Edith Cole was 98 and a resident of Alpine Manor Nursing Home in Walker, Michigan, when she died during a string of deaths at the facility that later drew police scrutiny. What at first looked like an expected nursing-home passing was later treated by investigators as part of a pattern of possible suffocation deaths among frail residents. Authorities focused on two staff members, Catherine May Wood and Gwendolyn Gail Graham, who were alleged to have used their access to vulnerable patients to smother victims.

The investigation accelerated in 1988 after a tip from Wood’s ex-husband; bodies were exhumed and arrests followed in December 1988. Wood pleaded to reduced charges and was treated as an accomplice and witness, while Graham went to trial on five killings and was convicted of murder and conspiracy, receiving multiple life sentences. Wood was convicted of second-degree murder and conspiracy and given a long term with parole possible. Families of the victims continued to contest outcomes and terms of release.

Did anyone who knew Edith Cole at Alpine Manor remember signs that something was wrong before investigators re-examined the deaths?