Nursing home serial killer moving to Fort Mill, S.C., after release from prison

FORT MILL, S.C. (WBTV/AP) - A woman who spent 30 years in prison for the deaths of residents at a Michigan nursing home has been released on parole, and she’s allegedly moving to Fort Mill, S.C.

Five people were suffocated at the Alpine Manor Nursing Home in Walker, Michigan, in the late 1980s. Investigators say Catherine Wood testified that she acted as a lookout while her co-defendant, Gwendolyn Graham, suffocated the victims with a washcloth.

Officials allege the pair committed the crimes for fun, and that there could have been as many as a dozen witnesses.

Relatives of victims had sued to keep Wood locked up, but a judge in October said he wouldn’t block the parole board’s decision.

Wood cooperated with investigators and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and conspiracy. She had been housed at a federal prison in Tallahassee, Florida, to separate her from Graham.

The now 57-year-old walked out of prison on Thursday, but she won’t be heading back to Michigan.

Instead, Wood has moved to Fort Mill to live with her sister, according to WOOD TV and multiple national sources.

The South Carolina Department of Parole and Pardon Services confirmed to WBTV that Wood did report in York County on Friday. They have not said what neighborhood she will be staying in.

Graham is serving a life sentence.

Copyright 2020 WBTV. All rights reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.