When police announced that Elizabeth Wettlaufer had been charged with eight counts of first-degree murder, officers were already aware of the allegations that would eventually lead to additional charges.
CTV News has obtained a 70-page search warrant in relation to the case which has been unsealed, and which provides new details about the police investigation and Wettlaufer’s actions as she found herself under the microscope.
Wettlaufer was arrested for the eight murders last October. Earlier this month, four counts of attempted murder and two counts of aggravated assault were added to the tally.
Ontario Provincial Police have said that the charges all stem from incidents alleged to have occurred while she was working as a nurse.
The Caressant Care long-term care home in Woodstock is alleged to be the site of seven murders, two attempted murders and both aggravated assaults.
The other charges related to alleged incidents at nursing homes in London and Paris, as well as a private residence in Oxford County.
According to the search warrant, Wettlaufer was fired from Caressant Care in March 2014. It’s not known if that dismissal was reported to the Ontario College of Nurses.
The college is legally required to investigate all cases of nurses fired for misconduct or incompetence. It’s not clear if either of those were behind Wettlaufer’s dismissal, as that portion of the search warrant is blacked out.
The college’s website shows that Wettlaufer was a registered nurse until Sept. 30, 2016 – one day after police started investigating her.
Not long after that, the document shows, investigators requested documents from Telfer Place – the Paris home where, in September 2015, Wettlaufer allegedly tried to kill a 77-year-old woman by injecting her with insulin.
None of the allegations against Wettlaufer have been tested in court.
With reporting by Nicole Lampa
