven years, but in an ironic twist of fate, she was ultimately let go for mistakenly, mixing up two of her patients' medications. She had murdered her seventh victim, Maureen Pickering, with an insulin overdose,

shortly before receiving an official letter of termination in March of 2014. The letter cited her medication mishap, in addition to various other minor infractions, as their reason for ending her employment. Luckily for Elizabeth, the College of Nurses determined her firing didn't warrant an investigation, Though the dismissal went on Elizabeth's record, no restrictions were placed on her nursing license. So she went looking for another job. Elizabeth was contacted by the Meadow Park Nursing Home in London, Ontario, almost immediately. They needed a nurse and had come across her resume.

The Holmes interviewer questioned Elizabeth about her firing during the initial interview. Elizabeth was honest about the medical errors, but the Meadow Park interviewer didn't seem phased. She assured Elizabeth that she believed in second chances and brought her on for a full-time position. At Meadow Park, Elizabeth would be working a slightly earlier shift from 3.30 p.m. to 11 p.m. But her duties were the same as her previous job. She was once again in charge of dispensing medication

and overseeing personal support workers. Elizabeth had gotten a lucky break with this new job, but that didn't mean her old urge to kill. had disappeared. In fact, the anger and stress from her firing may have made her lust for blood even more difficult to ignore. In August of 2014, after five months at Meadow Park, Elizabeth became frustrated with one of her patients, Arpot Horvott. According to Elizabeth, Arpad was abusive to staff and would pinch and hit nurses. Elizabeth decided it was time for him to die. She went into his room with an insulin needle around 7.30 p.m. one night, expecting R-Pod to be an

easy victim. But he fought back. He struggled against Elizabeth so much she wasn't able to give him the injection. She left his room, but came back two hours later, around 9.30 p.m. And this time, she managed to stick the needle into his arm. However, when she left the hospital at the end of her shift, Arpad curiously seemed unaffected. But later that night, Arpad was found cold, clammy, and unresponsive by another member of the Meadow Park staff. He slipped into a coma and died a few days later on August 31, 2014. Clearly, wherever Elizabeth went, her urges would follow. She once again searched for someone to confide in, perhaps hoping another confession would ease her guilt.

According to psychologist James W. Pennebaker, putting emotional turmoil into words changes the way we think about that turmoil. It can offer perspective over wrongdoing because it helps us understand it better. It also opens the brain to focus on other things. This time, Elizabeth's chosen confidant was an unnamed lawyer. The lawyer advised her to seek help from a mental health professional. But as there was no report of a crime, she didn't actually need it. an attorney. This encounter was never reported to police. Elizabeth then tried to tell her

narcotics anonymous sponsor about her crimes. But her confession was once again ignored. Her sponsor thought she was a pathological liar and never went to the police. Meanwhile, Elizabeth was fraying at the edges. She decided to remove herself from temptation entirely, and in October of 2014, she told the director of care at Meadow Park that she had out and drug dependency issues, she needed to resign in order to heal. But by January of 2015, 48-year-old Elizabeth found unemployment was causing her more stress than the temptation of potential victims. She found work with lifeguard home care and nursing, an assisted living company that offers in-home nursing assistance and contracts out nurses for hospitals in need. One of her assignments was at the Teflare Place retirement home in Paris, Ontario.

There she met 77-year-old Sandra Towler. Sandra had a great sense of humor and was well-liked by the staff who attended her. But on September 6, 2015, she made the mistake of telling Elizabeth that she didn't really want to be there anymore. Elizabeth hurried to overdose Sandra, eager to murder someone who might actually want it. Sandra was only saved when another nurse noticed her sweating profusely and treated her. After this incident, Elizabeth resigned from Lifeguard without giving a reason. It's clear she was trying to avoid places that compelled her to kill. In this, Elizabeth was acting like a recovering addict.

But while some addicts can avoid triggering their addictions, Elizabeth felt she was forced to continue nursing since she needed the income. According to Adi Jaffe, author of the abstinence myth, addiction triggers can be anything that causes addicts to recall feelings associated with an addiction. Triggers create an immediate need for the reward the addiction is paired with. Without the temptation of potential victims, Elizabeth managed to refrain from killing, but within a year, she had to go back to work. In 2016, Elizabeth found another.

job with St. Elizabeth Home Health Care, which, similarly to Lifeguard, provided nurses for clients who needed assistance in their homes. Within her first month at St. Elizabeth Home Health Care, Elizabeth found she had incredible difficulties adapting to the job. Each time she was sent to a new hospital or a new home, she was given an entirely new and complex set of rules to follow. She missed the routine she had at caressant care. Her frustration reached a boiling point when she was assigned to Beverly Bertram, a 68-year-old woman who was being looked after at her private residence in Oxford County.

Beverly had just undergone surgery on her left leg and had an intravenous catheter that required routine maintenance while she healed. On August 20th, Elizabeth was assigned to Beverly's home, and upon first seeing Beverly in her debilitated state, Elizabeth felt an irresistible urge to end her life. That same day, Elizabeth went to another client's home to find a supply of insulin she could use to kill. As Elizabeth snuck inside her client's home, she heard a shower running at the far end of the home.

Elizabeth hurried to swipe the insulin while the client was in the shower, but the confused client heard the noise and emerged to see Elizabeth rummaging through their medications. Elizabeth hurried to make excuses. She claimed she'd forgotten her oxygen meter. She then slipped a few insulin vials into her pocket, as well as an opioid for herself. The next day, Elizabeth went back to Beverly's and gave her insulin through her IV line. She soothingly told Beverly it was antibiotics. Beverly nodded, trusting the nurse implicitly.

But after a short period of time, Beverly began to feel nauseous and dizzy. Beverly knew what hypoglycemia felt like, and after Elizabeth left, she decided to not to take her daily insulin dose. This choice likely saved her life. Though Beverly realized something was wrong, she still didn't think to blame Elizabeth for the incident. Not only did Elizabeth remain undiscovered, she was given a new opportunity.

St. Elizabeth Healthcare soon offered her a transfer to Ingersoll, a school with diabetic children. This stopped Elizabeth cold. Despite her past efforts, she'd been unable to fight her violent urges and was terrified at the prospect of working with children. While the death of her elderly victims had made her feel guilty, she viewed the potential of harming kids as something she was not open to.

Elizabeth immediately resigned and reportedly drove back to Woodstock, ready to confess to her parents. But because they had guests over, she decided not to. Instead, she told a few friends, who encouraged her to get help immediately. Luckily, Elizabeth listened to their advice. She checked into the Center for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto. There, she told her psychiatrist about her crimes.

She later claimed she was trying desperately to figure out what was going on inside of her head. She wanted some answers. The psychiatrist encouraged Elizabeth to write out a statement as a part of her therapy. Elizabeth jotted down her crimes to the best of her memory. She first detailed her murder victims and then wrote out a section she titled,

People Who Didn't Die. There, she wrote about those she had injected with insulin, but who had survived. With Elizabeth's permission, her psychiatrist turned this handwritten statement into the police on September 29, 2016. Elizabeth stayed at the Addiction Center until October 25th,

Upon her release, she was handed over to the police. She declined legal counsel and took part in a three-hour interview where she patiently answered all her interrogator's questions. On October 25, 2016, 49-year-old Elizabeth Wetlofer was formally charged with eight counts of murder and four counts of attempted murder. After a thorough investigation, she appeared before a judge the following year and was sentenced to life imprisonment with no chance of parole.

The judge summed up his feelings at the end of the trial, stating, it is a complete betrayal of your trust when a caregiver does not prolong life, but rather terminates it. Elizabeth began her sentence in June of 2017, but was transferred to a Montreal hospital in 2018. Though some wanted her to receive harsher punishment, they are still comforted by the fact that she will be kept behind bars indefinitely. Based on Elizabeth's own struggles with her violent urges, she would most likely agree.

Thanks again for tuning in to serial killers. We'll be back Monday with a new episode. You can find more episodes of serial killers and all other powercast originals for free on Spotify. Not only does Spotify already have all your favorite music, but now Spotify is making it easy for you to enjoy all. your favorite Parcast originals, like Serial Killers for free from your phone, desktop, or smart speaker. To stream serial killers on Spotify, just open the app, tap browse, and type Serial killers in the search bar. Several of you have asked how to help the show. And if you enjoy this

show, the best way to help is to leave a five-star review. And don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Instagram at Parcast and Twitter at Parcast Network. We'll see you next time. Have a killer week. Serial Killers was created by Max Cutler, is a production of Cutler Media and is part of the Parcast Network. It is produced by Max and Ron Cutler, sound designed by Dick Schroeder, with production assistants by Ron Shapiro,

Paul Mahler, and Carly Madden. This episode of serial killers was written by Kate Murdoch and stars Greg Paulson and Vanessa Richardson. A beloved 75-year-old man washing up, getting ready for bed is brutally beaten and killed. Despite an exhaustive investigation, the killer avoids arrest and then strikes again. I'm Global News crime reporter Nancy Hixed. You might listen to a lot of true crime podcasts this year, but they're not crime beat.

Search for and follow the award-winning podcast Crime Beat on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you find your favorite podcasts. Do you want to hear something spooky? Some monster It reminded me of Bigfoot. Monsters Among Us is a weekly podcast featuring true stories of the paranormal. One of the boys started to exhibit demonic possession.

Stories straight from the witnesses' mouths themselves. Something very snake-like lifted its head out of the water. Hosted by me, your guide, Derek Hayes. Somehow I lost eight whole hours. Listen now on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.