Charles Cullen: The Nurse Who Killed

15–16 years of service – unknown number of victims

Charles Cullen was born in February 1960 in New Jersey and is considered by many the deadliest serial killer in American history. His crimes took place in private hospitals between 1988 and 2003. Due to lack of evidence and institutional cover-ups, many hospitals did not report his suspicious behavior despite clear warning signs.

Cullen told investigators that he had a difficult childhood. He grew up fatherless from infancy and lost his mother in a car accident during his adolescence. At the age of nine, he attempted suicide by drinking chemicals from a chemistry set. After high school, he joined the U.S. Navy, passing the admission exams and psychological tests easily. However, he struggled to fit in with his peers, displaying problematic and delinquent behavior. He attempted suicide multiple times and was admitted to the Navy psychiatric clinic on several occasions. In 1984, he was medically discharged from the military for unknown reasons.

Afterward, he enrolled in nursing school, graduating two years later. He met and married his wife, and they had two daughters. In 1993, his wife obtained a restraining order against him, accusing him of poisoning their pets, putting lighter fluid in guests’ drinks, and being a danger to her and their children.

Cullen worked in ten different healthcare facilities over his career until his arrest in 2003. He admitted to killing at least 40 patients during his 15 years as a nurse. Of those, 29 were confirmed, but authorities suspect the total may be close to 400. In his defense, Cullen claimed he could not bear to see patients suffer and wanted to “release” them from tubes and life support. In reality, he also killed patients who were ready to be discharged.

How He Got Caught

Cullen began working at Somerset Medical Center in the fall of 2002. Suspicion arose when a colleague contacted the poison control center about unusual lab results indicating toxic drug levels or hypoglycemia in certain patients. Initially, the lab was blamed, but as patients began dying, poison control asked the hospital to notify the police.

Over the next three months, Somerset conducted an internal investigation. Finally, in October 2003, the police were alerted after another patient at Somerset developed hypoglycemia under suspicious circumstances.

Investigating staff records, the officers discovered Cullen had restraining orders from his ex-wife and prior complaints from a former partner. Conversations with officers from other jurisdictions revealed a previous investigation into Cullen for the illegal use of medications, which had stalled due to insufficient evidence.

Time was critical, evidence was limited, and Cullen was still working with patients. Somerset eventually uncovered inconsistencies in his employment application and terminated him. At that point, homicide detectives enlisted the help of Cullen’s former colleague and friend, Amy Loughren. Amy, a mother of two, with serious heart problems, had worked closely with Cullen and admired his pharmacology expertise. When presented with incriminating evidence, she realized he was dangerous and fully cooperated with authorities, providing patient records and Cullen’s medication orders that showed suspicious and incriminating activity.

Cullen was arrested in December 2003. Police had 48 hours to obtain a confession. Though he initially resisted, Loughren’s cooperation helped break down his defenses. He eventually admitted to killing one patient and later confessed to twelve confirmed deaths and several attempts. Cullen did not attempt to defend himself and agreed to fully cooperate with authorities in exchange for avoiding the death penalty.

He is currently serving 18 consecutive life sentences without parole for the deaths of 29 people.

For those interested in learning more, the documentary Capturing the Killer Nurse includes interviews with the real people involved in the case, and the movie The Good Nurse dramatizes his story.