Former nurse facing 8 murder charges makes video court appearance

The former Woodstock, Ont., nurse charged with eight counts of first-degree murder involving eight seniors in long-term care briefly appeared by videoin court Wednesday morning.

Elizabeth Wettlaufer, 49, is also charged with four counts of attempted murder and two counts of aggravated assault in connection with thepatients she cared for while working at southern Ontario care homes. Her case has been put over until Mar. 3.

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Wettlaufer,who has been in custody at theVanierInstitute for Women in Miltonsince late October,was first arrested and charged with eight murders in November.

Outside the court, the son of one of Wettlaufer's alleged victims,Arpad Horvath Jr.,said evenquick court appearances keep hisfamily hopeful, but they're impatient to learn more about what happened to their father, Arpad HorvathSr.

Last month, his body was exhumed by the London Police Service as part of the investigation, an experience that Horvath Jr. described as "devastatingly difficult."

• Bodies of 2 alleged victims of Elizabeth Wettlaufer exhumed

"To have to see my father'scasket again and to have to exhume my father after putting him to rest, ask yourself how you would feel?" he said.

Although his father's body was reburied during a small service with the London police chaplain soon after it was removed, Arpad said the entire court process has been a "surreal, scary nightmare.

"Hopefully it will prove fruitful," he added.

Deaths occurred over decade

The initialcharges against Wettlaufer were related to deaths thatoccurred between August 2007 and August 2014. The patients were between 75 and 96 years old.Seven of them died at the CaressantCare Nursing and Retirement Home in Woodstock, while one died at the Meadow Park facility in London.

Just before Wettlauferappeared in court in January, the Ontario Provincial Police announced thesix additional charges relatedto patients she cared forbetween June 2007 and August 2016 in three locations.

Wettlaufer appears in court

8 years ago

Duration 0:59

Accused of killing long-term-care facility seniors, former Woodstock, Ont., nurse seen arriving and departing

One of the facilities was the Caressant Care nursing home, where Wettlaufer spent years working as a nurse.

The latest charges include the attempted murder of Wayne Hedges, 57, between September and December 2008, and the attempted murder of Michael Priddle, 63, between January 2008 and December 2009.

Wettlaufer is also charged with the attempted murder of Sandra Towler, 77, a resident of Telfer Place in Brant County, Ont., in September 2015,and Beverly Bertram, 68, at a private home in Oxford County in August 2016.

The aggravated assault charges involve Caressant Care residents Clotilde Adriano, 87, and Albina Demedeiros, 90, between June and December of 2007.

Police said four of the seniors named in the new allegations all the Caressant Care residents have since died, but their deaths have not been attributed to Wettlaufer.