Nursing Home Murders in the Time of Covid
A newly released “When Push Comes to Shove: A Madison Revere Mystery” by the well-established mystery writer Glen Ebisch follows the timely story of a young lawyer who gets assigned a case having to deal with the mysterious death of an elderly woman in a nursing home. Taking place in a pandemic affected world (very much like the one we are living in today), fingers point at the cause of death to be the virus. But...with some more investigating, it soon gets revealed that something a whole lot more sinister may be behind this. It is up to Madison to find out whether there really is a serial killer on the loose targeting the elderly, and if there is- to try to stop them before it becomes too late!
The scene of the crime is set in a nursing home during a pandemic. The case of an elderly woman dying suddenly nowadays is commonplace and the main culprit very easily can be assumed to be the virus. According to the CDC, Coronavirus is a disease that is fatal if contracted by individuals for those with preexisting health problems and/or are 50 years old and up. So, the argument of it being a “serial killer” could easily be met with a lot of doubt considering the environment in which we are living in today. But that is not to say that it rules out that possibility entirely.
There has been one notorious case of a pair of serial killers that targeted and murdered 5 elderly women in Walker, Michigan. Gwendolyn Graham and Catherine Wood were coworkers turned lovers were nurse aides at the Alpine Manor nursing home. It wasn’t until years after the murders that they were convicted and charged for them. Woods came clean and confessed which helped further the investigation. They were eventually able to take it to trial in which a sentence was given to the two. Woods served less time because she was able to get a plea deal and was just released from prison this year. Graham, on the other hand, was sentenced to life.
Here are some articles that give a more detailed account of the case:
https://delanirbartlette.medium.com/gwen-graham-and-cathy-wood-ac774d3c7750