In 1987 at Alpine Manor nursing home in Walker, Michigan, 74-year-old Belle Burkhard, a resident who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, was smothered to death with a washcloth. She was one of five elderly women killed by two nurse’s aides, Gwendolyn Graham and Catherine Wood, who were engaged in a romantic relationship and who initially discussed choosing victims by initials to spell the word MURDER before turning to random selections among incapacitated residents.

The scheme came to light after Catherine Wood confessed to her ex-husband, who notified authorities. Wood later testified that Graham was the primary killer and that Wood served as a lookout; investigators and the victims’ families have questioned that account. Graham was convicted on five counts of murder and given life without parole; Wood received a plea deal and was sentenced to 20 to 40 years for second-degree murder and conspiracy.

If anyone had contact with Alpine Manor in 1987 or remembers unusual staff behavior from that time, did anything stand out that might shed more light on how these killings were carried out?