FORT MILL, S.C. — A woman convicted of serial killings has been released from prison and has moved into her new home in Fort Mill, South Carolina.
Catherine Wood was a nurse at Alpine Manor, a nursing home in Walker, Michigan, when she was convicted of second-degree murder for her role in the 1987 deaths of five elderly victims.
Wood has been serving her sentence in federal prison in Tallahassee, Florida. Upon her release Thursday, she moved to Fort Mill Friday to live with her sister.
She arrived in her new neighborhood Friday, where neighbors said they did not know a convicted serial killer was moving in.
Wood adamantly did not want to speak to reporters outside the home Friday.
"It makes you feel a little nervous," a neighbor told WCNC Charlotte asking, "Is she a threat? Did the parole agents make the right decision?"
Family members of the victims objected to the Michigan Parole Board's October 2018 decision to grant Wood parole, and requested an appeal of the decision.
The Kent County Circuit Court first ruled that more information was necessary, but a judge issued a new opinion on Oct. 15 stating that the board had not abused its power by recommending Wood be eligible for parole.
"I'm glad she's not coming back here, but on the other side of the coin, I sympathize with the people that are going to be living around her," John Engman, a relative of a victim, said from Michigan.
Wood served 30 years on a sentence of 20 to 40 years.
Fort Mill Police have been in contact with the Michigan state parole board, WCNC NBC Charlotte has learned.
Her parole prevents her from taking care of the elderly, children, and other vulnerable adults.
She is scheduled to remain on parole until June 2021.
A co-defendant, Gwendolyn Graham, was sentenced to life without parole. Graham, 55, is in a state prison in Michigan.
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