ACCESS TO ELIZABETH WETTLAUFER INVESTIGATIVE TEAM
(WOODSTOCK, ON) – Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), Woodstock Police Service, and London Police Service announced today that out of respect for the victims, their families, friends and the communities, further access to members of the Elizabeth WETTLAUFER investigation team will not be provided to the media.
This investigation, managed through the Ontario Major Case Management System, resulted in the cooperation and seamless sharing of information between the Woodstock Police Service, London Police Service, the Regional Crown Attorney and the OPP.
During the court proceedings, a significant amount of information was made available to the media to provide the public with a clear understanding of the investigation and the offences committed by Elizabeth WETTLAUFER.
To allow the victims, families, friends and the communities the opportunity to continue the healing process and to move forward, members of the joint investigative team have elected not to provide any further media interviews.
The joint investigative team acknowledges and appreciates the professional manner in which the accredited media conducted themselves during this investigation and court process and the role the media played in providing the public with timely information. The team thanks the media in advance for respecting this decision.
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From the Attorney General & Minister of Heath Hoskins:
Today Attorney General Yasir Naqvi and Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, Eric Hoskins, issued the following statement:
“On behalf of the Ontario government, we want to express our deepest condolences to the victims, their families and the communities in Woodstock and London and the surrounding areas.
What happened was a tragedy. That’s why we are establishing an independent public inquiry to look into the circumstances in this case.
Our next step is to formally establish the public inquiry through an Order in Council. The order will set out the scope of the inquiry and appoint the commissioner who will lead it. The government is actively engaged in finalizing these details and, once approved, will make them available to the public.
We want to assure the public that Ontario’s 78,000 long-term care residents are safe in their homes. Our oversight system in long-term care specifically focuses on the safety and security of our residents and we will continue to work to ensure all of our homes are meeting the highest standards.
It is our hope that through the inquiry process, we will get the answers we need to help ensure that a tragedy such as this does not happen again.”
Patting media on the head with words like: “The joint investigative team acknowledges and appreciates the professional manner in which the accredited media conducted themselves …” is insulting. That aside, if my loved one(s) was a victim of a serial killer, I don’t believe I’d opt for a gag …unless of course the science suggests serial killers are pathologically addicted to the attention.
The serial killer will be locked up for at least twenty-five years, and probably longer if she lives that long. I understand that there will be an inquiry into how these crimes went unnoticed for so long. What more can be done?