Thread by @jlancasterCBC

Here’s an important thread about a serial killer, and the crimes police want you to know about. And the crimes they don’t want you to know about. Please bear with me. There’s a lot to say.

It’s about Elizabeth Wettlaufer-a former nurse who is serving a life sentence for killing 8 patients and harming 6 more. Her crimes went undetected for almost a decade, until she decided to confess.

She was sentenced, in 2017, and the public has likely believed all her crimes had been publicly disclosed. Turns out, they weren’t.

Two months ago, we decided to look into what else authorities know about the serial killer. Specifically, were they secretly aware of more victims?

The answer is yes. But getting there took work, and a bit of luck. That’s because some justice officials have refused to answer questions about the work they’re paid to do. Other agencies, like police, chose to be selective in their responses, despite knowing what we were after.

So, we turned to what we had access to: public databases, courthouse filings, legal documents, and thousands of pages of records filed at the public inquiry looking into Wettlaufer’s crimes. We talked to loads of people as well.

Eventually, we got a very small lead we weren’t sure . I won’t bore you with those details.

We took what we had to police and inquiry officials. When we asked police about our information, and suggested Wettlaufer may have provided them with confessions about more deaths, we were told no. It just didn’t happen.

Inquiry officials told us it would be “irresponsible” to suggest there were more victims. We were told we would cause undue harm to the public if we suggested Wettlaufer had committed more crimes.

We respected the responses authorities provided, and decided to kill the stories, despite the information we were had.

But we didn’t stop digging. And sure enough, we found more information: an obscure legal proceeding was about to be launched in a “motions court” in a London, Ontario court. We knew it wasn’t the kind of hearing that would normally attract much attention.

It turned out to be very important. Because as it turned out, a family in London, had their own suspicions about Wettlaufer too. They suspected police might knew more about what happened to their loved in a nursing home Wettlaufer worked at.

The family, while very private, went to court to demand police reveal everything. They won, but police still wouldn’t share all. It eventually led to this story we broke:

cbc.ca/news/canada/to…

Inquiry officials maintained they had no knowledge, or proof, Wettlaufer had confessed to harming more people than the public knew about.

Then, this week, another break from those London court proceedings. Police still refused to abide by the court order to hand over what they knew. For some reason, as part of their challenge to the order, they filed a redacted police report.

In it, damning information, that proved there was, in fact, at least one more victim the public was never told about.

We asked an inquiry official about this. We were told "I don't know if there's anything the inquiry can do until somebody presents us with something.”

Maybe that’s our fault, but we took that to mean the inquiry had never been advised of the possibility there were more victims.

But we now had evidence that police knew Wettlaufer was still confessing to harming more people as recently as January 2018-that's long after she was sentenced to prison.

So, we went ahead, and broke this story: cbc.ca/news/canada/lo…

The stories also aired on CBC radio and tv. They got a lot of attention. Other media outlets across Canada picked up on the information as well.

Then, last evening, a stunning development. The inquiry gave us much different information.

Turns out, they HAD been advised a YEAR ago, that Wettlaufer had confessed to harming more people (plural) and that police had opened new investigations-again-plural.

Here is that statement from the inquiry.:

So after telling CBC News we were being “irresponsible”, the multi million dollar government inquiry conceded had known about ongoing police investigations for many months.

The care home where Wettlaufer was eventually determined to have committed the crime-had also told the inquiry there was a police investigation back in March 2108.

But forget about what police and inquiry officials had been telling CBC. What did they tell lawyers representing victims’ families and stakeholders at the inquiry who were working hard to get to the bottom of the scope of the killer’s crimes?

Nothing. Not a thing about Wettlaufer’s latest confessions.

We also now know that Wettlaufer was interviewed by inquiry officials February 2018. That's a month AFTER her confessions to police. She told those officials she wanted to co-operate with the inquiry.

She was never called to testify, despite the wishes of her many victims.

There’s also this: the inquiry says it was only advised in December 2018 by crown prosecutors that a crime had indeed been committed, but there was no point in charging her.

But the police report, was written in June of 2018-six months earlier. It says it had already been determined Wettlaufer wouldn't be charged with the crime.

So, what happened during those six months? Why did it take police, or crown prosecutors that long to notify the inquiry?

That’s important, because they all knew the public inquiry was starting in June 2018. So, the inquiry that' supposed to examine why the killer’s crimes went undetected, began without knowing there were more crimes?

Families of some of Wettlaufer’s victims, already traumatized by the murders, are now livid. And wonder if the inquiry has really done its job?

One family member tells me ‘what else is out there? More charges, more bodies?’

It’s a fair question given authorities never told them it was worse than originally thought.

Wettlaufer’s victims were frail, mostly elderly and defenseless. She said she picked them because they had dementia and “wouldn’t be believed” if they survived and tried to report her.

They included war vets, parents, grandparents. People who worked hard their entire lives. They were deeply respected and loved by their families. Their murders continue to be grieved.

The families deserve a full accounting of all of Wettlaufer’s crimes. Not just the ones authorities choose to tell them about.

The inquiry was supposed to get to the bottom of what happened. People involved worked extremely hard and uncovered serious flaws in Ontario’s health care system. But, most of them had no idea what police and government prosecutors knew.

It’s now fair to ask, has the inquiry actually uncovered the extent of Wettlaufer’s deadly rampage?

Inquiry officials say they won’t be giving any interviews and, for now, will move on without looking into Wettlaufer’s other confessions to harming more residents-plural.

You, the public, have paid for this extremely costly inquiry. You should have the right to know absolutely everything this horrific predator may have done to our community. Not just what authorities think we should know. TY