Gwendolyn Graham (born
August 6, 1963) and Cathy Wood (born 1962) are
American
serial killers who killed five elderly women
in Grand
Rapids
, Michigan
in the
1980s. They committed their crimes in the Alpine Manor
nursing home, where they both worked as
nurse's aides.
Crimes
Graham and Wood became lovers apparently some time in September
1986. In January 1987, one of the nursing home's patients died,
seemingly of natural causes and autopsies were not performed. Over
the next few months, five more Alpine Manor patients died. Many of
the victims, whose ages ranged between 65 to 97, were incapacitated
and suffered from
Alzheimer's
disease. They killed residents of a nursing home because it
created a bond between them. They chose victims whose initials
collectively spelled M-U-R-D-E-R. Their first victim was exhumed on
November 30, 1988 from a grave almost a year after her burial. They
took the coffin to Kent County Morgue. She was 60 years old. She
had struggled with Alzheimer’s disease for 14 years. The next
victim was 97 years old. No autopsy followed because it was
believed that she died of natural causes. The murder investigation
began in 1988 and was started because of a statement made by
Catherine Wood’s ex-husband. She told him the story of the murders
(August 1987). Her ex-husband told the police in October 1988 which
led to questioning.
The couple openly bragged about smothering six victims, but they
were not initially believed. Wood's ex-husband reported her stories
to the police, and some of the bodies of the people they claimed to
have smothered were exhumed. There was enough evidence to warrant
the arrest of Wood and Graham.
In December 1989, Graham was arrested in her
hometown of Tyler,
Texas
; however, she maintained their claims were made as
a joke to scare their co-workers.
During the trial, Wood
plea-bargained
her way to a reduced
sentence,
claiming that it was Graham who planned and carried out the
killings while she served as a lookout or distracted supervisors.
On November 3, 1989, Graham (at 26 years old) was guilty of five
counts of murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder and
the court gave her five life sentences. She resides in the Robert
Scott Correctional Facility (for female offenders). Wood (at 27
years old) was charged with one count of second-degree murder and
one count of conspiracy to commit second-degree murder. She will be
able to be set free on parole one day. Alpine Manor does not exist
anymore but several of the families sued the owners for hiring
“dangerous and unbalanced employees.”
Media
The case was the basis of the 1992
true crime novel
Forever and Five
Days by
Lowell Cauffiel.
Graham and Wood were featured in two episodes of the TV series
The Serial Killers in which they were interviewed about
their relationship and crimes.
References
Buhk, T.T. and Cohle, S.D. (2008). Skeletons in the closet. New
York: Prometheus Books.
- Cauffiel, Lowell. Forever And Five Days: The Chilling True
Story of Love, Betrayal and Serial Murder in Grand Rapids,
Michigan. Pinacle, 1997. ISBN 0-7860-0469-X
- "Woman Sentenced In Patients' Deaths" (Nov 3, 1989).
Worcester Telegram & Gazette.
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