{"id":2059,"date":"2022-02-12T12:36:52","date_gmt":"2022-02-12T12:36:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wickedness.net\/serial-killers\/graham-gwendolyn\/"},"modified":"2022-08-07T00:14:36","modified_gmt":"2022-08-07T00:14:36","slug":"gwendolyn-graham","status":"publish","type":"serial-killers","link":"https:\/\/wickedness.net\/serial-killers\/gwendolyn-graham\/","title":{"rendered":"Gwendolyn Graham"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gwendolyn Graham was born on August 6, 1963. She showed signs of sociopathy from a young age and was fascinated by death. In 1987, she began working as a nurse&#8217;s aide at the Alpine Manor nursing home in Walker, Michigan. It was there that she met her partner in crime, Cathy Wood.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The two women began a killing spree, targeting elderly patients at the nursing home. In all, they are believed to have killed five women. Graham was arrested in 1988 and sentenced to life in prison. She is currently incarcerated at the Women&#8217;s Huron Valley Correctional Facility in Ypsilanti, Michigan.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Early Life<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gwendolyn Graham was born on August 6, 1963, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She was the middle child of three girls. As a child, she lived with her father when her parents divorced when she was eight years old. Graham announced <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.webmd.com\/mental-health\/signs-sociopath\" data-lasso-id=\"4006\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">signs of sociopathy<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from a young age and married Mark Logan in 1985. She was fascinated by death and would often fantasize about killing people.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As a teenager, Graham was diagnosed with<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aans.org\/Patients\/Neurosurgical-Conditions-and-Treatments\/Scoliosis#:~:text=A%20positive%20diagnosis%20of%20scoliosis,than%2025%20to%2030%20degrees.\" data-lasso-id=\"4007\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> scoliosis <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and had to wear a back brace. This made her feel even more isolated and alone. She began to act out in school and got into trouble on several occasions. In 1981, she was arrested for shoplifting. The following year, she was arrested again for assault and battery.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Graham dropped out of high school in her junior year. She later obtained her GED and enrolled in community college. However, she dropped out after just one semester.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Victims<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There were five known victims of the Gwendolyn Graham and Cathy Wood killing spree. They are:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Martha Morrison<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mable Ringling<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Margaret Dickey<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Edna Van Der Molen<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hazel McGlauflin<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At the Alpine Manor care facility, Gwendolyn Graham and Catherine May Wood connected in 1986. They grew close quite quickly, then fell in love.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They were both charged with murder two years later after allegedly suffocating five elderly patients as part of a &#8220;love bond.&#8221; Nearly all of the information about the killings came from Wood&#8217;s disclosures to the criminal justice system.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But award-winning writer Lowell Cauffiel later questioned Wood&#8217;s stories and her characterization of herself as Graham&#8217;s pawn in his 1992 true crime book, Forever and Five Days.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 1987, Gwendolyn Graham and Cathy Wood were found guilty of murdering five women.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All of the women were senior Alpine Manor nursing home patients. The house employed Graham and Wood as nurse&#8217;s assistants. The two would pick their victims, according to Wood, and then suffocate them with a washcloth to commit second-degree murder. Many of the victims had Alzheimer&#8217;s disease and were unable to move or speak. By first trying to choose their victims by their initials to spell M-U-R-D-E-R, the pair turned the choice of victims into a game.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They started counting each murder as a &#8220;day,&#8221; as in the idiom &#8220;I shall love you for forever and a day,&#8221; but when that became challenging, they started picking second-degree murder victims based on the order of the letters in their last names.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Investigation<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In Walker, Michigan, Gwendolyn Graham was found guilty in 1987 of murdering five elderly ladies. After Graham&#8217;s ex-husband informed the authorities about the killings, the murder investigation began into the killings got underway. Detectives spoke with Cathy wood&#8217;s ex-husband, who was also associated with the killings.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They ultimately found two victims who hadn&#8217;t been incinerated thanks to some ken wood. The county medical examiner determined that the deaths were murders, while a medical examination failed to produce any physical proof of homicide.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wood and Graham were the subjects of arrest warrants.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to Graham, Wood&#8217;s alleged murders were part of an elaborate &#8220;mind game&#8221;.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Despite the lack of physical evidence, the jury ultimately found Graham guilty of five counts of murder and one count of conspiracy to murder after hearing evidence from Graham&#8217;s new girlfriend that he had confessed to five killings.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The court gave her five life sentences. Graham is currently housed in the Women&#8217;s Huron Valley Correctional Facility in Pittsfield Charter Township, Michigan.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Both Gwendolyn Graham and Catherine Wood told they were found guilty of the 1987 homicides of five senior citizens in Walker, Michigan. But according to Lowell Cauffiel&#8217;s book &#8220;Forever and Five Days,&#8221; the two murderers&#8217; acquaintances and families had a different version of events to what was alleged during the trial.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They characterize Wood as a compulsive liar who delighted in wrecking devastation in the lives of others. After discovering Graham with another lady, it is said that she arranged the first murder and then included Graham in it to prevent Graham from fleeing. Wood was prepared to take risks to exact retribution when Graham eventually left by telling authorities about the deaths.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is a description in the book of Wood as a criminal mastermind who manipulated both the prosecutor and the jury to punish Graham for his crimes. Psychological testing also revealed that Graham could be easily manipulated and lacked the sophistication to plan the killings or defend herself adequately in court. The book claims that the media at the time didn&#8217;t give enough attention to Wood&#8217;s actions, which resulted in Graham being wrongfully convicted.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The book chronicles the events leading up to, during, and after the arrest of Gwendolyn Graham and Catherine Wood. It is a detailed account of the murders, the investigation, and the trial.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cauffiel interviewed many of the people involved in the case, including family members, friends, co-workers, and law enforcement officials. He also reviewed court documents and police reports. The result is a fascinating look at a case that captured the nation&#8217;s attention.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Trial<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;The prosecution argued that the defendant had a &#8216;long-standing fantasy of killing elderly people,&#8217; and that she began to act on this fantasy after meeting her accomplice, Cathy Wood. The defense countered that Graham was mentally ill and not responsible for her actions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On May 7, 1988, the jury found Graham guilty of first-degree murder in the deaths of Betsy Busch, Mary Stefanski, and Dorothy Neal. She was also convicted of assault with intent to do great bodily harm in the attack on Maggie Murray.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On May 27, 1988, Judge Dennis Kolenda sentenced Graham to life in prison without parole for each of the three murders, and to 10\u201325 years in prison for the assault.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Learn More:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wickedness.net\/serial-killer-articles\/serial-killer-research\/\" data-lasso-id=\"4008\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Serial Killers Research: What Makes A Serial Killer, How To Spot One, And Much More<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wickedness.net\/serial-killer-articles\/4-types-of-serial-killers-all-you-need-to-know-2\/\" data-lasso-id=\"4009\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">4 Types Of Serial Killers: All You Need To Know<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wickedness.net\/serial-killer-articles\/are-serial-killers-psychopaths\/\" data-lasso-id=\"4010\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Are Serial Killers Psychopaths?<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5367,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":""},"meta_box":{"sk-volume":"350","sk-difficulty":"11","sk-gender":"Female","sk-yearsactive":"1987","sk-victimsproven":"5","sk-victimspossible":"6","sk-status":"Sentenced to life imprisonment","sk-status2":"In Prison (Life)","sk-alive":"Alive","sk-notes":"Accomplice of Cathy Wood; nurse's aide that preyed on elderly women in a Walker, Michigan nursing home","sk-identified":"Yes","sk-race":"White","sk-nickname":"The Lethal Lovers","sk-dateofbirth":"August 6, 1963","sk-zodiac":"Leo","sk-states":"Michigan","sk-wikipedia":"","sk-country":"US","sk-photo1":"\/wp-content\/uploads\/graphics\/killers\/originals-wikip\/Gwen_Graham_and_Cathy_Woods_(mugshots).jpg","sk-firstlast":"","sk-totalkills":"11","sk-photo2":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wickedness.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/serial-killers\/2059"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wickedness.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/serial-killers"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wickedness.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/serial-killers"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wickedness.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wickedness.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wickedness.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}