Investigation into suspicious nursing home deaths

The Chicago Tribune has a story about the suspicious deaths possibly caused by morphine overdose at a nursing home.  McHenry County prosecutors acknowledge the suspicious deaths at the Woodstock Residence nursing home in Woodstock have been difficult to pursue.  Three bodies were exhumed last year, and tissue samples were sent to a Pennsylvania lab for analysis.

The bodies of three others whose deaths investigators consider suspicious could not be examined because they were cremated.  Alissa Nataupsky, administrator of the Woodstock Residence, has denied any wrongdoing at the home and has said the investigation was triggered by a former employee.

When Cole, 78, died in September 2006, the cause of death was listed as pneumonia. Cole had been living at the Woodstock Residence for two months.

If lab results do not conclusively show that morphine overdoses caused the deaths of the three former residents whose bodies were exhumed, a grand jury might be used to further investigate the case, a law enforcement source said.