Gwendolyn Graham (born August 6, 1963) and Cathy Wood (born March 7, 1962) are American serial killers convicted of killing five elderly women in Walker, Michigan, suburbs of Grand Rapids, in the 1980s. They committed their crimes in the nursing home of Alpine Manor, where they both worked as nursing aides.
Video Gwendolyn Graham and Cathy Wood
Crime
The two women met at the Alpine Manor nursing home shortly after Graham moved to Michigan from Texas. They quickly became friends, and then lovers, in 1986. Two years later they both faced murder charges for allegedly strangling five elderly patients as part of a "bond of love".
The details of the murder were almost entirely from Wood's criminal justice accounts, whose murder charges were reduced by a plea agreement so he could testify against Graham in Graham's trial for first-degree murder. However, Wood's account and his portrayal of Graham's pawn were then brought into serious question by award-winning journalist Lowell Cauffiel in his true crime book, Forever and Five Days.
According to Wood's report, in January 1987, Graham entered the room of a woman suffering from Alzheimer's disease and strangled her with a washcloth while Wood acted as a watchdog. The woman was too crippled to fight, and thus became the couple's first victim. The woman's death was natural, so the autopsy was not done. Wood claims Graham kills the patient to "ease the tension." Each felt that the secret of murder would prevent another couple from leaving, thus strengthening their bond.
Over the next few months, Graham killed four more Alpine Manor patients, Wood suspected. Many victims, whose age ranges from 65 to 97 years, are paralyzed and suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Wood testified that the couple turned the victim selection into a game, first trying to select their victim with their initials to spell M-U-R-D-E. But when it gets tough, they start counting every killing as "day," as in the phrase, "I'll love you forever and a day." A poem by Wood to Graham, and introduced at the trial, concludes, "You will be mine forever and five days." Wood also testified that Graham took souvenirs from the victims, making them revive death. However, no such souvenirs were ever found by the police. Wood also describes Graham as being sexually, physically and emotionally dominant in their relationship.
The couple finally broke up when Graham started dating another nursing aide who also worked at Alpine Manor. Graham then moved to Texas with the woman and started working in the hospital looking after the baby.
The murder investigation began in 1988 after Wood's ex-husband, whom he told of murder, went to the police. Detectives for the Walker Police Department have extensively questioned Cathy Wood in a series of interviews. He gradually leaked versions of his murder, depicting Graham as a puppeteer and a direct killer. The investigation led to the excavation of two victims of nursing homes that had not yet been cremated. But when a medical examination fails to reveal physical evidence of murder, not entirely unusual in a choking case, the county medical examiner still decides the murder, basing it on an interview Wood has given police. Warrants were issued to arrest Wood and Graham. On December 4-5, 1988, Graham and Wood were arrested and charged with two murders. Wood captured in Walker; Graham in Tyler, Texas.
During the trial, Wood appealed to a reduced sentence, claiming that Graham was plotting and committing murder while he served as a distracted watchdog or supervisor. Graham defended his innocence, testifying that the alleged murder was part of Wood's "game of mind" complicated. Despite the lack of physical evidence, the jury was finally affected by the testimony of Graham's new boyfriend, who revealed that Graham had confessed to five murders.
On November 3, 1989, Graham was found guilty of five counts of murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder, and the court gave five life sentences. Graham was placed in the Huron Valley Women's Correctional Facility in Pittsfield Charter Township, Michigan.
Wood was charged with one count of second degree murder and one conspiracy charge for second-degree murder. He was sentenced to 20 years on each count and has been eligible for parole since March 2, 2005. Wood is currently imprisoned in the minimum Federal Security Correctional Institution, Tallahassee in Florida; he is expected to be released on June 6, 2021.
However, as Lowell Cauffiel documents in his book nonfiction, friends, coworkers, family members and others who know Graham and Wood tell a completely different story from which Wood spun as a key witness in Graham's trial. They describe Wood as a coercive and seductive pathological liar who likes to create chaos in the lives of others. Forever and Five Days provide evidence that Wood planned the first murder after he found Graham with another woman. He involves Graham as an insurance policy to keep him from leaving. When Graham keeps abandoning him after a series of murder charges, Wood is willing to place himself in legal danger by revealing to the police for revenge. The book describes Wood as a psychopath's criminal mastermind who manipulates prosecutors and judges to punish Graham. The psychological test also revealed that Graham could easily be manipulated, suffered from a threshold personality disorder and lacked the sophistication to plan a series of murders, let alone defend himself in his trial.
Wood, the book also reveals, then tells the inmates two other versions of the incident: The first, that he has made the whole story to make Graham go to leave him for the sake of another woman. Secondly, that he had committed all the killing, but framed Graham, also for his revenge.
Some families sued Alpine Manor owners for hiring "dangerous and unbalanced employees". Alpine Manor has since gone out of business, but it is now the home of the so-called "Sanctuary at Saint Mary's".
Maps Gwendolyn Graham and Cathy Wood
Media
This case is the basis of Genesis's 1994 crime forever and ever forever by Lowell Cauffiel.
Graham and Wood are featured in two episodes of the Serial Killers TV series where they are interviewed about their relationship and crime. They are also shown in the episode of Snapped: Killer Couples .
The American Horror Story television series tells a very fictional version of their story in the sixth season, Roanoke . This duo is portrayed as sister Miranda and Bridget Jane.
References
Resources
- Buhk, T.T. and Cohle, S.D. (2008). Skull in the cupboard. New York: Prometheus Books.
- Cauffiel, Lowell. Forever and Five Days: True Love Story, Betrayal and serial killings in Grand Rapids, Michigan . Pinnacle, 1997. ISBNÃ, 0-7860-0469-X
- "Women Convicted in Patient Death" (November 3, 1989). Worcester Telegram & amp; Sheet.
External links
- New York Times: Former Aid House Assistant Gets Soul Life in 5 Patient Murders
- Gwendolyn Graham and Cathy Woods by Elisabeth Wetsch
- Serial Killer - Catherine May Wood and Gwendolyn Graham; Lethal Lovers
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Source of the article : Wikipedia
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