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Who is Charles Cullen? TRUTH behind serial killer nurse who murdered 29 patients in 16 years

Cullen admitted that he had medicated patients without a prescription, shut off ventilators at random, and inserted dangerous medication into IV fluid bags
PUBLISHED OCT 20, 2022
Charles Cullen reportedly killed 29 patients in New Jersey and Pennsylvania over the course of 16 years (John Wheeler/Getty Images)
Charles Cullen reportedly killed 29 patients in New Jersey and Pennsylvania over the course of 16 years (John Wheeler/Getty Images)

NEW JERSEY: Charles Cullen, 62, one of the infamous serial killers, who was also dubbed by the media outlets as ‘The Angel of Death’, reportedly killed 29 people in New Jersey and Pennsylvania in total over the course of a 16-year career in the medical field. As the dead bodies piled up in hospitals all around New Jersey, families were left in the dark, and doctors were left puzzled. Of the deceased, 13 people were treated at Somerset Medical Center, one at Saint Barnabas Medical Center, three at Warren Hospital, and five at Hunterdon Medical Center. Police didn't learn about the odd characteristic the victims shared until later they found out that Charles Cullen had been their nurse.

The West Orange native told authorities after his arrest in 2003 that he had medicated patients without a doctor's prescription, shut off ventilators at random, and inserted dangerous medication into IV fluid bags. Cullen was one of the most prolific serial killers in history, killing more than two dozen individuals, according to investigators, but other experts believe he may have killed as many as 400 people overall. 

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According to the Independent, Cullen, who was born in 1960, grew up in a working-class neighborhood in West Orange. In 1978, he dropped out of high school and joined the Navy.  Cullen later enrolled in a nursing program at Mountainside Hospital in Montclair soon after his release and completed it in 1986. He began his nursing career with Saint Barnabas Medical Center's burn unit in Livingston, New Jersey the following year. He allegedly committed his first homicide a year later.



 

He gave a patient at Saint Barnabas Hospital a fatal overdose of IV medicine on June 11, 1988. At some point, Cullen acknowledged killing a number of additional people there, including one AIDS patient who passed away after receiving an excessive amount of insulin. Cullen left Saint Barnabas in 1992 after hospital authorities began investigating contaminated IV bags. After taking a job at Warren Hospital in Phillipsburg a month later, Cullen killed three elderly women who overdosed on the heart drug digoxin. 



 

Cullen was later employed at Liberty Nursing and Rehabilitation Center and Morristown Memorial Hospital In Allentown, Pennsylvania. He was associated with fatalities that occurred at St Luke's Hospital in Bethlehem, Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown, and Easton Hospital in Easton, Pennsylvania.

Cullen was finally arrested in 2003. He admitted to the 29 killings and informed the detectives he had killed up to 40 people. Cullen made his first television appearance in 2013 while speaking with '60 Minutes'. Cullen expressed his belief that the killings were acts of kindness during the interview. 

Charles Cullen, 43, from Bethlehem, Pennslyvania, is seen in a courtroom December 15, 2003 in Somerville, New Jersey. Cullen has admitted to killing 40 terminally ill patients in nine hospitals and a nursing home in the past 16 years.
Charles Cullen, 43, from Bethlehem, Pennslyvania, is seen in a courtroom on December 15, 2003, in Somerville, New Jersey (John Wheeler/Getty Images)

“I thought that people weren’t suffering anymore. So in a sense, I thought I was helping,” he remarked at the time. A private settlement was made in 2008 between the families of Cullen's victims at Warren Hospital, Somerset Medical Center, and Hunterdon Medical Center who had brought wrongful-death cases against the hospitals. Along with Saint Barnabas and St Luke's, these facilities paid an undisclosed amount to settle claims relating to the deaths of 22 of Cullen's victims.

Charles Cullen, 43, from Bethlehem, Pennslyvania, is seen in a courtroom December 15, 2003 in Somerville, New Jersey. Cullen has admitted to killing 40 terminally ill patients in nine hospitals and a nursing home in the past 16 years.
Charles Cullen from Bethlehem, Pennslyvania, is seen in a courtroom on December 15, 2003, in Somerville, New Jersey (John Wheeler/Getty Images)

According to The Independent, for the 22 murders in New Jersey, Cullen is currently serving 11 consecutive life sentences. He might receive six more life terms in Pennsylvania for his actions. According to the Department of Corrections, his earliest probable release date from New Jersey detention would be June 10, 2388. Correctional records show that he is being detained at the New Jersey State Prison in Trenton.

Cullen recently came into the spotlight as Netflix thriller ‘The Good Nurse’ which is based on his life, is expected to premiere on October 26, 2022. Oscar-winning actor Eddie Redmayne is playing the role of the infamous serial killer.



 

The 2013 best-selling book ‘The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder’ by Charles Graeber served as the inspiration for the thriller, which was produced by Tobias Lindholm and written by Krysty Wilson-Cairns.

The movie also stars Oscar-winner Jessica Chastain, NFL player Nnamdi Asomugha, Kim Dickens, Malik Yoba, Alix West Lefler, Noah Emmerich, and several others.

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