WOODSTOCK, ONT.—Elizabeth Wettlaufer, the former nurse who pleaded guilty to the murders of eight elderly patients in southwestern Ontario, has been sentenced to life in prison with no parole eligibility for 25 years.The sentence was delivered in a Woodstock courtroom this afternoon as friends and relatives of her victims looked on.Wettlaufer, 50, had admitted to fatally injecting her victims with insulin at three long-term care facilities and a private home between 2007 and 2014, making her one of the most prolific serial killers in Canadian history.The sentence was delivered after the court heard victim impact statements.Convictions for first-degree murder trigger an automatic sentence of life in prison with no parole eligibility for 25 years, and the judge could have ordered her to serve the eight sentences consecutively before applying for parole.In giving Wettlaufer concurrent sentences, Justice Bruce Thomas noted, “She has expressed remorse. Without her confessions I`m convinced she would never have been brought to justice.”Wettlaufer also pleaded guilty to the attempted murders of four others and two charges of aggravated assault. The murder victims ranged in age from 75 to 96. Their friends and relatives told the Star they never suspected anything untoward about the deaths. The investigation into Wettlaufer began last September after she confessed to the killings to staff at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto, who passed the information on to police. A registered nurse since 1995, Wettlaufer resigned a day after Woodstock police first received information about the crimes. She was formally arrested in late October. Prior to her arrest, Wettlaufer had lived a troubled life. She was an alcohol and opioid addict who had twice been to rehab. Her 10-year marriage ended in 2007, not long before she committed her first murder.Wettlaufer’s professional conduct is also under investigation by the College of Nur ...
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