Ottawa, Oct 26 (IANS): A Canadian nurse has been charged with the deaths of eight assisted-living facility residents from 2007 to 2014, according to authorities.
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, CNN reported.
Woodstock police received a tip on September 29 that a nurse had killed multiple patients, leading to Wettlaufer's arrest, the police said in a statement.
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.