Doctoring the Truth
Welcome to Doctoring the Truth, a podcast where two dedicated audiologists dissect the world of healthcare gone rogue. Explore jaw-dropping stories of medical malfeasance, nefariousness, and shocking breaches of trust. The episodes provide deep dives that latch onto your curiosity and conscience. It's a podcast for truth-seekers craving true crime, clinical insights, and a dash of humor.
Doctoring the Truth
Ep 8-The Alpine Manor Murders: A Healthcare Horror Story (Part 2)
What happens when those entrusted with our most vulnerable loved ones betray that sacred duty? The Alpine Manor Nursing Home murders stand as one of healthcare's darkest chapters – a case where two nurses' aides turned a Michigan elder care facility into their personal killing ground.
Gwendolyn Graham and Kathy Wood's toxic relationship spiraled into a murder pact that claimed at least five elderly victims who couldn't fight back or speak up. Through meticulous research and compelling storytelling, we unravel how these "lethal lovers" selected their victims, executed their crimes, and collected macabre souvenirs – all while a broken healthcare system failed to protect those in its care.
The investigation reveals shocking institutional failures: complaints dismissed as confusion, inadequate staffing, minimal supervision, and death investigation protocols so lax that murder could easily be mistaken for natural causes. Most disturbing was the psychological manipulation at play – with Wood using murder as a way to bind Graham to her forever, commemorating each killing with the signature "Forever and Five Days."
Beyond the horror, we explore how this case transformed elder care in America, leading to critical reforms in background checks, facility oversight, abuse prevention training, and death investigation protocols. For families with loved ones in care facilities, this episode offers crucial insights into recognizing warning signs and ensuring proper care.
We close with a lighter medical mishap story that proves sometimes even the most painful healthcare experiences can eventually become tales that make us laugh. If you have medical stories to share, we'd love to hear from you – because bringing these hidden truths to light is how we make healthcare safer for everyone.
Sources:
- Cauffiel, Lowell. Forever And Five Days: The Chilling True Story of Love, Betrayal and Serial Murder in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Pinnacle, 1997. ISBN 0-7860-0469-X
- revisor.mn.gov
- mnnursinghomelaw.com
- Care For Our Seniors Act
- Cathy Wood, Gwendolyn Graham Guilty In Nursing Home Murders | Crime News
- Case 260: The Alpine Manor Murders - Casefile: True Crime Podcast
- Gwendolyn Graham and Cathy Wood - W
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Hello, hello, hello, amanda, how are you? I'm good. How are you Good? Welcome back from Pennsylvania. Thank you so much. Did you have a good conference? It was amazing. You know when you go to a conference and then you just want to like come back and you're empowered to change the world that's right, girl.
Speaker 2:Yeah, changing the world one ear at a time, that's you know.
Speaker 1:I think what was cool about that conference is parents and children who are deaf and hard of hearing were also able to attend, and so we got to hear from them. So it's interesting like you never really knew who you were going to be sitting by. It wasn't just audiologists there, and that is parents would ask questions at the end of the presentation. So it was kind of cool to see their perspective and hear their questions and yeah, that's good.
Speaker 2:Oh, for sure yeah, oh good, I'm glad you made it. Thank you, yep. Welcome back to lovely Minnesota kidding spring weather, because we're about to have a massive winter storm and people are out in shorts today, I know.
Speaker 1:And that's exactly how it was. Well, we didn't have a massive storm this last weekend, but it was like 78 degrees on Friday and then this weekend was miserably cold. Today is gorgeous and we're gonna have a blizzard on wednesday, but okay, this is totally not to do with anything but the weather. Have you heard the wives tale of three snows on a robin's back, and then it's spring no, but I kind of love that.
Speaker 2:So wait, does that mean we get more than just wednesday?
Speaker 1:no, I think wednesday is the third snow. I mean, I wasn't super looking for robins, but I knew that they were present, and I think our last snow storm was the second snow on the robin's back. So it's like a wives tale that we get three snows on robin's back and then it will be spring.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, okay, well, I'm gonna go with that. I'm gonna go with that. This is the last. I hope so, because I'm ready to break out open toe season. I really I am my feet, love a sandal moment um, just a minute ago we were talking about whether or not we had a corrections corner. Um, I don't know if you do, but I have a corrections uh section. What you got.
Speaker 1:Uh, um, well, when, remember when we were last week like pretending we knew something about sports yeah, I remember that big moment because I had to ask my husband like, am I in Pennsylvania? Are there two teams here? What's happening right now? And he's like, yeah, some states have two teams, like New York, and I was like, oh my God, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So there's me spouting off as if I'm, you know, so clever. I've never watched a hockey game in my life, but I did manage to blurt out that there were the Pittsburgh Flyers. And I've never watched a hockey game in my life, but I did manage to blurt out that there were the Pittsburgh Flyers and I've been corrected it's the Philadelphia Flyers. So I'm so sorry to the Flyers fans everywhere. So I don't know how often we're going to venture into the world of sports.
Speaker 1:I'm honestly surprised we made it there in less than 10 episodes because I didn't foresee us ever really tapping into there, but we did. There's a reason why we shouldn't. I mean, with that, I'm guessing we're going to head there again someday, but not intentionally you know, we like to live dangerously please correct us about sports as long as we don't get living in Minnesota.
Speaker 2:We don't get the packers and the viking I had to think about it. The packers and the vikings mixed up. Oh boy, yeah. I'm gonna stop right now before I dig it further.
Speaker 1:Um um, what else? I don't think I had any corrections, so I think we're just ready to hear about these slime balls.
Speaker 2:Oh great.
Speaker 1:No time like the present, you know yeah let's right.
Speaker 2:I mean honestly, I'm ready to be done with these two. It's been a deep dive into a very depressing place. So, all right, buckle up. Here we go, Episode eight. This is Nefarious Nurses, the Lethal Lovers of Alpine Manor Nursing Home, and then I kind of had a little subtitle Kathy comes clean, we'll see.
Speaker 2:So last week we talked about a genuinely horrifying case involving two nurses' aides who turned a Michigan nursing home into their personal hunting ground, preying on vulnerable patients who couldn't fight back or speak up in one of health care's most disturbing crime sprees. As you may recall, alpine Manor was a 207-bed nursing home in Grand Rapids, michigan, housing elderly patients with various conditions, including dementia and mental health disorders. Two nurses aides named Gwendolyn Graham, who was 23 at the time, and Kathy Wood, 24, met there in 1986 and quickly began a toxic romantic relationship that led to multiple murders of vulnerable patients in 1987. Victims were carefully selected for being non-verbal or having memory issues making them unable to report attacks. The murder method involved suffocation with washcloths, leaving minimal evidence behind. Both women had concerning backgrounds Graham with abuse, history and anger issues, wood with manipulative tendencies and fascination with crime. Their relationship became increasingly toxic and codependent, with Wood encouraging extreme behaviors. So today we're going to talk more about the events leading up to the murders, the murders themselves, the victims and the aftermath. But first I have a trigger warning for those who need it this episode will contain mentions of elder abuse, sexual abuse and murder. The primary source for today's show is Lowell Coffiel's book Forever and Five Days. The remaining sources will be listed in our show notes. Okay, so we're back in 1986.
Speaker 2:Kathy. Kathy separated from her husband and kicked him and her daughter out of her mother's house where they'd been living. She then convinced Gwen to move in with her bragging that she never paid her mother rent and that they could split utilities. Gwen agreed, and this is when the relationship turned romantic. They didn't see much of each other initially because Kathy worked the third shift and Gwen worked the second. The time they did spend together was spent listening to old records and talking. They told each other about their pasts. Kathy told Gwen all about how Ken was abusive to her and that he wouldn't buy her any clothes. So Gwen took her shopping for clothes any clothes. So Gwen took her shopping for clothes. They would play board games and other dares and wagers in which the odds were always stacked against Gwen so that Kathy would win. One day at work. Kathy stormed into an empty patient room where another nurse's aide named Angie was cleaning and started raging and screaming at her how dare you sleep with Gwen? Angie was astonished. Kathy had set them up herself telling Angie that Gwen was besotted with Angie and wanted her to leave her husband for Gwen. They had slept together once before Gwen and Kathy became roommates. A co-worker named Tony Kubiak described the culture at Alpine Manor amongst the staff, explaining that they would all go out to a bar named Carousel after work, and soon the group grew to include more and more staff ending up at Kathy's house.
Speaker 2:Quote the scene at Kathy's was crazy. Girls were out in the middle of the street making out. There was a lot of noise and people were fighting late at night in the yard A lot of yelling. It was usually over some relationship that Kathy was involved in, whether it was Dawn cheating on her or Kathy cheating on her. Still, usually it was somebody doing something wrong to Kathy. Kathy was more dominant. Gwen was more of a passive person. He said One time Angie slept with Gwen and Kathy found out about it.
Speaker 2:I watched them have this real big fight. First Kathy said how could you do that? She looked like a puppy dog. It was her way of trying to butter Gwen up and make her feel sorry for her, but really it was cold. Some people can see through that and some people can't. Like I was saying, she had that puppy dog image. Then suddenly she was shooting off of the mouth. When Gwen tried to get away from Kathy, kathy literally grabbed her by the hair on her head and pulled her back into the bedroom. They were in there fighting and screaming and slapping. Kathy had the upper hand. The next day I looked in the room and there's this nice big hole in the wall like 12 inches across.
Speaker 2:Both Angie and LaDonna would get divorced while working at Alpine Manor and Kathy had a lot to do with that. After Kathy divorced Ken, what better way to get back at everybody than Kathy telling them their husbands were no good or they were not loving them enough? Kathy meddled she would call Angie's husband this or that, then turn around and tell him all kinds of bullshit about Angie. Kathy would go that extra step to make sure things were going the way she wanted them to go. She's crazy, but she's very brilliant. What is it? They say that there's a fine line between genius and insanity. Before I left, she accused me of ruining one of her 45s. It was left out on a table or something and she was just all pissed. She said I owed her for that. She made a big scene out of the whole thing, way bigger than it should have. It could have been anybody.
Speaker 2:Tony explained that he left Alpine Manor a few days after that. He noted that Kathy also meddled in his relationship, trying to convince each partner that the other didn't care for them. Tony goes on to say Later I found there were people who she would get even with In the break room. She supposedly rattled off a list of people and I was one of the people. Angie was also on the list, and here it was going through my head what did I do for someone to hate me so much? At Alpine I found myself looking behind my back, wondering about everything I was doing. What puzzled me was how she was also able to turn everyone against you. I just wondered what Kathy had on them. It was crazy that someone would let them control them the way she did. End quote.
Speaker 1:Yikes In October Messy.
Speaker 2:Nice gal right, absolute chaos. In October that year several aides witnessed a patient named Jane steal a brownie from someone's plate. Jane was a diabetic and in a wheelchair. She was on a restricted diet. She quickly wheeled herself out of the dining room with the brownie and was discovered dead in the room minutes later. She choked on her brownie. There were pieces in her throat and bits of brownie wedged in the straw on the drinking glass on her bedside table.
Speaker 2:So when a patient died at Alpine the routine was to notify families in advance of death if a patient was expected to die soon, so that the family could be at their bedside if they wanted to. Families were also allowed to view the body before the patient's doctor was called. The physician released the body to the mortuary, later signing a death certificate. June's death certificate made no mention of choking. It was signed october 15th by a local physician, the day after her death. The cause was listed as cardio respiratory arrest, but the certificate described her demise as natural. I don't know how natural it is to choke on a brownie and die. Yeah, you know, that's not what's unnatural natural, you know.
Speaker 2:So. Physicians seldom examined newly deceased patients. At alpine manor doctors rarely examined the dead in nursing homes like they did in the hospitals at alpine. A supervising nurse handled the duty. Doctors then based their findings on chart notes, often signing death certificates after the body was embalmed or cremated. Autopsies were as rare as medical exams. This was common knowledge to everyone that worked there, including Gwen Graham and Kathy Wood.
Speaker 1:I hate that.
Speaker 2:So here's a chart note. Chart note Welcome to the chart note. Chart note welcome. Yeah, you know, someday, someday it'll all come together yeah, not today that's part of the whole.
Speaker 2:Pod is our little jingle, but not today don't get your hopes up, um, but anyway, this is where we learned about something in medicine and and in health care. So I was like, how can they not do exams? So I can't look up every state or every country. So I just looked up minnesota. But in minnesota, when a patient dies in a nursing home, the requirement for a medical examiner's examination prior to this position depends on the circumstances surrounding the death. So according to the Minnesota Statute 390.11, certain types of deaths must be reported to the medical examiner or coroner for evaluation. So these include sudden, unexpected deaths, or they may result from factors other than natural disease processes. So specifically reportable deaths encompass, but aren't limited to, unnatural deaths like those resulting from homicide, suicide or accidents. Deaths due to fire or associated with burns, chemical, electrical or radiation injuries. Deaths under suspicious, unusual or unexpected circumstances. Deaths of individuals whose bodies are to be cremated or otherwise disposed of, rendering them unavailable for later examination. That's good Right.
Speaker 1:I think that's excellent, that's smart.
Speaker 2:And that didn't happen here, and, as someone who's you know, my plans are to be cremated, like, certainly, let's exam first and question later. I don't know, let's exam first and question later. I don't know, but I think that is. That obviously wasn't the case in Michigan in the 80s. So, and then let's see Deaths unattended by a physician occurring outside of a licensed healthcare facility or licensed residential hospice program, and then deaths of individuals not seen by their physician within 120 days preceding their demise. So, looking at all of those qualifications, it seems like a most people would you know, unless you're in a nursing home with regular doctor's visits I don't know, um, it seems like a lot of people should be getting exams, um, before they're. A lot of people should be getting exams before they're laid to rest.
Speaker 2:If a death falls into any of these categories, it must be promptly reported to the medical examiner or coroner for evaluation. The medical examiner will then determine whether an exam or an autopsy is necessary before the body can be released for final disposition. However, if the death is due to natural causes and doesn't meet any of the reportable criteria listed above, the medical examiner's exam is typically not required. It's important to note that nursing homes are obligated to report deaths to the medical examiner, and this ensures that any death meeting the reportable criteria is properly evaluated before disposition. So it seems like there's some checks and balances there, which is comforting. So, in summary, not all nursing home deaths in Minnesota require a medical examiner's exam prior to disposition, but the necessity for such an exam is contingent on the specific circumstances of each death, particularly if it falls under the categories that mandate reporting and evaluation by the medical examiner or coroner.
Speaker 2:Good job, minnesota yeah let's hope everybody else is following suit, or more. All right back to the case. Kathy's ex-girlfriend, dawn Male, continued to hang around Kathy. Even after Kathy and Gwen became an item. All three had a habit of cruising around the neighborhood drinking and finding things to steal. Sure, with your besties, they even stole a lawnmower one time.
Speaker 1:I mean, that's an interesting target.
Speaker 2:But okay, yeah, but also difficult. Difficult like I don't know. Yeah, I don't know how you just sneak off with a lawnmower don't mind me maybe she turned it on and was like actually mowing oh, maybe it was a right you.
Speaker 1:And then, wait, maybe it was a rider lawnmower. I was like picturing a push mower and I'm like how do you sneak away with that?
Speaker 2:but yeah, maybe they room roomed off a rider. They're like oh bless, somebody come came to mow our lawn.
Speaker 2:Wait wait, wait, a second follow the trail of grass clippings. Oh, um, don later said that kathy would flirt with don when the two of them were alone together, and then glenn would later tell her that kathy said don was bugging the crap out of her tail is all the time. Yeah, all right, we've all met someone like this that loves to stir. Well, I hope we haven't met someone this dastardly. But um, gwen and don began physically brawling in the streets on multiple occasions. One time, dawn pulled out a steak knife and pinned Gwen down on the ground, readying herself to stab.
Speaker 1:Gwen, that feels pretty premeditated too, because who walks around with a steak knife?
Speaker 2:Am I right? I mean, I might have a cheese knife, but I'm not going to have a steak knife.
Speaker 1:I mean, you never know when you're going to run into a cheese board right, I know you might.
Speaker 2:You know there might be a wheel of brie rolling down the sidewalk. I'm an opportunist, we love a cheese wheel Anyway. So Gwen shouted Kathy wouldn't like this, would she? If you really love her, you can be fair. So Dawn stopped, tossed the knife away and then Gwen beat up Dawn. So I mean beat up Dawn, oh, I mean none of this is fair.
Speaker 1:No, no, don't do this, but I'm going to beat you, oh, okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah. A mutual friend named LaDonna witnessed Gwen throwing Dawn against a large boulder during a subsequent brawl. Ladonna panicked and suddenly turned to hear giggling and laughing from behind her. Kathy was standing in the shadows delighted to be fought over. This has to stop. Ladonna said no, let them go, kathy pleaded. Ladonna forced herself between the two women, wrestling them apart. Boy, you're so strong, kathy said, drawing out the word God, I hate her so much. Meanwhile, kathy and Gwen began working more and more shifts together, often doubles. In 1986, alpine Manor was noted to have a turnover rate of 66%.
Speaker 2:Boy that is high, she high. Yeah, there's something going on there that should be a red flag moment. Exactly 112 nurses' aides were hired in the first nine months of 1986, and by october only 41 of them remained a stuffing and nightmare, and an inspector noted that once the nurses aides were on the floor they were on their own. There weren't enough licensed nurses to provide oversight. So so most aides remember they get that five-day training and it's like great go, keep people alive, bye-bye.
Speaker 2:Most aides found the third shift the most straightforward shift to manage. Three licensed nurses were assigned to the stations and then a night supervisor worked a 12-hour shift, but she spent most of the time in her office between Buckingham and Camelot hallways. The nurses' aides worked beginning at nine. The second shift had already changed everyone and put everyone to bed. So the third shift at midnight the aides would pass out water and take residents to the bathroom. They cleaned wheelchairs and walkers. They watched an average of 10 rooms, each checking in on patients every two hours. Their rounds took no more than 45 minutes, so this was a relaxing pace compared to the other shifts. But Kathy and Gwen found things to do to occupy their time. Unfortunately, particularly Kathy, who masterminded many pranks and practical jokes for Gwen to carry out. For example, to scare new nurses' aides, gwen would ring a patient's call button and then slide underneath the patient's bed and when the aide arrived in the semi-darkness to turn off the call light, gwen would grab their ankles and terrify them. The girls would also reverse the patient's positions in bed, so the patient's heads were at the footboards. That's terrible. Then they began switching the beds themselves, mixing up patients from room to room. One night, kathy dressed up a mannequin and parked it in a chair in the medication room. Not only did this scare the socks off the poor RN who flipped on the light in the room, but it was scary because the meds room was off limits to aides who were not allowed to dispense medication. So how did Kathy get a key?
Speaker 2:Some nights Kathy and Gwen used the Alpine intercom system to pipe Christmas carols from a musical teddy bear. They got a patient to make pointless announcements and make fun of him. Somehow these two never got caught. They would jump out of windows or escape into a patient's room Cruelly. They also involved using patients to entertain themselves. Once they made a trail of Reese's Pieces for a confused patient who had an oral fixation. They laid a trail that zigzagged down the halls and through the community room while half a dozen aides sat around and laughed at them. I'm going to cry, I know.
Speaker 2:Sometimes a supervisor would complain to upper management, but they were waved off and told that the pranks were harmless and they weren't hazing the new employees, they were welcoming them. Yeah, so no formal reprimand was ever given to Kathy or Gwen. Patients also would complain, but they too would be routinely dismissed as mentally impaired. Some of the more severely mentally impaired residents would roam the halls at night. One was a former policeman who would make security checks, try door locks and sometimes find misplaced keys. A couple of w world war ii vets would roam together in the hallways and stop to announce the temperatures on the hallway thermostats, adding them together for some total every night. Sometimes nurses would turn a radio up to drown out the cries of pain or delirious outbursts. Right, so much for mandated reporters. Everyone was too afraid afraid of Kathy and Gwen to report patient abuse. And woe betide a co-worker that Kathy did not like. She would sabotage their work by having Gwen do things like pour water in a patient's bed and report it to the leadership as that aide neglecting their duties like they didn't change that patient, and so that aide would get in trouble and lose credibility.
Speaker 2:Kathy played mind games inside the nursing home and out. Don male was quoted as saying the object of the games was not to see if people would believe you, but to make it as entangled as possible. She liked to play with people for sport. Next quote every, everybody was scared of her. Kathy would fuck with you. That was just her thing as everyone knew it. It kind of made me feel good because she was my girl and as long as she was my girl nobody was gonna fuck with me. Okay, that was gwen. So even so, gwen didn't have a monogamous gene, so she frequently hooked up with men and women, sometimes even at work, I'm stressed. Early in january of 1987, uh found gwen's wandering eye fixated on a new aid, a 20 year old named robin fielder.
Speaker 1:She was a gorgeous girl with a big smile and boundless and probably perfect for those sweet little residents that actually deserved her right. Hopefully, I don't know. I don't know Robin.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, robin is Robin. She's not evil. But she didn't make a great decision getting together with Gwen. She joined the staff at Alpine Ridge while she was studying PT at a local college. She was a former cheerleader and she loved to dance. Don Mill later said Robin was just a very normal girl. She was real, pretty real popular. She was a real nice girl until she met us. We were just so messed up back then and anybody who came into contact with us also got messed up.
Speaker 2:Kathy took the discovery of Gwen and Robin very hard. After Gwen and Robin had a fling, things changed. Kathy never again complained about Gwen's cheating ways because she found a way to ensure that Gwen would always be under her control. She wanted Gwen to kill a patient. This would prove her love for Kathy and seal their future together.
Speaker 2:We already know what happened to poor Marguerite. But one wasn't enough. So they began stalking the nursing home, looking to see who struggled the most. They did this by pinching a patient's nose to see how a potential victim would react. One night they were both assigned to the same nursing station. Abby Lane and Gwen said I'm going to do Myrtle loose. Myrtle wasn't even assigned to their station, but her room was 206-1, 25 feet away from their station with a window overlooking the courtyard.
Speaker 2:Myrtle was discovered on her back, lifeless by an aide named Sally Johnson. The signature of the last person to treat Myrtle Luce on the third shift was an attempted signature that was unconvincingly similar to that of an aide named Pat Ritter who was scheduled for the third shift that night. But this was impossible. Pat Ritter was never there that night. She had called in sick. The night supervisor called family members afterwards explaining that she had died in her sleep of a heart attack. Family members were shocked. Myrtle's heart had always been strong. One family member recalled thinking she was surprised Myrtle didn't die from choking, because Myrtle sometimes had difficulty swallowing her own saliva. The family thanked the nursing home for their excellent care and planned Myrtle's cremation and funeral. Her ashes were buried in memorial gardens and her obituary detailed her busy family tree.
Speaker 2:Myrtle was born on February 20, 1891. Her father-in-law had come halfway across the United States in a covered wagon. Two of her five children had passed away, as well as her husband of 65 years, and she had 10 grandchildren. If she'd lived 10 more days she would have turned 96. Gwen and Kathy had the habit of writing love poems to each other In one poem. The author signed it as You'll be mine forever and two days.
Speaker 2:Mae Mason was visited by her daughter Linda and granddaughter Stephanie on her 79th birthday on February 2nd. She stayed in room 207-1. Maisie, as she was fondly called, had a special and close relationship with her granddaughter Stephanie. From almost the moment Stephanie was born Until the Alzheimer's they'd been inseparable. Stephanie and her mother helped Maisie out of bed and walked her to the day room. After a pleasant visit, stephanie noticed that she thought Nana recognized her and she saw tears in Maisie's eyes when they hugged goodbye.
Speaker 2:An aide named Sean Doherty was making her 2 am check of 207-1 on February 16th when she found Maisie awake and very active. She lay in her own bowel movements and her hands and nails were covered with feces. Sean went to washcloth to begin to clean her up, but Mae became more active, aggressively fighting with the towel. After cleaning and changing Mae, sean repositioned her in the bed and rolled her onto her back. She tucked the covers around her and continued with her rounds. When Sean returned for 4 am rounds she noticed that Mae had turned a grayish-yellow color, with her body rigid, still on her back, but arms at her sides with the palms facing upwards. Her eyes were closed and her mouth open. Her jaw looked like it was pushed down to one side. Sean was frantic. She grabbed a stethoscope to check for a heartbeat, but couldn't find one. After fetching a nurse to confirm that May had passed, sean sat down beside May and cried and prayed. Another nurse yelled at her not to rub her arm as it could bruise and the family would wonder why she died.
Speaker 2:As was customary, the 10 aides on shift that night stopped by the room to view the body and say their goodbyes to the resident. Kathy and Gwen were on duty that night, but they didn't stop in, and they had the next day off duty that night, but they didn't stop in and they had the next day off. One day dawn male was hanging out with kathy and gwen at their place drinking. One of the two of them mentioned they killed a resident at alpine manor by smothering them with a pillow. Dawn remembers telling them they were full of bs and they both insisted that it was true.
Speaker 2:They took dawn to kathy's bedroom where she'd been, where she had some shelving over her bed, and pointed to their trophies, bragging that they took something from each incident a sock, a balloon, a knick-knack. In her drunken haze, dawn remembered, thinking these two will go too far to play mind games. They must think I'm stupid to believe such a thing. So she grabbed another beer and mentally dismissed the incident. Gwen and Kathy had the habit of writing love poems to each other. In one poem the author signed it as You'll be mine forever and three days Okay, is the days the amount of?
Speaker 1:Oh, okay?
Speaker 2:Ruth Van Dyke was suffering from a high fever. It was flu season and many residents had come down with illnesses and some developed pneumonia. Ruth had been a resident at Alpine for nine years. She was deaf and blind and had to be fed by hand while sitting in her wheelchair. When her illness worsened, staff called family to come to her bedside, fearing that she didn't have much time left on this earth. Her son, al Van Dyke, and his twin sister Lavinia arrived with their spouses at 6.30 pm on Wednesday February 25th. She had three other children, two of whom lived elsewhere and one who had died.
Speaker 2:Ruth was a strong lady whose many siblings had lived well into her into their 90s. Her son Al recalled a story she used to tell her kids when they were young about a time when his mom and dad were crossing a bridge in a wagon with two babies on board when a wagon wheel slipped off, threatening to catapult the wagon into the rushing river water below. She said she jumped out of the wagon to keep it from falling and held it up while their dad ran to the nearest farm for help. I mean, I can just see this woman. That's right, mama. So family members sat with Ruth for four hours before deciding to leave and returning the next morning at 2 40 AM, however, they received a call that she'd passed. Her death certificate stated a heart attack as the cause of death. Gwen and Kathy had the habit of writing love poems to each other In one poem. The author signed it as you'll be mine forever.
Speaker 2:In three days Belle Burkhardt, in 112-1, was feeling better and was on the rebound. Gwen and Kathy arrived for the third shift on Thursday February 26th and were working overtime together. Gwen was stationed on the 600 and 700 halls of Dover, just a short distance from the 100 hall where Kathy was stationed on Abbey Lane. Earlier that day staff had visited Belle and found her smiling and listening to music. They discovered her congestion had cleared and her fever was mild. There was an entry in her chart from 11 days earlier, however, that foretold what was about to transpire. On February 15th an aide had found Belle with reddish bruises around her nose, right cheek and temples. The injuries were reported to the nursing supervisor and the family as a routine matter. Since she had a history of Alzheimer's and seizures and the beds had iron railings, the injuries were considered a matter of course. So no further investigation was carried out.
Speaker 2:Kathy had been Belle's aide throughout the first two weeks of February and she found Belle exasperating. Often she would try to turn Belle in bed and Belle would grab onto the bed, railing and cackle, making it almost impossible to turn her. During the 3 am break on february 26th kathy sat at her station chewing her nails quinn graham, I know approached from the dover side into the 100 hall. One sat at the station watching while the other entered room 112, the patient patient intercom linked to the station to Bell's room. Kathy later said groans and the rustle of sheets sounded over the intercom speaker. I heard a gurgling out loud like dry heave noises. I heard that for a while.
Speaker 2:Minutes later Gwen walked out of room 112 and turned away into the hallway. As she strolled down Abbey Lane a washcloth hung out of her back pocket. Her aide, pat Ritter, so Belle's aide, found Belle during her 4 am shift. Pat Ritter was the nurse's aide whose signature was forged on the chart the night that Myrtle Luce had died. Pat found Belle dead. Before third shift ended, kathy and Gwen were heard in the staff room spreading rumors. There were bruises on her arm and it was folded underneath her. Pat Ritter probably didn't turn her right. Both Kathy and Gwen had the next day off.
Speaker 1:Classic.
Speaker 2:Belle had died on her daughter Nancy's 48th birthday. Nancy gathered family and arranged for bell's cremation and burial. She was buried five miles west of saint. I forgot to look this up. Ignace or ignace? I like ignace, let's do that, ignace. A mile from her old homestead, the 18th century graveyard, was an ancient indian barrels burial spot by mor Creek, a tributary that spilled into the surf of the Mackinac Straits. Belle was buried next to her parents' graves. That's what she'd wanted to be buried in the earth of her ancestors, the peninsula where she was born. Gwen and Kathy had the habit of writing love poems to each other. In one poem the author signed it as You'll Be Mine Forever and Four Days.
Speaker 2:Edith Cook was born in Sandusky, ohio. She was one of three children. Her brothers were named Vince and Perry. She was a middle child. Her father worked in a furniture store with his brother. He died at the early age of 32. Her mother was born in Ohio and was of German descent. She remarried and had a son, frank. Edith married on January 28, 1913, to a salesman named George Cook. George died in 1940. A year before he died they'd started a restaurant which Edith managed for two years after his death and then sold it. They adopted a child, but the child tragically died at 14 months of age. Edith was schooled through the sixth grade and took a year's course at Millinery School. Later in life she was active in her local senior citizens group and she loved bingo. Edith was quoted as saying that Alpine Manor was grand and the food is wonderful and everything is very lovely. Edith was a familiar presence in the halls of the manor, often visiting residents who were less mobile than she. She never missed a home activity.
Speaker 2:In 1985, she'd been diagnosed with breast cancer and refused treatment. By 1987, she could still stand and ambulate without assistance and her cancer was in remission. In February she survived the awful flu that had been running around the home. But one day she was discovered with sores on her feet feet because her feet had been caught up in the iron bed rails. By the middle of March her feet had turned black and the smell of gangrene permeated the hallway outside her room. She started developing bed sores, which suggested the aides were squeamish about the smell so they were neglecting her care. She lost a ton of weight and during the second shift Gwen was assigned to her care the first week of April. On April 5th she sat in a wheelchair visiting with her nephew Edith, maintained some modicum of independence, keeping her false teeth in so she could feed herself. She refused to take her teeth out, even to sleep. One night later in April she could be heard shouting please, oh please, god help me.
Speaker 2:Kathy Wood was the aid on duty who answered her call. At midnight on April 7th, the nursing supervisor dropped by to check on her. Edith was awake and talkative. The nurse applied betadine to her toes. The third shift crew consisted of Gwen Graham, who was working a double, and Kathy Wood. At 2 30 am, kathy went to the nursing supervisor and reported that Edith was dead. When Edith's body was relinquished to the funeral home, her teeth were missing.
Speaker 2:Poem Forever and Five Days. Kathy wrote. I can love you, gwen. I think you are great For this afternoon. I cannot wait. That's when we'll wake up and that's when I'll kiss you. That's when I'll hold you. Oh, gwen, I miss you. Bunny, hop over here and let me lick you on the ear. I want to get married right now, right away. Don't make me wait till the day. And when you're mine. Oh, please say you'll be mine forever and five days. Anyone else want to vomit right now? Yes, okay. So a few days later, kathy, gwen, don and robin were sitting in kathy's living room drinking when kathy brainstormed a plan. Kathy'd been leading on a woman named katherine brinkman who worked at alpine manor. She proposed a plan for her to meet Catherine at Kmart Hill Sounds real glamorous.
Speaker 2:It was literally a hill yeah right, it was literally a hill overlooking a bluff behind the local Kmart, right next to the blockbuster.
Speaker 1:Oh, but for real RIP blockbuster. That was awesome.
Speaker 2:I know I miss it. She suggested that Gwen would hide in the bushes while she led katherine up there. Gwen would jump out and demand that kathy go home, making it seem like kathy was a victim too, and then gwen would beat up katherine and this would prove her devotion to kathy. Yes, of course. Great idea. Oh yeah, ladies, ladies, uh, don wanted to go along too to watch, of course. And then robin and her friend lisa would wait in the k-mart parking lot in their cars a lookout and a getaway car in a getaway car the evening.
Speaker 1:I wish it was that fun I know, sorry, I had a swizzle moment, yeah oh, we need moments.
Speaker 2:This is a rough one, okay. So the evening went as planned and gwen knocked a shocked katherine over and began kicking her in the ribs and beating her. Suddenly she stopped and started stalking down the hill. Dawn helped a stunned and injured katherine off the ground and they headed down the hill towards the parking lot. They met gwen halfway down. Gwen was crying and apologized, pleading with katherine to forgive her. This was the last straw. She finally realized she was being played and manipulated by kathy and she'd had enough okay, two more. Yeah what?
Speaker 1:is it?
Speaker 2:yeah, two more patients. Two more patients died unexpectedly before gwen and robin packed up robin's car and headed for texas. Once graham left Wood for another woman, kathy realized she lost control over Gwen. She went to her ex-husband, ken, and confessed that she'd been the victim of Gwen's manipulation and that Gwen had killed patients at Alpine Manor. Kathy framed. Kathy framed Graham as the sole killer, portraying herself as a helpless victim forced to go along. I'm a damsel in distress. Although Kathy manipulated and lied and emotionally abused Ken over the years, he kept hoping that she would get help and that he could be a voice of reason in her world of insanity. So he rationalized that if he could just get her away from it all, maybe for a long weekend, he could convince her to get help. After all, those whom she had allegedly killed were elderly and infirm and their families weren't missing them and the police weren't investigating any crimes. So Ken took Kathy to Vegas.
Speaker 1:As one does.
Speaker 2:Oh my God. In Vegas she ended up like ridiculing him in front of others. She was totally drunk and disorderly. She lost her temper and then when he tried to tell her to stop, she just became enraged and had a fit. So after realizing that Kathy would never get help or change, Ken went to the police. Yeah, and then Kathy's testimony became the foundation of the case against Graham.
Speaker 2:Detective Tom Freeman was called to interview Ken Wood in October 1987. The interview took up to 18 pages and consisted mainly of Ken psychoanalyzing his ex-wife's behavior over the last seven years. Freeman picked Kathy Wood from Alpine Manor the next day in his patrol car. He headed down to the station for questioning. His partner stayed at Alpine Manor with a warrant to obtain medical records of all the patients that had died from January to June of 1987 while Kathy Wood was employed at Alpine.
Speaker 2:Freeman thought it was strange that Kathy didn't say a single word or ask a question about why she was being detained in question. When he eventually got around to telling her that Ken filed a report against her and Gwen, she didn't react emotionally at all. But she looked at Freeman and told him that Ken was just trying to get back at her for divorcing him. He then brought up Marguerite Chambers and Bluff, telling her that they discovered evidence in her medical record that implicated her. Suddenly, Kathy said OK, I'll tell you the truth, and without further hesitation, almost casually, flippantly, she started talking. She told him that he had pronounced Marguerite's name wrong, because apparently he said Margaret, and then stated that she came into Marguerite's room while Gwen was suffocating her with a washcloth over her nose and mouth. There were several victims, she told him, and went on to say that Gwen had killed them all in the winter, when they both worked the same shift and Kathy would be the lookout. Kathy had the habit of talking in circles, often contradicting herself, which is so astounding for a pathological woman right.
Speaker 2:When Freeman called her about it, she answered. Answered in ways, or tried to call her on it. She answered in ways that made it seem like she was the confusing one. He had trouble slowing her down enough to get clarification and she wouldn't let him record her. As she stated, she didn't like the sound of her voice on tape. She was clever at dodging questions and annoyingly would state that she didn't know something, but then pop in a compelling or surprising fact about something else.
Speaker 1:But okay, quick answer. Like people can't decide that they don't want to be recorded, right?
Speaker 2:Well, he didn't. I don't think he had a warrant yet. Oh, sure, so she was there of her own volition. Sure, sure, sure, Okay. But yeah, I think once you, yeah, Once you're arrested, and yeah, you're read your rights and all that. She could recall with irritating clarity the dates, times, shifts and names of people working, but couldn't remember something as monumental as the names of several of the patients who had died.
Speaker 2:Freeman asked her how it all started. Kathy said well, I don't know how. I don't know if Gwen brought the subject of murder up or what. You see, I don't know that. Well, why did Gwen do this, he asked. She told him that Gwen felt it relieved her tensions after she killed. She said Gwen told her who she was going to kill before she killed them. Freeman asked how she chose which person to kill. Kathy told him Gwen wanted to spell out murder with the first initial of each victim's name. Freeman showed her a list of the victim's names. But that doesn't spell murder, Kathy. Instead of answering, she asked him if he was going to take her to jail.
Speaker 2:So Freeman wasn't sure if it was all a bunch of hooey or Kathy was telling the truth. So after three hours of interrogation, he found himself fascinated by her and beginning to believe her. Oh no, I know, that's the charm of the psychopath, right. He decided to play good cop and treat Kathy like a witness rather than a perpetrator to gain her trust and cooperation.
Speaker 2:Kathy then told him she had a box of letters from Gwen at her grandmother's house that might contain information about the murders. To obtain these letters they needed permission and possibly a warrant from the Kent County Prosecutor's Office, specifically the assistant prosecutor, Dave Schieber, who had secured the warrant for the medical records at Alpine Manor. Schieber insisted that Freeman and his partner Bill Brown bring Kathy to the prosecutor's office for further questioning before he made up his mind. This was irritating to Freeman, who had a shaky relationship with Sheber at best and found him arrogant and difficult to work with. Freeman worried that Kathy would clam up once she was in an imposing government building. On the way, Brown and Freeman stopped to grab some burger cane, noting that kathy was not shy about ordering a ton of food and then a diet coke listen no shade to the.
Speaker 2:I do the same thing. I don't like regular coke, but I'm happy to order all the fat stuff in the world. Just chase it with a diet coke. Um, they then ate their meals on a conference table in the halls of Justice, a very imposing and grand building. When Kathy was introduced to the young handsome Sheber, her whole face lit up. Wow, she exclaimed you must be somebody really important. Freeman later recalled that the two were bantering away and almost flirting at the end of Sheever's so transparent. At the end of Sheever's questioning he had Freeman read Kathy her rights again and sign an affidavit agreeing to waive her right to an attorney. They were then permitted to go and retrieve the letters at Kathy's grandmother's place. Sitting in the unmarked police car outside Kathy's grandmother's house, she devised a plan. She told the officers that her grandmother and father were there and that her father was a drunk and they would both freak out if they knew she was bringing police to the house. She proposed that Freeman act as her boyfriend.
Speaker 1:Okay, we didn't talk about this over our burger king date, like now that we're here, we have to make a plan, okay when tom agreed to it she said oh, you're so cute.
Speaker 2:tom decided he would act undercover, so she so, um, she would, so he could get his hands on the letters he planned to talk.
Speaker 1:What a badass. I'm going undercover.
Speaker 2:I know right, go Freeman, he's going undercover. Listen, he suffers for it later and you'll see here in a little bit. But he thought he was going to do the small talk upstairs with the family while Kathy went downstairsathy went downstairs to her bedroom to get the letters, but she had other plans. As soon as they marched in the house, she announced that she and her boyfriend, tom, were going to her bedroom I mean okay hi family this is tom and we're going to my bedroom.
Speaker 1:But also, what if he would have stayed upstairs? It's like, hey, how did you and Kathy meet?
Speaker 2:What's your favorite?
Speaker 1:you know anything I?
Speaker 2:don't know shit about her, but yeah Right, that's a good point. Although if they were, they were apparently sitting at the kitchen table drinking beer and they were intoxicated, so maybe they wouldn't have been clever enough. Yeah, I don't know, but that's a good point anyway. So she got the box and started rifling through it and he's like you don't need to go through it now, just bring the whole damn thing. Like he wanted to get out of the bedroom. And then she was like but I have to change out of my uniform, I'm so tired of being in my scrubs. So tom took the box and he started to leave. But she, she's like no, you can't go up there, you know my dad's drunk and so. And so she had him turn around while she changed.
Speaker 2:Um, he was, he was, he was freaking out, he was blushing all over the place. He was like this was definitely not police protocol, um, for your suspect to be completely naked while you're down in the bedroom. I don't know. Anyway, he didn't see anything. He eventually turned around, they left and went back to the halls of justice. But it just goes to show how she manipulated people into compromising situations so easily, you know what I mean mildly yeah.
Speaker 2:so back at the hall of justice shebers looked over the letters and then he told freeman to to let Kathy go and concentrate on a different case. He waved the letters off as just a couple of lovers writing nonsense to one another Chagrined. Tom dropped Kathy off at Alpine Manor to retrieve her car. Some of her friends were in the parking lot and she made a big show of leaning into the window after getting out of the car saying oh Tom, you're so cute. I had such a good time Making it look like they'd been on a date. Tom later recalled, thinking to himself okay, two can play games.
Speaker 1:Bring it Also.
Speaker 2:You sounded so Minnesota, yeah it was cute, it was so cute. So cute.
Speaker 1:Oh no, she would have said oh for cute you betcha, oh you betcha, for sure.
Speaker 2:Um, let's bring your hot dish oh yeah, date or debts um.
Speaker 2:The next day, friedman arranged another interview with Kathy at his office. She showed up with an intimidating woman in a biker jacket and leather cap. Nancy Harris was a former Alpine aide. Freeman had Kathy write down her confessions, which described the murders and added more details that she'd not yet told him about. She signed it. In the written confession, kathy wrote that she told her sister about the murders. Freeman decided to fact check and he asked her for her sister's number. Her sister answered and confirmed that Kathy had told her, but she didn't think it was true and she just thought Kathy was emotionally distressed.
Speaker 2:After Freeman hung up the phone, kathy displayed the first true emotions that Tom had ever seen from her. She began crying, stating that she'd lost her best friend, that her sister was her best friend and would never forgive her. Now Sheeper then stopped by giving some information on a different case that he had been telling Tom to check into, and he spied Kathy crying. He asked her why she was crying. He then took over Tom's office and settled in for a nice conversation with Kathy and Nancy and started asking about lesbian sex. How did they determine who was dominant and who was submissive? Who was in charge of the relationship. Who was in charge in bed? What kind of positions did they get into? He then told the women that he was about to get married and they started giving him sex advice, telling him to rub himself down with Vicks VapoRub before they consummated the marriage to rub himself down with Vicks.
Speaker 2:VapoRub before they consummated the marriage. Whoa, but seriously, why was this allowed to go on? Freeman was incensed. What did he felt the same way. What did any of this have to do with?
Speaker 1:the murders. What a circus.
Speaker 2:So later he showed Schreber the signed confession. Schreber was not interested, told him to drop the case and concentrate on a different one. Freeman was more determined than ever to try to get enough evidence to bring up murder charges. It was time to make a trip to Tyler, texas. On October 12th. Six days after Ken had walked into the police department to tell his story, freeman and Brown secured a search warrant from a Texas judge for letters from Kathy Wood to Gwen Graham and any property that might have belonged to Alpine patients. They wanted to find those souvenirs. A background check revealed that Gwen had a misdemeanor warrant for writing $611 in bad checks in 1985. Gwen denied any wrongdoing and stated that Kathy was a fruitcake. That was her word. It's is weird. I mean I thought she'd call her a bee or something worse, yeah a fruitcake A fruitcake.
Speaker 2:It made the whole thing up for revenge from her leaving. They arrested Gwen. They arrested Gwen and we caught wabbits. They arrested Gwen on the check fraud. Gwen requested a lawyer. I mean, what is going on with all these?
Speaker 1:w's here wow wow.
Speaker 2:Um, before speaking any further on the case, she agreed to a polygraph and passed it. But the examiner said I he felt she'd passed it because she was a psychopath with no sense. Okay, why do the polygraph? I mean, we all know what is it that our morbid friends?
Speaker 1:those morbid girlies say A hot dog in a trench coat.
Speaker 2:Yes, a polygraph is as useful as a hot dog in a trench coat. Shout out to morbid yeah, okay, all right, well, okay. So meanwhile, kathy underwent one, but hers was like a two-day thing because she got a lot to say, um, and it showed she was telling the truth. She said if I'm going to jail, I want it to be for what I actually did, she said. She broke down in tears of relief when the examiner told her she quote-unquote passed. She wanted to be believed. Uh, six days later, gwen lost her job because, uh, I probably didn't say this, but she was working at a local hospital as a nurse's aide in a newborn nursery good not.
Speaker 1:I hope you all know my sarcasm already.
Speaker 2:Not good yeah how scary is that? Okay, so 53 days after ken went to the police department to tell his story, the local local newspaper, the Grand Rapids Press, printed a salacious headline Police probe suspicious death at Walker Nursing Home in 1987. Walker Police Chief Walter Springer told the paper that police were looking into rumors of a possible homicide. A tipster was reportedly calling the newspaper and local TV stations. A tipster was reportedly calling the newspaper and local TV stations. When Freeman confronted Kathy about blabbing her mouth, she told him it was retaliation from Katherine Brinkman, the aide that Gwen beat up on Kmart Hill. Kathy said she borrowed $300 from Katherine and hadn't paid her back. Katherine would later deny it, but Freeman figured the aide was probably settling some old scores. I think you're right there, ken.
Speaker 1:Kenny.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the news media were a blessing and a curse, but they did move the case along and got Sheever's cooperation finally to focus on the case. The clock was ticking. Alpine Manor meanwhile hired one of Grand Rapids' top PR firms and a decision needed to be made about the arrests. Freeman met with Kent County Medical Examiner Stephen Cole. He predicted the chances of finding the subtle pathological evidence of smothering were slim, considering the victim's age's condition and two years of internment. Their best chance of post-mortem autopsy was Belle Burkhart, because she was the youngest. But Belle had been cremated and so had Myrtle Luce and Mae Mason. So that left Marguerite Chambers and Edith Cook. There were three other women that had been mentioned in Kathy's various rantings Lucille Stoddard, ruth Van Dyke and Wanda Urbanski. But Kathy had been so unclear about whether they were victims or not that the prosecution didn't think they could bring them into the mix. So Marguerite and Edith's bodies were exhumed, but the autopsies didn't bring any evidence to light to prove murder. The lack of definitive forensic evidence meant that Wood's testimony became the strongest and pretty much only piece of evidence against Graham. So this is all circumstantial, she said. She said Meanwhile the news of the exhumations were devastating to all the families of the victims. Some of the families were in denial, others were grief-stricken and riddled with guilt. I mean, as you would be, your family was in there and I can't imagine.
Speaker 2:The news also brought more witness testimony. One was from a former aide named LaDonna Stearns. She told Freeman she had a brief affair with Kathy after Gwen left for Texas and that Kathy told her she was holding something over Gwen's head. She told rumors of sexual abuse of patients. She detailed the way both women would show up at work with bruises or scratches. That's the way they got their kicks, hurting each other when they made love, said LaDonna. She also knew about the shelves in Kathy's bedroom. She said they were full of cute items like dolls and stuffed animals, stuff like that and death souvenirs, next to stuffies, I mean.
Speaker 2:Anyway, freeman said of the two, kathy and Gwen, who's the most domineering one? Kathy? She answered Gwen's old roommate, fran, came forward saying that Gwen came home one day and told her that she'd been sexually aroused by one of the old people there. But Fran also explained that Gwen was heartbroken when she saw her first patient die. She said Gwen was two people she could be so gentle and kind and wanting to help people around her. She would help anybody, but at times she was just kind of violent. Well, that doesn't make you a good person, okay, on December 4th to 5th 1988, graham and Wood were arrested and charged with two murders.
Speaker 2:Wood was apprehended in Walker and Graham in Tyler, texas. 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. Graham maintained her innocence, testifying that the alleged murders were part of an elaborate mind game by wood. Despite the lack of physical evidence, the jury ultimately was swayed by the testimony of graham's new girlfriend, robin, who revealed that graham had confessed to five killings. On november 3rd 1989, graham was found guilty of five counts of murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder, and and the court gave her five life sentences. The victims were Mae Mason, 79, edith Cook, 98, marguerite Chambers, 60, myrtle Luce, 95, and Bell Burkhart, 74. Graham is housed in the Women's Huron Valley Correctional Facility in Pittsfield, charter Township, michigan. Wood was charged with one count of second-degree murder and one count of conspiracy to commit second-degree murder. She was sentenced to 20 years on each count and has been eligible for parole since March 2nd of 2005. Wood was incarcerated in the Minimum Security Federal Correctional Institution, tallahassee in Florida, and she was released January 16, 2020, and is expected to live with relatives in South Carolina.
Speaker 2:However, as Lowell Coffield documents in his nonfiction book, friends, co-workers, family members and others who knew Graham and Wood told an entirely different story than the one Wood spun. As the key witness in Graham's trial knew, graham and Wood told an entirely different story than the one Wood spun. As the key witness in Graham's trial, they described Wood as both a coercive and seductive pathological liar who delighted in wreaking havoc in the lives of others. Forever in Five Days presents evidence that Wood planned the first murder after she found Graham with another woman. She involved Graham as an insurance policy to keep her from ever leaving her other woman. She involved grandma's an insurance policy to keep her from ever leaving her. So there's a tiny silver lining as a result of this horrific story that this case had on elderly care laws and regulations.
Speaker 2:Their case exposed vulnerabilities in nursing home oversight, leading to increased scrutiny, policy changes and reforms in elder care facilities. Now there are stricter background checks for nursing home staff. So before this case, background checks for nursing home employees were often inconsistent or lax. This case highlighted the dangers of inadequate screening, as both women were hired without extensive vetting, despite Wood's manipulative tendencies and Graham's unstable background. There's increased federal oversight and nursing home inspections. So at the time of the murders, nursing home inspections were sporadic and often failed to detect ongoing abuse or neglect. So the changes that were implemented were the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, or OBRA, of 1987. It's a landmark elder care reform and was more aggressively enforced after the case. And the OBRA requires minimum staffing levels, abuse prevention policies and stricter reporting of suspicious deaths, and then increase unannounced inspections to detect misconduct earlier.
Speaker 2:So after the scandal, many states began mandating autopsies and unexplained nursing home deaths, making it harder for crimes like this to go unnoticed, and then mandatory reporting of elder abuse and whistleblower protections. So one of the most shocking aspects of this case was that several employees at Alpine Manor suspected abuse but they didn't report it out of fear. Some overheard Wood and Graham bragging about the murders but dismissed it like a joke, and a former employee finally came forward, leading to their arrest. But by then several victims had already died. So the changes that were implemented are that now there's mandatory elder abuse reporting laws requiring health care workers to report suspicion immediately, and there's stronger whistleblower protections put in place to encourage employees to report without fear of retaliation.
Speaker 2:Some states have implemented hotlines for anonymous reporting of elder abuse in care facilities and then better training regulations for nursing home staff. So changes that have been implemented, or mandatory abuse prevention training for nursing home employees, psychological screenings for staff who work in long-term care oh boy, they could use that in this case. Um, some facilities implemented surveillance systems and to help deter abuse, I mean, yeah. So final impact a more watchful eye on elderly care. The Graham Wood murders shocked the healthcare industry and led to tighter regulations, increased oversight and stronger protections for nursing home residents While elder abuse still occurs. This case helped push critical reforms that improved safety and accountability in long-term care facilities.
Speaker 1:Wow, that was a lot Good job. Thank you for bringing us all that. That was a lot of research.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I just kept going deeper and deeper into it and, man, I'm glad to come out of it.
Speaker 1:it was super depressing but, I think, super important for all of us to understand, no and and all those good things that did come out of it in the end. Yeah, it sucks that like really shitty things have to happen for better policies to be put in place.
Speaker 2:Yeah, isn't that crazy.
Speaker 1:Um holy shnikes. Is that what.
Speaker 2:Minnesota is saying I don't know.
Speaker 1:I don't know, I'd love to hear about it. If it is, um, uh, okay, I guess. So Kathy got 20 years 20.
Speaker 2:Yeah, she got 20 years and um Gwen got life without any chance for parole.
Speaker 1:I feel like Gwen's got to be real pissed, huh, yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, like I know, she actively did everything but um, as far as we know, true, all we have is Kathy's word. She still maintains she didn't do it. But her last girlfriend, robin, was the one who, when she was questioned by police, said that Gwen would joke about it. I mean, she would joke about it and say, yeah, you know, I killed six people, like in a joking way. But then, when it came down to it, she said, no, it was all a hoax, but obviously something happened. There's enough evidence that these, you know these patients like wow it wasn't their time.
Speaker 2:He's just out and about yeah, stay away from south carolina. Sorry about south carolina, my friends, but just watch out if you're living there and, like you know, keep an eye, I guess I don't know what you do for work after that.
Speaker 1:It's good that people can find work after being incarcerated, but I mean, what do you do for work after you got charged with that?
Speaker 2:I don't know. I mean, you know what? I don't really care what she's up to actually Exactly.
Speaker 1:Just look out everyone.
Speaker 2:You know it's really sad because I was thinking, you know, if I lived in south carolina I'd be extra careful with loved ones in nursing homes. But then I was like you know they say one of the things they say in the nursing homes is um, those who get the most visitors get the best care yeah, yeah, yeah, which also is so sad.
Speaker 1:Like there were so many times I thought during this thing of like these people are humans, Like it just made me so sick.
Speaker 2:They're so helpless, so vulnerable and there's just no dignity at the end of life. And I mean there can be, we need to be providing it somehow. And I mean there can be, we need to. We need to be providing it somehow. And I don't know. I was going to say, mom and dad, if you ever get to be too much to me, I have to go to your nursing home. I'm visiting your asses on a daily basis. You're probably going to want to get rid of me.
Speaker 1:It's for your own safety. Nah, I'll just keep them in my basement. Oh wow, that doesn't sound creepy at all. It's a nice basement. Yeah, true, true, daily okay oh, we got something lighter for us.
Speaker 1:I do. Let's end on this very special medical mishap story. So, so can't wait. This week's story is brought to you by my very, very sweet husband, he, he was on the fence of whether or not he could be the one to actually share the story and ultimately, well, obviously you know his decision, because here we are and he's not in here, but we do give our thanks for him to share this tale with us. Um, thank you. Obviously, I've heard the story a ton of times, um, so I did have him sit down with me to retell it in his words. So this is fresh out of the horse's mouth. Last night, um, trigger warning to his mom, who I know is going to be listening to this and you can just fast forward to the end. Okay, so many, many years ago. Okay, so we're reading from Adam's perspective now I am Adam.
Speaker 1:Um, adam, oh God, okay, oh God, okay. Many years ago, I got burnt in an accident which resulted in second and third degree burns covering 35% of my body. My injuries landed me in a long-term stay at a burn unit in the Twin Cities. I was told that I was going to be there for about eight weeks and thought, fuck, that I'm not staying here that long. As part of my treatment and care, I had multiple surgeries which included two rounds of skin grafting. After skin I know, did you know this about him? No, I didn't. Um. After skin grafting and general wound. Oh wait, okay.
Speaker 1:After skin grafting and as general wound treatment for severe burns, they cover your body or the injured areas with synthetic skin and then ACE bandages that were secured in place with staples. Again, I said I'm not staying here that long. So I decided to force myself to walk up and down the hallways three times a day. To walk up and down the hallways three times a day After surgery. The walks were excruciatingly painful, which I attributed to the large third degree burn on my hip. The nurses all told me yes, this is normal, it's going to hurt. But I said to them I know this is going to hurt, but the pain is nearly unbearable when walking, most specifically with tearing sensations in the groin slash, hip area, and they said, yeah, yeah, yeah, we know it's going to hurt. So after did you look ahead? Okay, no, I'm just, I'm more fired up Guys.
Speaker 1:This is so bad so after three days they went to check the skin grafting and change the dressings. The same nurse that had been telling me, yes, it's going to hurt, started pulling out the staples and taking off the ace bandages. All of a sudden she got up and left the room and I thought what the hell? Where are you going? Where are you going? She came back soon after with tears in her eyes and said I need to tell you something. When they stapled your ace bandages around your legs, they stapled your scrotum to your leg and that is why it hurts so bad when you tried to walk, oh my god oh, adam, I can't, I can't, I can't.
Speaker 2:I'm sorry, I can't keep it in a home, poor adam uh-huh.
Speaker 1:So he says, oh bless, I can't stop laughing. I'm sorry, carry on, when he told my sweet grandma this story she just lost it. She was laughing so hard. So perfectly holistic, I know. So he says, needless to say, my walks were much quicker once I was released. And then he would joke with the medical staff that he was training for a local marathon, because he was like saying he was like an Olympian going up and down the halls.
Speaker 2:He's like, hey, when things aren't stapled to my thigh?
Speaker 1:I can really move, and so he was released after 21 days.
Speaker 2:He's like get out of here, no more office, you and your office supplies. I need to go.
Speaker 1:So for a silver lining to this medical mishap is they no longer use staples when securing bandages.
Speaker 2:Adam. Think of the scrotums you've saved. Buddy, you're a hero, you're my hero, you're a hero, you're my hero. Adam, we love you. Oh, you know what we love you and, adam, thank you so much for being brave enough to I can see why you tried to make him go on until he's dead himself?
Speaker 1:No, I didn't try to make him, I just said hey, how cool that we live in the same house. You could kind of be, you know, like our first guest speaker reading a medical mishap, and he was like he was really on the fence. He kind of thought like, oh, maybe I could do that.
Speaker 2:And then it got closer he's like, yeah, I'm not doing that, I can't blame him. I can't believe he even considered it. Bless his heart. What a hero, first of all.
Speaker 1:I mean, being in the burn unit is no picnic I it's probably one of the most painful things I can't imagine every time I cook bacon and like a little thing flicks off and like grease sparks off and gets you, you know, and I'm always like oh, and then I'm always like I don't know how you got burned, how you did, because I can't even handle this bacon spark.
Speaker 2:No, I mean, and then they peel it off and it's excruciating. I mean, just bless his heart. And then, to add insult to injury, to injury.
Speaker 1:Yeah, really.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, I crippled a poor guy, oh oh.
Speaker 1:Adam, we love you.
Speaker 2:Oh, thank you for allowing us to laugh at your misfortune. But you know what? You've just gone so much up. You were high in my estimation because you make my girl happy, but you're up there now. He's gone up a couple steps as well. Oh yeah, he's a keeper Blessed. This is going to be a hard one to tell, I know, I know, it's a good one. All right people, let's see what you got all right, people, let's see what you got.
Speaker 1:See you, see, you guys. It can be embarrassing too, and you can still send it to us.
Speaker 2:It's okay, right? I mean, we could be a non-anonymous um hey yeah, hey, what can our listeners expect to hear next week?
Speaker 1:Oh, well, you know, we're just going to mosey on over into the old cosmetic slash plastic surgery area. We haven't been there yet. A lighthearted episode? Well, you know, I guess Not so much, probably not, but it's definitely not as bad as this one. I mean, you can't say it's not as bad, right?
Speaker 2:But it's not as deep it's going to feel like a palate cleanser after this nightmare.
Speaker 1:But yeah, more to come, okay, so until then, don't miss a beat. Subscribe or follow Doctrine the Truth wherever you enjoy your podcasts for stories that shock, intrigue and educate trust after all, is a delicate thing. You can text us directly on our website at doctoring the truth. At buzzsproutcom, you can support the show by clicking on the subscriber link to the podcast for as low as $3 a month. We will give you a shout out on this show and are always looking for ways to bring you more rewards in the future.
Speaker 1:This may include exclusive content, early access to episodes, fun merch and more. Email us your own ideas, stories and medical mishaps at doctoring the truth at gmail, and be sure to follow us on instagram and facebook. At doctoring the truth and I guess we forgot to say earlier and this is starting to get long, but we did get a story sent to us after our last episode, a nursing home story. We did. Should we read it? We did.
Speaker 2:Um, we, we could do. You have it. Okay, you guys will read it next time. You know what? Well, it'll be exclusive content. We'll figure out a way to incorporate that to not such a beefy episode.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know what. We've taken enough of your time. Enjoy your drive, enjoy your coffee, enjoy whatever you're doing today, um, and we love you.
Speaker 2:We love you, so don't forget to download, rate and review so we can be sure to bring you more content next week. Until then, stay safe and stay suspicious. Bye, bye.
