Arpad Horvath was a man who had faced down history, a devoted husband and father who built a successful life from nothing after escaping danger in his youth. Born in Hungary, he fled the country during the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, reportedly bribing a soldier with a pack of cigarettes to secure his freedom. He made his way to Canada, where his hard work and ambition flourished. For 50 years, he was the owner and Chief Engineer of Central Tool & Die Limited in London, Ontario.
A man of many interests, he was an international big game hunter and a pillar of his community, serving as the president of the Hungarian Club of London for 29 years.
In the final year of his life, Arpad, a 75-year-old male, was a resident at the Meadow Park long-term care facility in London. He was living with dementia, but his family remained closely involved in his life. His son, Arpad Horvath Jr., later stated that his father was a typical dementia patient and was not suffering, firmly rejecting any suggestion that his eventual death was a "mercy killing." To his son, Arpad Sr. was a hero and a best friend. This made the truth of his death, when it was finally revealed, all the more shocking and painful.
On August 31, 2014, Arpad Horvath died. At the time, his family believed his death was due to his declining health. However, two and a half years later, they received the devastating news that he had been murdered. He was the eighth and final murder victim of Elizabeth Tracey Mae Wettlaufer, a registered nurse who used her position to kill the vulnerable seniors in her care. Over a period of nearly a decade, Wettlaufer, also known as Bethe Parker, killed eight people and attempted to kill or harm six others by injecting them with overdoses of insulin.
The investigation into the string of deaths only began in 2016 after Wettlaufer, who had since left nursing, checked herself into a psychiatric hospital and confessed her crimes to staff. Her confession led Toronto police to launch an investigation that unraveled the horrific scope of her actions across several long-term care facilities in southwestern Ontario. For the Horvath family, the news brought a new wave of grief and anger. Arpad's daughter, Susan, had harbored suspicions from the beginning, feeling that the circumstances of her father's passing were not right. The police investigation confirmed her worst fears and necessitated the exhumation of her father's body in January 2017 for a forensic autopsy, a process she described as being like a second, more terrible funeral.
On June 1, 2017, Elizabeth Wettlaufer pleaded guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder, four counts of attempted murder, and two counts of aggravated assault. Because she pleaded guilty, no trial was held. At her sentencing hearing, she offered a brief apology, stating, "I am truly sorry." Justice Bruce Thomas sentenced her to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 25 years, calling her "the shadow of death that passed over them on the night shift."
The aftermath for Arpad Horvath's family has been a long and arduous journey through grief and a search for accountability. Both his son and daughter have been outspoken, sharing their pain and anger. Arpad Jr. spoke at the public inquiry that was launched in the wake of the murders, remembering his father as his teacher and hero. Susan Horvath described the immense psychological toll, including post-traumatic stress disorder, and filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against the nursing homes that had employed Wettlaufer. The family hopes that by speaking out, some good can come from their tragedy and that meaningful changes will be made to protect residents in Ontario's long-term care system.
