Maurice Granat, known to his friends and family as “Moe,” was a longtime mechanic and automotive body man from Tillsonburg, Ontario. At 84 years old, he was a father to two daughters, a grandfather of five, and a great-grandfather to eleven. In the later years of his life, he became a resident at the Caressant Care nursing home in the nearby city of Woodstock. It was there, just two days before Christmas in 2007, that his life was cut short by a nurse entrusted with his care.
His death on December 23, 2007, was not from natural causes, but was the second of eight murders committed by one of Canada's most prolific serial killers.
For nearly a decade, the true cause of Moe Granat's death remained a secret, hidden within the actions of registered nurse Elizabeth Tracey Mae Wettlaufer, who also went by the name Bethe Parker. Working the night shift at Caressant Care, Wettlaufer had access to medications and vulnerable patients. Between 2007 and 2016, she used insulin, a drug used to treat diabetes, as her weapon, injecting elderly patients with fatal overdoses. Moe Granat was one of seven residents she murdered at the Woodstock facility. Her crimes went undetected for years, with the deaths of her victims attributed to their advanced age and existing health problems.
The truth only came to light in the fall of 2016, long after Wettlaufer had left her job at Caressant Care. Struggling with mental health and substance abuse issues, she checked herself into a psychiatric hospital in Toronto and confessed to medical staff that she had killed multiple patients. This shocking admission led her to pen a four-page confession and detail her crimes in a two-hour interview with police. She explained that she would experience a "red surge" of anger before killing and feel a "laughing feeling" afterward. Without her confession, authorities admitted her crimes would likely have never been discovered.
On October 25, 2016, Wettlaufer was arrested and charged with eight counts of first-degree murder, including that of Maurice Granat. The investigation eventually expanded to include four counts of attempted murder and two counts of aggravated assault against other patients she had also injected with insulin. The news sent shockwaves through the small communities of Woodstock and London, where she had worked. Friends of Moe Granat were stunned; one, Sam Lamb, expressed his disbelief, stating he never knew the actual cause of his friend's death.
In June 2017, Elizabeth Wettlaufer pleaded guilty to all charges. During her sentencing, the court heard victim impact statements that revealed the profound and lasting pain her actions had caused. Laura Jackson, a close friend of Moe Granat, described him as a "much-needed father figure" whose murder left a void in her life and sent her into a deep depression. Wettlaufer was sentenced to eight concurrent life terms in prison with no possibility of parole for 25 years.
The case prompted a sweeping public inquiry into the safety and security of residents in Ontario's long-term care system. The inquiry aimed to understand how Wettlaufer's crimes went undetected for so long and to implement changes to prevent such a tragedy from happening again. For the families and friends of her victims, the hope was that some good could come from their immense loss. Laura Jackson voiced this sentiment, stating, "if one person's life is saved by these recommendations, then Maurice can rest in peace."
