Nursing home supervisor denies admission in death probe

A former nursing home supervisor accused of turning a blind eye to patients' mysterious deaths contradicted state police claims Thursday that she told subordinates to deviate from protocol for disposing of dead patients' morphine.

Penny Whitlock, who faces seven felony charges stemming from an investigation into at least four suspicious deaths at the former Woodstock Residence nursing home, testified she never made that admission during a November 2006 interview with investigators, and in fact repeatedly denied the claim.

"(The investigator) kept saying he could scratch out all the notes he had taken so far and start over if I wanted to change my story," said Whitlock, 59, of Woodstock. "I said 'No, I'm not lying and I'm not changing my story.'"

Whitlock's testimony came during the second day of a two-day hearing into her motion to suppress expected testimony from investigators who say she made incriminating statements about her knowledge of the deaths.

McHenry County Judge Joseph Condon is scheduled to rule on the request Oct. 20.

Whitlock was indicted last year on five counts of criminal neglect of a long-term care facility resident and two counts of obstructing justice after a 15-month investigation into a rash of unusual deaths of terminally ill patients in 2006 at the Woodstock nursing home.

Nurse Marty Himebaugh, 58, of Lake in the Hills, faces four counts of criminal neglect of a long-term care facility resident and single counts of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud and unlawful distribution of a controlled substance.

The charges claim Himebaugh gave patients dangerous levels of morphine or other drugs and Whitlock knew about it, telling co-workers at one point that Himebaugh was serving as an "Angel of Death."

Neither specifically are accused of killing the patients, although authorities say four patients named in the indictment died while under Himebaugh's care.

Both women have denied the accusations and asked for a jury trial.

Whitlock's attorney argued Thursday that Illinois State Police investigators deprived Whitlock of her rights by not giving her Miranda warnings until halfway into a November 2006 interview in which she made the incriminating statements.

Prosecutors, however, said Whitlock never was under arrest and, therefore, investigators were not required to read her Miranda warnings. They did so during the interview only when it became apparent Whitlock was making incriminating statements, said Nichole Owens, criminal division chief for the McHenry County State's Attorney.