Condemned Season 2 premiere

Emily Stewart, Echo Correspondent

Condemned Woodstock’s second season premiered at the Market Centre Theatre on May 8. The private event for cast and crew showed five new episodes highlighting true crime in Woodstock. Just like its first season, its second season is hosted by Sangita Patel and features insights from Oxford County archivist Liz Dommasch.

Season Two began with the tale of Timothy Topping, who murdered his wife and four children before attempting suicide. There were episodes dedicated to Robert Topping’s conviction for murder and attempted murder in the 1970s after a heated card game, and Mark Well’s killing spree in the late 1980s.

The final two episodes of Condemned Woodstock focused on Elizabeth Wettlaufer, a former registered nurse who killed eight of her patients on duty at Oxford County nursing homes between the years 2007 and 2016. Wettlaufer is currently serving a life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years. The crimes sparked public outrage across Canada, and a two-year public inquiry was run by Ontario’s Ministry of Health to determine how to prevent similar crimes from occurring again in long-term care homes.

“It seems like it was yesterday,” producer Farah Foster-Manning said about the Wettlaufer case. “A lot of the big profile situations seem like it was just yesterday."

Condemned wrapped up production in Woodstock, but Foster-Manning plans for more seasons in other municipalities.

"We do have a few in mind, and I mean a lot of true crimes exist across Canada, so it doesn't stop here; It just started here,” she said.

Foster-Manning wants to feature local history and true crime stories in Oxford County and beyond.

"I feel like a lot of people don't realize that there is a lot of history that has happened in different cities and towns across Ontario and true crime, once again, is a huge genre amongst a lot of people so to dig deep in a community where I live and I'm involved. It's amazing, regardless of the stories. Sometimes you just have to bring the history back."

Condemned Season Two can be viewed on Channel 1 on Bell Fibe TV.