A female serial killer has been released from prison 33 years after she helped her girlfriend smother five people in a depraved game where they tried to choose victims whose initials spelled out ‘MURDER’.
Catherine Wood, 57, walked free from prison in Tallahassee, Florida, on Thursday morning after being granted parole for her part in the slaying of five elderly women in 1987.
Wood and her accomplice Gwendolyn Graham, 56, dubbed ‘the Lethal Lovers’ and ‘Angels of Death’, suffocated the patients while they both worked as nurse aides at Alpine Manor nursing home in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Catherine Wood, 57 (pictured left in 1988 when arrested and right in 2018 at her parole hearing) walked free from prison in Tallahassee, Florida, on Thursday morning after being granted parole for her part in the slaying of five elderly women in 1987
Wood claimed they killed because of their intense lesbian ‘love bond’.
Their’s victims were: Mae Mason, 79, Edith Cole, 89, Marguerite Chambers, 60, Myrtle Luce, 95, and Belle Burkhard, 74.
The pair met in 1986 when Graham moved to Michigan from Texas and they quickly became lovers.
Graham and Wood murdered their first victim in January 1987. With that death put down to natural causes, the ‘Angels of Death’ ramped up their killing spree over the next year.
Woods has long claimed that partner in crime, Gwendolyn Graham (pictured) murdered the victims and that she had only played the part of the lookout
Wood (right) and her accomplice Gwendolyn Graham, 56 (left, both pictured during trial) dubbed ‘the Lethal Lovers’, claimed they killed because of their intense lesbian ‘love bond’
They handpicked their victims by trying to select vulnerable patients whose initials spelled out ‘MURDER’ as part of a depraved game. However, this proved to be too difficult so they began killing victims at random.
Their murderous rampage came to an end in 1988 when Wood confided in her ex-husband about their crimes and he contacted police.
This led to Wood being interviewed by the police and confessing to the crimes, claiming that her lover had murdered the victims by suffocating them with washcloths and she had only played the part of the lookout.
At trial, Wood testified against Graham and Graham was convicted of first-degree murder of all five victims and handed five life sentences. She is serving her sentence in Michigan’s women’s prison where she has no chance of parole.
Wood pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of second-degree murder in Chambers’ death and a separate count of conspiracy to commit second-degree murder and was sentenced to 20 to 40 years in prison.
The pair met in 1986 when Graham moved to Michigan from Texas and they both worked as nurses’s aides at Alpine Manor nursing home (above) in Grand Rapids, Michigan
Belle Burkhard (left) and Marguerite Chambers (right) were both suffocated by the ‘Angels of Death’ in 1987
She became eligible for parole in 2005 but had her request denied eight times before the Michigan Department of Corrections granted it in September 2018, stating she was no longer a menace to society and had accepted responsibility for her crimes.
However, families of the victims and investigators believe Wood downplayed her role in the murders.
Crime author Lowell Cauffiel, who wrote about the case, has previously said Wood was actually the mastermind of the crimes and the one who carried out the killings.
Wood allegedly confessed the killings to two prison inmates and admitted to turning on her lover after Graham left her for another woman who worked at the nursing home.
Cauffiel also claimed that Graham was likely to be incapable of the attacks because of her diagnosis of borderline personality disorder.
A retired detective who worked on the case also said he believes Wood was the ‘brains’ behind the murders.
‘I believe that Cathy Wood was the mastermind, she was the one that was pulling strings on Gwendolyn Graham,’ Roger Kaliniak told News 8.
‘Gwendolyn Graham handled the dirty work and Cathy Wood was the brains behind it.’
Kaliniak said he fears Wood could strike again.
‘For safety reasons, I wouldn’t want my grandchildren or elderly patients around her,’ he said. ‘She’s a serial killer and she could do it again, and most of them do.’
Detectives also believe there could be many more than five victims.
Court documents released in May to try and keep Wood behind bars revealed that the murderesses had tried to kill at least 10 patients.
The documents stated that Wood had told police during the original investigation that Graham had ‘killed five female patients and tried at least five others, but was unsuccessful because some of the elderly men and women fought back’.
It added: ‘She and Graham talked of spelling MURDER with the victims’ initials but they abandoned that plan after some of the slayings failed.’
Retired Detective Sergeant Tom Freeman told 24 Hour News 8 last year that Wood had told him the murder count was higher but that the details were kept hidden because prosecutors could only prove five.
‘She (Wood) thought there were approximately a dozen or so victims at Alpine Manor. Actually killed,’ he said.
At trial, Wood testified against Graham and Graham was convicted of first-degree murder of all five victims Graham and handed five life sentences. Wood pleaded guilty to lesser charges and was granted parole in September 2018 and has been released from prison
Wood’s partner in crime branded her former lover ‘evil’ in an interview back in June.
‘I’m telling you, she’s an evil person,’ Graham told Target 8 from the Huron Valley Women’s prison in Ypsilanti.
Graham also said the two were innocent of the murders: ‘After all these years, I still don’t believe that anybody was murdered. I just don’t.’
Wood will move in with family members in South Carolina, official records show.